CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
WHISTLING
CHEERING
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Good evening, everyone,
and welcome to the Jonathan Ross Show.
Let's have a look who's in my Green Room.
He is an England football legend
and now one of the best pundits around, it's Rio Ferdinand.
CHEERING
Looking good.
WHISTLING
And Wakanda Forever,
it's two of the stars of the new Black Panther movie,
Danai Gurira and Martin Freeman.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Along with them,
she's a stand-up comic, who is currently trying
to avoid getting the laughs on Strictly,
the very, very funny Ellie Taylor.
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
We also have some amazing music for you tonight
from the BRIT award-winning -
and she is a phenomenal talent -
it's Little Simz.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
And as if that weren't enough,
also on the show, joining us on Zoom,
in the red corner, it's two-time world heavyweight boxing champion,
the gypsy king himself, Tyson Fury.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
And in the blue corner,
joining us from New York,
he's Rocky, he's Rambo,
he's Weaver from the film Antz,
it's none other than Sylvester Stallone.
CHEERING
It's a packed show.
But just before we get onto that,
here's one of my favourites stories from this week.
It's safe to say winter is finally here.
Many of us are getting a little depressed this time of year.
A lot people just want to get away to the sun, even pigeons.
If you've never seen a pigeon going on its holidays,
take a look at this.
APPLAUSE
Oh, dear.
Poor pigeon.
You can kind of...
You can work out the exact moment it thinks,
"I've made a terrible, terrible mistake."
Although somewhere a Ryan air executive
is going, "Hang on, why aren't we seating people on the wings?"
Before we get on with the show,
I just want to stop for a minute to wish Rio Ferdinand
a very happy birthday for this week.
It was your birthday, Rio. Thank you.
Now, I was gonna get the audience to sing Happy Birthday for you,
but I thought you probably had that kind of thing,
but I bet you've never had it sung to you by a dog?
No.
No, never.
There you go, this is just for you, Rio.
# Happy birthday to... #
Woof.
# Happy birthday to... #
Woof.
# Happy birthday dear Mom... #
Woof.
# Happy birthday to... #
Woof.
Happy birthday, Rio_
From us and dogs everywhere. Thank you.
Shall we get on with the show, ladies and gentlemen?
Let's do it.
Let's get my first guests out. Will you welcome
Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Ellie Taylor and Rio Ferdinand.
Here they come.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Well, thank you all for joining us.
Let's start with you, Ellie,
because you're right in the middle of Strictly at the moment.
It's week eight. Week eight.
You're training every day, working on the new routines every day.
Don't take this the wrong way,
but are you surprised you're still in it?
How rude.
No, because I imagine you think,
"I just don't want to go out week one." You're absolutely right.
I put up to week three in my diary
and crossed my fingers that I could make it.
I'm absolutely astounded
that I'm still in at week eight.
Ancl I can almost see Blackpool, which is obviously
a massive thing in the Strictly calendar.
I can smell the fish and chips.
And how are you taking the judges' criticisms?
It must be hard to stand, when you've worked so hard
on the routine, you've tried your best, you're doing it live.
They can be quite harsh. I mean no-one wants to get criticism.
But let alone in front of ten million people,
when you're dressed as a shepherdess
after doing a Viennese waltz.
So I have suggested to the producers we get rid of the judges,
get rid of the eliminations.
We all just learn to dance, and after 13 weeks,
we get a certificate. I think that's what we should do.
I didn't realise untill was reading up, Rio,
actually, you were a very good dancer.
You studied ballet early in your youth, didn't you?
Yeah...
Where are we going here?
How good were you? I was all right, you know.
I was in the Central School of Ballet.
I had a scholarship for about four years.
So it was amazing. I got to travel.
And I loved it. It actually definitely contributed
to me becoming a footballer.
Would you have wanted to make that a career?
How close did you get to being a professional dancer?
Well, until my clad said to me, "We can't keep this up.
"You're going ballet, athletics, drama school, football.
"What do you want to be?" I said I want to be a footballer.
Luckily enough, it came...
You almost got into Sadler Wells,
the proper ballet establishment there?
Yeah, there were some productions that were going on there
that we kind of auditioned for.
I was on the route to stardom doing ballet.
But, can I ask something?
What age was this? Because you must have already been
a pretty good footballer at this point?
I was all right. I went to...
I was doing gymnastics
at the Olympics, funnily enough.
I'm so talented, it's unbelievable.
Oh, my God!
Makes you sick. This was when you were a teenager?
I was Sport Billy before Sport Billy.
Did it take you a while to stop doing the pirouettes
when you were playing football?
If you'd watched me, Jonathan,
you'd know that was part of my game.
Big part of your goal celebrations. Yeah, exactly.
Danai, you also studied dance?
I don't know if I'd call it "studied".
It was a prerequisite to my...
training in New York City as an actor.
So, you know, we were learning everything
from the cha-cha to the polka,
because, of course, a black girl needs to polka.
So, the exciting news this week for movie lovers
is, of course, there is a new Black Panther movie out now
at cinemas, Black Panther Wakanda Forever.
We have Danai and Martin, who are both in the film.
Congratulations. And it's so much fun.
Thank you. What's the name of the character you play, Danai, in it?
Okoye. Or General, whatever. And she's a fearsome warrior woman.
Yeah, she's the head of the armed forces.
Presumably, quite a lot of training goes into that.
Because you have a lot of fight scenes.
Yeah, a lot does.
We come in early, before everyone else does,
and we are just, me and the army of women,
are just boot-camping.
And, you know, you boot-camp alone, and then you boot-camp as a team.
Then they show you your fights, and you've got to boot-camp that.
It's a lot, it's all the time.
It's so convincing on screen, so I imagine those skills,
do they serve you any use in real life?
I know you are not going out getting into spear fights, but...
But I've been using it actually for a very useful thing.
I live in New York and Los Angeles.
And in Los Angeles, it's the Wild West.
Straight up Wild West, tons of spiders.
Every spider you can imagine...
is in Los Angeles.
You know, I just came across...
Like, when I'm coming up and down some stairs
outside my home,
there's always a spider web.
The last time I was there, a couple of weeks ago,
it was... it was a black widow
on the stairwell. An actual black widow spider?
Yeah. And I didn't know. I knew it was bad news,
because it had the red thing on the back.
I was like, "That's not good."
And so I was like, "I need to not bump into it."
Obviously. But I also need to not bump into the web.
In California, you learn these things.
You bump into the web, the spider just somehow latches.
It just ravels up, and it's suddenly on you.
So now I use my spear to break the web, as I advance.
Then I have the Raid, we call it Raid,
I don't know if you have Raid.
I spray the Raid and I break the web.
Wow. That's how I get by.
I mean, that sounds terrifying.
Imagine if you're the Amazon delivery man,
and you see her wandering around with a spear, killing spiders.
He'd understand.
Yeah, he would do. Martin, you're back in the film as well
playing Everett K Ross. Correct, yep.
This is the third time you've played him in the Marvel Universe.
Yes, I played him first in Civil War,
and then in Black Panther, and then in Wakanda Forever.
Is it nice going back into a character
that you've already established, already worked as?
It is, it's lovely, it has a sort of familiarity.
I'm in the film a lot less than Danai is.
To be fair. No spoilers. Danai is in it more than I am.
You're in it for a good five minutes.
What a hell of a five minutes. LAUGHTER
OK, let's have a look at a clip.
This is Wakanda Forever. It's out now. Have a look at this.
You didn't think to call?
Now, why would I have your number?
HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY
We are looking for the scientist who built the vibranium detector?
So, it was you guys in the Atlantic?
Come on.
Mining ship. A lot of casualties.
What happened?
Seriously?
It was a joint operation. Us and the SEALs,
30 of their top guys, two of our best officers, friends of mine.
Gone.
Just like that. You throw in the fact
that they were tracking vibranium...
I can assure you Wakanda had nothing to do with this.
So, who was it?
The way that this is supposed to work
is that I give you information, and you reciprocate.
For our own safety, we cannot tell you.
It's imperative that we get to the scientist
before anything else happens.
You owe me, Ross.
You owe my brother.
APPLAUSE
Wakanda Forever.
APPLAUSE
I notice there,
there seems to be a sexual tension between the two characters?
I've been trying to convince Danai of that for three years.
Is that real life breathing into the film?
There were times in the takes I was trying to flirt with him.
And he was refusing to look at me.
He said, "No, I don't want to be caught in the web."
In the kind of web that you're dealing with
outside your house.
I'm gonna need my own spear, yeah.
I could see that...
He's scared of me, so I don't think it's gonna work out.
I could see a spin-off movie, where you both move to Wakanda.
I'd be very happy to start a new family in Wakanda.
Yeah.
I need to say one thing about Black Panther,
which is it's a wonderful kind of fun experience,
but at the same time there is a kind of...
There is a melancholy hanging over it, because, of course,
Chadwick Boseman, the amazing star of the original film,
died tragically young, and that's addressed in the film,
I think, in a very sensitive way.
Was it difficult going back to work
knowing that that had happened, and also deal with the legacy
of what he had created in the first film?
Absolutely. It was definitely...
We were all on a journey, really, of grief and the loss.
And so were the characters.
But we knew very clearly
from when Ryan said we are doing it.
And he was so clear that this is what Chadwick would have wanted.
And once he said that, we really felt that,
because he was such a generous soul towards his community,
towards what the story was doing for representation,
and for people.
We knew immediately that is what he'd want.
So then it was all about giving our all to it.
And that was kind of definitely
deeply the purpose that we had going through it.
And it was a very tough shoot in a lot of ways.
A lot of challenges were hitting us.
But it was just the determination that we had
really to hon our him and to keep his legacy going.
I just felt the absence of it,
when you don't see him on the call sheet,
and you don't see him around and you know he's not in the next trailer.
It was very strange.
It was a really strange thing.
Ancl I guess, like everybody, when Chadwick cited...
You might not have felt, but my initial feeling was,
I guess we won't be doing it again.
I just thought, I guess we won't be doing another film.
Ancl then we were. But that's amazing.
That's a tribute. Cos everyone was saying, can they make another film?
For an actor, for a role, which obviously
existed in comic book form, for him to have made it his own,
to that extent
that everyone questioned whether you could go ahead,
that's a real tribute to his kind of charisma and his skill
and his presence.
Well, as I said, it works as a big action spectacle.
But also it works as a tribute to him as well.
They didn't lose sight of that.
It's a really lovely thing to go and experience.
You've dabbled in acting a little bit, Rio?
Oh, my God.
I'm the fall guy. Am I the fall guy? Am I the fall guy of this show?
You're the most talented person here, apparently.
I know you're good at everything,
and I know you did a little bit of acting
early in your life. At school?
Yeah. You ain't got the clip, surely?
If we did have a clip of Rio Ferdinand
in Bugsy Malone...
LAUGHTER Yes, please!
...would you want to see it?
ALL: Yes!
Rio, we have to give the people what they want.
How old were you when you were in Bugsy?
I was 12, 11.
12. 12, yeah.
And was it...
This was just a school thing, or did you think,
if I don't want to do the ballet or the football,
or the athletics,
or all the other things,
were you thinking about acting as a career?
Yeah. No. No, no.
OK, here you go.
This is probably for the first and perhaps last time on television,
this is Rio Ferdinand in Bugsy Malone.
# Tomorrow never comes
# What kind of a fool
# Do they take me for?
# Tomorrow
# A resting place for bums
# A trap set in the slums
# But I know the score. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
It's good. You can sing. That was lovely.
So cute. That was lovely.
Amazing.
We're gonna take a break so I can apologise to Rio,
but don't go anywhere, because in a few moments,
we'll be talking to Sylvester Stallone and Tyson Fury.
See you after the break.
APPLAUSE
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Welcome back to the show.
Let's get my next guest out, the Gypsy King himself,
Mr Tyson Fury, who is up here on the screen.
Tyson, how are you doing?
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Hey, Tyson, I'm loving the cap. Is this Peaky Blinders weekend?
No, this is the Tyson Fury look, seven clays a week in More cam be Bay!
That's why Tyson can't be with us in the studio,
cos you're currently training in More cam be.
I am. I'm training in More com be for my big fight on December 3.
I'm preparing very well.
Ancl I'm looking forward to a fantastic fight.
This is you versus Derek Chisora? That's correct.
And you're confident?
Always confident. I train really hard
and I sacrifice and dedicate,
so whatever will happen in the ring on the night
will happen, you know.
All I can do is eat, sleep, train, repeat.
Ancl the rest is in God's hands.
That's like my life, without the "train" in the middle.
But do you have your family there with you,
or is it best not to have them with you
when you're focusing on training? No. I'm in a training camp,
which means I'm away from my family for round about eight, nine weeks.
The strange thing about it all is, though,
is that these fighters, myself included,
we train for eight to ten, 12 weeks
for a fight that may only last
a maximum of 36 minutes with 11 minutes rest.
So, sounds ridiculous to me.
You know we've got Rio Ferdinand with us here in the studio?
And, Rio, you were on the verge of trying to take up
boxing professionally as well?
He was! Oh, my God!
You were, weren't you?
Yeah. Oh, my God.
Along with everything else.
Oh, man, this guy's taking the piss.
Oh, my God.
There he is, boy.
Were you a good boxer, Rio?
No, I wasn't.
I know you've spoken on the phone to him,
but you haven't met him personally. We're bringing him up on the screen,
because we're being joined, from New York,
by one of the greatest movie stars of all time,
and certainly at the very top of his game for the last five decades,
Sylvester Stallone is joining us.
Sylvester!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Hey, Sly, how's it going?
Yeah, it has been too long. It's going well. Going well.
You're in New York right now?
I'm in New York promoting Tulsa King
and just visiting the old neighbourhood.
I was born a few blocks from here,
charming name called Hell's Kitchen, so I go back there
to see some of the dead bodies and things.
How are you, 9W5?
I want to introduce you, by the wonders of Zoom, to Tyson Fury,
who I know you are very familiar with.
Tyson, there's Sly. Good to see you.
You spoke on the phone. Weren't you trying to encourage Tyson
to appear in The Expendables series?
I think he'd be fantastic.
He's a natural force of nature.
He has charisma, so why wouldn't we want him?
As long as he's on the other side beating up the other guys.
I'll direct him.
You went on record, Sly, saying
that Tyson's story was kind of like the real-life Rocky?
Yeah, but much more realistic.
Rocky, obviously, let's face it,
I'm not a boxer, I don't understand
the trials and tribulations.
It's a brutal sport and lifestyle.
Ancl he does it for real.
I do it, of course, in a fantasy world,
but I try to emulate, and try to get the essence,
just the essence a little bit of what it's like to have...
Be a pugilist.
It's as tough as it gets.
I'm just enjoying looking at you both together.
But even though you didn't box professionally,
you're saying, quite rightly, you're not a boxer,
you suffered a fair share of injuries making those movies.
Well, you know, I did.
Luckily, because I came around during a golden era,
and I sparred with Duran,
who literally turned me into Swiss cheese.
I sparred with Ali.
Joe Frazier gave me like 11 stitches.
That was in about two seconds.
Because I was thinking about using him
instead of Mr T in Rocky 3.
I said, let me use a real fighter.
Ancl I went, "That's not a good idea,
"because they don't know how to stop pulling their punches."
That's the whole point. They don't know...
They think, "Oh, I'll just follow through."
Tyson, could you pull your punches, if needed to, in a fight scene?
100%.
Have you never seen me on the WWE before?
Oh, there you go. There you go.
WHOOPING
Sylvester has a new series
starting on television called Tulsa King. Tell us about it.
I'm a Mafioso guy
who basically is framed for something.
Ancl I go to prison for 25 years, keep my mouth shut,
thinking that I'm going to be rewarded for my loyalty.
I get out and my reward is banishment to Tulsa.
Now, if you haven't been to Tulsa, it's like the dark side of the moon.
Ancl from that point on, I realise, cos he's 76 years old,
"This is it, I'm gonna die here.
"You know what? That's not gonna happen."
And he starts to build a new organisation
made up of all these misfits,
and that's where the dark comedy comes in.
Until now the New York Mafia wants to come out and take over.
But we have a surprise for them.
It's amazing. We'll show a clip now. To see Sly in action
in something like this again is amazing. Look at this.
I kept my mouth shut for 25 years.
I'm respecting that, with compensation.
Tulsa. What's Tulsa?
The horse race, the Springboard Mile.
There's nobody doing nothing. You can do whatever you want.
Not exactly the welcome I was expecting.
What crew runs this neighbourhood?
No crew up in here. You in the middle of nowhere.
What'll it be? I assume you don't have Chianti.
You assume correctly.
I wouldn't have pegged you as the Boy Scout.
I'll protect you from the gangs. What gangs?
You gotta know your risks.
There was no risk until you came along.
Final bullet clips or firearms?
In the box? Nah.
It could get ugly. Guessing you were in the Mafia?
Nah. There's no such a thing.
This a one off, or one of many? Too soon to tell.
APPLAUSE Come on, Tulsa King.
First episode is amazing, I can't wait for the rest.
So, Sly, you know, I'm surprised, though,
that you haven't played more gangsters in your career,
because it's such a staple of Italian-American movie stars.
This has been the bane of my existence.
I thought, like, all right,
I was born around a lot of broken noses
or wise-guys in Philadelphia. I get it, I understand how it works,
I worked in the clocks when I was 16, I get it.
So, here comes along The Godfather, I go, "Now, here I am."
They're casting 250 extras for "the wedding scene". Yeah.
So, I'm standing in the line in front of 200, I'm there, and I go,
"I'm ready, I'll do anything, I'll stand behind the cake,
"I won't bother anybody."
They go, "You don't look Italian enough."
LAUGHTER I don't like Italian enough?
I mean, I look like a plate of spaghetti, are they nuts?
LAUGHTER
Anyway, the way I love this business...
The way the business works,
I came back 30 years later and hired that casting director
and pretty much tortured her for three or four years.
LAUGHTER
Didn't you...? Am I right in thinking that in the seventies,
before they made the first Superman series,
you auditioned for the role of Superman?
Yes, I was gonna be the world's shortest Superman.
LAUGHTER A new concept.
I was gonna fly below the trouble. LAUGHTER
Plus, I don't look good in Leotards. At all.
The calves are too skinny. Too skinny.
OK, Sly, if you've got any time on your hands
I'm gonna recommend a book,
because we're gonna bring Mr Fury back.
Tyson Fury has a new book out, it's his autobiography.
This is not your first autobiography, though, Tyson?
No, it's my third book...
Wow. ..In the last four or five years.
The first one I made, I put a lot of...
three years into the first book and I was very unwell while writing it.
This book is more of a well-person's opinion and point of view,
and angle, so it's definitely a good read.
I'm just about to finish it me self. LAUGHTER
Gloves Off by Tyson Fury. And it is, it's very revealing.
You're very open and honest.
There's a lot of open and honest personal detail stuff in there.
My life's been an open book, and it's been a roller-coaster,
so I just keep journaling it all down
and giving it out to the public. It's a fantastic read
and have a read and see what you think and let me know.
I'll send Sylvester a copy as well. Sylvester... Now, let me say...
Jonathan, I've got to say,
I really think - and I mean this, Tyson -
I think you're the greatest heavyweight that ever lived,
and I'm a boxing historian. Wow. I studied this closely.
When you put together all your skills
and plus your heart and your ability to recuperate,
and how you can move around so well at your size,
there is no-one that could have beaten you in any era.
Wow. People go, "Oh, it's not true." It's totally true.
APPLAUSE
That's an amazing compliment. Thank you.
I really appreciate that. Tyson, not that you needed it,
but if you want a message to keep in your head
just before you step into the ring next time, remember that.
That's one for the memory book, that is. It's the truth.
I really appreciate it, thank you. It's true.
It is true, but then again, Sly, you've never seen me box.
LAUGHTER
Tell you're a boxer, but we won't talk about that.
Also, we've got Rio Ferdinand here. He can do just about anything.
LAUGHTER
Don't go away, we're gonna take a short break,
but afterwards we'll have more from my guests.
See you in a couple of minutes. APPLAUSE
Welcome back to the show.
I'm still here with all of my guests,
including those who are in other parts of the world.
Sly, you were in a football movie, of course.
The amazing Escape To Victory. Somewhat maligned, but I love it.
And of course Rio is one of our greatest footballers.
Have you seen Escape To Victory? Yep. Did you like it? Really good.
Well, how amazing, because you talked about Ali,
you sparred with Ali, but also you've played football with Pele.
I did, and that was quite an experience,
because I thought, you know, "What's the big deal, guys?"
You know, in America you have this ego,
like American football is everything,
and kicking this other ball, nothing to it.
So, he goes, "I'll tell you what."
He goes, "You stand in there. You're supposed to play a goalie.
"I'm gonna tell you exactly where I'm gonna kick it,
"there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
LAUGHTER "Oh, really?" Now, remember,
this is a World War Two setting, so everything is old and dated
and I'm right behind the barracks with a mesh screen
where they keep the POWs.
So, he says, "I'm going right into that corner",
I stand in the corner,
and the next thing I know, my finger's broken.
LAUGHTER "Ow, God dammit!"
Ancl it went through, tore through the back...
Tore through the back of the net
and broke a window in the barracks. ELLIE GASPS
I learned my lesson, I'll tell you that.
Well, Michael Caine was in that movie of course,
and I know we have Martin Freeman with us.
A great actor. He was like your big hero, wasn't he, as an actor?
He was definitely one of the reasons I became an actor,
without question, yeah.
I absolutely always loved Michael Caine.
And when you met him for the first time, were you starstruck,
or did you tell him that? I was a bit starstruck, actually.
Yeah, I put my hand over to him, because Edgar Wright,
the director Edgar Wright, said, "Come and meet Michael Caine".
I put my hand out and said, "Hiya, I'm Michael," and I was nervous,
and he said, "No, I'm Michael, you're Martin."
LAUGHTER And, yeah, he corrected me.
And I was like a nine-year-old again. Yeah.
Sly, can I ask you a question?
I read this, and I don't know if it's true.
You made a lot... There was a period in the eighties
when you were broadening out and doing different things.
It wasn't just action movies, there were comedies.
And you made a film Stop! Or My Mum Will Shoot.
Oh, you know what... Stop already. Yes, I did.
LAUGHTER By the way,
I kind of love that film, right?
But I read that you only accepted it
because you were in fierce competition
with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the time... It's true.
...and someone told you that he was about to do it.
We couldn't stand to be in the same galaxy together for a while.
We truly, truly loathed each other.
I mean, it was almost like coming to blows constantly.
Of course, I would have taken him, no problem, but...
LAUGHTER
We couldn't be around, especially during Planet Hollywood.
Ancl he's quite clever,
so he goes around town going, "I can't wait to do this film,
"I can't wait, I'm sure it's going to be incredible,"
and I go to my agent,
"Get that thing away from him, no matter what.
"Whatever it takes, get people options on me."
So I got it,
and I said, "What a piece of shit this thing is."
LAUGHTER
Ancl he laughed and goes, "Ha-ha-ha", I go, "Yeah, laugh at me.
"At least I wasn't pregnant in a film, Arnold."
LAUGHTER
We're even. Yeah.
You know, I could sit and talk to you for hours,
but I suspect that you would find that less entertaining than I do.
LAUGHTER So, we're going to let you go,
but, Sly, I hope next time you're in town
we can hook you up in the studio,
and we all send our best to you and your family.
Thank you so much for joining us, and once again...
Thank you, and thank you for all of your guests and, Tyson,
keep punching, you're the best. Thank you. Sylvester Stallone,
ladies and gentlemen. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
TYSON: My hero.
Thank you, Sly.
So, Tyson. So, you're confident, you're in fine shape.
It's three weeks to go.
Does your training accelerate now, or does it slow down a bit
to make sure you've got reserves in the tank?
I've got two more weeks of sparring left
and then I'll start tapering down
and recovering, recuperating and getting it all back in.
One of the things I was reading which I enjoyed
was you talking about retiring.
When you retired from the fight game briefly,
then you felt that gap in your life. There was a hole in your life...
There was. ..so I imagine getting back into boxing has filled that,
but then obviously, inevitably, there's gonna come a time when
you do have to step away for good. How do you intend to fill it then?
You know, I suppose I'm going to have to cross that bridge
when it actually happens.
For four months I was in a very, very low place.
Even though I had a lot going on, writing a book, singing a song,
I was doing a Netflix documentary,
I was doing tours up and down the country,
but it still didn't give me the fulfilment that I get from boxing.
You know, cos Rio, he's very well-respected as a pundit,
is that something you'd like to get into, would it be more TV work?
I'm not really too sure what I'm going to get into after boxing.
For now, I'm just focusing on enjoying the latter end of me career
and taking it all in, you know? Because as a youngster coming up,
you take everything for granted and you think it's never gonna end.
When you get to like near 30,
you realise that you start prevention rather than cure.
You start taking more precautions in your older age,
and I found out that I never really took my career as seriously
until I got to around about 30, which was about four years ago.
Um... and now I'm like an ultimate professional
and it's a little bit too late, unfortunately,
because at 34... how long have I got left in the game?
Who knows, it might be ten fights, it might be one fight, might be two.
But the one thing I do know is I'm going to enjoy every second
and it's going to be electric while it lasts.
I think on that note I'm just going to wish you the best on the night.
You know which corner I'm in. There for you.
I can't wait to see you walk out a champ again.
Ladies and gentlemen, the fabulous Mr Tyson Fury!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Thank you, Tyson.
Good night, God bless.
OK, Danai, were you sporty?
I get the feeling you must have been a sporty kid.
I was a good swimmer and I was a good sprinter,
but I loved swimming more. And are you still competitive?
If you were with friends, do you want to race them?
Yeah, I just went through a thing...
Um, my... A clear friend of mine who is one of my castmate's assistants
decided to challenge me, cos she saw me goofing around
and thought that's really how I swam.
Ancl that little 12, 13-year-old in me who used to compete in Zimbabwe
came out, and I was like,
"Let's go right now!" LAUGHTER
And who won? Ancl I whopped her tail...
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
...and it felt good.
I feel... That sounds so bad, though. It was all very pleasant!
LAUGHTER Well, you know what?
What's weird is, I know you wouldn't think it,
but Martin was very good at sports as well.
What do you mean, "You wouldn't think it?", bitch?
What you talking about? Bitch! You don't seem the type.
What is the type?
The type is like... like me. You know, like...
DANIA LAUGHS ..someone lean and ready.
But you were... I thought I was going to be a squash player.
Virtually professional squash player?
No, I wasn't a professional, cos I was still a kid,
but I thought that was going to be the thing that I was going to do,
until I fell out of love with it, and, thank God, found youth theatre.
But yeah, I was very good at all racket sports,
but particularly good at squash.
Ellie, any sports in your past?
I used to get shoved in the netball and basketball team
because I'm tall, but I went down in school history
as the only person to ever score an own goal in basketball.
LAUGHTER It is clever, though, isn't it?
That's almost impossible. Thank you. Thank you so much.
LAUGHTER How did you do that?
Well, because I got the rebound,
and I was so used to being yelled at, "Get the rebound!",
so I just got the rebound on the other team's basket and then scored.
LAUGHTER
just caught up in the moment? just caught up, exactly.
OK, you know,
Ellie has a new TV show starting, ladies and gentlemen,
it's called You won't Believe This.
10PM on Channel 4, starting on the 22nd of November,
and it's all about lying, isn't it?
Yes. So, it's like an interrogation game show.
So, members of the public come and tell these extraordinary stories,
but only one of them is telling the truth
and the rest of them are making up complete fibs.
So, me and a contestant try and sort of sit
and watch them be interrogated by real police interrogators
and try and work out who the truth teller is.
So, it's sort of like a mix between Would I Lie To You?, Line Of Duty,
and a bit of Gogglebox. LAUGHTER
24 Hours In Police Custody, that sort of thing. Yes. Yeah.
Let's have a look, this is a clip from Ellie's new show,
it's called You won't Believe This. Have a look at this.
You said it was a spiritual cult. Tell me about that.
The Society Of Higher Transcendence, and what they believed was
the only way that we were ever gonna be able to get true salvation
was to reach a level of spiritual enlightenment
where we were able to transcend off of this earth
and go into higher dimensions.
WHISPERED: Higher dimensions.
LAUGHTER
APPLAUSE There you go.
Looks like a lot of fun.
Martin, I can't have you here without asking,
and this might be a question you request me to edit out,
but I'm going to ask anyway. Are you going to do any more Sherlock?
To be truthful, I don't know. That's never a completely shut door,
but, erm... I don't know.
Personally, I'm a fan of things being finite. Yeah.
I like things ending. I think it's natural for things to end,
but I'm also a sucker for a good idea and a good script,
and if something comes up that persuades us all,
because it would have to be us all, then my door would always be open.
More recently, I don't know
if you've seen Martin in the TV series The Responder.
If you haven't seen it, I urge you to watch it. It's on iPlayer.
That's an amazing series. Thanks.
An amazing performance from you, but I would have thought tougher,
cos you're acting, but with a Liverpool accent... Yes.
...and that must be quite easy to get wrong.
Yeah, I mean, it's one of those...
I mean, obviously all of us want to get what we're doing
as right as possible, but that's a particular city
where you don't want to be from here, go up there, and fuck it up.
LAUGHTER
You really, really don't. Ancl so it was really nice,
you know, some people thought I was originally from Liverpool.
It was lovely to hear that. So, who did you base it on?
Did you base it on an individual? You. What's your Scouse, again?
IN A LIVERPUDLIAN ACCENT: Ay, all right?
LAUGHTER It was that.
That wasn't bad. That wasn't too bad.
IN ACCENT AGAIN: All. right? LAUGHTER
Bit of George Formby. IN ACCENT: My friend...
I can't do any accents. OK, don't go away,
because we'll have more from my guests
and we'll be joined by Little Simz. We'll see you after the break.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Welcome back to the show, and I've still got all my guests with me.
Rio, let's talk to you a bit
because as well as your birthday this week,
you also received your OBE this week, is that right? Yeah.
When was that? Was that Tuesday? CH EERING
Yeah, thank you. Congratulations.
Yeah, thank you.
Who did you get it from? Cos you get it from different royals,
depending on who's working that day, don't you? Prince William.
Ah, top-notch. Yeah, I was delighted with that.
And what did he say to you? What did you chat about?
Cos you only have a minute and a half, don't you, or something?
He was a bit out of order, if I must be honest.
Really? LAUGHTER
Cos Aston Villa, his team he supports,
beat Man United at the weekend, and that was the first thing he said.
Wow. LAUGHTER
But no, it was great, great to see him.
I've been lucky to meet him quite a few times,
so just talking about family, really.
How his family are doing, how mine are doing.
Ancl I was just...
No matter how many times you meet someone like that,
of that stature, you still walk in there
and your knees are buckling all over the place, nervous.
So, you get nervous? Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
It's the future King, man. Yeah.
But you're Rio Ferdinand. LAUGHTER
But, you know, football, from a very different angle,
it's the subject of some documentaries Rio's made.
There's three in the series, I think.
Yeah. It's called Tipping Point and it's available now on Prime Video.
And it's a very different area that you're looking into.
Tell us about the series.
Yeah, it took us three years to film it
because we started just before COVID.
Ancl it's looking at three areas in the game -
sexuality, mental health and racism.
Three very powerful topics to go at.
You went to meet some of the fans as well,
who have very different viewpoints about things.
The crowd you met in Burnley, tell me about that.
Yeah, I went to a pub in Burnley,
and the guys in there had flown a plane over a game,
I think it was a Man City game,
and it was in the time when Black Lives Matter marches
and stuff were going on,
and they flew a plane over with the sign, "White lives matter."
And I wanted to kind of just understand the mindset of these guys
and kind of why they chose to do that.
Very interesting conversation. Some unique thoughts.
But I would urge you to watch it just to see...
It's an amazing documentary. I'm gonna show you a clip,
this is Tipping Point.
RIO: Why is football racist?
Why am I having to explain this stuff to my kids?
I'm scared to even look at my direct messages any more
because it could be filled with anything.
I'm telling him, "Yo, this is racist to me, innit?"
I've shut it down from the get-go.
Don't even make that a common word here.
I did meet a lawyer and he said,
"Look, there's no problem you being gay,
"but don't ever go public while you're a football player."
NEWSREADER: Former Man City Academy footballer Jeremy Whiston
was found dead in his home in October.
His mum phoned me. I remember just being in the back garden
and just fell to my knees, just, I was... Broken?
I was a mess, yeah, I was broken.
We've got to talk to young kids who are going through this right now.
Is there a safety net for these players?
Is their mental health being looked at and addressed?
Or is it just a box ticking exercise?
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Amazing work.
What was the most shocking, or the most shocking things for you
when you began to look into this?
Well, in the mental health episode, we were looking at, erm,
young players going into the game, and a shocking stat came out to me
when we were doing the research -
0.012, I think it is,
percent of the 1.5 million children playing football in this country
have a chance of making it to the top in football.
That's so minuscule, isn't it?
If you think about any other industry,
you wouldn't even attempt to send your children
into that kind of... Against that data.
So it is crazy.
And it's gauging, then, how to treat the children going in,
because on the way out,
so many are spat out the other end of the system
ancl aren't helped, and then the mental health issues start.
It's really...
It was a great journey for me, educational, definitely.
You've got a 16-year-old, I think?
Yeah, a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old, boys,
they both play football. They're playing football?
And do they take advice from you? Do you coach them?
It's unbelievable, man. I try, I give them advice.
They're all right now, but a year or two ago,
I'm going, "Listen, you've got to do this, do that."
Erm... Don't listen.
Ancl then their coach when they was, like, on a Sunday team,
who's got no qualifications,
just does it out of the goodness of his heart, great man,
tells them, "You've got to do this." Ancl they do it, saying, "Dad, see?"
Ancl I go, "I told you that last year."
What about... Your daughter is... How old is she? Three?
She's nearly four, yeah.
So she must love seeing you in Strictly.
Yeah, it's like the first thing she's ever been able
to really understand, you know,
to watch any work that I've clone before,
cos things that are not appropriate that I've clone.
But now she thinks...
I said to her the other clay, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Ancl she said, "A ballerina, so I can come to work with Mummy."
She thinks I'm a professional dancer! Which is terrifying.
And does she understand that the partner...?
You know, you're dancing with a partner professionally,
who isn't your husband? She's a bit confused by that.
She does get sad that Johannes and I don't finish our dances with a kiss.
LAUGHTER
And she asked me the other day,
cos I've started sleeping in a different bedroom,
so she doesn't wake me up in the middle of the night,
and she said to me, "ls Johannes up there?
"Do you sleep with Johannes every night?"
I say, "No, he's at his own house, darling!"
She's heard of the curse of Strictly!
LAUGHTER
OK, I'm really excited about the music we've got for you tonight.
But before she plays us out at the end of the show,
she's gonna come and chat with us a little bit as well.
Will you please welcome out the fabulous Little Simz.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Hello. Hello.
Sit down. Thank you.
So, what should I call you? Simz, or Simby?
Or just Little? Or what? Yeah, whichever,
whichever rolls off the tongue. Well, which one do you prefer?
I'm good with Simz. Simz?
Yeah. OK, well, it's great to have you here, Simz.
Thank you so much for joining us.
So, you won... I saw you win the BRIT last year.
Yeah. And you won the Mercury award recently as well.
Yeah. How does that feel?
How does it feel when you get those awards?
How would you feel? Well, I'd be surprised, cos I don't do music!
LAUGHTER
But I would think, about bloody time, cos I can sing!
LAUGHTER
But it must feel lovely. But are they important to you?
That's, I suppose, what I'm asking you.
Do you feel validated in a way that you hadn't before?
Or is it kind of like you knew you were doing good stuff anyway?
Yeah, for sure.
I always knew, like, you know, I'm on a...
I'm on a path to live my life in this realm
and, you know, perform to people and do music as a proper job.
And when it was announced,
where were you when it was announced that you won the Mercury?
I was sitting at the table, had my head down,
eyes closed, and then my name got called,
and everyone around me kind of stood up
and, er, my brother came...
I wanted to stand up, but my brother came round
and had me in a headlock.
LAUGHTER
So, yeah, I wasn't going nowhere for a minute.
Was that he was proud, or jealous? LAUGHTER
No, he was proud, for sure.
He's been a rock for me. My family has been a rock for me.
So I think he was just really overjoyed and excited, yeah.
So, how did you start in the rapping?
When did you start rapping? Were you doing it as a kid?
Yeah, I was doing it as a kid.
Ancl I kind of just, I've always found it very easy,
or easier, to express myself through writing.
Even when I was, like, when I was young,
if I wanted to ask my mum certain things, I'd write it down, like,
"Mum, can so-and-so stay over?" LAUGHTER
I just found it easier to get my thoughts
and feelings out through writing.
Music was always played in my household,
so I think, yeah, it just kind of fell into my path.
So, what were the first...?
When you were writing early raps,
how old would you have been that you composed your first kind of rap?
I was, like, nine, ten, yeah.
And what was it about?
It was a song called Achieve, Achieve, Achieve,
and... What, you want me to do it or something?
LAUGHTER
If we made Rio watch himself playing Bugsy Malone...
LAUGHTER
...| think this is quite a small ask, comparatively.
But no, do you remember it? Can you remember your first?
Yeah, I do. It was...
RAPS: In ten years I wanna be a performer
That can entertain Ancl still remain to do good
Things in life
Without having to go through strife.
That's it.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
And mission accomplished. Yeah.
That's amazing.
You know, I don't want to feel like we're always
going to Rio this evening, but...
LAUGHTER
We had Jamie Redknapp on last week,
and he told me that when you join a new football club,
there's, like, an initiation ceremony
where you do have to perform,
and he did a rap for his performance.
Was there anything similar in your starting at MU or anywhere else?
Erm, Notorious BIG -juicy.
Juicy? Yeah.
I think, by chance, we might have the music to juicy.
LAUGHTER
Let's go. Let's do this properly.
LAUGHTER
Tell me when to go in, yeah? Give me the finger like that.
Count me in, yeah? I'll back you up, I've got you.
I love how confident. "just count me in."
LAUGHTER
This could go really wrong, just saying now.
If it goes wrong. The mic just feels right, though.
LAUGHTER
Let's get excited.
MUSIC: 'juicy' by The Notorious BIG
You ready? Yeah.
One, two, three...
RAPS: It was all a dream I used to read Word Up magazine
Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D Up in the limousine
Hangin' pictures on my wall
Every Saturday, Rap Attack Mr Magic, Marley Marl
I let my tape rock Till my tape popped
Smoking weed in Bambu Sippin' on Private Stock
Way back, when I had The red and black lumberjack
With the hat to match
Remember Rappin' Duke? Duh-ha, duh-ha
You never thought that hip-hop Would take it this far
But now I'm in the limelight Cos I rhyme tight
Time to get paid Blow up like the World Trade
Born sinner The opposite of a winner
Remember when I used to eat Sardines for dinner
Peace to Ron G, Brucie B, Kid Capri
Funkmaster Flex, Love bug Starski
I'm blowin' up Like you thought that I would
Same number, same hood It's all good.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
LAUGHTER
What can this man not do?
I feel like a failure in life!
What can this man not do? I bet you can knit, too.
That was amazing. But also, that was long.
I mean, it was like... LAUGHTER
I thought you were gonna do an album!
LAUGHTER
Thank you very much. What a great sport Rio's been tonight.
Hasn't he, ladies and gentlemen?
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
You know what, that's nearly all we have time for this evening.
Will you join me in saying thank you to Little Simz,
ladies and gentlemen?
Thank you. You can head off over now.
That was amazing, thank you so much.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
And so it just gives me time to thank all of my guests this evening,
thank you all so much for being here.
But now, with Little Q Pt 2, it is the fabulous Little Simz!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
MUSIC: 'Little Q Pt 2' by Little Simz
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
- la
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la
RAPS: I grew up in the south side Of that River Thames
It's hard to think outside the box When you're stuck in the ends
I had dreams of many things As a young'un
I was 14 when the streets Offered tough lovin'
Older brother went to jail Daddy weren't around
No choice now but to be The man of the house
If you're talking role models Nowhere to be seen
You can't fathom what I think Till you've been where I've been
PTSD from the roads Trouble was everywhere that I looked
Hard to avoid it, even if I just Kept my head in my books
There ain't no easy way out
Drowning internally when you're Stuck in an ocean of doubt
With all this uncertainty
Lived being angry my whole life Like it's part of my DNA
Ancl I couldn't tell you why
Became something that we embraced Ancl we take that same anger
Ancl turn it into someone else's pain
Nothing's changed here The cycle still remains
# Mama told me my sun will shine
# We don't decide Everything in God's time
# And when Mama told me I prayed to God
# To walk with me My journey's begun
See, my mama # Mama told me my sun will shine
# We don't decide Everything in God's time
# And when Mama told me I knew that I
# Was strong inside But we all cry sometimes
RAPS: Things changed when I had A brief encounter with death
Thought the pearly gates opened When that knife was in my chest
Not the mental scars The physical's all you see
But the boy that stabbed me ls just as damaged as me
I could've been the reflection That he hated
The part of him he wishes God did not waste time creating
The broken homes in which We're coming from
But who's to blame when You're dealt the same cards
From the system you're enslaved in? It's mayhem
Imagine being in the hospital Wired up to the machines
They told me I had been in a coma For two weeks
But time is an illusion
My mind told me I'm invincible But my body reminded me I'm human
When you're so close to the heavens God shows you who's there
Nowhere to be seen are the people Who say they care
This must have been written For people who came to read it
Cos life gave me a second chance Ancl many never see it
Q
Let's go!
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la
# La-la-la
We eat from a tree Full of forbidden fruit
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la la-la
Not about what you see But what lives in the root
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la
# La-la-la
We eat from a tree Full of forbidden fruit
# La-la-la-la-la-la-la
# La-la-la
It's not about what you see But what lives in the root
HEY
Like the sun in the sky
Spread your wings, fly
We're going # High
We all know real criminals Live in the suit
# La-la-la-la Like the sun in the sky
# Spread your wings, fly
Spread your wings, fly, we're going # High
# Ooh
Like the sun in the sky
Spread your wings, fly
We're going # High
We're going high tonight,j Dot
# Like the sun in the sky Like the sun in the sky
# Spread your wings, fly
Spread your wings, we're going # High
# Spread your wings and fly
# Fly. #
Thank you.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Subtitles by accessibility@itv.com