Paul Chuckle has said he feels the presence of his late brother Barry with him all the time as he opened up about the loss ahead of receiving his MBE.
The veteran entertainer, whose real name is Paul Elliott, found fame alongside Barry as one half of the Chuckle Brothers and the pair became a staple in British homes with their TV show ChuckleVision.
The 78-year-old said he knows Barry, who died from bone cancer aged 73 in 2018, is “there with me” and is always by his side. Speaking on ITV’s This Morning on Thursday (March 19) Paul said: “It’s just a lovely feeling right from since he’s passed away.
“You have dreams, everybody dreams at night. He was never in my dreams, because I was with him all the time. We were always together. But as soon as he died, from that day on, every dream I had, he was there with me doing stuff so I knew he was with me.”
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Paul said that following his brother’s death he starred in a pantomime, marking his first performance without Barry in almost 55 years. He recounted standing backstage waiting for his cue, telling hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley: “I thought, ‘I’m on my own’. And I looked across as, usually, Barry is at the other side of the stage.”
Paul said that whenever the duo performed together they would gesture to each other as they were waiting to go onstage, and added: “I swear that I saw him suddenly appear and I felt good then. I walked out, and the audience lifted me. I’ve never turned back since. And I just feel he’s there all the time.”
Paul also spoke about his recent fundraising efforts for charity Marie Curie, which saw him travel across the UK from John O’Groats to Land’s End, making stops in a two-seater pedal car, similar to the Chuckle Bike featured in ChuckleVision.
He said: “Punters would come along and want a picture with me in the bike, which was brilliant, because they grew up watching ChuckleVision. Every time they got in I said, ‘You know, Barry is with me. You’re sitting on his knee’ – because he always is (with me).”
When Cat said she felt it was ‘so lovely’ Paul could still feel his brother’s presence was ‘still with him’, to which he replied: “He’s here now.” Paul continued: “It’s been a lovely feeling since he’s passed away really – everybody dreams at night, but he was never in a dream when I was with him all the time. But when he’d died, from that day on, every dream I had he was there, so I knew he was with me…
‘Doing a pantomime after he died, I’d never been on stage on my own, it was always the two of us for 55 years, and I was standing waiting to go on… and I thought, “I’m on my own”.
Paul also hailed the charity, which he and his brother became official ambassadors for in 2016, as “wonderful”. The charity’s nurses provided end-of-life care for Barry, and Paul has previously spoken about how the nurses looked after his brother “with incredible care and kindness”.
Paul was recognised as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s New Year Honours list for his charitable service and his work with Marie Curie. “I had to read (the letter) four or five times. It was a wonderful feeling. I can’t wait to get it,” he added on This Morning.
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