
We caught up Danny John-Jules aka The Cat from Red Dwarf as he gaves us the low-down on how it felt filming the Back To Earth specials.
Danny also told us about how he met Dizzee Rascal, only for the Bonkers star to tell him he's a huge fan of the show. Also about his DJing days, watch this space for news of a DJ-J set near you.
Here's our interview in full...
Click: The Cat made a welcome return to form on Back To Earth, do you think he was dumbed down in later series with not so many one liners?
DJ-J: "Yeah he was 'dumbed up' - a lot of people said he was lacking in the puerile nature
of the character, which was where the one-liners really came from.
"He was like a little kid putting his oar in and always getting the story wrong.
"But he's back doing a lot more of his old 'Owwwing' and entrance/exit dancing scenes, which is fun.
"He's lost a few years in the series - he's getting young in his outlook."
Click: How is he feeling about approaching 50?
DJ-J: "He might be two years off 50 but he actually still thinks he's 21.
"He still dresses and moves like he's 21. That's what's great about the character.
"The cat never grows up.
"There's a neverending option of what you can do with him.
"If it was a normal show after 21 years I'd be in front of the TV with my slippers and a pint."
Click: Have you had any weird 'Cat' related fan mail?
DJ-J: "All the time.
"If you go online there's a great picture of me with a kitten on my shoulder on the BBC website, taken yesterday. I get loads of requests like that.
"I do a lot of charity stuff, doing some work with the local animal home in my neighbourhood.
"I get sent a plethora of catty things from paperweights to pens, all kinds of stuff to do with cats."
Click: We read on wikipedia you claim to be the father of British hip hop as you started the scene as Sir Jules and the Knights of the Turntable.
DJ-J: "Yeah, when Paul Oakenfold came up he was looking over my shoulder.
"All those guys and Tim Westwood... when I was DJing Tim Westwood was collecting glasses at Gossips... And he knows it!
"Oh yes, I was introduced to hip hop, I went to a club in New York, you're not hip hop until you've been to a club called the Disco Fever in New York.
"That was where Grandmaster Flash was the resident DJ.
"Everytime they used to come over they used to call me - I became their London mascot.
"They'd never heard of a English black guy who was number one... and one who was interested in hip hop. Well, it was rap in those days.
"Hip hop came along later with the electronic style."
Click: Tell us what you think of Dizzee Rascal?
DJ-J: "I love the guy, I've met him, he's a big Red Dwarf fan.
"We got a photograph together outside the Apollo in Hammersmith. (above)
"He'd just come off stage with Justin Timberlake and Wyclef Jean.
"And I met him in an alleyway by the stage door and he said to Justin: 'Oh my
God, don't you know who that is?'
"He said 'It's the Cat. I'm meeting all my heroes tonight.' which felt great.
"We swapped numbers and we stay in touch.
"There's an event called the Screen Nation Awards - like the black Oscars.(Dizzee won Best Musical Performance for Sirens)
"And they couldn't get hold of him! So I made the phonecall to get to Dizzee Rascal and he got down there to collect his award."
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