When Corden Met Barlow

GARY CHUCKLES

Hey! How are you, boss?

-How are you?

-I'm good.

-You all right?

-I'm good.

Wait there. I'll just grab my stuff.

Can you pop the boot?

What's happening? We're only going for two nights.

JAMES GRUNTS

You have seriously over-packed.

-There's just one more. Hang on.

-Oh, you're kidding?

Here y'are.

-You'll like this one, though.

-Oh, a picnic.

-So...goji berries.

-Amazing.

-These things. Yeah.

-Yeah, OK.

It's not real chocolate, that. It's chocolate that's good for you.

-You've thought about this.

-Damn straight.

-Amazing.

-I'll put it in the boot. If you get hungry, let me know.

-Good man.

-Hey...

-Is that it?

-..I've got something to show you.

-Not more?

-I've packed me pyjamas.

-GARY LAUGHS

-Hey?

I'm kidding. I don't wear it any more.

All right.

-All right, let's go.

-Shall we hit the road?

-Road trip.

-Road trip, here we go.

-Party on, Wayne.

Is this going to be like a stag weekend, this?

-Is it all going to kick off?

-I hope not.

Are we going to be emptying the minibar and stuff?

I can't stand stag dos, can you?

I don't think I've ever been to one.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-When I got married, we just had a...

We played football in the day, and then went out in the evening.

But now, it's like stag dos last...

-People go, "I'm going to Poland for a week."

-Right.

Why did you agree to do this documentary?

I think it's a good time to tell this...story of what's happened.

What's happened in the last sort of few months,

it's closed the door on a pretty rubbish time for me.

It's the greatest story of the modern pop music era,

the Gary Barlow story. Bar none.

For him to be called a survivor at 40 says quite something.

He could've gone one way, but he's gone completely the other.

You can't point to it anywhere in musical history

that this has happened.

You know, he's a true renaissance man.

Throughout it all, he realised

that music was never going to turn its back on him,

and eventually it's what saved him.

# Oh-h-h

# Yeah, you and me We can ride on a star

# If you stay with me, girl... #

Last month, Gary Barlow played a sold-out arena tour across the UK.

Yet only a decade ago, this would never have been thought possible.

But Gary Barlow has become one of Britain's best-loved pop stars.

He also happens to be mine.

For years, I've been watching Gary at gigs, buying his albums,

and doing his dance routines.

Now I've got the chance to spend a few days with him,

travelling across the country,

finding out the truth about his remarkable story.

# ..For you. #

It's two months until Gary goes on his arena tour,

so first stop on our road trip is the studio for band rehearsals.

Hey, boys.

-ALL:

-Hey.

Hey.

-This is James, everyone.

-Hi.

-Hello.

What do you want to sing?

No, I'll just watch. Whatever, you know...

You know that you really don't just want to watch, though.

-We all know it.

-I do right now. I'll sit over here.

Just checking Shine, just for levels.

Levels, yeah. I've just got no mic.

If Gary's mic's not up, guys, we can probably just start,

and you join in, Gaz, when you're ready.

OK, count me in, Mike.

I actually thought that was Gary there.

Yeah. I get that a lot.

SONG: "Shine"

# You, you're such a big star to me

# Everything I wanna be

# But you're stuck in a hole

# And I want you to get out... #

-So we've found some clips.

-Mm-hmm.

-We've done some digging.

Don't have to dig very deep, do you, for good clips of me?

-Some of these you do.

-Really?

Some of these, you've got to dig deep.

And I thought it might be fun for us to watch them together

-and talk about them.

-Fun for you, or me?

-Both.

-Here is Gary Barlow.

-APPLAUSE

-He's got a briefcase with him.

-Briefcase! What?!

First question, what's with the briefcase?

I had some music in it.

He was always into music. Always into singing.

Always into playing the piano.

That seemed to be the environment in which he grew up in.

Anyone who really wanted a career in music,

you sacrificed what I always refer to

as the BMX years of your childhood.

Those times when your mates are going out on their bikes,

or their skateboards... Those years don't exist for a musician,

because you're in your bedroom learning your instrument.

And Gary was exactly that same model.

Well, he had to grow up fast, because he was working in the working men's clubs.

So, as a 15-year-old man,

he had to deal with guys who'd had four pints of bitter

on a Saturday afternoon and were shouting abuse at him.

You know, what a great education that is for any performer.

So this is your last performance at the British Legion.

-I don't think I want to watch this.

-You're the headliner.

-I don't...

-You're not going to make me sit through this, are you?

-Here he comes. You kill it.

CROWD CHAT AS MUSIC FADES IN

-'Listen though, listen to the tension.'

-'No, I'm dying.'

MUSIC STARTS, GARY GASPS

What?

"Hang on a minute, Sheila, who's coming on?"

-Oh, James, I can't watch it.

-"Brian, sit down. Brian, sit down."

GARY CHUCKLES

-"Gary's on."

-I can't watch it.

-'This is going to be like that Boyzone clip.'

-'Oh, it's dramatic.

'Oh, it's worse than that, buddy.'

-GARY SINGS

-'Look at the trousers.'

-'Move the stand.'

-'Oh, no.'

-'Move the stand.'

Look at the trousers!

# Never ever known

# You're just a part of my loneliness... #

-Are you ready?

-No, I know what's coming.

-Watch. No, watch it.

-You've got to watch it.

-No, I know...

# The way you make me feel GARY LAUGHS

James! James, I can't bear it!

-No, come on.

-I can't bear it.

-You have to watch it.

-I can't believe you're making me sit through this.

-Come on. Come on.

-BEAT KICKS IN

-Oh, there it is.

-GARY ON CLIP: Here we go!

-"Here we go!"

-Oh, God.

'It was clear that the 600 or so gigs that Gary did

'at the working men's club had a huge effect on him.'

APPLAUSE

Thank you once again, ladies and gentlemen. Mr Gary Barlow!

Star of the future.

'So our next stop was up to Runcorn

'to visit the place where Gary learned so much.'

Right, here we... Look at the curtain!

JAMES LAUGHS You can see this is special.

-Here we go.

-Wow.

-Hiya, Chris.

-Gary!

How are you, mate?

I know, you've come for that tenner I owe ya!

THEY LAUGH

-How are you?

-How are you doing? Lovely to see you.

-This is James.

-Hello.

-James, I knew you'd be here

cos I'd seen the road was Corden-ed off. Hey!

THEY LAUGH

-Chris was the compere when I was here...

-I was the compere.

-..which is how long ago?

-Well, when I came here you were 15.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-And you're still the compere now?

-I'm still the compere. Yeah.

-Look a bit different.

-You don't look much different.

Oh, thank you, Gary. The story I like to tell

is the one about when you come walking out with a piece of paper.

You said, "Hey, Chris, I've written this song.

"Any chance of singing it?" So I got on the mic, said,

"Ladies and gentlemen, Gary has written this song,

"could you all be quite attentive,

"and, when he's finished singing it, give him a big clap."

And I always remember you put it up, like that, you blow on your mic...

# Put your head against my life

# What do you hear? #

And then you got this rapturous applause at the end of it, you know?

-So, would that be the first time you performed A Million Love Songs...

-Definitely...

-..would've been here?

-..because I only ever used to sing here.

He was quiet, shy. He was a good dancer.

I dunno, somewhere along the line I lost that!

Probably the way you remember things in here.

JAMES LAUGHS

What are we going to go for?

In honour of Phil Everly, this.

# Dream

# Dream, dream, dream

# Dream

# Dream, dream, dream

# When I want you

# In my arms

# When I want you

# And all your charms

# Whenever I want you

# All I have to do is dream... #

So, is it nice being back?

It's brilliant being back. Brilliant.

When was the last time you were here?

Oh...the night I left.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-You've not been back since?

-No, no.

-No.

-I didn't know that.

-Not once, no. Not once. Yeah.

And now integral do you think this place has been...

-Oh, crucial.

-..in your career? Really?

-I think, I think so.

At 14, you know...

with what I wanted to be, and what I wanted to do...

HE INHALES ..this was it. Just so exciting.

This was a world older than me.

-Yeah.

-You know, and the people I were working with, they were 50.

-Yeah.

-40, 50 years old.

-So it makes you grow up really fast, that, when you're 14.

-Yeah.

I tell you what it did, it made me hungry for what was next.

-Have you always felt older than your time?

-Mmm.

-It feels now like the age you are now suits you.

-Yeah.

-But you might have felt this age when you were...

-Yeah.

I've always felt older, and I've always felt...

whether I was in the band, or in whatever situation I was in,

-I was the responsible one.

-And where does that come from, do you think?

-I think it comes from starting here.

-Really?

-I think so, yeah.

-Do you think the reason that you're cool now...

-What?

-The reason that you're cool... You are cool, you know you are.

-No!

-Oh, come on.

-No.

-You know you're cool now.

-That scares me.

-All right, you're not that cool.

-All right.

-You're not Bruno Mars.

I'm just sort of getting carried away.

Cooler. The reason you're cooler now,

the reason you're cooler now is that deep down you've always been 42...

-Maybe.

-..and you've just hit your peak now.

-And then it's going to just...

-I'm worried now cos I'm 43 next week.

I know. Well... This is where the wheels start to come off, really.

-Maybe you're right.

-Yeah.

I've made some music for our journey.

-Have you?

-Yeah.

What have we got here?

SONG: "Love Ain't Here Anymore"

Oh, you know what this is. Great tune.

-This is the American version.

-Oh, is it? The American version?

-Yeah. Yeah. We... JAMES:

-# Don't you want me to go? #

We re-recorded it.

BOTH SING ALONG: # Why don't you beg me to stay

# For love

# And talk the way we used to talk

# Till we both know what was lost... #

Why did you...? Why this one?

-Oh, it's a whole mix.

-Oh, it's...

-It's a whole mix.

The whole back catalogue.

# Love...

BOTH: # ..ain't here anymore... #

-Do you like this one?

-Yes!

# No, no Love ain't here anymore... #

Go on, take it big, Gary. Go.

-# It's gone away

-# Oooh, oooh

# To a town called yesterday

-# Love

-Love

# Ain't here anymore. #

Let's see what else we've got. Hang on.

SONG: "Do What U Like" Oh, here it is. The classic.

JAMES LAUGHS

This is going to be huge. Huge Bonneville.

-OK, go.

-# If only they all knew

# Jam!

GARY MUMBLES LYRICS # ..took my bread

# Jam... Energy!

GARY MUMBLES AGAIN # ..rest or play

BOTH: # Me, myself I'd rather be alone again

# So you can do what you like... #

Come on, Gaz, go.

# Do what you like... #

-Come on!

-Mate, I'm driving!

# Do what you want

-BOTH: # Do what you like

-# Do what you like

-# No need to tell me

-# Do what you want... #

Massive.

-# Cherry pie

-# You're not as cute as me

-# Ice

-# Could never be as cold as you... #

'At the time when they first emerged, they were a bit of a

'comedy act, because they were all about the dance routines and the image.'

Carefully constructed by Nigel Martin-Smith.

'I first heard of Take That when I was working on The Word.'

The Word always had this novelty side to it,

and I remember being shown the video of these bunch of boys

'throwing jelly at each other, and kind of cavorting around,

'and all of us clustered around my desk,'

looking at this video and going, "Oh, my God! What the hell is that?"

# Standing back I can't believe... #

'So he was sort of thrown into this situation,'

a musician all of a sudden having to then...learn

what the other boys already knew, which was dance moves,

and, you know, being cool kids on the block, sort of thing.

Gaz wasn't.

He was a geek from Frodsham that liked synthesisers.

Now, just talk me through a sec.

Cycling apparel is big...

and you've gone, "Guys, I'm not going to wear a shirt,

-"I'm just going to wear this neckerchief."

-Oh.

-"And what on the bottom?"

-I can't remember.

"What will you wear on the bottom?" "I'll wear my red cycle shorts.

"If anyone's got a belt, that would be great."

It's an amazing look!

It's an incredible look.

-'A group of lads...'

-'This is Nigel Martin-Smith now.'

..could become as big as,

if not bigger than, New Kids On The Block.

I tell you what I find amazing, though, is his confidence...

-I know.

-..to say, "I think I've found..."

-I know.

"..five boys who are going to be as big..."

-And it wasn't for camera, that.

-No?

-He used to tell us that.

Him saying, "I think I've done it," really,

I think says a lot about him, that he could spot...

Sorry, I'm just recovering from that last clip still.

You've hit me with some really bad stuff.

That's the stuff we're trying to get off the internet, that,

and we've just added.

It's going on now. It's on iPlayer now.

It was clear that Nigel Martin-Smith had a huge impact on Gary's career,

so we took a trip to Manchester to meet up with his old manager.

-Ah-ha!

-Hey!

-Look who's here!

-Nice to meet you.

-James, how lovely to meet you. How are you?

-I'm all right. OK?

-Yeah, I'm good.

-Nigel, tell us where we are now.

Right, this is the place that Take That very first performed.

It's where we auditioned all the band,

and they all sang individually on a stage over there.

The first member of Take That was actually Mark Owen,

and it was going to be a completely different band initially.

It was only when this one came in

with his songwriting talent that I thought, "Eh up..."

-Nigel, I didn't know Mark was the first member.

-Yeah.

You know he's going to say that forever now.

Every time he's got, you know, we're saying,

"I don't know about that idea, Mark." "I was the original member."

What do you remember about this day, coming here? Were you nervous?

-Did you watch each other or come in individually?

-Yeah, we watched each other.

-So you watched Howard?

-Yeah.

-Jason, and Mark?

-Yeah.

-You watched their auditions?

-Then you had to sing,

and everyone was a bit nervous singing, but obviously I was...

-wasn't nervous at all, because it's what I did.

-He was showing off.

-I enjoyed it.

-He was showing off.

-I was showing off.

He was looking at Jason, going, "I can't dance like that, but I can sing like this."

-Yeah, I was.

-Yeah.

The dancing was the bit I was dreading the most.

I didn't really want to be in a band, if I'm honest,

but there was something there I liked.

-I liked being part of a team...

-Yeah.

-..that day.

We were up there all together, all going through the same thing.

'As we went into the second album,

'and everything started hitting number one,'

I just remember the pandemonium and the fans.

'It felt like we hadn't seen something like that

'for a decade or so.'

They were just bigger than you could imagine a pop group being.

'Everything about it was right.

'The songs were catchy. The way they looked was great.'

# And state the case of what we're dreaming of... #

'I mean, they won everything. They won all the Smash Hits awards.'

And of course magazines were still huge at the time,

and they were on the front cover of everything, all the time.

Part of the reason I wanted to sit here today with Nigel

was, you know, when I look back, and the history of my career,

Nigel is the true person who plucked me from the population

-and went, "I'm going to believe in you."

-So...

tell me about how this relationship first started.

This, what I'm about to show you, was our...

It was my way into your office.

-Oh, yeah.

-I was sending out, at the time,

like a tape and a photograph to lots of managers.

And this, Nige, is what came to your office.

-That's the one.

-JAMES CACKLES

That is...

-It was quite...

-Come on, look at that.

I know. Well, how could I refuse?

Why would I have had a photo shoot like that?

Looks like Annie Lennox.

It's the, it's the armpit hair that really makes it.

If you remember, what happened was you came in to see me,

and at the end of it he mentioned that he was a singer in the clubs.

He said, "I'm a songwriter."

Well, you know, you hear that all the time, "I write songs,"

but they're usually awful.

You know, and he was only 19.

So I said, "Well, drop me a cassette off, then."

So I put the cassette on,

and A Million Love Songs came on straightaway, and I thought,

"I asked him to send me his songwriting,"

cos it was a great song, but obviously a cover,

a Barry Manilow cover, or a Neil Diamond cover.

I rang him up and went, "I thought you were going to give me a cassette of your songs?"

And he said, "I have." And I said, "A Million Love Songs?

"You wrote A Million Love Songs?" And he went, "Yeah."

So I said, "Could you come back straightaway?"

So he did, and that was the start of it,

cos I was like... And I was shaking, I was thinking, "Wow!"

This was the first time where I knew

I'd got something that could actually be quite hot property.

# A million love songs later... #

'When Take That emerged on the scene,'

the bands that I was loving were Oasis, and it was Blur,

it was Nirvana, and so Take That were a complete anathema.

You know, I really, really didn't want to know about their world,

I didn't care about their world, I didn't like the music they were making.

I guess it all changed when Back For Good came out.

# I guess now it's time... #

That was one of those things where,

no matter how much you might've disliked the music,

you heard Back For Good and you were like,

"OK, I cannot deny this is a great, great song."

It wasn't until the Ivor Novellos,

where Gary won all those awards,

where people started seeing him as a songwriter,

'and I think Back For Good probably was the point, really,

'where people started to talk about them as a band who could write songs,

'and Gary as a great songwriter.'

'And I think Take That was his opportunity to kind of prove himself'

and also to be, "If I'm in a boy band,

"I just want us to be the biggest and the best boy band in the world."

Gary was proving himself,

but occasionally it was to the detriment of the other members.

Cracks and frustrations were beginning to show

as Gary started to dominate their music.

Wasn't Robbie meant to sing lead vocal on Relight My Fire?

-Is that true?

-I think...

-He did.

He went in, and I got a call off the producer late in the night,

saying, "We've had him in all night and it's just not working,"

and so, the next day, I just thought, "I'm just going to do it."

In defence of everyone else, I should have said to everyone,

"I'm going to go and do a vocal today." There's a few things in that time...

-That you look back and go...

-..which, believe me, still come up.

And I just went in. I thought, "I'll do this." Bang, and I did it.

I just did it in a way that upset people.

When you decided to call it a day,

like, were you involved in that decision?

Well, I was quite involved, I think.

It became very obvious that the band had began to,

after Robbie left, start...going wrong, I think.

Because it wasn't the band then.

It was like, it was the band minus somebody,

and so it was a different band.

I think it felt natural.

It felt natural to go,

"Let's call it a day at the top."

The pop group Take That have confirmed they're to split up

after three years of success, including seven number one hits.

And from today...there's no more.

'When Take That split, it was massive.'

Any celebrity journalist would remember that time

like other people talk about remembering

President Kennedy being shot. It was a huge story.

I think a measure of Take That's success and fame

was when the phone line was set up when they split up.

You know, if you think that Newsround can be a Take That special,

and John Craven can dedicate 50 minutes to the breaking up of a band,

that's when you realise that it's transcended just pop music.

Do you realise that you're one of the few people on earth

who's managed to get better looking as they've got older?

-Well, let's face it, in the last ten years...

-You're like a great cheese.

I've not been that attractive in the last ten years, in all honesty.

You know what, the first thing I didn't want to be,

-is I didn't want to be a fat dad.

-Yeah.

I just didn't want my kids going, "Here's Mummy, and here's Daddy."

JAMES LAUGHS I dreaded it.

-And, you know what, I've got an attractive wife...

-Yeah.

..you know, and when we got married...

I said, "Yeah," a little too confidently then, I think.

Just cool it off. Cool it off.

-You know when you didn't even realise you've said something?

-I know.

"I've got a very attractive wife." "Big time."

THEY LAUGH

-And when I married her, I was a fairly attractive husband...

-Yeah...

THEY LAUGH

-No, you were.

-I was.

Today sees the release of Gary's first solo single.

Robbie's comes out at the end of the month.

What's going on? Is this a serious spat, or is it all hype?

I think it is. I mean, I think really it's one-sided though.

It is really coming all from Robbie.

Gary knows that he's going to be a big, big, big star.

Robbie, you know, he'd make a great comedian, a great presenter. He's a good singer.

But whether or not he can write good songs still remains to be seen.

How wrong was that?

-Yeah.

-The problem is,

is that you don't choose to be what people think about you.

People just assumed, "Oh, he'll be the next George Michael,

"he'll have a huge solo career," all the rest of it.

It's an odd thing when everything's built up around you

that eventually you believe it.

I intend on doing some work and trying to do an album of my own.

I've got my own studio, so I'm writing songs all the time.

Er, hopefully in the top five in America.

I think Gary probably played it wrong.

Maybe there was just a slight hint of arrogance at the time.

I think he probably thought himself that he would release an album,

'be number one, be loved. When you have a boy band,

'there are people there to make up for your weaknesses.

'When you go it alone, you have to fill those roles yourself.

'He wasn't quite as good when he was on his own in interviews.'

He wasn't quite as charismatic on stage at that point.

I think he probably struggled with the full package.

Coming up next is my special performance from LA of my single

So Help Me Girl, live on Top Of The Pops.

# So help me girl

# You've gone too far

# It's way too late... #

'At that point, I think Britain was tired of the ballad.

'You were entering lad-ism. I think Britpop was a huge thing.

'It was all about being a bit rock'n'roll.

'And then you've got Gary releasing another ballad-heavy album,'

sat behind a piano,

and I don't think people wanted that at the time.

But meanwhile, on the other side of the street, something was going on.

'This absolute bomb came into the charts'

which was Robbie, and the bomb went off,

'and it obliterated Gary,'

because the candle burned brighter for Robbie Williams.

-Good evening, Knebworth!

-CROWD CHEER WILDLY

My name is Robbie Williams!

This is my band.

And, for the next two hours, your ass is mine.

# Let me entertain you... #

Gary really received the brunt of Robbie's bitterness over Take That.

He really did play a part in forcing Gary

into the misery he was in for so many years.

Robbie was always on hand to do a bit of Gary-bashing.

And Robbie's very funny, and it was good copy.

I regret that Gaz became part of my shtick for too long.

But even through, you know,

when I used to say bad things about Gaz, I still loved him tremendously.

You know, I think that's why I was so hurt

and the bitterness was because I loved that person.

You know, my hurt came out in anger and aggression...

..and nastiness.

And when that goes away, all that's left is the love.

It was just everywhere.

The papers you read, the TV programmes you watched,

the radio stations you listened to.

Everyone was sticking the boot into Gary Barlow.

They call him a national treasure now.

He was a national joke then.

He was the butt of every weak, terrible line

that they had to come up with. They couldn't write him off enough.

You know, it was shameful.

'"Poor Gary", you're thinking.

'Going down the gym couldn't save his career, and here he is...'

Gary Barlow never struck me as being clever.

See, he's a nice guy, but he can't sing, he can't dance.

And he can't write songs.

Gary, thanks so much for inviting us around to your house today.

Hi, fans. How you doing? All right, eh?

GB in the house. Getting down wit' me hoes.

Eh? Give me five, please!

-Oh, right, yeah.

-Yeah?

Eh? Yeah? Thanking you!

'I remember presenting Top Of The Pops one time, and Gary was there'

as a solo artist and things were not going very well for him at all.

And both of us standing in the wings while a band were playing and

doing their take and Gary could not have looked more forlorn, and more

pathetic, I guess, in a really sad way, I don't mean in a horrible way.

But at that time I just thought, "It's all over.

"It really is all over for him."

There's a slight myth that the album, the first album,

didn't do so great. It was actually the second one.

And even if it had probably had a big hit lurking on it,

it probably wouldn't have gone through.

The media wouldn't have taken it seriously.

They were just on to the next thing.

What we knew about him was what was said about him by other people.

Which is, "Gary Barlow's finished, Gary Barlow is embarrassing,

"Gary Barlow cannot write hit songs any more."

That's what we knew,

because other people were creating that agenda for him.

And he was just there thinking, "What do I do now?"

Where do you go when something like that happens,

when it all falls apart?

There's the dog.

Hi!

Let me get him before he jumps.

Get in, you. Get in, you.

Get in. Get in.

'I was interested to meet Gary's mum,

'a lady who has always shied away from the spotlight

'and has never spoken on camera before.'

Right, come on. We're starving!

Right, OK. Who wants tea, who wants coffee?

'I was fascinated to hear her take on it all

'from Gary first joining the band to coping with the darker times.'

-This is phenomenal, thank you so much.

-Oh, yeah!

When Gary comes home and says, "I'm going to join this band

"called Take That",

what was your first thought then?

Right.

"So what will you be doing with this band?"

And did he say, "We're going to wear leather

"and roll around and cover each other in jelly?"

-Well, I knew there was a lot of dancing involved.

-Yeah.

Yeah, I thought, "Oh gosh."

What's been your proudest moment?

-I've got to say the OBE, haven't I, really?

-It was a good day.

It has been the ultimate occasion.

Hasn't it?

-It was. It was a good day.

-Yeah.

-The best bit happened after, really, didn't it?

-Yeah.

-Because I'd made a stew at home.

-Right.

So we raced home, we'd got the award, done the pictures, raced home.

We all tucked in to this stew that I'd made earlier, wolfed it.

Got on a plane, flew to Edinburgh, did a gig.

Most amazing gig.

The crowd, oh, it was just the perfect day.

-And you were there on the whole...?

-Did the whole lot. Yeah.

-Yeah, brilliant.

-It was lovely.

-Didn't we have a quiz that night?

-Yeah, we did a quiz.

-Yeah. Yeah!

Hey listen, if you want to have a good time, come and hang with me.

-Finish off with a quiz. Yeah.

-Rock'n'roll, eh, Margo?

There was a point after Take That finished, it was quite tough,

I think for anyone to go through, let alone as a parent,

to see your son going through this kind of stuff.

What was it like, that sort of level of criticism?

Sad. Very sad.

Not nice.

But, like they say,

it makes a stronger person of you, doesn't it, really?

You can't give up.

What's the point in giving up?

What was Gary like to be around at that time?

-Quiet and thoughtful, I would say.

-Mm.

-It was a bit of a no-go subject wasn't it, really?

-Mm.

-Yeah.

-Well, there was not more to say really, is there?

-No.

-It was all being said for me.

-Yeah.

Please welcome Gary Barlow and Howard Donald!

# Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn't mean it

# I just want you back for good... #

'It is just myself, Howard Donald, and Gary Barlow here tonight.'

In a moment, we'll be hearing the nominations for Best Song

since the Brits began, but what's it going to be?

Will it be Pray or will it be Back For Good?

-Could it be, Could It Be Magic?

-I didn't write that one.

-Oh, sorry!

'And the winner is, sorry Gary, Robbie Williams for Angel!'

This man, Robbie Williams, has made me very, very ill.

I am on pills because of you!

'Eh? Go on, have your moment in the limelight. Judas!'

Sorry, Gary, but I was always the talented member of the band.

'Thank you very much.'

I mean...

That's all right.

-It's all right now.

-It's all right now.

It wasn't worse than any of the other ones.

But it's just, I don't want to dwell on, like, too much, like,

-feel sorry for me, but it was...

-No absolutely.

-..shit.

-Yeah.

-Shit, to be you.

You know? You don't want to be that person.

You want to be the one laughing about the person the joke's about.

You don't want to be the person that the joke's...

Do you know what I mean?

That was the worst bit of the whole thing.

It wasn't losing a record deal,

and it wasn't, you know, not singing for seven years.

It was feeling like a dick

every time I turned on a radio show or something.

It was feeling like everyone's laughing at you.

I was worried for Gary

because I knew he was going to take it seriously.

I knew he was going to take it to heart, and sure enough, he did.

It was breaking him up.

It was almost like he'd accepted defeat.

He got stuck into the biscuits, was lying on his grand piano

in tears, wondering where it all went wrong.

One of my friends ran into in New York and didn't recognise him

because he'd put on so much weight.

He wasn't sleeping great.

He was smoking 40 cigarettes a day, at least.

'He ate a lot. He'd been over- indulging in every way possible.

'And he'd been very down and very depressed.'

'Gary had the most incredibly strong marriage

'that would have got him through it.

'You know, he was becoming a father.

'That was as resolute, as strong as ever.

'And that's great, because if he hadn't had that,

'I really don't know where he'd have been.'

# Happy birthday... #

'He was really a forgotten man.

'And when you've had it and lost it, that's the worst thing.'

When you're used to the adulation and the fame and the success

and everybody knowing your name and wanting to be your friend

and then suddenly you're toxic, you know? you're kryptonite.

And Gary was kryptonite for years.

I don't know if depression is the right word.

I think he was on the road to it, at that point,

because he was showing all the signs, but music was always there.

I think Gary learnt the most important lesson in his life

during those years.

'In Take That, you didn't really know who he was.

'He wasn't a natural pop star.

'The wilderness years for Gary was him learning who he was.'

But sooner or later the fighting spirit that is Gary

and the talent that is Gary, said,

"Enough, enough, I can't go on with this."

GARY PLAYS A SOFT INTRO

Ah!

GARY LAUGHS

-Ah! Was this written on this piano?

-Yeah.

Wish it was tuned.

It doesn't sound bad to me.

I was really hoping you were going to start singing then, I really was.

So tell me about this piano.

This was the piano that drove me mad eventually.

Because I swear, whenever I used to sit at this piano,

-I used to write a hit.

-Right.

-I just did.

It was one of those instruments that I'd lift the lid up.

So what was written on this? Back For Good written on this?

Yeah. Yeah. Love Ain't Here Anymore and Sure, Never Forget.

All those songs.

And then it slowly drove me crazy, this piano,

because obviously, after the record deal ended and I was, you know,

sort of spending a lot of time in the studio by myself,

trying to come up with stuff, it just didn't talk the way it used to talk.

Until the point where I remember spending two days just looking at it.

So do you think it would be safe to say you were probably depressed?

Probably. I think I was driving myself insane at the time.

And I wouldn't be told.

It's just, step away. Get out the room.

BIRDSONG

Beautiful day.

Oh, it's incredible. Incredible day!

"GREATEST DAY" STARTS ON RADIO

Ah, Jeez!

-Come on.

-You might be surprised.

-This song is born for this weather.

-Listen.

It's born for this weather!

You might be surprised, but I've heard all these before.

But this is born for a day like this, isn't it?

-Get on the keys. Go.

-Do you know what I mean?

# Today this could be

# The greatest day of our lives

-Where am I going? Which way?

-Left.

GARY HARMONISES: # The story don't end...

Do you harmonise with yourself when you're in the car?

I harmonise every time. Every song, ever.

-Even ones that don't really work.

-That's how I stay sharp.

Right, yeah.

# Stay close to me... #

Can you remember what the worst job offers you got were?

Did you ever get offered panto?

-Yeah.

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-Where?

-In Liverpool.

Oh. Were you tempted?

-No!

-Why?

-No. No.

-You'd be great in panto.

No. Don't be stupid!

You'd be a great Buttons.

People would travel miles to see Barlow's Buttons.

I got to "panto" and I stopped reading.

What other things?

-Celebrity Wife Swap.

-Right!

Did they mention which couple you might be swapping with?

-Yeah!

-Go on.

-Melinda Messenger!

-No!

-Mate, I was really trying to sell it to the wife!

JAMES GUFFAWS

I was getting nowhere!

"I really think we should do this Dawn, I really do."

-I thought it'd be great!

-Yeah.

-Bread?

-Thank you very much.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, mate.

-Was there a point where you ate unhealthily?

-Yeah.

-Really unhealthily.

-Really.

-What would you eat, then?

-I had a great time!

And what would you eat then?

Erm, Oh! What wouldn't I eat?

But at your biggest, how big were you?

Um, just over 17 stone.

Right.

-Yeah.

-And what are you now?

-12.

The problem was for me, as I hit sort of you know, 25,

my career went out the window and it was like,

"How do I just change everything?

"How do I change the way I look? Don't want to be recognised anymore."

It was almost like a protest for me.

-Really?

-Yeah. Big time. I knew what I was doing.

-Did you?

-Yeah. I was enjoying it.

And I enjoyed the fact that no-one recognised me.

Yeah, because even being in your house then, there was a couple

of photos where I thought "Oh, God, yeah, he really was quite a porker!"

-I was.

-Yeah.

Much heavier than you are now.

-Not much.

-Oh, yeah.

-Not much.

-Oh, yeah!

-Yeah, that'll do it.

-Thank you.

-There you go.

-Thank you very much!

-Good, eh?

-Oh.

When you look back on it, given all that sort of wave of criticism,

I get no sense of you that's kind of "Ha-ha! See? I'm back on top

"and you thought this and here I am." You know what I mean?

You know what? That was like 13... 12, 13 years ago.

-Yeah, but you can't have forgot.

-I haven't forgotten.

Like, it must still sit in there somewhere.

I haven't forgotten, but...

It's fine. It's fine. It's happened. It's done.

And there's been a happy ending.

If I was still sat at home now I'd probably be quite bitter.

Because I remember reading a lot of really, really personal

-and hateful stuff.

-Mm.

And it's not even what was written.

It's what you become.

It feeds into your life.

You know, you go into a shop to buy some, you know, crisps

or something, and they slip behind the counter

and they put Robbie's CD on, and it's like a bad smell.

Follows you round.

And that led me to then not going out of the house

for about eight months, at all.

-Seriously?

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Yeah.

-You just didn't go out?

Well, I was happy at home and no-one could get to me there.

So when I put weight on, people stopped recognising me,

which meant the jokes stopped.

It was like the only time in my life I wanted to be forgotten.

It's like "Forget me, please, everybody. Forget my name exists."

I thought in my mind, "I've got to go back to where I started,"

so I went back to being a songwriter.

So we got, like, two or three nice songs

and we thought we'd send 'em out to people.

And people weren't listening to the songs.

People were just going, "Oh, we don't want songs from him."

And we were like, "Well, have you heard what they are?"

"No. We just don't think it's right for our..."

So it got to the point where we were putting another person's name

on these CDs because my name was,

it just was turning people off straightaway.

It's like, when you're not hot,

nobody wants anything to do with you whatsoever.

'In 2005, a TV documentary was made

'which reunited the Take That boys for the first time in ten years.

'The response to seeing the band together again was massive.'

When we came back after all those years

and we did that documentary...

..none of us knew how it was going to go at all.

And then the next morning, my phone was filled with calls saying

you know, "We've got incredible figures for the show,

"there's a guy that wants to put you all back on tour,

"The Sun, they want to do a big piece,"

and it was like people wanted us back.

And for the first time in years,

I got on the train that morning

and I sat in my seat

and I just took my glasses off

and took my hat off

and just thought, "I'm happy to be me today."

It was a very poignant moment, that was.

And that was the day I thought, I'm going to lose this weight as well,

and it was like everything changed that day.

HE LAUGHS

One, two, three, four!

# They took my voice

# Erased my past

# With all that noise

# It couldn't last

# With words so cruel

# I washed my face

# I hoped one day

# I'd wake up in a better place

# Today I took back what was stolen

# I gave new life to what was frozen

# One man talking, a dead man walking

# A thousand faces watch me falling

# I've made my peace with what may happen

# Accepted I won't be in fashion

# All you gave, I got it

# Yeah, you gave, I got it all back

# Since I saw you last... #

'Off the back of the success of the documentary

'the four Take That boys announced that they were going to reunite

'for a Greatest Hits tour.'

People realised there was a real nostalgia for the band.

And they were missed.

We thought everyone had forgotten about us.

But it seems like they haven't and so I think we're really excited

and we promise to put on an amazing show.

And it just all fell back into place.

And I don't think they could believe it.

Especially Gary, who'd gone through the hard times.

He didn't expect to be given a break.

And I remember we signed them up in Birmingham.

They were doing a show in Birmingham and we'd signed the contracts,

it was all a quick kind of celebration

and, "Great, look forward to hearing the music."

And as I was going, Gary slipped a CD into my pocket

for me to listen to on the way back, and it had Patience on it.

And I just kind of thought, "You're smart. You knew.

"You know something's going to happen."

# Just have a little patience... #

'And he was like, "I still know what the public like to listen to.'

"I don't care who criticised me, how much out of favour I am,

"I can still write songs that people like."

And he can. And that was his way out of this.

# Just hold me close inside your arms tonight... #

'It was the second coming.'

It was the second coming of Take That, and it was massive!

# Cos I

# Need time

# My heart is numb, has no feeling

# So while I'm still healing

# Just try

# And have a little... #

If you have something or someone in your life that you

really like, sometimes you have to have that thing taken away

to make you realise how much you like it.

'And what about if you don't even know how much you like it

'and then it's taken away?

'And then that person comes back from the dead.'

Smiling, warm, happy and better than ever.

That's rocket fuel.

'2010 saw the moment every Take That fan had dreamed of.

'Robbie Williams rejoined and the band were finally all back together.'

'Funny, because we always knew as a band we'd get Rob back one day.'

-'Really?'

-'Yeah, we always knew it would happen.'

But how did you know that?

Because it was always going to happen, wasn't it?

-Was it?

-Yeah, it was. It was like the natural end to the story.

But for me now, the interesting bit is actually what happens next.

Now that your solo record has done so well, I was almost

expecting to sort of feel like that was a greater priority to you now.

You talk like Take That is still...

Oh, it is. It's number one.

It's the one thing that everything else moves for.

The other things like TV and a solo record,

they're just things I do to fill the time in.

-Yeah.

-You know, because I like to work.

-Uh-huh.

-And it's being offered to me.

-Yeah.

-So why not do it?

'Gary has thrown himself into a multitude of projects.

'From climbing Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief, to being head

'judge on X Factor, these last few years have been full-on for Gary.'

We went to watch the X Factor being filmed

at the O2 and then got in a cab and went to Wembley

to watch the boys perform at Wembley.

'I got back to the hotel after the gig, Gary called me'

and he said, "El, what do you reck' of the tour?"

And I was nearly in tears. I'll be honest.

I found it really emotional and I told him, you know,

I said, "Gaz, it's...

"It's a funny thing, going through it...

"..and coming out the other end of it as good as he has."

I'm proud of him.

'He's in a position now where he's almost untouchable.'

You'd really have to think hard if a negative story came up about Gary.

Because the public backlash would be so strong against you

if you presented a story they didn't like.

He has leaped into a new category - his own category.

It's the Gary Barlow category.

It's not definable yet.

Gary Barlow is now part of music establishment

and that's a very different place to be in.

You know, he's kind of following in my footsteps and I love that.

If you've got the Queen asking you to sort out a few things for you,

you're not going to be stuck for things to do over the next few years.

He does this thing, where he goes, "What do you want me to sing?"

And you go, "Anything you want. What do you think?"

'And we talk about what songs and it's great, you know,'

I like the lad.

I'm sure you'd want me to thank Gary Barlow

for helping to make the whole thing possible.

CHEERING DROWNS SPEECH

Do you feel like everything you've done, the Jubilee,

is so positive right now that, do you still get negativity at you

if you look at things like Twitter?

Twitter's the only thing...

Cos I've done X Factor I was on it a lot,

but I actually quite like it.

The best use of something like Twitter is,

for the last 12 months, I've had this girl on there, who,

her best friend must be my biggest fan,

and she's been on there saying,

"I want you to come to my friend's wedding and sing at it."

-Right.

-And we're arranging, I'm going to turn up and sing

and her friend doesn't know anything about it.

-No! Like the best friend in the world.

-It's funny because I've been to gigs

and stuff as well and I've performed, and in the audience I've seen

a sign with a hashtag, "#getGarytoLou'swedding."

So this girl has been everywhere.

And I've seen it which is why I want to do it.

-It'll be incredible.

-Yeah.

It'll be the best.

I feel for the groom in a way.

Like he's who my thought goes to.

-But he's going to be like, "Oh, it's just me and you babe."

-I know.

"We're having the best..."

And she's just going to go like that, "See ya later! Gary!

"Gary! Oh, my God!"

It's going to be good. It's going to be good.

"You're the love of my life!"

True to his word, three weeks later, after 12 months of incessant

Tweeting and campaigning from her bridesmaid Emily,

Gary arrived to surprise Lou at her wedding.

MUSIC: "A Million Love Songs" by Take That

# Put your head against my life

# What do you hear?

# A million words just trying to make love song of the year

# Close your eyes but don't forget

# What you have heard

# A man's who trying to say three words

# Words that make me scared

# A million love songs later

# And here I am trying to tell you that I care

# A million love songs later... #

"To Lou..." really personal that.

And if you like me...

"Massive congrats on your special day, love Gary B."

Six kisses. Best autograph in the world.

# A million chances pass me by

# A million chances to hold you

# Take me back, take me back

# To where I used to be... #

He's much more relevant and important without being too

grandiose about him, than now just his music.

'Cos he's representing causes, projects, certain family values.'

# And here I am trying to... #

'He's developing the most phenomenal song book.'

These songs are going to last way after none of us are here.

'I'm just excited about what's next.'

CHEERING

I think he's got a lot of joy in what he's doing.

I think that this last album was quite cathartic for him.

I think this is the album that he wanted to make for his second album.

You know, I think there's a lot of that in it.

When Gary released the solo album this time

he must have been slightly anxious knowing what had gone before.

And it was exactly the same. You know, he was at the peak.

He was there to be shot at, you know.

He couldn't have been more popular.

Things couldn't be going better for him.

So there was a risk there. Absolutely.

It takes guts and for him to work it so successfully, commercially,

and to make the album he wanted to make, you know, it's incredible.

When we did Face To Face, it was lovely because it was just

a perfect song for two people to play the piano to sing.

It's the real first, proper, true Gary Barlow record.

It's who he is as a person and a songwriter.

He had...

It was an incredible personal record

and he'd gone through terrible tragedy personally.

They've had to deal with some really serious personal stuff,

his family, last couple of years.

And...

..that changes things. It has to.

Tragically, a few days before Gary was due to sing to close

the 2012 Olympics, his fourth child Poppy was stillborn.

How long did it take you to write that album?

Since I Saw You Last album?

About three months.

It was a really intuitive, problem-free record to write.

Written in this room?

Most of it. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you remember which songs came first?

It...

Sort of, those first few days it's often stuff you discard.

Once you get those first two or three days out of the way,

you expect things to start happening, but I didn't expect Let Me Go,

to appear on the fourth day.

And that's unusual in a record-making environment,

to get a single like that so early.

The first time I listened to Let Me Go...

-Yeah.

-..and I thought it was this unbelievably up, like, oh...

And I could imagine people dancing. I thought, "This is incredible."

And then I listened to it again and I thought the same.

And then I felt like the third time I listened to it,

I actually heard it.

And I came to the conclusion that that song was

written by your...

-..stillborn child.

-Yeah.

I will talk about a little bit of this, but I thought...

-You don't have to talk about any of it.

-No, no.

I don't mind to because you know, I don't like there to be things

that are unsaid really, but there's a point where I'll

stop in respect of my wife because you know, like I said to you earlier,

there's very little that's personal in my life.

People know about a lot of things.

And you know, from that thing happening

to my dad's passing,

there's a lot of them in this record with me.

And it's funny with Let Me Go

because I didn't want to have a sad album.

I really didn't. And I really tried for it to not be.

I made a real effort for it to not be a sad record.

I wanted it to be a celebrationary record because that's where

we're at in our lives with the whole thing that happened.

And it makes me really happy when I see people going crazy to that song.

It really is, because it should be a celebration, that song,

because in some respects it's alive,

that record, and those lyrics

and what it relates to.

And it keeps a life and a flame in the whole thing.

And I love it.

I love that it has got two elements to it.

I love that on one hand, you think this is just the most fun

ever I've had to this record, and then when you start

going beneath that, you really, you see, you know, what it's saying.

It's not my voice, it's someone else's.

MUSIC: "Let Me Go" by Gary Barlow

# A room full of sadness

# Broken hearts

# Only me to blame

# For every single part

# No science or religion

# Could make this whole

# To be loved, but never loved

# To have, but never hold

# It's a life alone

# And a desperate need

# To be held, to be loved so

# This is going to take a bit of getting used to

# But I know what's right for you

# Fly high and let me go... #

What does the future hold for Gary Barlow?

-After this?

-Yeah.

Not much.

I think we all recognise that this is the pinnacle.

-I can't go back on Jonathan Ross after this.

-Who?

# ..Then you'll know

# This is going to take a bit of getting used to... #

You know, nine years ago, you couldn't have imagined that

you'd be talking about five nights at Wembley Stadium...

-No.

-..and number one solo records

and records as a four piece,

a five piece.

Like, you must be so proud.

I remember feeling, for about a year, like I've got no

future as an artist or a writer or anything to do with music.

And that was a long 12 months.

That was a long 12 months before

there was any kind of hope or glimmer.

So to look forward now at this point,

and look into the future, it's amazing. It really is.

# Fly high and let me go

# That sky will save your soul

# Oh-oh, fly high and let me go

# That sky will save your soul

# Cos this gonna take a bit of getting used to

# But I know what's right for you

# Let me go. #

CHEERING

I've got bad news for everyone. Elton's busy.

-What?

-BAND MEMBER:

-You promised.

But he did say if James Corden's there, can he do his part?

Doesn't shock me. Doesn't shock me.

-He's the only person he said, that could do it.

-I can channel Elton.

Who could channel.

OK. For one day only, I'll be Elton John.

I asked for this room to be full of a thousand white lilies!

All right. OK, guys.

I'll bring you in on a tight one, two, three, four yeah?

Got to be tight with it.

Just watch me and I'll...

-BOTH:

-# That's what you are to me... #

'The last few days have been brilliant.

'They say you should never meet your heroes.

'Well, they obviously never met Gary Barlow,'

-BOTH:

-# We're face to face, oh, I

# When the music plays, oh, I

# Standing side by side

# Put the past behind us

# No-one can take your place

# When we're face to face. #

-OK, guys.

-Yes?

-Some notes.

-Sloppy.

-LAUGHTER