0:00:02 > 0:00:04Telly, that magic box in the corner.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07It gives us access to a million different worlds,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10all from the comfort of our sofa.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13'In this series, I'm going to journey through
0:00:13 > 0:00:17the fantastic world of TV with some of our favourite celebrities.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20'They've chosen the precious TV moments that shed light...'
0:00:20 > 0:00:23The wind almost blew my BLANK off!
0:00:23 > 0:00:24You're nearly in the telly, here!
0:00:24 > 0:00:26'..on the stories of the lives.'
0:00:26 > 0:00:28If you're so blinking clever, you look after him.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29This takes me back completely.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31'Some are funny...'
0:00:31 > 0:00:34# And when they were down they were down! #
0:00:34 > 0:00:37- 'Some...- Oh, thank you! - '..are surprising.'
0:00:37 > 0:00:38Aw, a lamb!
0:00:38 > 0:00:40- It terrifies the life out of me.- Yeah?
0:00:40 > 0:00:42'Some are inspiring...'
0:00:42 > 0:00:43I wanted to be on telly...
0:00:43 > 0:00:45That's it from me, back to you two.
0:00:45 > 0:00:46'..and many...'
0:00:46 > 0:00:49...though this rather futuristic TV..
0:00:49 > 0:00:51'..are deeply moving.'
0:00:51 > 0:00:53- And it was heartbreaking, I wept. - Yeah?
0:00:53 > 0:00:55- It was heartbreaking.- It's not real.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59'So, come watch with us, as we hand-pick the vintage telly that
0:00:59 > 0:01:02'helped turn our much-loved stars into the people they are today.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Welcome to The TV That Made Me.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Now, my guest today is a fashion consultant,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20author and star of stage and screen.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23The irrepressible Gok Wan.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26The man who has almost single-handedly taught us
0:01:26 > 0:01:29how to feel good about the way we look.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33The TV that made him includes a blot on the comedy landscape...
0:01:33 > 0:01:36- He is bagged.- Oh, yes, Blott!
0:01:36 > 0:01:38..the most unpredictable pop show ever...
0:01:38 > 0:01:41# Talk to me
0:01:41 > 0:01:44# Like lovers do. #
0:01:44 > 0:01:49..and the Europe-wide quiz for eggheads, Going For Gold.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52But you probably know this golden-hearted man best
0:01:52 > 0:01:55from the Channel 4 show, How To Look Good Naked.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58I mean, you look gorgeous. Our cameraman's shaking right now.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02He is easy to spot, he is the one with his clothes on.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05It can only be the one and only, international superstar,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07babe magnet, Gok Wan!
0:02:07 > 0:02:09- Are you happy with that? - "Babe magnet"?
0:02:09 > 0:02:12I don't know... You're a babe magnet, I'm a fridge magnet.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15- It's lovely to be here. How are you? - Oh, thank you.
0:02:15 > 0:02:16Do you like my apartment?
0:02:16 > 0:02:18I love your apartment, it's very nice.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22It's definitely more stylish than I thought it would have been,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25- judging from the clothes you wear, Brian.- Ain't that lovely? Thank you.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27Now, as you know, today is a celebration of you,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30- of your television. Television that made you.- Yeah.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32- But first, we're going to go back to the beginning.- OK.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34And see the young Gok Wan.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38- Oh, does it go back that far? - Yeah.- Wow.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45Gok Wan started life in a caravan in Leicester in 1974.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50His family did eventually move into their own council house,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53but he spent most of his time in The Bamboo House,
0:02:53 > 0:02:58a Chinese restaurant run by his mum, Myra, and dad, John.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03Now, not wanting to be left behind by his elder brother, Kwoklyn,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05or elder sister, Oilen,
0:03:05 > 0:03:10Gok began working tables at a very, very early age.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14Mum and dad are massive grafters.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17You know, seven days a week in the restaurant, they were there all day,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20prepping for the evening but working lunches as well.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22We were at school.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25So all of our time was literally spent in the restaurant,
0:03:25 > 0:03:26all our social time.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28As soon as we finished school, we'd get picked up,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30go to the restaurant, so we were always working.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33So from the age of three-and-a-half months, I was in the kitchen.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Slave labour, don't tell the NSPCC now!
0:03:35 > 0:03:38So our friends were the chefs and the waiters and the customers
0:03:38 > 0:03:41that came in, and it was the most incredible place to be.
0:03:41 > 0:03:47And it wasn't until I got slightly older, like six, seven, eight,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49did TV start making an appearance in my life.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Probably the earliest memory was a show called Monkey, Monkey Magic.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00There's no denying how popular it was.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02- Yeah, huge!- It was one of the number-one programmes.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Especially of... Well, I'm a little bit older than you,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08but I mean, for all of us, it was THE programme to watch.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Absolutely, yeah.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12And all the catchphrases as well.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14When he used to take the stick out of his ear and he did this with it
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and throw it in the air and then all of a sudden,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18a cloud would appear and he could fly.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21And then when Tripitaka used to do the chanting, do you remember that?
0:04:21 > 0:04:24And the gold band around his head would get tighter.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Could you do the chanting?
0:04:26 > 0:04:28HE MAKES CHANTING SOUND
0:04:28 > 0:04:30I wish we had one of those on your head, right now.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Anyway, I remember that, and I remember the lion coming into it.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Me and my brother and sister would all...
0:04:37 > 0:04:40We knew the word, word-for-word at the beginning, which was,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42"Through evolution came stone Monkey!"
0:04:42 > 0:04:45THEY LAUGH
0:04:45 > 0:04:47- You do that so well.- It's quite funny, that.- Go on.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51- Do you remember it?- Well, I remember it, I know it.- Have you got it?
0:04:51 > 0:04:52Of course we have. Here you are.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'Elemental forces caused the egg to hatch.'
0:04:58 > 0:05:00From it then came a stone monkey...
0:05:00 > 0:05:04It's amazing. Look at those production values. Amazing.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Do you know, I'm getting really excited watching this.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10It's incredible. What great telly!
0:05:10 > 0:05:12Yaah! Hi-yah!
0:05:14 > 0:05:20'The truly revolutionary Monkey was made in Japan in 1978
0:05:20 > 0:05:24'and flew onto BBC Two in 1979.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29'Each week, it blended martial arts with magic, as Monkey battled
0:05:29 > 0:05:33'against an array of evil foes in his quest for enlightenment.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37'No British children's show had ever featured such expensive
0:05:37 > 0:05:41'special effects and fight choreography.'
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- Oh, the music as well, listen.- Does it take you back?
0:05:50 > 0:05:52No wonder I'm camp.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57I mean, look at the costume! It is amazing.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00- I mean, it's the closest you would get a panto on TV, really.- Yeah.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04- Terrible acting... Not that we do terrible acting.- No, God, no.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07But, you know, kind of all the moves are set up
0:06:07 > 0:06:10and the choreography, the sets all shaking around.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12I mean, what is there not to love about this?
0:06:12 > 0:06:15But as a child, did it ever make you laugh, the way it was dubbed?
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Yeah, a little bit.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21You would take that on... 'Want a cup of tea?'
0:06:22 > 0:06:23BRIAN LAUGHS
0:06:23 > 0:06:26- And it would literally be like that. - And why was it great for you?
0:06:26 > 0:06:28It was great because, you know...
0:06:28 > 0:06:32I was brought up on a council estate in the Midlands in the '70s and '80s,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35and we were the only Asian family around.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38And the only Asian references that we had, were either food
0:06:38 > 0:06:42or Chinese New Year, when the school would celebrate Chinese New Year.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45And so when there was this programme on television with Asian people
0:06:45 > 0:06:48on television doing Asian things like kung fu and using chopsticks,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51all of a sudden, it felt like we were accepted.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54And so this was a real rite of passage for me, this programme,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57it made me feel really special and it made me feel really accepted.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00It was one of the first times as a child that I felt
0:07:00 > 0:07:05I had a place in our community, because, in my head,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08I imagined everyone watching this programme at the same time as me
0:07:08 > 0:07:10and they were watching it and I was their link to that.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13- Do you see what I mean? Does that make any sense?- Yeah.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15And I love the characters as well, I love the storylines,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17it was brilliant, it was all fantasy,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20but there was fighting in there and there was magic in there.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22I love magic.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24The spectacular Monkey really did make
0:07:24 > 0:07:28our home-grown fantasy programmes for kids
0:07:28 > 0:07:30look a bit tame in the '70s.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Apparently, there WERE monsters on Blake's 7,
0:07:34 > 0:07:39but the special effects budget was so low, we hardly ever saw them.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42And there was no way Tom Baker's Doctor Who was going to
0:07:42 > 0:07:45unwind his scarf and pull any neat karate moves
0:07:45 > 0:07:48on lumbering monsters like the Mandrels.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Actually, the closest we got to sorcery
0:07:51 > 0:07:53and fantasy animals was
0:07:53 > 0:07:55the great Molly Weir playing McWitch
0:07:55 > 0:07:57next to the ghost of
0:07:57 > 0:07:59a pantomime horse on Rentaghost.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Mind you, the lovely Sue Nicholls played Miss Popov in the
0:08:03 > 0:08:07same show and she was always magic.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Do you think this will surprise people, how good you are at magic?
0:08:12 > 0:08:15- We've got a pack of cards. - Right, OK.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18And I know you are great.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Well, the thing is, I do love magic.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24When I was growing up, Paul Daniels was obviously
0:08:24 > 0:08:26the hottest thing on television when it came to magic.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29I always wanted to be Debbie McGee though, I have to be very honest.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I always wanted to be the glamorous assistant, never the magician.
0:08:32 > 0:08:38So, what I'll ask you to do now, is choose a card, just choose one card.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42- You got one, two, three, four, five, six cards, sticking up.- OK.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45No, don't tell me what the actual card is.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48What you need to do is tell me which number is it.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52One, two, three, four, five, or six?
0:08:52 > 0:08:54It is number five.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Number five, right, OK.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00You ready? Watch this. One, two, three, four, five.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Your card is on top there, it is going into the pack.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06- Right into the middle. - Just there, yeah. Absolutely.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Right, so what I'm going to do now is ask you to look at that one card.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- Was it that one? - I'm afraid it wasn't.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14- Oh, it wasn't that one?- No. - OK, so look at that card.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17- Is there anything wrong with that card?- No, no.- Does it look magical?
0:09:17 > 0:09:19- Does it look like it could do a trick?- No.- No, OK.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21So I'm going to put that back there.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24And what we're going to do... Just watch with your eyes, very carefully.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27- Just think about that card.- Yeah. - Think about it.- Yeah.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- OK, what card was it? - It was a five of diamonds.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Five of diamonds?
0:09:33 > 0:09:35That was brilliant.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44- I'm going to move on to classic advert now.- OK.
0:09:44 > 0:09:51- So, let's just watch this.- Right. - Your pick. Classic advert.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Oh!
0:09:53 > 0:09:54Well, bang goes 15 quid.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57- Wish they had.- What?- Gone bang.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00The first time when the Oxo adverts came out and all of a sudden
0:10:00 > 0:10:04you started following the lives of a family and they would drop
0:10:04 > 0:10:08a new advert every three, six, nine months, whatever it was.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10You would get to know this family
0:10:10 > 0:10:13and you would go on a journey with this other family.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16This advert was the first time I really saw another family
0:10:16 > 0:10:18that felt like mine.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Because we were so close, and food was very important to us, bizarrely.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24But food was really important as a family.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26- That was pathetic!- Yeah, and two quid of it was mine.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29'The Oxo ads were set in a normal family home
0:10:29 > 0:10:33'and acted so naturally you felt you were there.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36'It was this documentary feel that made them an immediate success.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38'The adverts reportedly boosted
0:10:38 > 0:10:41'sales by over 10%.'
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Oh, very funny!
0:10:43 > 0:10:47When your parents own a restaurant, when do you eat?
0:10:47 > 0:10:52You ate all the time. When you are Asian, food is everything.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54It really is absolutely everything.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57It is what you do when someone marries, when someone is born,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59when someone is dying.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02You just feed each other and food is the most important thing.
0:11:02 > 0:11:08And then that, coupled with a business about food,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11I mean, you can just imagine the explosion of prawn crackers
0:11:11 > 0:11:13and fried rice every single day.
0:11:13 > 0:11:19My favourite mealtime of all time was about 2:30 in the morning,
0:11:19 > 0:11:24Mum and Dad would come in from work and I'd be laying in bed,
0:11:24 > 0:11:29so if you can imagine, young Asian child, slightly overweight,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33underneath the Superman covers, and I would just go...
0:11:33 > 0:11:34HE MAKES SNIFFING SOUND
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Fried onions! Fried onions.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Then we would bolt downstairs and dad would be making a massive feast
0:11:39 > 0:11:41at 2:30 in the morning.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43And even though we should have been sleeping
0:11:43 > 0:11:46and even though we had school the next day and even though we would
0:11:46 > 0:11:49have been tired, actually, that meal was the best education of my life.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51It was much more than a school could ever give me,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54because it was about family and about warmth
0:11:54 > 0:11:57and Dad would tell great stories and we would sit as a family.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59So those mealtimes, for me, were the most important.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02- And do you see that in the Oxo adverts?- Yeah, I see all of that.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04And bizarrely, it is...
0:12:04 > 0:12:07Because the essence of that advert isn't necessarily,
0:12:07 > 0:12:11"If you buy this product you're going to have a great meal",
0:12:11 > 0:12:13it's not about that.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15It's turning round and saying, "This is what this product will do
0:12:15 > 0:12:18"to your family, because it will make you all come together
0:12:18 > 0:12:21"and you will laugh and do things together", and it's a great place.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24It's wonderful and it was revolutionary, this advert.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It changed the British family in a lot of ways
0:12:27 > 0:12:31and then of course, the amazing, incredible, beautiful Linda.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Aw. Such a loss.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37- The biggest, the biggest.- Such a warm, endearing...
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I know you've worked with her, I've worked with her as well,
0:12:40 > 0:12:42and she was just the most giving,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45wonderful, funny, funny, funny person.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49'Watching the Oxo family grow up on our screens over 16 years
0:12:49 > 0:12:53'gave us an appetite for bite-sized soaps.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56'At the end of the '80s, we all wondered what Maureen Lipman's
0:12:56 > 0:12:59'grandson was going to do with his "ology".
0:13:01 > 0:13:05'Whilst boosting sales of coffee by up to 70%,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08'Anthony Head and Sharon Maughn kept us guessing
0:13:08 > 0:13:12' "will they, or won't they?"
0:13:12 > 0:13:13'And back in the '70s,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16'Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins
0:13:16 > 0:13:18'did a great job selling booze,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20'but I don't think there was ever
0:13:20 > 0:13:22'any question that THEY would.'
0:13:29 > 0:13:32- Well, I'm going to go now to Must-See TV.- Yep.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35This is just something you just had to watch,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37it was of course, Must-See TV.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39And I want to take you to 1983.
0:13:39 > 0:13:411983, I was nine.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43GOK GASPS
0:13:43 > 0:13:45This week's show's going to be completely out of proportion
0:13:45 > 0:13:48to anything that we've ever had before in our lives.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50The Tube! Look at Jools, he's a child!
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Could You do that for us, do you think?
0:13:52 > 0:13:54We've got live music from Sade,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56spelt "Say-day", pronounced "Shard-a"...
0:13:56 > 0:13:58- They've got matching hair!- Oh, wow.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02This is so '80s.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Oh, God. Do you know what, I miss the '80s.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Don't you miss the '80s?
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Um...I miss being that young, yeah.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12I don't know whether I miss being that young, but I miss this.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16If you look on these monitors here, you will see two films that we shot,
0:14:16 > 0:14:17one of Swans Way, one of Colourfield...
0:14:17 > 0:14:20When I was nine, watching this with my sister,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23I would watch this programme with her, to try and be my sister.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25So I'd be emulating her to watch this programme.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27I didn't really understand it, because I was nine.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30But it was a way of me being closer to my sister,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33it was a way of me fitting into her world.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36# Talk to me
0:14:36 > 0:14:38# Like lovers do. #
0:14:38 > 0:14:41- Oh, my God! Annie! Incredible. What a voice.- Yeah.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46'From the time it hit our screens in 1982,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50'The Tube revolutionised the way we watched music TV.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54'All the acts played completely live, and after The Tube,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58'miming to records on other pop shows just looked like cheating.'
0:14:58 > 0:15:01MUSIC: Here Comes The Rain Again by Eurythmics
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Amazing fashion. She was the '80s personified.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Gok, what we'd love you to do now is to critique
0:15:06 > 0:15:08some of the acts that they had on.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10GOK LAUGHS
0:15:10 > 0:15:11MUSIC: Too Shy by Kajagoogoo
0:15:11 > 0:15:13# Ooh, baby try... #
0:15:13 > 0:15:15- The Tube.- Wow.- There they are. - Amazing.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Absolutely amazing. I mean, look at that.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20- The first thing is...- Remember the name of the band?- It was...erm...
0:15:20 > 0:15:23- Kaja...- Kajagoo...- Correct. - Kajagoogoo, yeah.- Yeah.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25- The first thing you think of... - # You're too shy, shy... #
0:15:25 > 0:15:27- All right, still talking.- Sorry.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29- So, the first thing...- Sorry. - GOK LAUGHS
0:15:29 > 0:15:32The first thing that you think of when you think of the '80s is hair.
0:15:32 > 0:15:33- Yeah.- That hair is incredible.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36If you ever want a reference that tells you about the '80s,
0:15:36 > 0:15:37then all you need to do,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41is why don't you just cut everything to about two-and-a-half inches
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and then just let the back row as long as you possibly want?
0:15:43 > 0:15:46But, that is the '80s. I mean, it was incredible.
0:15:46 > 0:15:52It was also the first time that boy and girl really did cross over.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55You know, there wasn't any one uniform for a boy,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57any one uniform for a girl and I loved it.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Have a little look at this.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00Here it comes.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02MUSIC: Hong Kong Garden by Siouxie & The Banshees
0:16:02 > 0:16:04# Harmful elements in the air
0:16:04 > 0:16:07# Cymbals crashing everywhere... #
0:16:07 > 0:16:11- Siouxue and The Banshees.- Yeah. - I mean, look at that!
0:16:11 > 0:16:13She looks incredible.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17But, if you put that down a catwalk for McQueen or Vivienne Westwood,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Balenciaga, right now, you wouldn't know the difference.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22It's thought out, it's clever,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24there's great movement in that clothing,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27there's wonderful texture, brilliant performance stuff as well.
0:16:27 > 0:16:28- I mean, it's great.- Yeah.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32- You can't beat the '80s.- I think we've got one more for you.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34Who's this?
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Who's that? Is that Fun Boy Three?
0:16:37 > 0:16:39- This would have been...- Oh, is it Wham?!- It's Wham, it's Wham.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41MUSIC: Young Guns by Wham
0:16:41 > 0:16:44- # Hey sucker - What the hell's got into you... #
0:16:44 > 0:16:47- Is that George?- That is Wham. - Look at George.- Oh.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48Now, that is incredible.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50I mean, if there was ever a way of doing double denim,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53- there's three different variations there.- Yeah.
0:16:53 > 0:16:54That is just a delight.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56It's amazing, because it's what
0:16:56 > 0:16:57I remember about fashion,
0:16:57 > 0:16:58it's probably the first time that
0:16:58 > 0:17:00I looked at fashion and thought,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03"I understand you" or, "I know you" or, "I want to get to know you".
0:17:03 > 0:17:06- Have pop stars got a look now?- Yeah. - Is there a look now?
0:17:06 > 0:17:08Was my job for years to dress them like that.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10It was, you know, it's really important,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14but how we present ourselves is vital. It's so important.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17It sends out a gazillion messages to people
0:17:17 > 0:17:20without even opening your mouth.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24'80s bands like Culture Club, Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode
0:17:24 > 0:17:27'and Frankie Goes To Hollywood's TV appearances were sending out
0:17:27 > 0:17:33'messages about style and sexuality that influenced us all.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36'But the fashion icon that really made her mark on Gok
0:17:36 > 0:17:38'was a lot closer to home.'
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Did your sister influence you in what you do now?
0:17:42 > 0:17:44- Oh, my God, everything.- Really? - The first makeover...
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Is it because you're into...
0:17:47 > 0:17:49you are attracted to dominant women?
0:17:49 > 0:17:51Probably. I...
0:17:51 > 0:17:56I've always loved women and my sister is a strong, clever, brilliant woman.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58When we were going through quite a lot of social abuse
0:17:58 > 0:18:01- on the estate for being Chinese and fat and camp...- Really?
0:18:01 > 0:18:04..and all that kind of thing, it never affected my sister.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06She was strong and she would stand up for the family.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09I mean, I wasn't as strong then as a person,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11so I looked up to her for that reason.
0:18:11 > 0:18:12So, women have always...
0:18:12 > 0:18:16and she probably was the catalyst of my appreciation for women.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19The first makeover I ever saw was my sister's makeover,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21and she would get home from school and she'd wear a navy blue
0:18:21 > 0:18:25and a white uniform, and then she would go upstairs to her room
0:18:25 > 0:18:29and then come downstairs. Within moments she was transformed
0:18:29 > 0:18:33and she'd be semi-goth with a tube skirt and brogues,
0:18:33 > 0:18:35an oversized boyfriend blazer.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38And I remember watching my sister, thinking it's the most
0:18:38 > 0:18:41incredible thing that you can go from looking this way
0:18:41 > 0:18:42to that way in a second.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45- What it does is it just boosts your confidence.- Yeah.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47And it turns you into a different person.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49It was the way that my sister started to develop into
0:18:49 > 0:18:50the person that she is.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53So, if you think about it, I've probably done, I don't know,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57- thousands and thousands and thousands of makeovers over my career.- Yeah.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00But, in fact, the most important makeover
0:19:00 > 0:19:01was stemmed from that programme.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05It was The Tube and that era and my sister's makeover.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08- My taste...- But you spoke about being picked on
0:19:08 > 0:19:10- and you spoke about being large. - Yeah.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11And I think people will be
0:19:11 > 0:19:14quite surprised and unaware that you were very large.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Really large, yeah, yeah.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Probably wouldn't have fitted on this set, actually! THEY LAUGH
0:19:19 > 0:19:22- OK, at the age of 15...- I was 15st.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24I gained a stone for every year I lived.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26That was kind of how I measured my weight.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28I got bigger and bigger and bigger.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31So how old were you, what was the catalystic moment that
0:19:31 > 0:19:34made you go, "Hang on, I need to sort myself out"?
0:19:34 > 0:19:36I was 21.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41I had reached 21st, approximately 21st, so I had a 48-inch waist.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44I remember the 48-inch waist, but do you know what, I was really happy.
0:19:44 > 0:19:50I'd gone to college and I had decided by then what my career path would be.
0:19:50 > 0:19:51It was to be a performer.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53I wanted to be an actor
0:19:53 > 0:19:56and I auditioned at a really tough school to get into,
0:19:56 > 0:19:57the Central School of Speech and Drama,
0:19:57 > 0:20:04and I walked in and I stood there and I was this 21st, gay, tall,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Chinese, a little bit like Hagrid.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11The door threw open and I remember the smell, first of all, was damp,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14and the second thing I remember was looking round thinking,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18"I do not look like any single person here, not a single person."
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Everyone had blonde hair and blue eyes and they were beautiful
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and they were thin and they were chiselled.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26I suddenly thought to myself,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28"Oh, no. You've done something wrong here.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31"This is not good news for you at all.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34And, at that point, I thought to myself,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38"I can't look like this any more. I can't look this different."
0:20:38 > 0:20:41I thought to myself, "Right, that's it, you're going to change
0:20:41 > 0:20:45"the way that you look", and this is the biggest mistake of my life.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48And if you look like everybody else,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50then you'll be just as good as them.
0:20:50 > 0:20:51And I remember that.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Why was it a mistake?
0:20:54 > 0:20:55Well, it was a mistake because...
0:20:55 > 0:20:58And look how much it affects you even now, because you are...
0:20:58 > 0:21:01It was a big story because it's like part of your heritage, isn't it?
0:21:01 > 0:21:03Because you...
0:21:03 > 0:21:06I suppose I've made a career teaching people
0:21:06 > 0:21:09the bad mistake that I made, believing in the hype,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12the press hype that you have to look a certain way,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16that, you know, if you're different at all then difference is wrong,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20that you need to be like everybody else and I did truly believe it.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Really, really believed it and, you know, it was a big mistake.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28So, what would you say to that 21-year-old now?
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Do you know what? Don't worry.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Don't worry because you're going to find stuff later on in your life,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37which will feel bigger and more emotional and harder
0:21:37 > 0:21:41and this is a small moment in your life.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44It feels like everything right now, but it's a small moment in your life,
0:21:44 > 0:21:51and I do genuinely believe that we do love each other for who we are.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53It's not just the way we look.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05- Your next choice is a little thing called Just Because.- Just Because.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Just because, you just like watching it... Just because...
0:22:07 > 0:22:10- Just because. Let's have a watch. - And it is...
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Well, have a little look. Just because.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14First of all, Tony and Josie.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Would you like to come forward ready to play?
0:22:17 > 0:22:19GOK GASPS Whose Line Is It Anyway?
0:22:19 > 0:22:25- Oh, my God! What an incredible, incredible show!- Yeah.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28So, when this show first came out... God, how old was I?
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- What year was this?- This is 1988.
0:22:31 > 0:22:341988, so I would've been 14 years old.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Yeah, absolutely, it works out perfectly.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38This is when I knew I wanted to be an actor.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40So, has anyone got a film style they like...?
0:22:40 > 0:22:42- AUDIENCE SHOUT OUT - Surrealist, yes.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47And I love the fact that the audience got involved as well.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50I really like the fact the audience were the missing member of the cast.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53The scene I'd like you to improvise, Tony and Josie,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55is a patient going to see a doctor.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58"Whose Line Is It Anyway?" was filmed on a simple set
0:22:58 > 0:23:02and the idea was simple too. Comedians like Josie Lawrence
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and Tony Slattery were asked to improvise comedy scenes
0:23:05 > 0:23:10on the spot and we all knew there was nothing simple about that.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14It's what kept us glued to the show for 11 years.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Just take your clothes off, then.
0:23:16 > 0:23:17LAUGHTER
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Are you sure that's what I have to do, doctor?
0:23:19 > 0:23:20It is a squint in my eye.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23- Who was your favourite? - Josie Lawrence.- Right.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25- I used to love it when she used to sing.- Another strong woman.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27Exactly. Another strong woman.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30- Surrealist style.- You see, I have an onion.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Not as much as doctors turn into Art Deco lamps.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Just incredible, isn't it? Isn't it absolutely amazing
0:23:42 > 0:23:44- that they would think of it on the spot like this?- I know.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46If you think about it,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49this is probably one of the first times that the audience,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52or we as the audience, got to see the mechanics of performing.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55It was the first time you were allowed into the brains of the actors.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00It was a really clever idea for us to be privy to that.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Relatively unknown comedians who appeared on Whose Line have
0:24:04 > 0:24:06gone on to great things.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Josie Lawrence played
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Amanda Best in EastEnders.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Caroline Quentin put up with Men Behaving Badly and the tricks
0:24:16 > 0:24:18of Jonathan Creek before settling
0:24:18 > 0:24:20into Restoration Home.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Paul Merton is still the king of off-the-cuff remarks on
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Have I Got News For You.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33And Stephen Fry, the nation's favourite clever clogs,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36hosts the comedy quiz QI.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40I'll let you into a secret I've never told anyone before.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43This has just reminded me and I've actually never ever told
0:24:43 > 0:24:46anybody in my life, and that is the truth.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49- I always wanted to be a stand-up. - You always wanted...
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I wanted to be a stand-up because of this.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56I remember I had a whole routine that I had written and that I...
0:24:56 > 0:24:58But my routine was I was going to pretend that
0:24:58 > 0:24:59I could improvise and I wasn't.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02It was a set routine and I knew it word for word.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04So, you rehearsed your ad-libs?
0:25:04 > 0:25:07I rehearsed my ad-libs on my own, pretending that
0:25:07 > 0:25:09I could fool people that I was improvising.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13But don't you think it's what you're good at?
0:25:13 > 0:25:15That it is... just to let you roll...
0:25:15 > 0:25:20When you're doing your show, when you're doing anything on TV
0:25:20 > 0:25:22so often, you are ad-libbing.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Yeah, my shows are improvised and we don't have scripts
0:25:25 > 0:25:27and whether I'm doing a morning programme, or whether I'm making
0:25:27 > 0:25:31How To Look Good Naked, or one of the fashion shows, we don't really have
0:25:31 > 0:25:34scripts because you can't really have scripts when you're dealing with
0:25:34 > 0:25:37people's confidence. You can't really have lines to say,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39because it has got to be really, really natural
0:25:39 > 0:25:43and you've just got to hope there's a connection there between two people.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47What is the key ingredient to giving someone else confidence?
0:25:47 > 0:25:48I think it's to listen.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52The most important thing is listening and I think we sometimes
0:25:52 > 0:25:55forget to listen, we get so bothered with telling people what
0:25:55 > 0:25:58we've been up to, or what we feel we need to tell people that
0:25:58 > 0:26:02when you think about it, when a woman comes onto my show and if
0:26:02 > 0:26:07she hates her reflection and hates her body, all I do is listen to her.
0:26:07 > 0:26:08I do very little else.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11The clothes aren't really that important, they're not really needed.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14I just use them as a device or as a vehicle to be able to
0:26:14 > 0:26:15communicate with her.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23- Your next choice is Guilty Pleasure. - Guilty Pleasure.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I'm not going to say anything except I'm taking you back to 1983.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28I'm so excited.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32GOK GASPS
0:26:36 > 0:26:38- Lynda La Plante.- Oh, my God.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41This is everything that I love about television.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43What about explosives?
0:26:43 > 0:26:47- Do me a favour.- Sorry. Sorry, Dolly.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50I've got a meeting with the security contact.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54All of their fellas have all been banged up for a job
0:26:54 > 0:26:56and they are the wives that are going to do the job now,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58and it's basically a bank robbery.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01- The big one's in four months' time. - Is that the one we're going for?
0:27:01 > 0:27:04We'll need every minute.
0:27:04 > 0:27:05Sorry, love.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09This is what old-school serial writing was.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It was not terribly acted, but not brilliantly.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15It was just a really honest series that you got hooked into.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19You two better get yourself wheels, good ones.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24First screened in 1983, Widows was a huge hit and was
0:27:24 > 0:27:29BAFTA nominated for its moody, realistic and innovative direction.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32It was writer Lynda La Plante's first-ever screenplay,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34which she wrote because she believed
0:27:34 > 0:27:38there weren't enough realistic roles for women.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Now's your chance, love. In or out?
0:27:47 > 0:27:53Do you remember years ago, before we had www.anything.com?
0:27:53 > 0:27:56You know, you can get catch up this now and you can watch it
0:27:56 > 0:27:58on your phone, you can watch it on your watch, you can
0:27:58 > 0:28:02watch it on your mirror - do you see what I mean?
0:28:02 > 0:28:05In a weird way, it's lost exactly what this programme was about.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07It was about looking forward to something,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11days before it was on and it was just also great writing.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14- Did you love the characters? - I loved the characters.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17They were just strong and they were go-getting,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19but also vulnerable at the same time.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22I think everything that I love about women is that strength
0:28:22 > 0:28:25and vulnerability mixed together.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Some of our greatest actresses have played
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Lynda La Plante's toughest female characters.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Ann Mitchell, now better known as EastEnders' Cora Cross,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37played Teflon-coated Dolly Rawlins in Widows.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41And Amanda Burton played
0:28:41 > 0:28:42La Plante's utterly ruthless
0:28:42 > 0:28:44Claire Blake in The Commander
0:28:44 > 0:28:46in 2003.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51But La Plante's greatest creation
0:28:51 > 0:28:52has to be Prime Suspect's
0:28:52 > 0:28:55DCI Jane Tennison, who was played
0:28:55 > 0:28:57to brittle yet steely perfection
0:28:57 > 0:28:59by Helen Mirren.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- There's a real theme. - Yeah, there is.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07- When we talk about your sister. - Yeah.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09The way you sort of reacted to Annie Lennox
0:29:09 > 0:29:13- and now this strong women. - I've always, always, always...
0:29:13 > 0:29:18I mean, far, way before I knew I was gay, I always loved women.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19Women fascinate me.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23And also when you are doing How To Do Good Naked,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26you are making women into strong women.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28Yeah, hopefully. A little bit.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32I don't think I can be solely responsible for them being really
0:29:32 > 0:29:35confident and strong, but hopefully,
0:29:35 > 0:29:37I like to think I've had a hand in that.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41I've given them a place that they can come to, that they can discuss
0:29:41 > 0:29:44their fears and they can discuss how they really feel about themselves.
0:29:50 > 0:29:56- I want to move on now to your Comedy Hero.- Yep.- This...
0:29:56 > 0:29:58- I don't want to say any more.- Go on.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Blott On The Landscape. Oh, my goodness.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05What on earth's this, Mrs Purity?
0:30:05 > 0:30:07That's your breakfast, Giles.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09Breakfast? It's uncooked oysters.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13Blott On The Landscape featured a stellar cast.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Not only Hercule Poirot, of course I mean David Suchet.
0:30:17 > 0:30:18He is bagged.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22But also Geraldine James and the great Arthur Daley, aka...
0:30:22 > 0:30:24- I don't like him. - ..George Cole.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26He's foreign, his teeth aren't nice
0:30:26 > 0:30:27and he doesn't behave like a servant.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30- This is British TV at its best, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:30:30 > 0:30:36Brilliantly made, the sets, the costume, the script is incredible.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38This is great British telly.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42I suppose he's not obsequious enough for you.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Bloody man thinks he owns the place.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47- How old was you when you was watching this?- I don't even know.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52- What year was this made? - This is 1985.- 1985.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57So I would've been nine years old. Nine years old. Do you know what?
0:30:57 > 0:31:00I tell you why I loved Blott On The Landscape.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03It was because it was a bit rude.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05This fodder is supposed to make me randy.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10It was a bit naughty, the humour was a bit saucy, the language was
0:31:10 > 0:31:15a bit saucy, there was a tiny little bit of nudity in there and...
0:31:15 > 0:31:19as you know, there's a side of my personality which is quite naughty.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21No! I don't think we've seen that today.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23I like being really cheeky
0:31:23 > 0:31:27and this is where probably my humour started to develop.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30Pushing people a little bit further than they've been before to laugh.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34You mention nudity. Did you question your sexuality
0:31:34 > 0:31:38- when you watched something like that at that tender age?- Yes, absolutely.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40I was about nine years old
0:31:40 > 0:31:44and I think I was coming of age, physically as well, and it wasn't
0:31:44 > 0:31:50until this age that I started... I knew that I was attracted to guys.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54It's very weird because the feeling was there way before words were.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57- Really?- I could never have articulated that. I just knew
0:31:57 > 0:32:00it was there and it was programmes like Blott On The Landscape -
0:32:00 > 0:32:03and Tom Sharpe is a very provocative novelist -
0:32:03 > 0:32:07that allowed me to come out. It was a huge part of my coming out.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11And how difficult was it for you to tell your parents?
0:32:11 > 0:32:15It was quite tough. I told my parents much later, so I was 22 years old.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18One Sunday, my brother and sister came to visit me in London,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21and my sister left and as she left, she said, "Oh, your problem is
0:32:21 > 0:32:22"you're always so moody.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25"It's because you've not told Mum and Dad you're gay."
0:32:25 > 0:32:28And they went and then about an hour later, the telephone rings,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31or an hour and a half later, the telephone rings and my mum
0:32:31 > 0:32:33is on the telephone and she says, "Oh, the kids are back."
0:32:33 > 0:32:37And I said, "Yeah." She said, "I know."
0:32:37 > 0:32:39I said, "You know what?"
0:32:39 > 0:32:41She said, "I know you're gay."
0:32:41 > 0:32:43And as a result, I didn't go home for months and months and months.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45Surely that should've been a relief?
0:32:45 > 0:32:48No, I was terrified and I didn't want my dad to know.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50My mum knew, I didn't want my dad to know.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Eventually, my mum told me that she'd told my dad and I was seeing
0:32:53 > 0:32:56a guy at the time and so I knew exactly what I was doing.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59I'd created this device in my head and I said to this guy that
0:32:59 > 0:33:02I was seeing, "Right, we're going to go back and meet my parents."
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Went home, drove up, went into the restaurant, went up the stairs,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09went through the door, took a right into the kitchen and like I thought,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13my entire family was sat around the table eating and they all
0:33:13 > 0:33:15spun around and then there was silence,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18because I was standing there with this guy.
0:33:18 > 0:33:19And they kind of looked away
0:33:19 > 0:33:22and Mum said, "Get a bowl, sit down,"
0:33:22 > 0:33:25so we sat down and we ate in silence for the first meal of my entire life,
0:33:25 > 0:33:28and then halfway through the meal, my dad leaves
0:33:28 > 0:33:31and goes into the sitting room and my father never does that.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34The head of the table never leaves halfway through a meal,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37he's always the last person eating, and he'd left, so we knew
0:33:37 > 0:33:40there was something devastating, it was awful, it was terrible.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43And at the end of the meal, I walked out and I walked through the hallway,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46got to the living room door and I could hear my dad in there,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49and it was a rustling sound of things being moved around,
0:33:49 > 0:33:50and I opened the door and I looked through,
0:33:50 > 0:33:54and my dad had taken all of the cushions off of the sofas and chairs
0:33:54 > 0:33:57and laid them out and lit a fire, and it was his way of saying,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00- "It's fine. You can sleep here with your boyfriend." - Aww! Ain't that lovely?
0:34:00 > 0:34:03- Ain't that a wonderful story?- Aww!
0:34:03 > 0:34:08Was there much on TV for young gay men at that time?
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Well, there was kind of... Well, not really.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15There was Eurotrash when I was growing up,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18with Jean Paul Gaultier and Antoine, so there was
0:34:18 > 0:34:21like those kinds of programmes, but not until Channel 4
0:34:21 > 0:34:25came around that there was a big gay presence on television.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27Did you have TV crushes?
0:34:27 > 0:34:32Oh, my God. Yeah, Mark Lamarr. Oh, my!
0:34:32 > 0:34:37It's probably why I've still got the quiff. I really, really fancied Mark.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39- I still really fancy Mark Lamarr. - Have you met him?
0:34:39 > 0:34:43- Have you been in his presence? - I've never met Mark Lamarr.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47I've never ever met him, but, yeah, he was my big TV crush. Yeah.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53Gok may have fancied Mark Lamarr of Shooting Stars fame, but he
0:34:53 > 0:34:58doesn't come close to being one of the most fancied men on British TV.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Here is my titillating top five.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06At five, Aidan Turner's Ross Poldark
0:35:06 > 0:35:09kept an average of
0:35:09 > 0:35:11eight million viewers very happy.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13At four, he's out-sexed by a man
0:35:13 > 0:35:17in a funny hat as Benedict Cumberbatch
0:35:17 > 0:35:18draws 9.2 million
0:35:18 > 0:35:20drooling Cumber fans.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28At three, wet-shirted colossus Colin Firth kept ten million
0:35:28 > 0:35:30hearts fluttering though the '90s
0:35:30 > 0:35:31in Pride And Prejudice.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40At two, the devastating double act of Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews
0:35:40 > 0:35:42broke 11 million hearts
0:35:42 > 0:35:45with Brideshead Revisited in the '80s.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53But beating them all to number one, it's the original
0:35:53 > 0:35:55and hottest Poldark Robin Ellis,
0:35:55 > 0:35:58who made 15 million viewers swoon
0:35:58 > 0:35:59through the '70s.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09This is your Family Favourite now.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12This is something you'd all sit down and have a look at if you could.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17- It is, of course, Going For Gold. - Going For Gold!
0:36:17 > 0:36:20# Going, going for gold! #
0:36:20 > 0:36:24Hosted by the legendary Henry Kelly.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Henry Kelly, who is now my neighbour.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28Welcome again to Going For Gold.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Oh, look at him. You know what, he's not changed really.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35- So, you would play this as a family? - We'd kind of play this as a family.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38Look at those stars. Look at Wales! Oh, Finland!
0:36:38 > 0:36:40"Look, it's me. I'm from Finland."
0:36:40 > 0:36:42- This was a great game show, wasn't it?- Yeah.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Ready?
0:36:44 > 0:36:45You could say Going For Gold
0:36:45 > 0:36:48was the most unequalled quiz show ever created.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50The contestants were from all over Europe,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52but it was all in English and surprise, surprise,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55England won the most times.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57So, we're going to play.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00First one to get three questions right wins a biscuit. Here we go.
0:37:00 > 0:37:01What am I?
0:37:01 > 0:37:04I am a European city famous as the birthplace of the Renaissance...
0:37:04 > 0:37:06- France.- ..some of the greatest... - BUZZER
0:37:06 > 0:37:09- Norway.- Florence. - Is the correct answer.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12- Florence. - Shut up! I got it wrong.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14Hands on the buzzers. Who am I? My name is the title of an opera.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17The action is set in Spain, where I work in a factory...
0:37:17 > 0:37:18BUZZER Carmen.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20- Finland.- Carmen.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23- Carmen is correct. - Yes! Got it.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25- I'm so competitive, I can't bear it.- Calm down.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27- We're only having a laugh. - GOK LAUGHS
0:37:31 > 0:37:33What am I? I am a book that was made into a Broadway musical
0:37:33 > 0:37:34and then into a film...
0:37:34 > 0:37:3642nd Street.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38..my story is about a French planter played in the film...
0:37:38 > 0:37:41- BUZZER - Wales.
0:37:41 > 0:37:42- South Pacific.- Is correct.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45I didn't know it was Rogers and Hammerstein, did you?
0:37:45 > 0:37:50- Judy knew it.- Judy knew it. From Wales.- We're really bad at this!
0:37:50 > 0:37:52- You got one right.- I got one right.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54- Do I get a biscuit? - You get a biscuit.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56- I wish they were spring rolls. - Sorry.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58Chocolate or a digestive?
0:37:58 > 0:38:03That is the worst gift I've ever been given in my entire life!
0:38:09 > 0:38:13Gok, your big break had to be How To Look Good Naked.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16- Would you say that or am I wrong? - Yeah. Kind of.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20It's weird, because I kind of had two jobs doing the same job.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24- So you started as a pop star stylist?- I did, yeah.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26I originally was a make-up artist
0:38:26 > 0:38:29and then discovered a rail of clothes on a shoot one day
0:38:29 > 0:38:31and suddenly thought, "Oh, my God. This is incredible."
0:38:31 > 0:38:34It was like I'd found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
0:38:34 > 0:38:35and I looked through this rail,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38I remember pulling out all these pieces for a photo shoot
0:38:38 > 0:38:42for a supplement, a Sunday supplement, I was on assisting.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45I remember seeing all the clothes and it was, every single piece that
0:38:45 > 0:38:49I pulled out, I just, in a weird way, just understood the clothing.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52I knew what it was about and why it was there
0:38:52 > 0:38:54and what it was going to do and how it should be shot,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58and that was my first entrance as a fashion stylist.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Working as a fashion stylist and working on music videos,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04commercials, editorial, doesn't matter,
0:39:04 > 0:39:06and then, all of a sudden,
0:39:06 > 0:39:10television came around and I had put the performance side of my life
0:39:10 > 0:39:15to rest and I kind of figured I would never do it,
0:39:15 > 0:39:20and I made a programme for MTV called MTV Shakedown with a guy
0:39:20 > 0:39:21called Wade Robson, who is,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24who was Michael Jackson's choreographer. It was a dance show
0:39:24 > 0:39:27and I was the on-screen stylist, and there was a camera following me
0:39:27 > 0:39:29around and I loved being on camera.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34My show reel had ended up on daytime at Channel 4
0:39:34 > 0:39:37- and that's where Naked came from. - Shall we have a little look?
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Oh, my God. This is the hardest thing, for me to watch myself now.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Because of this area that we know that you're not happy with,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45we want that to carry on down and
0:39:45 > 0:39:47almost skim where your leg might be.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50- That was ten, over ten years ago. - Really?
0:39:50 > 0:39:53What these trousers do is they have this great waistband here.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56- You see how it stops just where your waist needs to be?- Yeah.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59- Tell me what you see? - It comes in here.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03Naked brought Gok's personal philosophy about loving ourselves
0:40:03 > 0:40:07- into our living rooms in 2006. - I mean, you look gorgeous.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Our cameraman is shaking right now. That's how gorgeous you look.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14- I think it's making me look a lot thinner. Definitely.- Hoorah!
0:40:14 > 0:40:17- How do you feel when you watch yourself?- I am so critical.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21I'm finding it really, really difficult. That was ten years ago.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23I'm so critical. I mean, it's amazing.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27How To Look Good Naked was an incredible show.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31It showed in so many countries around the world and was brilliant,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34but, do you know what? It was never about my performance, I don't think.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36I think I just did my job on TV.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38It was the generosity of those amazing women
0:40:38 > 0:40:40that gave their stories.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43- How many episodes did you do? - I think we made about 78 of them.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Tell me what do you think, all right?
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Unlike similar lifestyle shows, Gok never
0:40:49 > 0:40:53encouraged his girlfriends to have cosmetic surgery or even diet.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57When you get so close to a woman and she's letting you in,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00there's a respect that I've got to give her.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04- Projected onto a building, bangers out for everyone to see.- No!
0:41:04 > 0:41:07But they were incredible, incredible women.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10They were so generous with their stories because without them,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12we didn't have a show to make really.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16It wasn't about that top with the gorgeous chevrons. It wasn't about the jeans with
0:41:16 > 0:41:18the panelling, it wasn't anything about that.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21You'll forget those jeans and that top, but you'll never forget her.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24How To Look Good Naked, we didn't think it was going to be like this
0:41:24 > 0:41:25at all when we started filming it.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29We didn't know the bond I was going to have with the women at all.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32It was something that came much further on, and then at the end,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35we were still filming, we'd run over the filming schedule
0:41:35 > 0:41:39of the first series and we were filming on a boat on the Thames,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43and it was the night that the first show went out and my director
0:41:43 > 0:41:46said to me, "Your life is about to change for ever, Gok."
0:41:46 > 0:41:49And I said, "Don't be silly. Don't be silly."
0:41:49 > 0:41:50She said, "No, it will.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52"Overnight, your life is about to change forever."
0:41:52 > 0:41:56And she was absolutely right. 100%.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59I want to ask you, what do you enjoy watching now?
0:41:59 > 0:42:04- What do I enjoy watching now?- Are you a box set man?- Kind of. Yes.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07The last box set I watched was Silk,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10which was a great series.
0:42:10 > 0:42:11I loved it, I got really into it.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14It's all about lawyers and barristers. My sister's a lawyer.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17There's a connection there again somewhere. I love Sex And The City.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21I can watch those over and over and over again. I love Frasier.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25It really makes me laugh, absolutely brilliant television.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28And, you know what, I'm a bit of a sucker for The X Factor.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31I have to say, I do love The X Factor.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34And Britain's Got Talent as well, I really like. So, varied now.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36When I'm not working, that is.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40- I ask my guests to pick a theme tune for us to go out on.- Yep.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44- Is there one that springs to mind? - It's got to be Monkey Magic.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46It has got to be that,
0:42:46 > 0:42:49because that is just everything about what I think TV should be -
0:42:49 > 0:42:52- total escapism. - Well, from the bottom of my heart,
0:42:52 > 0:42:54I want to thank you for coming on the show.
0:42:54 > 0:42:55Ladies and gentlemen - Gok Wan.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57And thank you for watching TV That Made Me.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59We'll see you next time. Give them a wave.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02# Born from an egg on a mountain top
0:43:02 > 0:43:07# The funkiest monkey that ever popped
0:43:07 > 0:43:11# He knew every magic trick under the sun
0:43:11 > 0:43:16# To tease the Gods And everyone and have some fun
0:43:16 > 0:43:18# Monkey magic
0:43:21 > 0:43:23# Monkey magic. #