Up next in 10
He’s perhaps one of the most famous people in the UK.
He was the face of one of the most enduring advertising campaigns in British TV history, right up there with Compare the Meerkat and GoCompare.
However, Barry Scott, the fictional character who fronted the Cillit Bang adverts has disappeared from British screens for eight years. The consumer goods giant Reckitt has even sold its majority stake in the cleaning brand.
But now, Barry is back, with a new brand campaign and even a mockumentary.
We ask him whether he was the original influencer and how advertising has changed in the digital age.
City AM speaks to Neil Burgess, the mastermind behind the character Barry Scott.
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0:00
In a way, he's one of the most famous
0:01
people in the UK. He was the face of one
0:04
of the most enduring advertising
0:06
campaigns in British TV history, right
0:08
up there with Compare the Meerkat and
0:11
GoCompare. I am, of course, talking
0:13
about Barry Scott, who fronted the
0:15
Cillit Bang adverts from 2004.
0:18
Barry Scott has since left our screens,
0:20
and the consumer goods giant Reckitt has
0:22
even sold its majority stake in the
0:24
cleaning brand itself. But now, Barry is
0:26
back with a brand new campaign and even
0:28
a mockumentary.
0:30
I'm going to do justice to the
0:31
catchphrase, but luckily, I am joined by
0:33
the man who can. So, welcome to the
0:35
studio, Neil Burgess, the mastermind
0:38
behind the character.
0:40
Thank you for joining us.
0:41
>> Thank you, Matt.
0:41
>> Can I ask just
0:43
up front, cuz we're waiting for it, can
0:45
you do the catchphrase?
0:46
>> Of course, no problem. I just hope I'm
0:48
not going to break any microphone. So,
0:50
are you ready? Gird your loins. Here it
0:52
comes. Bang, and the dirt is gone.
0:55
>> What a privilege to to hear it in
0:57
person. I actually said what a rare
0:59
privilege, cuz so few people in the UK
1:01
will have that. Um, can I ask, cuz
1:03
you've had a fascinating career. You've
1:05
been an actor. You were telling me just
1:07
now you've worked at the RSC at one
1:09
stage. What got you into becoming Barry
1:12
Scott? How did it happen? What's the
1:13
origin story?
1:14
>> Uh, basically, I just had a an audition.
1:16
My agent phoned me up. Most actors have
1:19
agents, and one day my agent phoned me
1:21
up. He said, "We have a script for you
1:22
to read. I want you to come in tomorrow
1:23
and do an audition for a thing called
1:25
Cillit Bang." Now, this agent was
1:27
actually a friend of mine from way back.
1:30
And I'd only just joined him. And when I
1:32
read this script and saw the word
1:33
Cillit, and but I thought this was a
1:35
wind-up. I thought it was some kind of
1:37
induction ceremony into his agency, and
1:40
he was, you know, having a practical
1:42
joke on me. But it was real, and I
1:44
turned up. And yeah, there was about 80
1:46
of us. We all looked exactly the same.
1:48
And away I went. Yeah.
1:50
>> 80. So, I mean, as you say, it it felt
1:52
like it could be some kind of sick
1:54
initiation. I'm guessing you didn't
1:56
expect at the time, back in 2004 that it
1:58
would become quite the national
2:00
recognisable campaign that it did.
2:02
>> No, not at all. I mean it was so
2:05
different. I think the thing about it is
2:07
the whole style of it was kind of
2:08
unique. If you think back then these
2:10
kind of loud infomercials that we were
2:13
doing
2:14
back then they were you know, they were
2:16
very stand out. So it was kind of a
2:18
gamble whether
2:20
people were going to take to it or not.
2:22
We weren't too sure whether the British
2:24
public were going to go with it really
2:26
but thankfully they did.
2:28
>> I suppose in a way it was one of the
2:31
final massive broadcast campaigns that
2:33
happened
2:34
absolutely before the age of
2:36
social media. It was pre-YouTube, it's
2:39
pre sort of video on Facebook. How did
2:41
that feel having this sort of new found
2:43
fame which came purely through like
2:45
broadcast channels? Massive audience.
2:47
>> Yeah, it is it is a huge audience. I
2:49
mean
2:50
at some point say we're showing it
2:51
between Coronation Street
2:54
episode and that is you know, the A
2:58
level of advertising. You pay the most
3:01
to get that slot. So you're looking at
3:03
millions and millions of people. So one
3:05
day you're just sat at home being Neil
3:07
Burgess, you know, just trying to
3:09
struggle as an actor and the next minute
3:11
just literally overnight you've got 10
3:13
million people watching your your
3:14
advert. So it's a 24 hour change. It's
3:18
it's extraordinary.
3:19
>> Can you tell me a bit about sort of the
3:21
lifestyle change that followed? So like
3:22
the glitz, the glamour, what what what
3:24
sort of extraordinary things were you
3:25
seeing? What sort of travel was
3:26
happening? What what doors were unlocked
3:28
by this gig?
3:29
>> Well, it's it's not it wasn't it didn't
3:31
change my life in the in the sense that
3:33
I suddenly became this kind of starry
3:35
rich wealthy actor but in the sense of
3:37
travel you just mentioned one of the
3:38
great things about doing this job is
3:40
we've traveled all around the world with
3:41
it. So we have filmed would you believe
3:44
in places like Vancouver in Canada and
3:47
I've been to Cape Town twice. There was
3:50
a we did a skateboard um scenario in
3:53
Cape Town and they had me hoisted upside
3:56
down to make it look like I was doing a
3:57
half pipe with my hand on top of this
4:00
thing in the middle of a a park right on
4:02
the seafront in Cape Town. And that was
4:04
incredible. I would a lovely country and
4:07
places like Vancouver, Majorca we've
4:09
been to all around Eastern Europe. I
4:11
don't think there's a country in Eastern
4:13
Europe I haven't been to actually to do
4:15
Cillit Bang. So amazing.
4:17
>> And do you remember the first time that
4:19
someone approached you in the street and
4:21
said the catchphrase back to you?
4:23
>> Um
4:24
Basically the first time someone said
4:26
anything to me about it I was watching
4:27
my son play football and I shouted
4:29
shoot, score! And someone said I
4:31
recognize your voice, you're the Cillit
4:32
Bang guy, aren't you? Go on, do it, do
4:34
it. So everyone all of a sudden was
4:35
wasn't watching this game of football,
4:37
my poor son and his friends no longer
4:39
any of these parents were watching the
4:40
game of football, it was just me going
4:42
bang, bang, bang on the touchline. I
4:44
should have got a red card, I think.
4:46
>> [laughter]
4:46
>> Absolutely. Absolutely overshadowing. I
4:48
mean just as I mean we were talking
4:49
about this in the office earlier,
4:50
firstly the impact and how much that
4:52
phrase has entered into our sort of
4:55
national lexicon. But I think we can get
4:57
it on the screen here but we even had a
4:58
City A.M. cover from
5:00
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, marvelous. Look at
5:01
that. Bang and the brands are gone.
5:03
>> Wow.
5:03
>> That was Yeah, that was just from a
5:04
couple of years ago. So that's 20 years
5:06
on from the original campaign. Yeah,
5:08
clearly
5:08
>> Looking very young there. Look at that.
5:10
That's right at the beginning that
5:12
picture was taken.
5:13
>> [laughter]
5:14
>> So yeah, a real sign of the sort of
5:15
yeah, this decades-long legacy. What
5:17
what happened to Barry Scott? Because
5:19
you've been out of the for out of the
5:20
picture for a while. What what's what's
5:22
the story?
5:23
>> Well, basically the story with Barry
5:24
Scott is and we're covering this in a
5:27
documentary on our own Cillit Bang
5:29
TikTok channel. So if you really want to
5:32
know what's happened to Barry Scott
5:34
in detail, go and check this out. And
5:36
it's episodic as well, so we've got more
5:38
episodes to come but there's one up
5:39
there at the moment. So basically we
5:41
dabbled with the idea that he did other
5:43
jobs like for example he worked in a
5:44
library and that maybe that he um that
5:47
he went off on a sabbatical to the
5:49
Himalayas, but had to cut that short
5:51
briefly because he was an avalanche
5:53
hazard.
5:55
Or maybe he was living in a skip on
5:56
Epping Forest. We just don't know. And
5:59
so what we've done is we've we've dealt
6:01
with this issue. We've we've started a
6:03
fly-on-the-wall documentary called
6:05
Coming Clean with Barry Scott. It's
6:07
great, isn't it? Genius.
6:09
Genius.
6:11
Absolutely brilliant. So go and check it
6:13
out. It's on the Select Bank TikTok
6:15
channel. We've got the first episode up.
6:17
We've got another couple more to come
6:19
and lots more surprises on that channel
6:21
coming. So stay tuned.
6:24
>> So it really is a sort of it's a double
6:25
life you lead with Barry Scott. Does it
6:27
Does it ever feel like you're becoming
6:29
Barry Scott?
6:29
>> Sometimes, yes. Yeah, I wear that blue
6:32
shirt and chinos far more than I'd like
6:34
to.
6:34
>> [laughter]
6:36
>> And I said it's it's it's interesting
6:38
because
6:39
I mean we were saying that thing earlier
6:40
about the unique power of broadcast back
6:43
then, the sort of the the wild sort of
6:45
20 million audiences of being in the ad
6:48
break for Coronation Street.
6:50
But and it sort of reminds me a bit of
6:52
of people who now become these kind of
6:53
enormous influences. Is that kind of the
6:56
idea now sort of translating Barry Scott
6:58
into the the social media influencer
7:01
age?
7:01
>> it's bigger than that. I think it's
7:02
about making him a huge phenomenon, a
7:05
guru for for all your cleaning
7:07
cleaning woes and worries.
7:10
You know, he's he's just going to be
7:11
this kind of spirit god of of cleaning.
7:14
Yeah, that's
7:15
>> what we want.
7:15
>> To get influencing, that's down here.
7:17
We're going We're going much higher than
7:19
that.
7:20
>> It's it's an amazing scope of ambition
7:21
for him. And I think I think it shows it
7:23
shows that like maybe maybe we in the
7:25
media unfairly treat him as as I don't
7:27
know this thing from the 2000s, but
7:29
clearly make it it could be so much
7:31
bigger than that.
7:32
>> We hope so.
7:33
>> One one more question I've got just
7:35
about his place in the advertising
7:36
world. So as I sort of mentioned in the
7:37
instruction, he's sort of up there with
7:39
the sort of iconic compare the meerkat
7:41
GoCompare advert. Well,
7:45
>> [laughter]
7:45
>> Does Does Barry Scott loom larger in our
7:47
culture, would you say?
7:48
>> What do you think?
7:49
>> I'll leave that to your audience, but we
7:51
all know the answer.
7:53
>> Okay.
7:53
>> Right. Yes.
7:55
>> Neil, thank you so much for joining us.
7:57
>> Absolutely. It was lovely to talk to
7:58
you. Thank you.
7:59
>> Thank you very much, and all the all the
8:00
very best.
8:00
>> And to you. Thank you very much for
8:01
having me.
8:02
>> And for everything you need to know
8:03
about Cillit Bang, Barry Scott, and of
8:07
course the broader retail market and
8:09
environment in the UK, go to cityam.com.
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