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By Chris
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Interview with Rick Fulton in The Daily Record (August 2002)

"I'll axe staff who tell me `No' says radio Chris"

POWER-CRAZED Chris Moyles has threatened to sack anyone who disagrees with him on his new early evening Channel 5 TV show.

And that warning could set the scene for a turbulent 13 weeks from the end of September.

Radio 1 DJ Moyles's boss on Live With Chris Moyles is Chris Evans - an equally ego-centric presenter who has a history of berating colleagues.

Moyles, 28, insists he wants to be in total control of the new show. He said: "I'm not a hard boss, but if anyone disagrees with me then they will be fired from the show - it's just the way I work.

"I don't want a bunch of yes people, but it's my name on it so it has to be my show. I won't do anything that I don't think is funny."

But the portly presenter does see Live With Chris Moyles as being the successor to Evans' 1990s hit show TFI Friday.

So it's no wonder Evans has praised his anointed son by saying: "Chris Moyles is the man of the moment and I couldn't be more excited to be working with him."

Moyles added: "It's very early days for describing the show but basically it will be like a spin-off of The Chris Moyles Radio Show kind of mixed with TFI Friday.

"There will be lots of me and it will be very funny. Physically speaking I will be in a bar and I'll be sober, which is a rare sight worth watching.

"Basically it will be a bit like the radio show, but with pictures and less records."

The Lock Tavern in Camden, north London (note, this is incorrect - chrismoyles.net), will be the home to the half hour show which starts at 7pm on September 23. It will be up against Emmerdale and Channel 4 news.

We'll have to wait and see if Live With Chris Moyles' format is vastly different from TFI Friday's irreverent interviews, live bands and daft segments or is just a fat bloke instead of a ginger one. Moyles reckons he's already sorted. In his usual big-headed hopeful way, he thinks the new television show will bring him: "Money and hot chicks."

Well if he's taking Chris Evans as a role model, he's probably right.

The 36-year old is worth some £80 million after selling his stake in Virgin Radio to SMG and is married to 19-year old Billie Piper.

How good the show will be will depend on whether the two Chrises can get on and are on the same wavelength. Two egos pulling separate ways will turn what could be an exciting new television show into any number of Big Breakfast combinations from Amanda Byram and Paul Tomkinson to Zoe Ball and Mark Little.

Evans won't be in front of the camera, but after more than a year away from the media he will want to come back with a winning programme - especially if his dream of buying into Channel 5 is to come true.

He was sacked from Virgin Radio in June 2001 after failing to turn up for work six mornings in a row and this could be the same fate that is in store for Moyles.

He won't be leaving his Radio 1 afternoon show and has just signed a new two-year contract.

That means for three months at least he'll have to juggle his radio and television commitments.

So get ready for brain burn-out and late- night lap dancing stories from Peter Stringfellows.

The exact format of the new TV show is still under wraps, although there will be a studio audience of just 16 rather than the huge crowd that filled the TFI Friday studio every week.

A statement about the show said: "The programme will be broadcast live from a bar in north London from 7pm every evening for 13 weeks.

"A straight-talking, irreverent and unpredictable mix, it will feature Chris Moyles' take on the day's news.

"There will also be regular games, challenges, outside broadcasts and participation from a guest audience of 16 who will be invited on each day."

Moyles admits that his target audience will be mainly male.

He said: "There is a major gap in the television market at seven in the evening, where there is not much to watch for people of my age, especially blokes.

"So I want to try and get it into people's minds that at seven every week night there is going to be something to watch.

"It's not going to be too taxing, so you can just watch it and relax a little bit and have a laugh."

Chris's favourite things...

Favourite bands

"Too many really, but people like Oasis, Travis, Feeder, S Club 7, Robbie Williams"

Favourite actors

"Joanna Taylor & Michael Greco"

Favourite tipple

"Lager - I wish I could drink something more sophisticated, but I don't"

Favourite films

"Jaws, Spinal Tap, Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot, Uncle Buck, Kindergarten Cop, Spooks, Mersey Beat, The West Wing, The Sopranos, Channel 5 shows like The Wright Stuff Peter Kaye - Phoenix Nights"

Thank you both!!