Holiday Time

I have finished filming today, and I am going to have a short break from tomorrow. Can't wait for my 2 weeks of doing nothing!

I just want to thank everyone involved in making this series of IDEAL. This has been the most enjoyable series that I have been involved with. Johnny Vegas has become a great friend, and I really admire him as an actor. The rest of the cast have been fantastic, but we would be nowhere without Graham Duff who writes it brilliantly.

So, thank you to Gill Isles and all at Baby Cow Productions and everyone at BBC Manchester, not forgetting the crew who work incredibly hard to get the best out of us all.

I'll be back after my short break.

Mick

Sport Relief

Here is the poster for the Sport Relief Football match on Saturday 20th March.

Hope you can get along to support it.

Filming and Charity!

Hi all,

I've been having fun on the set of "IDEAL." I can't tell you the story line, but needless to say, it's well up to the high standards that have been set up to now. I think that this is going to be the best series so far.

Now, to the charity bit. The Royle Family's Ricky Tomlinson has asked me to be part of his annual charity show at the Liverpool Empire on Wednesday, 17th March. Various charities will benefit from the proceeds and it will be a great night out. This year, it will be a Country & Comedy Show, and will feature Raymond Froggatt, Kevin "Curly Watts" Kennedy, Michael Starke, Crissy Rock, Me and many others. Tickets are available from the box office.

Finally, The "IDEAL" cast and crew will be taking on a team from "Corrie," "Emmerdale" & "Waterloo Road" in a football match in aid of Sport Relief. It will be at Man. City's training ground on 20th March. I will post more details when I get them.

Take Care,

Mick

BBC Radio Lancashire

Hi everyone. I've just got home after doing an interview on the Ted Robbins Show on BBC Radio Lancashire. Ted is an old friend, who is also a great comedian. Some of you will know him as Den Perry in Phoenix Nights. The good thing about comedians who turn into interviewers, is that they know how to get the best out of you. You feel that you are in friendly company and it doesn't feel like you are in a Police interview room!

We had a really good chat about all sorts. I even did the "Noddy" routine by special request. At the end of the show, Ted told me that they had had a lot of emails and texts, saying how much they had enjoyed the chat.

If you are not in the BBC Lancashire area, or missed the show, it's available by going to the BBC Radio Lancashire website. Then look through the presenters and find Ted Robbins. Then click on "Listen Again." You then need to find "Friday 12th February 2010." My bit starts just after 1hr 12mins in.

Have a listen. This link should take you there. Copy and paste it into your address bar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0069n9h/Ted_Robbins_12_02_2010/

Keep well, speak soon.

Mick

IDEAL

Hi,

I've started filming the new series of IDEAL this week. This series is going to be one of the best so far. Graham Duff, who writes it, has come up with some great stories.

Nothing much has happened recently, it's always the quiet time of the year. I was lucky enough to be in the Caribbean again, which was a great place to read the IDEAL scripts. Flying back was interesting though. I had to fly from Aruba to Curacao, which only takes about half an hour. It was when I saw the plane! It was a small, propellor, plane. It only held about ten people, and it looked old, but I had no choice, I had to get on it or miss my flight back to Europe. I was very nervous, but it was absolutely fine. I surprised myself as I quite enjoyed the flight.

I'll blog again soon,

Mick

Christmas and beyond

Hi,

I had a great Christmas with the family. It's nice to see the faces on the kids on Christmas morning. Did any of you go to the pub on Christmas Day? There's always a strong smell of after shave!

I was working on New Years Day, so my New Years celebration was quite reserved. The show was at Warner's Littlecote House at Hungerford. I think that the audience had enjoyed their New Years break and I was expecting them to be a bit quiet after all their fun. But, I was wrong, they were totally up for a laugh. I was on with an old friend, Jeff Hooper and his band. He's a great entertainer with a fabulous bunch of quality musicians. We had a chat and caught up on things. I really enjoyed the evening, but had to travel straight back to Blackpool after the show.

Then, it was down to Southampton to join the Queen Victoria. We sailed to New York, and then I flew back.

This week was the "read through" for the new series of "IDEAL." It's a chance to catch up with all the cast before the work really begins. I have to say that this series looks fantastic. We start filming at the end of the month and carry on until April. I'm really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow, I fly to Barbados for a short cruise, returning in time to have a day off before filming.

For those of you in the BBC Lancashire region, I have agreed to be a guest on Ted Robbins Morning Show. The provisional date is Friday 5th Feb. but things sometimes change.

I'm going to pack my suitcase again, see you soon,

Mick

Hi Everyone,

firstly, sorry for not posting anything for a while, but I've been busy and just didn't get around to blogging.

As you can imagine, the run up to Christmas has been mad. We call it the "Silly Season" for obvious reasons. I've been up, down and back and forward across the UK. Every road/Motorway seems to be dug up. It also seems that the whole of the UK is drunk! But on a plus side, the Company Christmas Parties seem to be there, which means that businesses are starting to spend money again. Let's hope it's the start of the climb out of recession. We even had our Company Christmas Party, well, Steve and I had a few drinks after a gig the other night.

So, it just remains for me to wish you all a very merry christmas and happy and successful 2010.

Mick