Brendan Sheerin interview

28 September 2011

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Celebrity Coach Trip is back on 10 October. What can we expect from this series?
Well, obviously you can expect a new line-up of celebrities, and actually there's no holding back on the old voting system. Even though they're all celebrities, and they might know each other, through work commitments, or they've met before, when it comes to the vote, and the awarding of a red or yellow card, no holds barred. They really do fire off at each other, which is quite amazing.

 

Can you tell us who the celebrities involved are?
Yes I can! There's Brian Belo and Spencer Smith from Big Brother; Lembit Opik and Alex Best - and of course Lembit's name kept confusing me, I kept calling him Lurpak and Lemsip and all sorts of things. Michael Barrymore came on with his producer/agent/friend called Maurice Leonard. And then we had Gary Cockerill and Phil Turner - Phil's the guy who does home makeover shows, and Gary's the hairdresser to the stars - I think Kate Moss is one of his best clients. Lizzy Cundy and Emma B, who are the two models we had - and I think Lizzie was married to Jason Cundy, the footballer. Then there was John and Jenny McCririck - you know, he does the horse racing. And then Stan and Andrea Boardman - he was a comedian and she's his daughter. And then Sandra Dickinson and Helen Lederer - they're both comedians. Then we had Demetri Demetriou and Michelis Demetriou, who are better known as Stavros Flatley. And also we had Wagner from X Factor. Obviously they weren't all on together, as some of them got voted off, others joined.

 

Was there anyone who you got on with particularly well or particularly badly?
I must admit I liked them all really. Gary Cockerill and Phil Turner, obviously a gay couple, I got on well with them. Gary is a hairdresser, and you'd think he's quite wimpish, he did a zipwiring exercise, and he faced one of his biggest fears, which is heights. To fly over a valley was quite a big thing for him, and he did it! Although they were all celebrities, they all really mucked in, took to their activities like ducks to water, and really gave it their all. Obviously Lizzie and Emma were definitely eye-candy for everybody, they were beautiful-looking women. And John McCririck, well, he just upset everybody. And Booby, she was with him all the time. I really hit it off with Jenny, she's a Yorkshire lass, and I'm from Yorkshire, so we hit it off very well. She's a lovely lady. She looks after John remarkably, in spite of him shouting and bawling at everybody and upsetting everybody. It was a mixed bag, but I really got on well with them.

 

There were some big personalities there. Did that make it difficult to manage them?
The first day, they're all vying for the camera and the attention and everything, but what they have to remember is they're on my coach, and what I say goes. I don't care who they are. I don't have dinner with them or lunch with them on a daily basis. They don't figure largely in my life. When I'm on the coach and I'm doing my job, they take orders from me. And a lot of them did. They got into line and did whatever I wanted them to. In a way celebs are easier to manage, because they know what you want from them. If you want them to sing, they'll sing for you; if you want them to dance, they'll dance for you. They're not as inhibited as clients that you have on a normal programme, where you've got to get to know them and draw them out of themselves. There was a bit of a bust up between Brian Belo and Lizzie Cundy during one of the activities. They had a massive row, massive.

 

Do you have to be bossy to do your job?
Not really bossy. I prefer to say firm. Firm but kind!

 

What are the best and worst aspects of being the Coach Trip tour guide?
The best thing is that I get to see all these wonderful places and join in on all these wonderful activities that we do. It's always an adventure on Coach Trip.  You get a group of people together, you don't know how they're going to react to each other, you don't know from day-to-day how it's going to pan out in the vote, who's going to get on with each other, who's not going to get on with each other, if they're going to form an alliance, if they're going to stab people in the back. So I get the best of both worlds really. I think being a good tour guide, you've got to be interested in the history and geography and culture of a country, but you've got to keep your energy up as well. You don't want to bore people when you're showing them these wonderful places, so you've got to be enthusiastic just as much as they are. And you've got to keep it up every day.

 

What have been the best places that you've visited over the years for Coach Trip?
The old parts of Spain that we've gone to, the old cities like Segovia and Salamanca. Seville is a beautiful city. And Paris is always a favourite, the eternal city of Rome is absolutely stunning - and of course it's two cities for the price of one, as you get the Vatican thrown in as well. Venice of course is spectacular. For one series of Coach Trip we actually flew one morning into Venice, and the flight path was right over the city. That is a spectacular city to visit. Athens too. There are so many wonderful places, and I've been lucky enough to visit so many of them.

 

Have there been any places that you really didn't like?
Not didn't like, but maybe could do with improvement. Athens is a beautiful city, but it's very dirty, lots of litter and things like that.

 

What about your favourite and least favourite activities?
My favourite - I love Segways, they're wonderful. White water rafting as well. And then probably mud baths or a spa, something relaxing. I usually get a nice massage thrown in for nothing, which is lovely. We did conkers once, and although it's a tremendous success with the English, it's a bit boring. We did cricket once, in Pamplona. We couldn't film where we wanted, and so we ended up having to make up an activity, so we all ended up playing cricket in the middle of a square in Pamplona, which I hated, because a lady, one of the group, was screaming like a banshee. But normally I really like all the activities.

 

Have you had any major fallings out with any of the participants over the years?
Not really. There was a couple of ladies from London that joined us in Vienna -  I can't remember their names - and when we got to lunch they wanted to have vodka, and I told them they could only have wine or beer, because we had to vote later and we didn't want anyone drunk. And they went off on one - how could I tell them not to drink vodka when they were grown-up women. They were livid. They actually only lasted about 16 hours on the coach, because later they walked. They couldn't stand being told what to do.

 

Sometimes the clients are on for weeks and weeks at a time. Do you ever get close to them?
Oh I do, yes. The ones that are on for a long time, of course. You see these people all day every day, and you do get close to them. But you've got to remember, afterwards I can't really keep in touch with everybody, every contestant that's ever been on Coach Trip. Once they're on with me we get close and we have lots of laughs and giggles and they enjoy themselves, but once the vote is cast and they have to leave, that's where I really do truly say my goodbyes to them. But saying that, when I was in panto last year, we had a reunion with a lot of the Coach Trippers who came up to see me doing panto. They all came to the theatre, and afterwards I met them all in a hotel bar, and we all had a nice little reunion. They were all from different programmes, so I had a cross-section. It was really, really nice of them. We do get some lovely people on the coach.

 

You mentioned you did panto last year. Did you enjoy that, and are you going to do it again?
Oh I did, yes. I was The Sultan in Aladdin at the Southport Theatre, and once I'd finished, they literally rang my agent and asked if I'd do it again this year. And because I had such a nice time with them, I said yes, so I'm going back this year as Herman the Henchman, who has to kill Snow White.

 

Lastly, Brendan, if Coach Trip could go anywhere in the world, where would you like it to go?
I'd love to go to Australia. I've done a lot of travelling in Australia - I think it's a wonderful country. Coach Trip is actually transmitted in Australia. I get fan mail from Australia, a lot of the Aussies love it.

 

So you're a real international megastar these days.
I just try and keep my feet on the ground.

 

Celebrity Coach Trip is on Channel 4 on weekdays at 5pm from Monday 10th October.