Tony decided to use the awkward
resignation as an opportunity to return to the West End stage and
reacquaint himself with the skill of acting in front of a live
audience of Eastern European tourists.
He was signed up almost immediately for
the notorious musical project led by 50's singing sensation Harry
Richie. A rock'n'roll musical re-interpretation of Jane Eyre,
featuring Harry and Tony as the two leading male characters Mr Reed
and Edward Rochester. Despite huge initial audiences, the show had a
horrific reception from critics, and it closed within a year. Tony
found himself without work for the first time in almost two decades,
he spent the time redecorating his home, gardening, and writing
letters to the Daily Telegraph.
However, in show-business, three years
is a long time. Despite his exile from both the air and stage, he and
LTV worked out their mutual differences and a star was re-born.
Since then Tony has starred in some of
the most popular shows on television, numerous hit films, and made
guest appearances in everything from 'Accident and Emergency' to
panel quiz show 'That's Amusing'.
His biggest moment came in 2010, when
LTV showed the one off special tribute show '35 Years of Tony James',
which told his story and featured clips and performances from some of
acting's biggest names. In the buzz that followed, LTV signed a deal
with Tony to produce a new Friday evening talk show, in which he
would interview top quality guests live in a relaxed but dignified
style. Tony signed up, looking forward to a new show that would
demonstrate his skills both as an interviewer and an entertainer.
'The Tony James Show' started to
receive large scale publicity across LTV, featuring a national poster
campaign that was impossible to miss for anyone who didn't live
inside their house all day for three weeks. Tony was interviewed on
every other chat show going, from camp comics to harsh news
reporters, everybody wanted a piece of Tony James. Russell Watts even
crowned him 'Britain's Most Popular Entertainer', an honour that Tony
was slightly embarrassed about, but accepted with the good grace and
wit of a true professional.
Two weeks to go and everything looked
to be running smoothly. In fact the biggest point of tension was over
the colour of the set decorations.
Steve,
I know design is not particularly my
forte, but please can we change the video wall on the set to show
purple or orange, the bright pink colour scheme they have right now
would make Barbie recoil in horror.
Regards
Tony
Tony,
Our research indicated that bright
pink is the best fit with the demographic of your target audience. We
don't want to be too masculine.
Steve
Steve,
It looks bloody awful. I doubt the
research stated it would look bloody awful.
Tony
Tony,
I'll have a word with the set
designer, see if we can tone it down a bit.
Steve
This minor issue
aside, the show was almost ready. The first guests were booked, the
audience tickets had been sold, and Tony was busy reading up as much
as he could on his guests prior to meeting them.
The first weeks
show had some of the biggest names on TV, several of whom were also
personal friends of Tony. They included renowned Shakespearian actor
Alfred Stewart, well respected movie star Colin Edwards, and
legendary right-on comedian Michael Gates, whose latest stadium tour
had sold out within an hour. It was by any proportions a
star-studded, intelligent line up to launch a chat show.
However just 24
hours before the first show disaster struck. Michael Gates' mother in
law was rushed into hospital after dropping a sponge cake and
breaking three toes, so Michael was forced to cancel his appearance.
Steve,
We need someone to replace Michael!
Please, no annoying reality show
stars. I know it's short notice but surely there must be someone with
talent we can book? There must be someone famous in the next studio
tomorrow.
Tony
Tony,
I believe the conceptual artist Ying
Chan is recording a special on the use of bodily fluids in art in
studio 7. I'll see if we can steal her for thirty minutes.
Steve
Steve,
Do you think the audience will be
interested in conceptual art?
Surely anyone who likes bright pink
is unlikely to be a fan of Ying Chan?
Tony
Tony,
I am inclined to agree, but everyone
else worth using is unavailable. Unless Stephen Fry gets out of his
voice-over recording marathon somehow I think we are stuck with her.
Find some inclusive questions to keep things away from her
bat-shit-mental work
Steve
Steve,
I like her work. But I haven't seen
her on a major TV show since the spaghetti incident.
Tony
Tony,
For the love of god do NOT
mention the spaghetti incident.
Steve
The gap had been
filled, but sometimes the difference between absolute success and
total failure is as thin as canvas paper.
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