Peter Kay has revealed that he still has ideas for a revival of his hit comedy Phoenix Nights, more than 20 years after the show's final episode, and he'd like to come back for more.
Kay has a new book coming out called T.V.: Big Adventures on the Small Screen where he writes about the various shows he's worked on, and in it he reveals his desire for the phoenix to be reborn.
In the show Kay created with Neil Fitzmaurice and Dave Spikey, he played wheelchair-bound club owner Brian Potter, and chip-dropping bouncer Max, but it's been a while since we've seen them on our screens.
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Kay suggested in the book, and has done elsewhere before, that Phoenix Nights could come back for a film, while also revealing that he'd planned out a Christmas special of spin-off Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere.
It's been a long time since that final episode of Phoenix Nights, where the club staff have to put on a Stars in their Eyes night after the dastardly Den Perry (Tim Robbins) cancels all the acts they had booked.
On the big night, Perry is also tricked into revealing he burnt down the Phoenix Club at the end of the first series, while Max and Paddy (Paddy McGuinness) go on the run after fearing they'll be bumped off for failing to kill a woman's husband.
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The show ended on a note of celebration as Brian's reputation is restored, but he lets Jerry (Dave Spikey) stay as the club's licensee and everyone except Max and Paddy have a celebration.
According to The Sun, Kay's new book reveals some of the ideas he still gets for episodes of Phoenix Nights if the show was ever to come back.
He wrote: "I still write down ideas. I had an idea only today of Brian getting Young Kenny to paint an enormous letter ‘H’ on the roof of the club so he can advertise they’ve got a helicopter pad.
"The chance of a helicopter ever landing is, of course, zero. As the years pass, I’m becoming more like Brian, but if Phoenix Nights rose again it’d have to be for something very special, maybe a film?"
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"Perhaps Brian could get visited by three ghosts. Now, wouldn’t that be an idea?"
While a film could work for Phoenix Nights, Kay also wrote that he'd penned a Christmas special of Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere where the two were working as 'overly aggressive' elves in a Santa's grotto.
He wrote that it would be 'a joy' to work with McGuinness again, and it seems as though the feeling is mutual.
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Kay has said a few times over the years that a third series of Phoenix Nights has been written, but they can never find the time to film it.
The comedian first told BBC Radio 1 in 2006 that new episodes had been written, while in 2017 he told BBC Radio Manchester that 'a whole series three been written for about 15 years'.
Come on Channel 4, you know you want to...
Peter Kay's book T.V.: Big Adventures on the Small Screen releases on 28 September.
Topics: Channel 4, Peter Kay, TV and Film, Paddy McGuinness
Joe Harker