Christopher Biggins is the latest celebrity to join in with The Smiling Sessions which are run by a charity who would usually go into care homes or sheltered accommodation for the elderly each week hosting sing-alongs for their residents. Throughout the pandemic many celebrities have dropped in to participate virtually, reaching many care homes throughout the UK.
The Smiling Sessions recently enjoyed a version of ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ by Christopher Biggins. We caught up with him to discuss the track and to find out what his plans were this festive season.
You have just sang ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ for The Smiling Sessions. How did that come about?
Well I was asked by Basil Brush, he had done one. He said they would very much like me to do one and I thought it was a very good idea because people in homes at the moment can’t get visitors and normally the charity would go along to a home and entertain people beautifully. It’s a very good cause, I think it’s wonderful.
The performances are going out to more and more homes, how did you find it performing remotely?
You often record television and radio and they never go out until a month or two months later so it’s fine and and it was good fun, it was very well done. They send you a track which you sing along to and then you send it off to them and they then magically make it look wonderful.
We must ask, did you manage to watch any of this year’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here?
I did, and I am so pleased I didn’t go to Wales because I would have hated it because it was so cold. It was really good, but it was good because Ant and Dec are just brilliant and wonderful to watch and they are very funny. I loved going to Australia so it was very special, but Wales was very different.
This year has been very different, and many people have been using the arts to keep themselves entertained throughout the lockdowns. What have you been doing to keep yourself occupied?
Well Netflix springs to mind, I mean, it’s absolutely wonderful. For instance, BBC 2 at this moment are showing Doctor Zhivago so there’s lots of lovely films and TV series you can watch. Thank god for television, that’s what I say. Books! Reading books, you usually go on holiday to read so it’s been a nice time to do things. I’ve been over-eating and over-drinking but I have stopped a bit of that recently and I’ve lost some weight which I am pleased about. So, it’s generally just to occupy yourself.
Providing 2021 changes for the arts, do you have anything in the pipeline?
I have been asked to go and do a radio version at Theatre Royal Windsor of The Importance of Being Earnest which I am really looking forward to but it all depends once again on the lockdown. I mean, Windsor has been doing pantomime and they had been doing it for two and a half weeks and they had to take it off this weekend because of the zones changing, so, you know they have been affected badly. Hopefully in February we will be able to do a special radio type version of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Finally, have you got any plans for this Christmas with it being so different?
Yeah, we’re just going to be at home, Dean and I. We are just going out now funnily enough to Marks and Spencer to get some food in because we were going to go and stay in a London hotel but that has been closed, and we were going to go to a restaurant called The Wolseley to have Christmas lunch, so we are going to go and get our stuff now but we will be fine! We have got each other and we have got the television and we have got some very good neighbours which is good.
It certainly is a different year this Christmas for us all, here at CelebMix we hope you have the most wonderful day and keep yourselves full of turkey and entertained just like Christopher Biggins plans to.
Let us know your thoughts on our chat with Christopher Biggins on Twitter @CelebMix