Neil Morrissey remembers the day he beat Eminem and Westlife to top the charts...
Neil Morrissey has enjoyed a sparkling career and appeared in hit shows such as Line of Duty, Men Behaving Badly and Inspector George Gently, but one of his proudest moments came when he scored a Christmas Number One!
The Good Karma Hospital star voiced iconic children’s TV character, Bob the Builder, who beat Westlife and Eminem to the top spot at Christmas 2000 with hit single Can We Fix It? But Neil only found out while aboard a long-haul flight…
"I heard the news just before I got on a plane to Australia or LA for Christmas," he says. "I told the crew about it and that Dr Fox wanted to chat to me on the chart show, but unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to as I’d be in the air…
"Luckily they sorted out a ground-to-air chat, which wasn’t so easy back then, and I was sitting there with a glass of champers chatting about the record. It was an amazing feeling because we knocked Eminem off top spot and stopped Westlife breaking The Beatles record for having a number one at Christmas and New Year, so they weren’t happy…
"The funny thing is, I was sitting next to Ronan Keating, from Boyzone, and I knew those guys had a bit of a rivalry with Westlife. I tried to get him on the phone to Foxy but he wouldn’t have it!"
The Good Karma Hospital with Neil Morrissey continues on Sunday on ITV.
Main pic: PA Archive/PA Images
