Harry Hill

Harry Hill

He’s one of the most recognisable faces on telly, and we were lucky enough to catch up with him as he promoted his new range of nuts in a charity shop in London.

From issue 15, Summer 2015

Hello Harry, you’ve just finished a series of TV Burp, will there be more?

Not in the immediate future. I’m having a rest. TV Burp’s very labour intensive and I have to do 20 a year. It’s always the Spring one that’s hard, the autumn one is easier to do because all the big shows are out then – like X Factor. In the Spring we have to be a lot more ingenious – hence a three minute song about Amanda Lamb from a daytime show that no-one’s ever heard of…

You’re being hard on yourself, the Amanda Lamb song was a highlight for us!

Well actually those things can be the most satisfying – what we call ‘small print’, bits where you have to be ingenious. But I really don’t know if I can do it any more. It’s just the stress of it. At the end of TV Burp I felt like, actually this isn’t much fun. This is just work and I’m going a bit mad. I think it would be interesting now if someone else presented it. I did think I’d managed to get Micky Flanagan to do it which would have been great because he’s so different but I don’t think that’s going to happen now.

Is it true when you started you bought your suits from charity shops?

I certainly used to in the eighties and nineties. Back then you could get these beautiful sixties suits in charity shops. It’s a bit different now because you’re buying eighties  suits and they’re not really my style, so I get them made. But I still love to go into charity shops. I spend quite a lot of time in Kent – my Mum lives by the coast – and I go down there and visit the local charity shops. They’re great.

Do you think anyone makes a living from submitting clips to You’ve Been Framed?

Well I always fight against the ones that look staged although I don’t choose what goes in really. They deliver the thing to me edited and ready. And sometimes I say “look I can’t say anything funny about that because it’s staged” and they say, “well…just say ‘ouch!'”

You’re involved with Fairtrade – you’ve even got your own Fairtrade nuts. How did that come about?

I was asked some time ago if I’d go to Ghana and see the bananas. And I always love a trip especially one where you’re not a tourist. I’d never been to Africa and apart from it being fascinating, it was immediately clear what a great idea Fairtrade is and how well it works.

I found myself doing bits and pieces for Fairtrade and I eat a lot of nuts and so I had a brainwave  that I thought I could do something like Paul Newman with his salad dressing – except without making any money from it!

I went out to Malawi and met the peanut growers there and that was it. My theory is that is everyone went to Africa for a week and met the people there they’d soon switch to Fairtrade.