After the tragic passing of Lily Savage star Paul O’Grady last week, the producer of Paul O’Grady, Malcolm Prince, will pay tribute to his friend on Boom Radio on Easter Sunday.
On Easter Sunday, Paul, 67, was meant to host the show, but because he won’t be able to make it, his good friend Malcolm will step in and host the show with a unique introduction.
He says this in advance of a repeat of the pair’s show that they did on Boom Radio on Christmas Day: “The unexpected passing of Paul on March 28 was a shock to all of us. We should all count ourselves lucky, since Paul O’Grady will never actually leave us, despite the fact that we all feel like we’ve been robbed, including his family, friends, and admirers.
“There is a song by Billy Ocean called “Stop Me If You’ve Heard It All Before,” and it is supposed to be playing right now. It was supposed to be the first song played on Paul O’Grady’s (Team POG) Easter Day show, but unfortunately, that will not be the case.”
The programme, which was initially shown over the course of two hours on Christmas Day of the previous year, will be presented in its entirety, including all of the holiday-themed components.
In spite of the fact that Paul is not a major admirer of Christmas, Malcom will say that their performance on Christmas Day was particularly memorable for both of them.
He says: “Paul was aware that it was a special honour to spend Christmas Day with you and your family. Oh, and that depiction of me as his long-suffering producer? Don’t believe a word of it. It’s completely false. I cherished every second spent with you.”
After spending the previous 14 years at Radio 2, where he also worked with Malcolm, Paul made his debut on Boom Radio for a one-off Christmas special last year.
David Lloyd, who is the programme director for Boom Radio, had this to say about the planned rebroadcast: “It might seem strange to hear Chris Rea’s “Driving Home For Christmas” as the opening song on a day in April, but this won’t be the first time Paul has played Christmas tunes in April!
He posted the following on his Twitter account on Wednesday: “Last afternoon I went to Paul’s house for a nice old catch-up. He was happy, laughing, and smiling when he was surrounded by his cherished dogs. He was quite active.
“He was so proud of ‘Annie,’ so delighted to be back on Boom Radio, and he was looking forward to so many new projects,” said the radio host. I still can’t believe that he’s gone after all this time.
“We have lost a rare talent – and I’ve lost a close friend. We may count ourselves quite fortunate to have had Paul in our lives.