As I sat down to watch this documentary about Peter Kay on BBC1 this Christmas Eve, I longed for it to be as good as it sounded. It was billed as a look back at Peter’s working life, from the past to the present day.  I am a massive fan of comedian Peter Kay’s so I was really looking forward to watching it.  I wanted it to be interesting, entertaining and informative about this funny guy who is adored by millions. As the credits rolled I had not been disappointed I am pleased to say. It was a great watch that reminded me just exactly why I like this comedy performer so much.  Decency I think is the best word that describes Peter for me.  He is so likable because first and foremost he seems like such a decent bloke. A decent guy who also just happens to be incredibly funny and an extremely talented comedy actor.

What impressed me most about this documentary was how much new stuff I learned about Peter Kay.  I have seen various programmes about him in the past and so assumed I pretty much knew all there was to know about his life.  It was interesting to hear about his teenage school days and how he and fellow TV star Paddy McGuiness became close friends. I had no idea either that Peter had studied Performing Arts at Salford University. It was fascinating to find out that this was where he came across his future co-star in Car Share, namely the brilliantly talented Sian Gibson.  Their real life friendship is based on them being former Uni classmates. It was interesting to see just how many old shows of his Sian has been in throughout the years, I had no idea.

The documentary then charted the amazing rise of his career in comedy.  As a Mancunian it was enlightening to discover how his early years of doing stand-up comedy, took place with great success in a Manchester comedy club called The Frog & Bucket.  I remember watching his six one-off comedy dramas called That Peter Kay Thing, but had no idea that he did a pilot episode for it before this called The Services.

As a big fan of Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, I particularly enjoyed the section that focused on this show.  I grew up going to such a club so I was instantly drawn to this series when it first aired.  The stories about the cast and how the show came to fruition were really captivating for a big fan like myself.  The more this documentary progressed then the more I became aware of just how much of a massive perfectionist Peter Kay is.

I was impressed at the calibre of the people that payed tribute to Peter via interviews. I am thinking here in particular of J.K.Rowling who was gushing in her praise for her dear close friend.  Fellow comedians Matt Lucas and Jason Manford also made interesting contributions about how much they held Peter in such high regard due to his immense comic talent.  As Matt rightly stated, what makes Peter standout among the greats is that along with doing his brilliant observational comedy, he is also a fantastic comic actor.

Being a massive fan of Car Share, I loved listening to Sian Gibson(Kayleigh) discuss her real life close friendship with Peter. I think she is a great comedy actress and was surprised to hear her say that she had been working in a call centre at the time Peter sent her an email about Car Share.  I totally agreed with Peter when he stated that he thought their real life friendship for many years, was a big reason why they had such great onscreen chemistry together in Car share.  Their funny chats seemed so natural and now we know the reason for this.

It was also fascinating to hear from another friend and fellow co-writer of Car Share, namely Paul Coleman.  Paul said that when they created Car Share he did not envisage that Peter would be John.  This seems remarkable now because I think it is one of the best pieces of work that Peter Kay has ever done.  Paul further said that the dream sequences in the show were purely down to Peter.  Sian jokingly told us that this was because Peter has always been something of a music geek.

My favourite anecdote of the entire programme when Peter talked about once writing a fan letter to the late great comedian Ronnie Barker. Ronnie is widely accepted as being one of the greatest British comedy actors to have ever lived.  He starred in Porridge and Open All Hours which are viewed as two of Britain’s best ever sit-coms.  Peter explained how he finally plucked up enough courage one day to send Ronnie this letter that he had written him. To Peter’s utter joy and surprise Ronnie replied to him.  The special thing about the reply was that Ronnie wrote the letter ‘in character’, as his famous Fletcher character from Porridge .  Peter explained how this meant the world to him. He was that touched at such a gesture from Ronnie that it even moved him to tears he said.  The funny part of this story was when Peter rang up his friend Paddy McGuiness to tell him how chuffed he was at getting such a reply from Ronnie Barker.  I will not ruin the punchline in case you have not seen this programme yet, but lets just say Paddy did not share Peter’s joy or enthusiasm upon hearing this news.

I am trying to think if there is anything critical that I can say about this documentary.  The only thing that I commented upon after viewing it, was that I have noticed that Peter never talks about his Father much.  I never read his best-selling ‘funny’ autobiography so perhaps the answer to this lies in there? He mentions the female side of his family a lot more than the male side I have noticed.  I am interested to know more about Peter Kay’s father.  This is me being ultra picky though I accept, bar that I thought it was a faultless documentary about a modern day British comedy great.

It was a very well put together documentary that is a must see for all Peter Kay fans out there. 4.5/5.

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