Where Phoenix Nights cast are now from feud with Peter Kay to TV success

Cult Channel 4 series Phoenix Nights has been off our screens for 22 years and its cast have gone on to bigger and better things.

The beloved sitcom by Peter Kay followed the exploits of club owner Brian Potter and a colourful cast of characters at the fictional Phoenix Club in Farnworth.

While the programme lasted for only two series, Phoenix Nights was able to accurately portray life in the area and became essential viewing for anyone who lived in Lancashire. A third series was penned by Peter Kay but has never been developed further.

The series catapulted Peter Kay's career to the next level, with its cast members enjoying further TV success, one sparking a long feud with Peter Kay and another enjoying a quiet life.

We take a look at the cast of Phoenix Nights and look at their lives since the show came to a close in 2002.

Peter Kay - Brian Potter, Max, Keith Winston Lard

Peter Kay was the main man in Phoenix Nights, creating and writing the show with David Starkey while starring as three of the main characters, including club patron Brian Potter.

From his award-winning sitcom Car Share to his vastly successful stand up shows and more, Kay has gone from strength to strength since the final episode of Phoenix Nights.

He even went onto star in a spin off sitcom based on the two bouncers in Phoenix Nights with Paddy McGuinness - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere - and has been a regular contributor to Comic Relief and Children in Need campaigns.

Kay made his stage comeback in 2021 when he took part in a Q&A at the Manchester Apollo to raise money for Laura Nuttall, a student undergoing experimental treatment in Germany as she battle an aggressive brain tumour.

Peter Kay is currently on a stand-up tour which will continue into 2025.

Paddy McGuiness - Paddy

Kay's best mate, and former school friend, played an integral role in Phoenix Nights, playing one half of the bouncer duo who kept the riff-raff out of the Phoenix club.

McGuinness would go on to star with Kay again in the Phoenix spin-off show Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere before returning for Max and Paddy's The Power of Two in 2005.

Paddy McGuiness’ star rose when he became the cheeky host of dating show Take Me Out. During the series, he became famed for his catchphrases - including "No Likey, No Lighty" and "Let The Thing See The Thing” jokes.

Paddy recreated famous movies in The Keith And Paddy Picture Show, tribute show Even Better Than The Real Thing and I Can See Your Voice. The Lancashire presenter became the new face of Top Gear along with Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris and hosted many series together.

In 2023, the series was permanently halted after former cricketer Freddie Flintoff was involved in a horror smash whilst filming the show.

Paddy had a brief stint hosting Question of Sport from 2021 until 2023 and presented Channel 4 gameshow Tempting Fortune. The host has also appeared on celebrity shows such as Don’t Look Down and Comic Relief’s annual Red Nose Day charity fundraiser, The Great Celebrity Bake off: Stand Up To Cancer and played in Soccer Aid.

Dave Spikey - Jerry St Clair

Spikey was a co-writer alongside Kay in Phoenix Nights while playing the role of Jerry, Brian Potter's long-suffering partner at the Phoenix Club.

While his character was humiliated on-screen, Dave had similar feelings in real life as he hated that Peter was getting all the recognition for the show's succcess.

"He rang me and Neil Fitzmaurice, the other writer on Phoenix Nights, and said we’d been nominated for a Writers Guild Of Great Britain award," he told the Manchester Evening News in 2010.

"We thought it was fantastic, only for it to go away and for us to discover that actually we hadn’t been nominated, it was only Peter. And you think, ‘well, he’s probably not going to accept that because of all the work we did’.

"There were three writers. If you’re talking about the person who sat down at the end and collated everything and wrote it, then that was Peter. If that’s how you qualify, by putting the words on the paper, then so be it."

They eventually healed their rift when Peter told Dave he was planning live shows of Phoenix Nights for Comic Relief back in 2015.

Dave admitted it was a "little awkward" at first, but it turned into the "best two weeks of his life" and helped resurrect their close friendship.

"Peter’s call came like a bolt from the blue. It really knocked me sideways," he explained.

"We hadn’t spoken for over ten years and it had been 12 years since we filmed the last Phoenix Nights. Life had moved on. I always hoped we’d get back together but the longer things went on, the less likely it was."

He added: "It was nice to hear from Peter. We’d obviously grown apart but within a few moments in the rehearsal room in Wakefield the years just faded away and it was like we’d never been away."

After the show ended in 2002, Spikey would go on to pen many more highly-rated sitcoms, such as ITV comedy drama Dead Man Weds which featured Johnny Vegas.

He later starred as the host in a badly reviewed reboot of Bullseye in 2006, before he moved to 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Celebrity Mastermind. He continued to work as a stand up comedian and was voted as one of the 100 Greatest Stand Ups by the British public in 2010.

Spikey celebrated 30 years in stand up with a new retrospective, Juggling on a Motorbike, which began touring in 2017. The show was largely autobiographical and follows his performances over the past 30 years of stand up.

Neil FitzMaurice - Ray Von

Ray Von was a DJ and handyman at the Phoenix Club with the catchphrase "Shabba". Fitzmaurice later went on to enjoy widespread success on Channel Four as Mark Corrigan's love rival Jeff in the hit comedy show Peep Show.

He recently starred in the hit Sky comedy Brassic alongside Joseph Gilgun and Michelle Keegan, BBC Three comedy The First Team, Waterloo Road and ITV comedy Benidorm.

He has recently featured in Martin Freeman's drama The Responder.

Justin Moorhouse - Young Kenny

Young Kenny spent all of season two with tiger face paint on following an accident.

Justin Moorhouse has enjoyed moderate success post-Phoenix Nights, going on to star in the blockbuster film Looking For Eric, alongside United hero Eric Cantona.

From 2010 to 2011, he starred in Harold Brighouse's play Zack at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and he spent a year playing Dean Upton on Coronation Street between 2014 and 2015.

In 2015 he became the resident compere of the Heatons' Comedy Evening, held at the Heatons' Sports Club, Stockport on the first Sunday of every month.

He now hosts his own podcast - Justin Moorhouse About 30 Minutes No More Than 45.

Archie Kelly - Kenny Senior

Kenny Senior was played by comedian and impressionist Archie Kelly.

After the success of Kay's show, Kelly returned to stand-up and has been a regular performer at clubs across the north west as well as finding work as a singer for Corporate Entertainers.

He now spends his time tweeting a lot about Manchester City and went on tour with two of his Phoenix Nights co-stars in 2021.

In recent years, Kelly, Janice Connolly and Neil FitzMaurice will appeared across clubs in the north as The Phoenix Club: Pack of Three.

Janice Connolly - Holy Mary

Connolly, who usually appears on stage as her alter ego, Birmingham housewife, Barbara Nice, continued to work with Kay and Spikey after Phoenix Nights.

She was in Spikey's Dead Man Weds before appearing as Dolly Gartside in Coronation Street. She later launched her own theatre group Women and Theatre of which she is still the artistic director.

The company aims to make heard the voices of those who are not usually listened to. Connolly also ran the 'Laughing for a Change' project, encouraging comedians and audiences to talk about mental health.

She was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2017 after appearing in the New Years Honours list for her work with Women and Theatre. In 2022, she began appearing in the BBC soap opera Doctors as Rosie Colton.

Toby Foster - Les Campbell

Foster went on to work with Kay on his post Phoenix Nights projects, including That Peter Kay Thing and Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere.

The comedian has made several cameo appearances over the years, starring in Ricky Gervais' Extra.

Since 2019, he has provided the narration for the show Bangers and Cash, following a family run classic car auction in North Yorkshire.

He still presents his own breakfast show on BBC Sheffield and has won several Radio Academy Awards since 2010.

Foster is often seen at the Last Laugh Comedy Club in Sheffield.

Steve Edge - Alan Johnson

Steve Edge's character, Alan Johnson, was in the club's resident band Les Alanos. Alan left his wife because he found out she was having an affair with Paddy as well as several other men.

The former stand-up comedian appeared in two episodes of Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere after Phoenix Nights ended.

Steve Edge is also famous for playing the iconic, although fleeting, role of Daryl in Peep Show, a racist who befriends main character Mark Corrigan.

Edge has also written the Sky1 comedy show Starlings and featured in an number of hit features on the big screen, including Mike Bassett: England Manager, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Paddington, Happy Valley and Plebs.

Ted Robbins - Den Perry

Den Perry was the villain of Phoenix Nights who ran his own club and burned down Phoenix Nights for revenge.

Having formerly performed at the Preston Charter Theatre as Cinderella, and as a supporter of Rossendale Rugby Club (where his son plays prop) Ted has a big connection to Lancashire.

He has enjoyed roles in some of Britain's hottest sitcoms since Phoenix Nights, playing Victor in 2012's Benidorm and starring in Birds of a Feather, The League of Gentlemen and CBBC series The Slammer.

He suffered an on stage heart attack in 2015 while on tour with Phoenix Nights but has since recovered. In 2019 he had to be put on oxygen after he inhaled smoke following a house fire at his home in Crawshawbooth.

Enid Dunn - Joyce

Enid was another Phoenix Nights co star to continue working with Kay on Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere. From 2003 to 2005 she starred as Mrs Betty Pargetter in Cutting It but that was the last time Dunn was seen in a regular TV role.

The actor had breast cancer and now works with charities helping women who have undergone mastectomies. Her son, Anthony Cotton, is a Coronation Street star.

Daniel Kitson - Spencer

Slow-witted Spencer worked as a barman at the club and was roped into a few of the club's schemes.

Kitson is mainly a stand up comedian who tours and performs extensively at festivals and theatres. Phoenix Nights was his only real TV escapade and he has since gone on to become a regular favourite at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Throughout 2020 he performed in live screenings of his show The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church and Dot. Dot. Dot. which received rave reviews.

He also presents a breakfast show on Resonance FM in London, and this year released an exclusive live show on LP, CD and cassette tape called Shenanigan.