Christie goes from Amarillo to Emmerdale
British chart-topper Tony Christie is the latest celebrity to sign up for a spot in a TV soap.
The Seventies crooner will appear as himself in a special Emmerdale episode this summer.
He follows stars such as cricketer Ian Botham, rugby league’s Martin Offiah and pop’s Marti Pellow who have all guested in the series.
Christie is currently riding high in the charts again with Is This The Way To Amarillo?, thanks to a video featuring comic Peter Kay.
And his career comeback continues with the guest appearance in an episode of Emmerdale.
The 61-year-old singer will play himself in the show – and will duet with Diane (Elizabeth Estensen).
She meets Christie while on a trip to Newcastle with Marlon (Mark Charnock), Donna (Verity Rushworth) and Viv (Deena Payne) for the Top Pub Chef of the North contest.
Yorkshire-born Christie said: “I’ve always been a fan of Emmerdale and am very excited about appearing in the show.
“My mum is more impressed that I will be on Emmerdale than she is with my number one single!
"This is something that I have never done before and I am really looking forward to it.”
An Emmerdale spokeswoman said: “We are delighted that Tony is available to appear in this unique episode which is going to be a lot of fun. Tony will be performing one of his songs and will cause a stir by inviting Diane to join him on stage.”
The episode will be filmed in July and screened in August.
Is This The Way To Amarillo has stormed to the top of the charts 34 years after it was first released.
It sold 40,000 copies on its first day alone – more than the rest of the top 40 combined.
The video features Kay – who himself had a guest role in Coronation Street - miming to the singalong classic backed by celebrities including Ronnie Corbett, Jimmy Savile and Coronation Street’s Ken and Deirdre.
Kay revived the song by using it at the start of his stand-up gigs and featured it in his Channel 4 series Phoenix Nights.
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