Paul O’Grady: “I Feel Like I’ve Stepped Through The Looking Glass”

PAUL O’GRADY SOUNDS bewildered as he discusses a career that’s propelled him from pub drag act to national treasure. In the 25-plus years since he first burst onto our TV screens as Lily Savage—the acid-tongued Scouser with a wig the size of the Liver Building—Paul has metamorphosed from flamboyant variety act to animal ambassador and elder statesman of light entertainment.

He’s recently returned to the shiny floor genre on ITV’s Paul O’Grady’s Saturday Night Line-Up, a chat-cumquiz show, and he’s about to film a tenth series of the programme in which he dispenses love to unwanted canines, For the Love of Dogs.

It’s in the wee small hours at this farmhouse in Kent that Paul takes time to reflect on his journey. “It’s never ceased to amaze me, how I got here,” he says down the phone, in his nasal Birkenhead twang.

“Sometimes when you sit and have a think, as”