‘Coach Trip’s Brendan: ‘I got mobbed in Leeds on Friday night’

If you didn’t already know, Coach Trip is back! Channel 4’s reality show with nine lives has returned for a new series following a two-year hiatus.

Of course, that means that the brilliant Brendan Sheerin – Coach Trip‘s international tour guide – is also back on our screens. As well as fronting nine series of Coach Trip, he has also hosted Brendan’s Love Boat and Brendan’s Magical Mystery Tour for the channel.

Attitude caught up with Brendan recently to discuss Coach Trip‘s return, what he thinks is the secret of the show’s success, and whether he would be willing to take the tourists to Russia. On top of that, we had a chat about what he gets up to away from the show, and how he has found life since becoming a daytime TV legend.

Hi Brendan! So, Coach Trip is back for a ninth series. What can you tell us about the new episodes? We’re in the second week now, of course.
There are a few places on this trip that even I, as an international tour guide, have never visited. We’ve got some new places in Europe to visit and obviously we’ve got some quite interesting characters. It gets better as the series goes along, it does get interesting. I think the thing about this series is that everyone has more fun and they enjoy it a lot better. We do a lot more interesting activities and the people change quite quickly. It doesn’t get stale in any way. There is a lot of energy in this series.

Obviously Coach Trip has been off air for a few years. How do you think this series compares to past series? Have any changes been made to the show to freshen it up?
The format is the same, but what happened two years ago is that we’d done so many of them that Channel 4 wanted to give the programme a rest. Obviously I went off to do Love Boat and Brendan’s Magical Mystery Tour. I really enjoyed doing them, but the old favourite is still there. They wanted to do Coach Trip 9, so we did it last October and November. I think the rest has done it good, because we’re getting 1.6 or 1.7 million people watching it, which isn’t bad at 5.30pm. People have missed Coach Trip and they’ve missed seeing me as well! It’s nice to have everybody back.

The show has survived the axe by Channel 4 on more than one occasion, but has always been brought back due to popular demand. What do you think is the secret of Coach Trip’s success?
I think there are two things. A lot of people love to see what we do and where we go on Coach Trip, and then they like to get to know the characters. The viewers have their own game plan at home and they decide who they would vote for if they were on the coach. They follow the voting and the bitching – they love all that! I think everyone gets on board with the characters and we’ve got some great characters lined up later in the series. It’s quite amazing!

You’ve been to so many places with Coach Trip, where has been your favourite? Have you got a standout moment from the last nine series?
Oh my goodness me that is so difficult. There’s so many highlights, but I think one of mine would have to be sitting in my own gondola being filmed going down the Grand Canal in Venice. One of the funniest was when we went to a mud bath in Greece. We thought we’d be laid on a lovely table and wrapped up in lovely foil, but when we got there it was like a pit. It was full of frogs and there was grass growing out of the mud and we had to get across it. It was so funny. It was such a funny episode I couldn’t stop laughing. Half of the tourists got stuck in the mud and we had to drag them out.

Do you think there is any chance of Coach Trip heading to America or Australia? A coach trip in the States would be a lot of fun!
Ooh yes, there’s always the possibility. There are still a few places in Europe, but if the powers that be can get the sponsorship for the programme then the world is our oyster. If we went to Australia, we could also do New Zealand. We could do an entire series there because Australia is so big. You could do Western Australia, Perth, Darwin, the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney. There’s also the centre of Australia, which is so interesting and featured in Priscilla. We could even go to Asia while we were over there. America would be amazing and you could so much in California alone. The places you could go would be phenomenal and I’m sure you’d meet some very interesting people over there.

Is there anywhere that the coach has yet to go in Europe that you would like to visit?
In the past we’ve done Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and when we were in Lithuania and Latvia we were very near to the Russian border. I would love to nip to Saint Petersburg and look at the palaces there. I’ve never been to Russia and I’d like to do that. It would be a big thing to take the coach there.

There is a lot of controversy around Russia and their anti-gay laws. Do you think that would stop Coach Trip from visiting?
I think you need to visit Russia to show yourself as a gay person and say, ‘I live my life like this and don’t you dare touch me’. I think it’s awful that Russia is so far behind when the rest of the world has moved on. The age of consent when I was a gay boy was 21 and a lot of people were arrested cottaging and there was lots of fear around being gay. It’s great to see everybody so out and open now. I’m surprised by Russia, as it is an educated country with a lot of history. I can’t understand where this homophobia is coming from. Russia needs to get itself into the 21st century.

My partner, Les, and I were together for 25 years before he died, and we lived in a little village in North Yorkshire. We weren’t going screaming round the village all the time. We had a lovely little cottage and I had a garden and chickens. When he died, the response from straight people in that village was amazing. I got so much support. It was amazing and ordinary people don’t care what you do in the bedroom.

You’re a seasoned tour guide Brendan, so if you had to recommend the best gay destination to our readers, where would you pick?
I think if you can ever do anything in your lifetime as a gay guy or gal I would say go to Australia. Tour the country and enjoy what Australia has to offer. I would say go to Sydney and visit the Opera House and end up there to do Sydney Mardi Gras. It’s one of the greatest shows on earth.

They open the Mardi Gras with dykes on bikes, and you’re in the stands you hear this roar and it’s all these dykes on bikes wearing leather with girls on the back. It’s an amazing spectacle. You get all of gay society and the parents who support their children. It’s televised in Australia, which really helps the youngsters in the outback who are wondering what to do.

After nine series you’re definitely a celebrity now. How have you found that?
I really didn’t expect it. This weekend I went to a funeral and then we went into Leeds after for something to eat and I got mobbed! It was Friday night and I got absolutely mobbed. I must have taken about 50-60 photos between the restaurant and getting into the taxi. The response has been amazing. I love it and it’s an honour to have a programme that is so popular.

I’m just normal though and I love to stop and have a chat. I don’t hang out with celebrities. I live in Malaga most of the time and I enjoy the beach and spend time with friends. I haven’t let it change me. I’m still the same Brendan.

Have you ever been asked to do other reality shows, like Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing on Ice?
Yes I do get quite a few offers. I’ve auditioned for a few actually. I was meant to be doing something last year but it clashed with Coach Trip, and that has to come first.

There has been three celebrity series of Coach Trip already, would you like to do another? Who would be your dream tourists?
I’d like it to be a funny coach so I’d have to have people like Catherine Tate. I’d love Dame Judi Dench and a few other Dames. I’d love Maggie Smith from Downton for her little quips and comments. I wouldn’t want people who weren’t up for a good time.

You’ve already mentioned that Coach Trip has returned to strong ratings – do you think there is a good chance we will get a tenth series?
I think so, yeah. If Channel 4 are happy with the figures I’m sure that Coach Trip will carry on in the future, because it’s so, so popular. Everyone I’ve met has told me how they have missed it. Channel 4 can’t ignore those sorts of comments. On the Monday, I started tweeting along to the programme and we got such a phenomenal response. I’m sure we will continue. They’d be silly not to really.

Coach Trip airs weekday evenings at 5.30pm on Channel 4.