COMPOSER, actor and comedian Philip Pope has teamed up with comedy writer and presenter Rory McGrath to bring musical comedy A Bridge Over Troubled Lager to West Dorset. Philip, perhaps best known as ‘the Singing Dustman’ in an iconic guest spot on classic sitcom Only Fools and Horses, tells Joanna Davis why the pair, who first worked together in the late 80s, are yet to get sick of each other IT’S an honour for me to be speaking to the singing dustman from Only Fools and Horses.

For those less well versed in the trials and tribulations of Trotter Independent Traders of New York, Paris and Peckham, Philip Pope’s single episode appearance as Tony Angelino the Singing Dustman is easier to recall than Rodney’s name is for Trigger.

It turns out that singer Tony Angelino, who duets with Raquel on Crying, has a speech impediment and is unable to pronounce his Rs.

Philip, who appeared in the sitcom 23 years ago, said: “Only Fools and Horses is something I get asked about a lot.

“I attended an Only Fools and Horses convention this year. Thousands of fans turned up to get autographs and meet the actors. I couldn’t believe how popular it was.

“I was quite daunted when I filmed my bit for Only Fools and I realised I would have to work with these people.

“I was lucky to get the part. I remember John Sullivan saying it was one of the hardest episodes to write with the final revelation that Tony Angelino couldn’t say his Rs.

“He had to go back and check all the scenes and check there weren’t any Rs in anything the character was saying!

“All the characters are so well portrayed, it was a real privilege to be part of it and the show still has this ongoing legacy.

“There are people who’ve discovered it who weren’t even born when it was first aired. There’s a third generation that has come to it.

“The cast were a good bunch of people to work with. I’ve worked with one or two of them since.

“I did a tour of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with John Challis who played Boycie.”

A Bridge Over Troubled Lager – Volume 2 will see McGrath and Philip Pope call in at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, on December 12 and the Bridport Arts Centre on December 13.

The audience can expect to hear dozens of songs and backchat and bickering on subjects including social media, pets, Scottish independence, Philip’s toe, love, marriage, Croatian pop in the 90s and foul language.

Philips said: “I worked with Rory on a series called Chelmsford 123 many years ago.

“We’ve always had the same love of music and comedy. We thought it would be fun for the two of us to go out on tour.

“We include many fun songs about different subjects.

“The thing we want to get across is that even though it’s called A Bridge Over Troubled Lager it’s not laddish, we’ve just been changing the lines of the Simon and Garfunkel song.

“The songs are fun and quite clever and quite witty.

“I do a couple of impressions, which probably comes from my time on Spitting Image and Rory does a couple of things on social media.”

A little known fact about multi-talented Philip, also a composer, is that he wrote 1986 number one hit The Chicken Song – a Spitting Image parody of summer holiday disco songs.

He has also written music for a recent Pot Noodle advert.

“It was set in south Wales and featured noodle mines and a theatrical ‘O pot noodle’ song like a Welsh hymn.

“It made quite an impact when it came out,” he said.

Philip has written songs for TV shows including Outnumbered and Harry and Paul.

He said: “When I get asked to do music for television I usually have a meeting with the producers, writers and directors and work out what’s needed and what sort of music they would like.”

Combining acting and writing music is something Philip wants to carry on doing.

He said: “There’s a show I’m doing called Yonderland and I’m doing a Horrible Histories show for Sky.

“I’ve also done some work for a show on BBC2 called Life of Rock.”

Feedback from his tour with Rory McGrath has been good so far, Philip said. “People seem to come along and really enjoy themselves. We encourage the audience to sing along.

“It’s not a panto, we don’t get people to get up on stage from the audience but we encourage gentle banter interspersed with chat.

“We even do a bit of a take on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here with a song called Get Me To The Jungle.”

Philip said Rory was even asked by ITV go into the jungle but declined.

“I’m glad he didn’t or we wouldn’t have a tour!” he said.

The tour, which included two weeks at the Edinburgh Festival in the summer, is taking the pair all over the country, continuing into March next year.

Philip said: “We’ve been doing the tour on and off since September for about two or three nights a week.

“It works out well because we can do other things during the rest of the week.

“We’re really looking forward to coming to Dorset. I had some friends who lived near Lulworth Cove and we had many happy times around there.

“I’m also familiar with Blandford Forum and Sherborne. Years ago we came down and went to Poole and did a show ‘Who Dares Wins’.

“I live near Oxford and Rory lives near Cambridge so we go home if we are touring anywhere close.

“It’s nice to stay if we are further afield and see more of the places we haven’t seen before, so we’re looking forward to seeing Bridport and Lyme Regis.”

l A Bridge Over Troubled Lager is at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, on December 12 and the Bridport Arts Centre on December 13.