Peter Kay reportedly wants to revive his hit comedy, Phoenix Nights.
More than 20 years after the show’s final episode aired, Kay has hinted that he’d like to come back for more.
In a book the 50-year-old has coming out – TV: Big Adventures on the Small Screen – the comic writes about the shows he’s worked on and reveals how he’d like to see phoenix rise again.
Phoenix Nights is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men’s club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester, and in it, Kay played wheelchair-bound club owner Brian Potter, and chip-dropping bouncer Max.
Two series of the show, which Kay created with Neil Fitzmaurice and Dave Spikey, were produced and aired in 2001 and 2002.
Kay suggests in the book, as he has done previously, that Phoenix Nights could come back for a film. He also revealed that he’d planned a Christmas special of spin-off Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere.
Two series of the show, which Kay created with Neil Fitzmaurice and Dave Spikey, were produced and aired in 2001 and 2002.
Kay suggests in the book, as he has done previously, that Phoenix Nights could come back for a film. He also revealed that he’d planned a Christmas special of spin-off Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere.
“The chance of a helicopter ever landing is, of course, zero. As the years pass, I’m becoming more like Brian, but if Phoenix Nights rose again it’d have to be for something very special, maybe a film?” “Perhaps Brian could get visited by three ghosts. Now, wouldn’t that be an idea?”
Kay also wrote that he’d penned a Christmas special of Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere where the two were working as “overly aggressive” elves in a Santa’s grotto.
Kay has said a few times over the years that a third series of Phoenix Nights has been written, but they just haven’t found the time to film it.
He told BBC Radio 1 in 2006 that new episodes had been written, while in 2017 he told BBC Radio Manchester that “a whole series three been written for about 15 years”.
In the final episode of Phoenix Nights the club staff put on a Stars in their Eyes night after Den Perry (Tim Robbins) cancels all the acts they had booked.
On the big night, Perry is also tricked into revealing he burnt down the Phoenix Club at the end of the first series, while Max and Paddy (Paddy McGuinness) go on the run after fearing they’ll be bumped off for failing to kill a woman’s husband.
The show ended on a note of celebration as Brian’s reputation is restored, but he lets Jerry (Dave Spikey) stay as the club’s licensee and everyone except Max and Paddy have a celebration.
Peter Kay’s book TV: Big Adventures on the Small Screen releases on 28 September.
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