Fans remember David Soul with his cover of The Fall’s ‘Hit The North’ with Frank Sidebottom and Paul Ryder

6 January, 2024

David Soul and Frank Sidebottom

In the light of his death this week, fans have been sharing a bizarre appearance that David Soul once made on Frank Sidebottom’s talk show. Check out the footage below.

Soul, best known for playing Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson on Starsky & Hutch in the 1970s, died on Thursday (January 4), following what his wife Helen Snell described as a “valiant battle for life in the loving company of family”.

He went on to have his own music career, with the UK Number One singles ‘Don’t Give Up on Us’ and ‘Silver Lady’, but it is a very different musical performance that has been doing the rounds on social media this weekend.

Soul once appeared on Frank Sidebottom’s Proper Telly Show, a short-lived anarchic chat show that was broadcast on Channel M in Greater Manchester in 2006 and 2007.

The show, hosted by the absurdist comedian Chris Sievey’s persona Frank Sidebottom, welcomed Soul as a guest on the December 1, 2006 episode, with the two of them ending the show by playing a seemingly impromptu version of The Fall’s 1987 single ‘Hit the North’.

“He’s playing it, can you believe it!” Sidebottom says as Soul takes to the keyboard to open the track. The two are soon joined by the show’s other guest, Happy Mondays’ Paul Ryder, who adds his bass part to the performance.

Soul can be heard laughing out loud throughout the song, and decides to abandon the keyboard at one point to pick up a handheld camcorder to start ‘filming’ Sidebottom’s antics.

Sidebottom improvises nonsense lyrics throughout the song, while playing with his cardboard sidekick, ‘Little Frank’.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life!” Soul can be heard saying as the show goes off air.

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