Introduction
Sir Cliff Richard appeared as a guest on BBC cooking show Saturday Kitchen this weekend, where he was also joined by guest chefs Ellis Barrie, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich. As the chefs whipped up a number of festive dishes in the kitchen, host Matt Tebbutt spoke with the 82-year-old about his career and latest Christmas album.
He said: “I feel sometimes that we lose out a lot.
“Our industry is not great for close friendships because we compete all the time.
“But that’s not the problem. We really only meet for instances like the Royal Command Show.
“Tom will be there, Shirley Bassey will be there, Tom Jones….me, and then we are in and out of each other’s dressing rooms and hugging and pictures.
Matt Tebbutt begged viewers not to vote for him to cook the octopus ragu dish on the latest instalment of Saturday Kitchen.
Cliff Richard was the special guest and the host revealed his new affinity for the sea creature.
Matt opened up on the lasting effect the Netflix documentary film My Octopus Teacher had on him.
Saturday Kitchen: Cliff Richard joined Matt Tebbutt on the cooking show (Image: BBC)
“And when it’s all over, we don’t see each other again for another five or six years.
“A close friendship for me, is when people say, ‘You want to come to an Indian restaurant tomorrow night?’”
“And so we’re not matey,” Sir Cliff added before discussing his friendship with Sir Tom.
The duo’s friendship properly began when they sat next to each other at a barbecue.
The Mistletoe and Wine singer continued: “I know Tom Jones quite well because he came to Barbados last year, and we ended up at the same barbecue and they sat me next to him.”
Demonstrating how they sat with their backs to everyone, Cliff said: “We sat like this and talked and everybody said afterwards it was really rude.
“We just chatted to each other. I learned more about him in that period than I’ve ever known.
“So anyway, I’ve said to him, if you want to come to Barbados and I’m not there, you could still come and stay at my house if you want to.”
“You wouldn’t say that to just a stranger, would you?” he added.
Elsewhere in the show, Sir Cliff chatted about his latest Christmas album, which is currently number two on the charts.
Matt quickly pointed out that the singer was sandwiched between Stormzy and Taylor Swift.
“Funny thing is, I shouldn’t really be here,” Sir Cliff joked.