Comedian Peter Kay has revealed he turned down a lucrative offer from Netflix after the streaming giant sent him an air fryer as a gift. The star, best known for his sitcom Phoenix Nights, said the bizarre present put him off finalising a deal to license his shows.
Speaking on Capital Breakfast, Kay explained that Netflix contacted him last year about putting Phoenix Nights on the platform. After sending paperwork, they followed up with an unexpected package. “They sent me an air fryer,” he told hosts Jordan North, Sian Welby and Chris Stark. “It was a Phillips air fryer, it weren’t even a Ninja one. But I was grateful.”
Kay said he declined the deal partly because he was uncomfortable with potential content warnings. “I just said, ‘I’m not keen on that, I don’t really want a warning before it.’ So, I just said, ‘no, I’ll leave it.’” He noted that Phoenix Nights, made in a different era, is “not very politically correct now”.
On a separate note, Kay confirmed he has written a film version of Phoenix Nights but is waiting for better de-aging technology. “The storyline involves a lot of flashbacks to the past and I don’t want to be using really bad makeup to make people look young,” he said. “I’ve been looking at the capabilities of de-aging technology.”
