'I just love watching DR WHO!'

As he prepares to embark on a new UK tour, singer Michael Ball insists that lying on the sofa and watching endless TV is actually his idea of heaven

- SUE CRAWFORD

Michael Ball is currently rehearsing hard for his upcoming UK tour. When that finishes, he'll be adding the finishing touches to the paperback version of his memoir, and then there's talk of recording a new album with his good friend and fellow performer Alfie Boe.

He's one of the hardest-working performers around, but surprisingly, when he doesn't have a project on the go, Michael is reassuringly just like the rest of us.

'I know it doesn't sound like it, but I love watching Doctor Who.

I saw it was the 60th anniversary and I've always been a fan so I went back to watch it literally from the start and - stone me - I'm now on Series 5!' Michael lives in south-west London with his partner of 34 years, former Ready, Steady, Go! presenter Cathy McGowan.

The couple met when she was a TV reporter and interviewed him during rehearsals for the stage musical Aspects of Love.

So how does she feel about his obsession with time travel and Daleks? 'She says, "What are you doing? You just sit there watching blobs that form and then kill people," he laughs. "I'm not allowed to watch it with her in the room. I'm on my iPad with my headphones in, in my sad little world, as she calls it!' Frank and warm, and with a hilariously self-deprecating sense of humour, Michael is someone who likes to see the funny side of life.