Peter Kay has spoken out about working with Jimmy Saville, descrbing the disgraced presenter as a “dirty old perv”.
Speaking to The Mirror ahead of the release of his new book, Big Adventures on the Small Screen, Kay recalled some of the highs and lows of his career, including working with Savile.
The comedian said he was working on the last ever episode of Peter Kay’s World Of Entertainment for the BBC series The Sunday Show, and wanted to “push the boat out” by getting Savile involved. The Jim’ll Fix It presenter agreed on the grounds he would receive £500 in cash and a box of cigars worth £1000, which Kay agreed to.
However, Kay said he found Savile to be “very eccentric”, claiming he “talked utter nonsense, spouting weird quotes, crap jokes, limericks”.
Kay continued: “The only hint I got of Jimmy being immoral in any way was when he met our executive producer, Bridget Boseley.
“I remember she offered him her hand, which Jimmy took, then he flipped it round to kiss the back of it, but before his lips touched her skin I saw a quick flick of his tongue licking the back of her hand. Urgh! What was all that about?
“Bridget and I chatted about it later. She said, ‘He licked the back of my hand,'” to which Kay replied:”I know, I saw him, the dirty old perv.”
Kay also detailed the time he was asked to help cover up images of Savile’s face with Children in Need stickers during an event at the BBC Media City HQ in Salford — the day after the ITV documentary exposing the presenter aired.
Kay wrote in his book: “Everybody had gone apart from Peter Salmon (BBC Exec), Guy Garvey, Mr Tumble and me. The main corridor wall had a huge black and white mural featuring BBC icons from over the years. Michael Parkinson, Only Fools and Horses, Dad’s Army, that sort of thing. Just like wallpaper, the images repeated along the length of the wall.
“I’ll never forget Peter Salmon, he said, ‘Here, could you do me a favour?’ and he handed each of us a pile of big bright-yellow Children in Need Pudsey Bear stickers. ‘Could you find Savile and cover him up?’
“So there we were, up step ladders trying to find every image of Jimmy Savile so we could cover him up (ironically just what the BBC had reportedly been doing for years). It was like some depraved Where’s Wally? Or Where’s Jimmy?”
Elsewhere, Kay recently expressed his desire to revive his hit sitcom Phoenix Nights for a feature film.
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