'Phoenix Nights' star Dave Spikey reveals struggle to get back on TV after career dip

Comedian Dave Spikey has told fans how he’s struggled to get back on TV, and has suffered a series of rejections for his comedy projects.

Spikey, who played club compere Jerry St Clair in hit comedy Phoenix Nights, has also accused the BBC of ageism for not featuring him on shows like Live at the Apollo.

The 67-year-old writer and stand-up, who at the time of writing this has deactivated his Twitter account, replied to several of his fans over Christmas on Twitter about his recent tribulations.

One fan tweeted: “Dave! Just watching Phoenix nights!! Missing you on the telebox! What are you up to these days? Are you still on the TV?”

Spikey replied: “No mate. Not for want of trying ! Keep writing – keep getting rejections – don’t know what they’re looking for ! One man tour show ‘Juggling on a Motor Bike’ still going well.”

“Love to do Live at the Apollo but they don’t seem interested. Possibly an age thing?”

He detailed planned projects about a Sunday league football team, another about ballroom dancing in Blackpool, and other pitches co-penned with fellow Phoenix Nights actor and co-writer Neil Fitzmaurice and Jim Cartwright.

“It can be frustrating and demoralising at times but hey, get your head down and crack on,” he added.

But in older tweets from October last year, Spikey also accused Kay and McGuinness of abandoning him to pursue their own careers, notably with the Phoenix Nights spin-off series Max and Paddy’s Road To Nowhere, which only lasted one series.

McGuinness then went on to host dating show Take Me Out for ITV.

“Series 3 [of Phoenix Nights] was never written although the ideas were there. Max and Paddy rode away into the sunset and sadly that was the end of that,” he wrote.

When a fan asked ‘Was that just thrown upon you that they wanted to go their separate way with it? and Spikey simply replied: “Yep.”

Following Phoenix Nights, Spikey went on to become a team captain on comedy panel show 8 Out Of 10 Cats, and also hosted rebooted versions of quiz shows Bullseye and Chain Letters.

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