Paul O'Grady

Paul O'Grady MBE
Paul O'Grady in April 2009
Born	Paul James Michael O'Grady (1955-06-14) 14 June 1955 Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Broadcaster, actor, entrepreneur, comedian, author, television personality, producer
Years active	1988–present
Employer	ITV, BBC Radio 2
Known for	Blankety Blank (1997–2002) Lily Live! (2000–2001) The Paul O'Grady Show (2004–2009, 2013—) Paul O'Grady Live (2010–2011) For the Love of Dogs (2012–2015) Paul O'Grady's Animal Orphans (2014—)
Spouse(s)	Teresa Fernandes (m. 1977–2005, divorced)[1]
Partner(s)	Brendan Murphy (1980–2005, his death) Andre Portasio (2006–present)[2]
Website	Official Radio 2 show page

Paul James Michael O'Grady, MBE (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio disc-jockey. He achieved fame using his comedic drag queen character, Lily Savage, and later became well known for presenting TV shows as himself, such as The Paul O'Grady Show.

Born to a working-class Irish migrant family in Birkenhead, Cheshire (now Merseyside), O'Grady moved to London in the late 1970s, there working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden Council. It was here in 1978 that he developed his drag act, basing the character of Lily Savage upon traits found among female relatives. Touring Northern England as part of drag mime duo, the Playgirls, he eventually went solo as a stand-up comedian. Performing as Savage for eight years at a South London gay pub, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), he gained a popular following among the city's gay community and used his character to speak out for LGBT rights. After being nominated for a 1992 Perrier Award, he attracted mainstream attention and made various television, radio, and theatrical appearances. As Savage, he presented morning chat show The Big Breakfast (1995–96), game show Blankety Blank (1997–02) and comedy series Lily Live! (2000–01), earning various awards and becoming a well known public figure.

Seeking to diversify his career away from Savage, O'Grady starred in BBC sitcom Eyes Down (2003–04) and presented two travel documentaries for ITV. In 2004, he began presenting ITV's daytime chat show The Paul O'Grady Show, which proved a hit with audiences. After the network refused to transfer creative control of the series to O'Grady's production company, Olga TV, in 2006 he defected to rival Channel 4, where the show was rebranded as The New Paul O'Grady Show and ran until 2009. O'Grady subsequently presented a late night ITV show, Paul O'Grady Live (2010–11) as well as Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs (2012–2015) and Paul O'Grady's Animal Orphans (2014–), while presenting BBC Radio 2's Paul O'Grady on the Wireless and publishing a three-volume autobiography.

O'Grady has received a variety of awards, among them honorary degrees and an MBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to entertainment.

Early life

Childhood: 1955–71

O'Grady's father, Patrick "Paddy" Grady (died 1973),^[3] had grown up on a farm in Ballincurry, County Roscommon, Ireland, before moving to England in 1936, in search for work, settling down in the working class area of Birkenhead, Cheshire (now Merseyside). His name was changed from Grady to O'Grady in a paperwork mistake when he joined the Royal Air Force; he kept this altered name.^[4] Patrick married Mary Savage (1916–1988), born in England to Irish migrants from County Louth. Patrick and Mary were devout Catholics and brought up their children in the faith. O'Grady was their third child, born at 7:30 am on 14 June 1955 at St. Catherine's Hospital, Tranmere.^[5] His birth, over a decade after that of siblings Brendan (b. 1941) and Sheila (b. 1944),^[3] was not planned; his mother was 39 and discovered the pregnancy only when visiting the doctor complaining of indigestion. O'Grady spent his early life at the family's rented home of 23 Holly Grove, Higher Tranmere, Birkenhead,^[6] a house built in a former quarry during the early 1930s; O'Grady remarked that the house was always damp and cold, suffering from "ominous cracks" which "would appear in the walls and ceilings overnight".^[7]

Attending St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School, O'Grady excelled in all subjects but maths. Hoping that he had a good future ahead of him, his parents budgeted to send him to a private school, the Catholic-run Redcourt, but his grades dropped. Failing the Eleven Plus exam, to his mother's dismay he was unable to enter a grammar school, instead attending the Blessed Edmund Campion R.C. Secondary Modern and the Corpus Christi High School,^[9] where O'Grady experienced his first homosexual encounter, enjoying a brief romance with another boy, although still assumed he was heterosexual.^[10]

A fan of the popular television series The Avengers and Batman,^[11] he was enrolled in the cub scouts by his mother, but he hated it, leaving after a month. An altar boy at a local Catholic church, he was dismissed after laughing during a funeral service.^[12] Then joining the Marine cadets, he later commented that he was following in the footsteps of his childhood hero, the cartoon Popeye.^[13] Enjoying the cadets, at the advice of his captain he joined the Boys' Amateur Boxing Club, developing a lifelong love of the sport.^[14] Playing truant from school, he got into trouble with his parents, and subsequently with the police after burgling a house with three friends.^[15] O'Grady's first job was a paper round that he kept for a week,^[16] and through this and other jobs he saved up to afford Mod clothes, for a time becoming a suedehead.^[17]

Early adulthood: 1972–77

Leaving school aged sixteen, O'Grady obtained a job in the civil service, working as a clerical assistant for the DHSS at their Liverpool office; he commuted in from his parents' home. Supplementing this income, he worked part-time at the bar of the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) club in Oxton.^[18] Called for a disciplinary hearing at the DHSS and accused of incompetent behaviour and tardiness, he resigned.^[19] Obtaining a job at the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Virginia Water, Surrey, aged seventeen, O'Grady moved there; appalled at the working conditions, the management accused him of stealing, which he denied.^[20] Promptly returning to Birkenhead, he worked at the RAFA club, increasingly socialising within the Liverpudlian gay scene, attending meetings of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and working at gay bar the Bear's Paw;^[21] this was kept a secret from his parents, to whom he was not "out of the closet".^[22]

With best friend Tony, O'Grady regularly travelled to London to socialise with Tony's friend, the classical music conductor John Pritchard, becoming very fond of him.^[23] Experimenting, O'Grady had casual sex with a friend and colleague, Diane Jansen.^[24] She became pregnant, news which O'Grady discovered in the same week that both his parents suffered heart attacks; his mother recovered, but his father died.^[25] Following the birth of his daughter, Sharon Lee Jansen, on 16 May 1974, O'Grady agreed to pay £3 per week towards her upkeep, but refused to marry Diane, recognising his homosexuality.^[26]

Briefly working as an assistant clerk at Liverpool Magistrates' Court, O'Grady subsequently worked as a barman at Yates's Wine Lodge, supplementing the income with the occasional night at the Bear's Paw.^[27] Realising this wage was insufficient to support both himself and his daughter, he travelled to London, lodging in Westbourne Green, but found only poorly paid work as a barman. In London, he began associating with drag queens, particularly a couple who used the stage name of the Harlequeens. Although making friends in the city, O'Grady was homesick and returned home.^[28] Employed as an accountant in a FMC Meats Merseyside abattoir, he then gained employment at the Children's Convalescent Home and School in West Kirby, a home for disabled and abused children; he worked here for three years.^[29][30] Entering into a relationship with an older man named Norman, O'Grady moved into his house in Littlehampton; their relationship was strained, both cheating on one another, and it broke apart.^[31]

Moving again to London, he rented a flat in Crouch End and began busking with a friend in Camden Town before obtaining a job as a physiotherapist's assistant at the Royal Northern Hospital.^[32] Made redundant by public sector cuts, O'Grady took up a job at a gay club called the Showplace, befriending Portuguese lesbian Theresa Fernandes; in May 1977, they legally married to prevent her deportation, although eventually lost contact, only gaining a divorce in 2005.^[33] Taking up jobs as a cleaner and a waiter at private functions,^[34] he began working for Camden Council as a peripatetic care officer, living in with elderly people or dysfunctional families which had a lasting effect on him for many years to come.^[35]

Career in drag

Lily Savage and the drag circuit: 1978–84

While working for Camden Social Services, O'Grady made his first attempt at putting together a drag act, creating the character of Lily Savage; he later related that "I wanted to get up there but be larger than life, a creature that was more cartoon than human. I wasn't sure yet."^[37] His debut was on the afternoon of 7 October 1978 at The Black Cap gay pub in Camden, where his act involved miming the words to Barbra Streisand's "Nobody Makes a Pass at Me" from the show Pins and Needles.^[38] Following a holiday to Poland,^[39] he visited an ex-boyfriend in Manila in the Philippines; he found Manila to be a "culture shock", but briefly worked as a barman and waiter at a brothel known as Gussie's Bar.^[40]

Returning to London, O'Grady moved to Purley and then Streatham with a drag act, the Glamazons. With one of them, nicknamed "Hush", he founded a two-man drag mime act, the Playgirls, although found little work in London. Agreeing to a tour of the North of England, they moved to Slaithwaite, Yorkshire,^[41] also accepting a month's work at a club in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[42] Living up north, they diversified their act, with O'Grady performing a striptease while wearing a fat suit he named "Biddy", also learning fire eating from a hotel manager in Bradford.^[43] Fed up with the poor living conditions, Hush returned to London, leading O'Grady to continue his drag performance as a solo act under the name of "Paul Monroe", a reference to Marilyn Monroe.^[44] Ultimately finding himself under too much financial strain, O'Grady moved back in with his mother in Birkenhead, there becoming reacquainted with Diane and his daughter.^[45] Amid mass unemployment, O'Grady briefly lived off the dole before resurrecting the Playgirls with his friend Vera; initially performing in Liverpool, where they were caught up in the 1981 Toxteth riots, they began touring other parts of Northern England until deciding to quit and return to London.^[46]

Returning to work as a peripatetic nurse for Camden Council Social Services, O'Grady began caring for an old woman who lived several doors down from serial killer Dennis Nilsen.^[47] Regularly moving flats, from Vauxhall to Brixton and then Battersea, he was reunited with Hush, and they began performing as the Playgirls again, devising an act based upon the cult film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.^[48] At the end of the year, he appeared as an Ugly Sister in a drag pantomime of Cinderella.^[49] Moving into the Victoria Mansions flats in Vauxhall, in March 1983 he joined the Equity union, allowing him to take a role in the theatrical adaptation of If They'd Asked for a Lion Tamer at the Donmar Warehouse.^[50] The Playgirls gained bookings to appear across London, and also in Amsterdam and Copenhagen; O'Grady and Hush joined with drag artist David Dale to form an act known as "LSD", which stood for "Lily, Sandra and Doris", devising an act that parodied Andy Pandy, they gained bookings across London and in Edinburgh.^[51]

Residency in Vauxhall: 1984–92

In 1984, O'Grady began work as a barman at the Elephant and Castle, a Vauxhall gay pub. As Lily, he became compere of Ladies Night every Tuesday, where amateur drag acts would perform.^[52] As compere, he tried out comedy routines, becoming known for insulting both the acts and the audience, describing it as "one of the best times of my life." Becoming increasingly popular, the show began attracting crowds and he was interviewed by artist Patrick Procktor.^[53] After six months, O'Grady transferred his act to the nearby Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT) gay pub, whose manager offered him £50 a show over the £15 that the Elephant and Castle paid; he re-opened his show on Thursday nights as "Stars of the Future".^[54] In February 1985 he obtained his own council flat in Vauxhall's Victoria Mansions, moving in with his pet cats and friend Vera.^[55] During the mid-1980s, O'Grady met Brendan Murphy, known as "Murph" or "Murphy" to his friends, who was the manager of a gay sauna near the Oval, Kennington, and they entered into a long-term relationship.^[56] Murphy would subsequently become O'Grady's manager.^[57]

Eventually appearing at the RVT three times a week, on Sundays O'Grady began performing at the Union Tavern in Camberwell and the Goldsmith's Tavern in New Cross, where he often preceded Vic Reeves' three-hour show Vic Reeves Big Night Out.^[58] On a number of occasions he performed at the Madame JoJo's club in Soho.^[59] Quitting his council work, he focused full-time on his career as Lily, taking his act across the United Kingdom and also abroad to countries like Israel and Finland.^[60] Befriending American drag queen Divine and his manager Bernard Jay, Jay booked O'Grady to appear in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.^[61] As Divine had done, O'Grady also recorded his own Hi-NRG song, "Tough at the Top", which was produced by DJ Ian Levine.^[62] In 1988, he performed as Madame in The Scythe of Reason,^[63] and appeared at the Glasgow Mayfest, where he developed a lifelong friendship with actor Ian McKellen.^[64] From 1989 to 1992, O'Grady performed annually as Lily at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, gaining increasing recognition for his act.^[65] As a result, he was nominated for the 1991 Perrier Award alongside Jack Dee, Eddie Izzard, and Frank Skinner, although the latter ultimately won the award.^[66] O'Grady followed this with a show titled Lily Savage Live from the Hackney Empire, which proved to be a sell-out and which was the first time that his performance was recorded.^[67]

O'Grady used his act to publicly speak out against the treatment of Britain's LGBT community by the mainstream media, government and police, particularly during the HIV/AIDS crisis that hit the community during that decade. On a number of occasions, police raided pubs that he was working at; he was quoted in the Capital Gay newspaper as calling on LGBT people to riot against their mistreatment.^[68] In April 1988 he took part in a 30,000 strong march against Section 28, a policy introduced by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher that the gay community denounced as homophobic.^[69] Regularly doing charity fundraisers for HIV/AIDS research, many of his friends died as a result of AIDS-related complications,^[70] and he performed in a play about the disease at the King's Head Theatre in Islington; it was there that he befriended co-star Amanda Mealing.^[71]

O'Grady obtained his breakthrough into television when he played the character of a transvestite prostitute informant, Roxanne, in three episodes of ITV's police drama The Bill between 1988 and 1990.^[72] Just before filming on the first episode, O'Grady's mother died and he proceeded to return her house to the landlord.^[73] In 1990 he appeared in the ITV miniseries Chimera as Tony Donaldson, a social worker skilled in signing for the deaf; during filming he became friends with co-star Liza Tarbuck.^[74] He followed this with a performance as Marlene Dietrich in an episode of Rik Mayall's ITV comedy The New Statesman.^[74]

Mainstream success: 1992–98

After leaving the RVT, O'Grady continued to tour as Lily and released VHS videos of his performances.^[75] After gaining further public exposure through an appearance on the popular late-night Channel 4 comedy show Viva Cabaret!,^[76] he was invited to appear on an episode of BBC quiz show That's Showbusiness. Travelling to the Manchester studio where it was filmed, he accidentally left his Lily costume on the train, subsequently appearing on the show out of character.^[77] Moving into radio, as Lily, he began making regular appearances on Women's Hour and Loose Ends.^[78] Also moving into film, he traveled to Dublin, Ireland to play the role of an inmate in the 1993 film In the Name of the Father; although not in the Lily character, he was credited as "Paul Savage".^[75] In October 1994, he was invited on to an episode of BBC television series The Steve Wright People Show as Lily, where he proved popular and was invited back for a later episode.^[79] In November, he made a cameo as Lily in the soap Brookside,^[80] while he was also invited to guest present an episode of BBC music show Top of the Pops as Lily.^[81]

Employed to narrate the BBC 2 series Life Swaps, which with low ratings was not renewed for a second series,^[82] he was also given his own late-night Channel 4 series, Live from the Lilydome, which was filmed in a working men's club in Blackpool.^[83] Given top billing at the LGB rights charity Stonewall's 1994 Equality Show in Albert Hall,^[80] he also played the role of Nancy in the London Palladium's performance of the musical Oliver!.^[84] Reflecting his increasing success in mainstream British comedy, in 1994 he was nominated for both Top Live Stand-Up Comedian and Top Television Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards.^[85] Some in the South London gay scene from which O'Grady emerged were critical of where he had taken his career, accusing him of being a sell out; O'Grady fiercely denied these accusations, stating that "I've done nearly ten years on the factory floor and now I feel I deserve a shot in the office."^[86]

After Paula Yates resigned as presenter of the Channel 4 morning television program The Big Breakfast, its production company Planet 24 employed O'Grady to replace her. He was initially commissioned to present the show, to be termed Lie-in with Lily, for four weeks in what was to be treated as a trial run.^[87] As Lily, O'Grady ignored the suggested questions of PR agents, instead asked personal questions of his guests, in doing so attracting a 30% share of the morning audience, with 2 million viewers; realising his popularity, Planet 24 renewed his contract to keep him on as presenter.^[88] However, O'Grady found the early morning starts difficult to deal with, particularly as he had signed up to appear as Lily in a musical version of Prisoner in Cell Block H at the Queen's Theatre in London's West End. Juggling both rehearsals and The Big Breakfast proved incredibly exhausting for O'Grady.^[89] When the musical went on a tour of the UK, O'Grady accompanied it, taking a break from The Big Breakfast to do so.^[90]

He took his new dog, a shih tsu named Buster, with him on tour;^[91] O'Grady later commented that "He was never happier than in a TV studio or theatre... Buster knew all the theatre doormen, and loved being fussed over. He was a smashing dog."^[92] At the time, O'Grady had been making greater attempts to get to know his teenage daughter; both her existence and that of O'Grady's wife were discovered by the Daily Mirror tabloid, who treated them as a headline scandal in autumn 1994.^[93] Critical of the media, O'Grady condemned them for solely referring to him as a drag queen; he commented that "Barry Humphries is never called a drag act because he's a heterosexual male. But I'm called one because I'm a gay man. It's homophobic and it's wrong as there is nothing remotely sexual about what I do. I dress up as a woman for financial purposes, nothing else."^[94]

In April 1996, O'Grady filmed a performance at the LWT Tower as An Evening with Lily Savage, broadcast on ITV in November. A hit, it attracted 11.2 million viewers and earned an award for Best Entertainment Program at the 1997 National Television Awards, although was publicly criticised as being bawdy and in bad taste by both the Daily Mail and the drag queen Danny La Rue.^[95] ITV then offered him a weekly show that would air on Wednesdays at 8pm, although O'Grady turned down the offer, believing that the pre-watershed slot would force him to drastically alter his act into a form of light entertainment.^[96] With Murphy he then established a production company, known as Widlflower.^[97] Returning to theatre, he performed The Lily Savage Show for a sixteen-week sell-out run at the North Pier Theatre in Blackpool, and after a month break returned to the town to perform Lily's Christmas Cracker at the Blackpool Opera House.^[98] At this juncture, he agreed to appear as Lily in a series of adverts for the Ford Escort, earning him £150,000,^[99] and would subsequently appear in ad campaigns for Pretty Polly tights and a bingo company.^[100] O'Grady had earned a substantial sum of money through these performances, enabling him to move out of his Vauxhall council flat and into a luxury apartment near to Tower Bridge in central London.^[97] Through contacts made in showbusiness, he became friends with many A-list celebrities, among them Elton John and Cher.^[101]

Television

Blankety Blank, travel shows, and Eyes Down: 1998–2003

In 1998, the BBC produced a six-week Sunday series titled The Lily Savage Show, although O'Grady found the scripted, non-spontaneous nature of the series difficult. He had convinced Janet Street-Porter to appear on the show as his floor-manager, and interviewed such guests as Alan Yentob, Anthea Turner, and Elton John. The show was not well received.^[102] At the same time, the BBC had decided to revive the quiz show Blankety Blank, which had previously been hosted by Terry Wogan and Les Dawson. They selected O'Grady to present the show in the role of Lily Savage, allowing him to ab lib rather than strictly follow a script, filming a pilot episode in 1997; after this pilot was a hit, they commissioned a full series.^[103] With his increased public profile, O'Grady was invited on to many other television chat shows, such as Richard and Judy, while in the guise of Lily,^[104] and agreed to appear in a Christmas special of cookery show Ready, Steady, Cook alongside his friend Barbara Windsor.^[105] Continuing with his theatre work, he went on an eight-week tour as Lily,^[106] before starring as Mrs Hannigan in a West End performance of the musical Annie, for which he appeared in six evening performances and two matinees per week.^[107] He subsequently accompanied the show on its tour of the UK,^[108] before appearing in a pantomime in Birmingham that winter.^[109] Deciding on a move to the countryside, in 1999 O'Grady purchased a house in Aldington, Kent for £650,000 from comedian Vic Reeves, proceeding to decorate it in an art nouveau style and establish a smallholding in which to keep various animals.^[110]

Screened on primetime Saturday night, Blankety Blank proved a ratings winner for the BBC, attracting an audience of 9 million. Rival company ITV then purchased it, offering O'Grady a two-year deal for £1 million.^[111] ITV let him be more risque in his use of humour on Blankety Blank, and also commissioned a new comedy series, Lily Live!.^[112] This show also proved a success, earning O'Grady nominations for both the Best Comedy Entertainment Personality and Programme at the 2000 British Comedy Awards.^[113] However, O'Grady had tired of appearing as Lily, and decided to try and make a career for himself out of drag.^[114] He first appeared as himself in an advert campaign for Double Two shirt-makers,^[115] before he pitched a proposed six-part travelogue series to ITV, who agreed to part-fund it. The project resulted in Paul O'Grady's Orient, for which he travelled throughout East and Southeast Asia, visiting Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Bangkok, Bali and Singapore. Although poorly received by the tabloid press, it achieved good ratings, and ITV commissioned a second series, Paul O'Grady's America, in which he visited New York City, Miami, New Orleans, Dallas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Again it received poor tabloid reviews.^[116]

Although then believed to have assets totalling £4 million,^[117] O'Grady found that his newfound material wealth brought him little comfort and for a time suffered with clinical depression.^[118] He recovered in time to perform alongside Cilla Black and Barbara Windsor in a burlesque rendition of "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" at the 2001 Royal Variety Performance; the televised event attracted 11.5 million viewers.^[119] In April 2002, O'Grady suffered a heart attack, and was rushed to St. Thomas's Hospital in South London, where doctors attributed it to a combination of a congential family heart problems with stress, cigarettes and caffeine.^[120] Spending several weeks recovering, he missed the Heritage Foundation Awards ceremony, where he was to be awarded television personality of the year award.^[121] Returning to work, he appeared as the Child Catcher in a twelve-week run of the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium, where he co-starred with Michael Ball and Brian Blessed. It was his first theatrical performance where his character was not largely based on Lily Savage, and earned him good reviews.^[122] He followed this with a pantomime performance as the Wicked Queen in Snow White at Manchester Opera House.^[123]

In 2003, O'Grady appeared in Celebrity Driving School, a BBC Comic Relief show in which he learned to drive alongside friends Nadia Sawalha and Jade Goody. He earned his driving licence shortly after the show culminated, and was nominated for a Best Television Moment of the Year Award for one of his tantrums on the show.^[124] He received an invite to appear on Gordon Ramsay's Hells Kitchen but declined, citing his strong dislike for reality television.^[125] He had also received various offers to star in a sitcom, a genre that he typically disliked. However, after reading the show's script, he agreed to appear in the new BBC sitcom Eyes Down. Set in a Merseyside bingo hall, he played the manager, Ray, humorously commenting that "He's an evil, twisted man who hates everything that moves. Not exactly a challenge for me".^[126] Screened in the prime Friday night slot at 9pm, the show received poor and mediocre reviews although was popular with viewers, and was renewed for a second series.^[127] The BBC were also planning on reviving The Generation Game, and brought O'Grady in as its presenter. Filming two pilot episodes in 2003, both O'Grady and the production team were unhappy with the result, with O'Grady leaving the project.^[128] O'Grady ended 2003 with a pantomime performance at the Bristol Hippodrome.^[129]

The Paul O'Grady Show: 2004–05

O'Grady had gained experience as a daytime television presenter by standing in for Des O'Connor in nine episodes of ITV's lunchtime chat show Today with Des and Mel. Having got on well with co-presenter Melanie Sykes, he enjoyed the feeling of presenting live.^[131] ITV executives deemed this such a success that they offered him his own daytime chat show, with news of his agreement going public in autumn 2004; the result would be The Paul O'Grady Show.^[132] There was initial press scepticism and concern that O'Grady's style of adult humour would not be appropriate for a daytime slot, but ITV's controller of entertainment, Mark Wells, declared that "Paul is one of the funniest people on television — he deserves to be on it far more than he is."^[133]

The show first aired on October 2004 from 5 to 6 pm and saw O'Grady interviewing celebrity guests, representing "a glorious mix of seemingly unscripted banter, chat and slapstick humour".^[133] In producing the show, O'Grady worked with many of his old friends, including warm-up man Andy Collins.^[134] The series was a hit, attaining between 2.5 and 2.7 million viewers daily, which was better than ITV had anticipated.^[135] According to O'Grady biographer Neil Simpson, "The show was unashamedly populist, a riotous, endearingly kitsch romp with no pretensions to be anything other than pure entertainment. In some ways it was pure vaudeville[...] There were novelty acts, talking dogs, whistling goldfish, extraordinary stories. His audience laughed like drains at his anecdotes and were brought right into the heart of the show."^[136] The inclusion of his dog, Buster, on the show proved particularly popular with audiences.^[137]

The show gained a devout following, with an "extraordinary hardcore of fans [who] try to be at as many recordings as possible", in many cases arriving at the studio gates two hours before the advertised starting time in order to get the best seats.^[138] O'Grady's biographer Neil Simpson commented on the crowds coming to see the show being recorded when he related that "Groups of middle aged women dominate – but they are joined by beautiful twenty-something women with flawless make-up, flash City boys with Louis Vuitton briefcases, hip-looking students out for a good time and pensioners just wanting a laugh in the afternoon."^[139] In many cases, fans queuing to see the show had to be turned away because too many had turned up, and for live shows as many as a hundred often had to be turned away.^[138]

Although it failed to gain a greater audience than BBC quiz show The Weakest Link, The Paul O'Grady Show attracted an audience half a million larger than that of rival daytime chat show, Channel 4's Richard & Judy. The British tabloids stoked the rivalry between these two competing shows, calling the rivalry the "Chat Wars". After Richard and Judy's production company warned Joan Collins that she would be banned from further appearances on Channel 4 if she agreed to appear on both their show and The Paul O'Grady Show. O'Grady accused them of "(...)fighting dirty now. I'm not bothered what's on the other side but they have said, If you come on my show you don't go on theirs for three years. How stupid is that?"^[141] He later claimed that tabloids had been making up false quotes which they then attributed to him, describing Richard and Judy as "a lovely couple and we certainly haven't fallen out. I hate all the fuss being made."^[142]

In winter 2004, O'Grady again performed in pantomime, this time in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the West End's Victoria Palace; his contract attracted attention due to the fact that he was being paid £70,000 a week in addition to profit-related bonuses.^[143] After a second series of The Paul O'Grady Show was commissioned, in March 2005 it was awarded Best Daytime Programme by the Royal Television Society, and O'Grady himself was subsequently awarded Best Entertainment Performance at the BAFTAs.^[144] In his personal life, O'Grady was devastated when his manager and best friend Brendan Murphy contracted brain cancer; O'Grady hid the diagnosis from the press and cared for Murphy at his Kent home; he later commented that "To watch someone you love, a healthy, eloquent man, unable to speak or walk is hideous."^[145] Murphy died aged 49, two days before O'Grady's fiftieth birthday, and was buried in the local Kentish churchyard.^[146] O'Grady subsequently became embroiled in legal arguments surrounding Murphy's will,^[147] although continued working to distract himself from his grief.^[148] In August 2005 a furore enveloped the show when it was publicly revealed that the staff member responsible for interviewing prospective child reporters had written derogatory notes on many of them, such as "I think he is special needs", "common and thick", and "Black girl: NO". O'Grady was on holiday when the story hit the tabloids, proceeding to offer a public apology, sending a card and flowers to those affected, and firing the staff member responsible.^[149]

The New Paul O'Grady Show: 2006–09; 2013–present

Prior to the latter's death, O'Grady had promised Murphy that his own production company – now named Olga TV after one of O'Grady's dogs – would take creative control over The Paul O'Grady Show. ITV refused to allow this, and so O'Grady decided to take up an offer from Channel 4 to move the show to their channel; here it would be renamed The New Paul O'Grady Show, and would share the slot with former rival Richard and Judy.^[151] O'Grady's move was highly criticised in the press, where he was accused of abandoning ITV in pursuit of a higher salary;^[152] Channel 4 offered him a contract for £2 million a year, making him one of Britain's highest paid television stars.^[153] ITV executives were furious at O'Grady for the move; they refused Olga TV permission to continue using their studio premises, leading the show to relocate to BBC's studio 1 in Broadcasting House.^[154] While Channel 4 began screening The New Paul O'Grady Show, ITV screened repeat episodes of The Paul O'Grady Show in an attempt to confuse viewers and draw them to their channel.^[155] Nevertheless, the show continued to receive good reviews.^[156]

In June 2006, O'Grady suffered a second massive heart attack while at his Kent home; he was taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford where he underwent angioplasty surgery.^[157][158] Following the incident, he received around 7000 get-well-soon cards and letters from fans and well-wishers.^[159] He returned to work for the second series of The New Paul O'Grady Show in September, during which the show's viewing figures hit a new peak.^[160] To deal with his health issues, he began taking a week off mid-series, where he was replaced by guest presenters such as Cilla Black, Brian Conley, Lorraine Kelly, and Vernon Kay.^[161] The tabloids tried to re-ignite the "chat wars" by claiming a rivalry between O'Grady and other daytime television shows such as The Sharon Osbourne Show and The Brian Conley Show, but O'Grady refused to participate.^[162] He subsequently won the Ten Years at the Top award at the TV Quick and TV Choice awards.^[163]

On 28 June 2008, O'Grady appeared in the Doctor Who episode The Stolen Earth.^[164] In September 2008, he appeared in a two hour long show, called Ghosthunting with Paul O'Grady & Friends, filmed in Sicily, with fellow Liverpudlians Jennifer Ellison, Philip Olivier and Natasha Hamilton. On 6 June 2009, the Daily Mirror confirmed that O'Grady signed a new two-year contract with Channel 4 in autumn 2009 to keep his show on air until the end of 2011. However, Channel 4 told O'Grady that his show would face huge budget cuts, with his salary most likely halved.^[165] On Monday 21 September 2009, O'Grady returned to present the 11th (including ITV series) and final series of The Paul O'Grady Show.^[166] On 14 October 2009, O'Grady agreed to an £8 million deal with ITV to host a Friday prime-time chat-show, to rival that of BBC One's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2010, after budget talks broke down with Channel 4.^[166]

On 30 November 2009, O'Grady was a guest presenter on GMTV Limited's GMTV with Lorraine, in celebration of Lorraine Kelly's 50th birthday. He has guest starred on Living's paranormal show, Most Haunted Live!, after presenter Yvette Fielding was a guest on his show and invited him on. Also in November 2009, O'Grady reunited with Yvette Fielding to take part in a 2 part paranormal investigation series called Death in Venice where he and Fielding investigated haunted locations in Venice.

On 18 December 2009, Channel 4 broadcast the final episode of The Paul O'Grady Show, after 11 series.

In 2005, Liverpool John Moores University awarded O'Grady an honorary fellowship for services to entertainment,^[167] and in 2010, he received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from De Montfort University, Leicester, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to television, radio and the stage.^[168]

In the autumn of 2013, O'Grady began hosting a revival of his teatime chat show The Paul O'Grady Show on ITV. The series was produced by his own production company Olga TV filmed at The London Studios.^[169][170] In November 2013, O'Grady suffered an angina attack and returned to hospital; during the incident, he was replaced by guest presenters on his chat show for a week.

Paul O'Grady Live: 2010–12

O'Grady made a deal with ITV to present a new Friday night chat show, Paul O'Grady Live.^[171] The first series aired for ten episodes from September to November 2010.^[172] In October, O'Grady attracted media attention after using Paul O'Grady Live to criticise the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government for their implementation of mass cuts to social services. He called them "bastards" and proclaimed "Do you know what got my back up? Those Tories hooping and hollering when they heard about the cuts. Gonna scrap the pensions – yeah! – no more wheelchairs – yeah! ... I bet when they were children they laughed in Bambi when his mother got shot."^{[173][174][175]} Ofcom received several complaints over the incident,^[174] though his Bambi quote was soon after quoted by Peter Taffe at the Socialism 2010 conference.^[176] O'Grady also voiced his support for student protesters who had occupied and vandalised the headquarters of the Conservative Party at Millbank Tower on 10 November 2010.^[177][178]

The show was picked up for a second series from April to July 2011. A special devoted to American pop star Lady Gaga also aired; O'Grady described Gaga as a "thoroughly decent human being", and labelled himself one of her "greatest admirers."^[180] Straight after, O'Grady holidayed in China with Brazilian boyfriend André, visiting Shanghai, Hong Kong and Lhasa.^[181] O'Grady found himself caught up in the News International phone hacking scandal when police from Operation Weeting informed him that News of the World reporter Glenn Mulcaire had hacked his mobile phone. Disappointed, he decided not to sue.^[182] In October 2011, O'Grady played Mr Slattery in a stage performance of Drama at Inish at the Finborough in Earl's Court.^[183] That month, ITV axed Paul O'Grady Live.^[184][185] O'Grady stated that ITV had asked him to return for a third series, but that he had refused, claiming that he had had enough of the chat show format.^[171][179] He remarked that he had become fed up with the "interference" from the show's producers and the fact that certain guests had appeared on air while under the influence of the illicit drug cocaine.^[179] O'Grady later commented that having to interview some A-list celebrities was akin to conversing with a "relative you felt obliged to visit."^[186]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs: 2012–2015

Since 3 September 2012, O'Grady has presented the ITV documentary series Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs, covering life at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.^[187] O'Grady commented that he had wanted to do such a show for years and that he took to it with an "enthusiasm that surprised everyone except me". Although scheduled to initially film at the centre for six days, he stayed as a volunteer for six months.^[188] At the end of the first series, O'Grady was invited to become an ambassador of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and a bronze statue of his late dog, Buster, was erected on a plinth at the centre.^[189] He also adopted a dog from the home; a Jack Russell-Chihuahua cross named Eddy.^[189] The first series averaged 4.07 million viewers, the second averaging 4.97 million, the third with 3.98 million and the fourth received 3.74 million viewers on average. The show has won two National Television Awards in 2013 and 2014 for "Most Popular Factual Entertainment Programme". In 2013, the programme was also nominated for a BAFTA.^[190]

Paul O'Grady's Animal Orphans: 2014–present

From 14 January 2014, O'Grady hosted a three-part documentary series entitled Paul O'Grady's Animal Orphans on ITV, which saw him travel to Africa to meet some of the continent's animal orphans. A second three-part series began on 20 January 2015 and a third series will air in 2016.^[191]

The first series averaged 3.29 million viewers whilst the second averaged 2.75 million.^[192]

Other work

In April 2012, O'Grady presented The One and Only Des O'Connor, a one-off special for ITV which looked back on the life of Des O'Connor. On 3 July 2013, O'Grady narrated the ITV documentary programme, Me and My Guide Dog following the work of Guide Dogs.^[193] On 14 April 2013, O'Grady presented a documentary about burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee as part of ITV's Perspectives series.^[194] That month, he presented ITV's first British Animal Honours award ceremony.^{[195][196][197]}

In 2013, O'Grady guest starred in three episodes of Holby City.^[198] On 31 October 2013, O'Grady co-starred opposite Cilla Black in a non-broadcast pilot for a BBC One sitcom called Led Astray. The show was not commissioned for a full series due to the pair's busy schedules.^[199][200]

On 15 August 2013, O'Grady presented a two-part BBC documentary series Paul O'Grady's Working Britain, which was nominated for a National Television Award in January 2014.^[201] On 16 October 2013, O'Grady presented The One and Only Cilla Black, a 90-minute ITV special celebrating Cilla Black's 50 years in show business.^[202]

On 31 December 2014, O'Grady appeared in the one-off ITV documentary Rita & Me celebrating Barbara Knox's fifty years as Rita Tanner in Coronation Street.^[203] In 2015, O'Grady presented Bob Monkhouse: The Million Joke Man, a three-part factual series for Gold, exploring the life of comedian and presenter Bob Monkhouse.^[204] The show looked back over the life of entertainer Bob Monkhouse.^[205] In December 2015, O'Grady appeared in Our Cilla, a one-off programme about the life of Cilla Black.

In September 2015, it was announced that O'Grady would present a new six-part series for BBC One which follows the work of The Salvation Army.^[206] The series will be called Paul O'Grady: The Sally Army & Me and will air in 2016.^[207][208]

Writing

O'Grady has written a three-volume autobiography. The first volume, At My Mother's Knee ... And Other Low Joints, was published by Bantam in September 2008. It was given a positive review by Private Eye who noted that the book did not fall into the most common celebrity biography traps of being ghost written, settling scores or not sounding like it had been written by its subject. The second volume, The Devil Rides Out: The Second Coming, was released in September 2010. In October 2012, his third volume, Still Standing: The Savage Years, was released with the official launch taking place at the Cambridge Theatre. In September 2015, O'Grady's fourth book Open the Cage, Murphy was released.^[209][210]

Credits

Year(s)	Title	Role
1988–90	The Bill	Roxanne
1991	Chimera	Donaldson
1992	The New Statesman	Marlene Dietrich
1993	In the Name of the Father	Prisoner
1994	Top of the Pops	Guest presenter (as Lily Savage)
1995–96	The Big Breakfast	Presenter (as Lily Savage)
1996	An Audience with Lily Savage	Presenter (as Lily Savage)
1997	The Lily Savage Show	Presenter (as Lily Savage)
1997–02	Blankety Blank	Presenter (as Lily Savage)
1999	Love Bites with Lily Savage	Presenter (as Lily Savage)
2000	Paul O'Grady's Orient	Presenter
2000–01	Lily Live!	Presenter (as Lily Savage)
2001	Paul O'Grady's America	Presenter
2002–03	Outtake TV	Presenter
2002–06	Today with Des and Mel	Guest presenter
2003–04	Eyes Down	Ray Temple
2004–05	The British Soap Awards	Presenter
2004–09 2013–	The Paul O'Grady Show	Presenter
2005	Comic Aid	Presenter (as Lily Savage)
2010	Coronation Street: The Big 50	Presenter
2010–11	Paul O'Grady Live	Presenter
2012–	Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs	Presenter
2012	The One and Only Des O'Connor	Presenter
2012	The British Animal Honours	Presenter
2013	Me and My Guide Dog	Narrator
2013	Paul O'Grady's Working Britain	Presenter
2013	Holby City	Tim Connor
2013, 2015	The One and Only Cilla Black	Presenter
2014–	Paul O'Grady's Animal Orphans	Presenter
2015	Bob Monkhouse: The Million Joke Man	Presenter
2016	Paul O'Grady: The Sally Army & Me[211]	Presenter

Personal life

In 1974, with his friend Diane Jansen, O'Grady had a daughter, Sharyn. O'Grady's grandson, Abel, was born in December 2006,^[212] with a granddaughter being born in December 2009.^[213] From 1977 to 2005, he was in a marriage of convenience with Portuguese lesbian Teresa Fernandes, although was not in a relationship with her.^[33] His long-term lover and business partner was Brendan Frank Murphy (4 March 1956 – 9 June 2005).^[147] Known to many friends as "Lily" or "Lil",^[214] O'Grady is publicly known for having had many high profile and celebrity friends, including the politician Mo Mowlam, actresses Amanda Mealing and Barbara Windsor, comedienne Brenda Gilhooly and the late Cilla Black.^[215]

O'Grady divides his time between his Central London flat and his rural Kentish farmhouse.^[216] There he grows organic fruit and vegetables,^[217] and a variety of herbs, having a keen interest in herbalism.^[218] A lifelong animal lover,^[92] as a child O'Grady kept rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, a ferret and a rat as pets; he has commented that his mother thought him "a bit weird" as a result.^[92] At his Kentish farm, he owned sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys, ducks, chickens, geese, ferrets, bats, mice, and dogs.^[219] Two of O'Grady's pet dogs became well known to the British public through appearances on The Paul O'Grady Show; the first was Buster Elvis Savage, a Shih Tzu/Bichon Frise cross. A rescue dog, Buster was euthanised in November 2009 after a struggle with cancer.^[220][221] O'Grady dedicated the second volume of his autobiography to Buster, describing him as "The greatest canine star since Lassie."^[222] A second dog, the Cairn Terrier Olga, also attracted attention; in 2013 it was revealed that she was undergoing chemotherapy as treatment for cancer.^[223]

Publicly known for his "trenchant opinions",^[140] O'Grady is critical of the British Royal Family, having been raised by his father to view them as social parasites; the exception in his mind was Diana, Princess of Wales, whom he came to respect for her charitable work with those living with HIV/AIDS.^[224] In April 2013, O'Grady expressed his support for the Labour Party, championing Labour leader Ed Miliband as a better candidate for UK Prime Minister than Conservative incumbent David Cameron.^[225] He lambasted the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government then in power, describing them as "absolutely disgusting. They have no idea what the common working man and woman are doing. They are not in touch with the working classes. They have led privileged lives – they've had public schools and have never been on the shop floor."^[225]

O'Grady has supported philanthropic causes supporting carers.^[226] In 2012, O'Grady became a celebrity ambassador of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home after recording the first series of ITV programme Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs.^[227] In 2013, he joined the Pedigree Feeding Brighter Futures campaign with Amanda Holden, which aims to give a million meals to rescue dogs nationwide.^[186][228]

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

• Paul O'Grady at BBC Programmes
• The Paul O'Grady Show on ITV

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Paul O'Grady

• Paul O'Grady at the Internet Movie Database

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