Entertainment

O'Grady quits talk show

Paul O’Grady has quit his ITV1 chat show, it has been reported.

The star, who found fame as Lily Savage before becoming a tea time television host, made the move to night-time just a few years ago, but now he's said to have grown tired of the format that made him a household name.

O'Grady, who also hosts a show on BBC Radio Two, told the Mirror:

"I really, really don’t want to do any more chat shows, to be honest with you. There’s just so many of them – This Morning, Lorraine, The One Show, Loose Women, Graham and Alan and Jonathan.

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"I’d often end up with a guest I’d had on the couch six times and think, ‘what are we going to talk about?’

"And people weren’t coming on for a chat, they were plugging a book or a film or a TV show. Some weeks I’d have nine books to read. I’d plough through them, then try to watch all the films. It became all-consuming and I felt I was becoming part of the PR machine."

"They wanted me to come back in February, but I had itchy feet and I wanted to do something else."

It was also announced this week that he would be returning to the stage, alongside Coronation Street legend Julie Goodyear, for a musical version of the northern soap.

The Street of Dreams will debut in Manchester in March and will feature classic storylines and past characters from the soap's long history.

Tickets for the show at Manchester’s M.E.N Arena are on sale now.