This Morning star blames himself for death of beloved 70s comedian Rod Hull-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro

A This Morning star has spoken about his guilt over the death of comedian Rod Hull (Picture: Shutterstock)

Gyles Brandreth has admitted he feels guilty for the death of legendary comedian Rod Hull.

In the 1970s and 1980s Hull became a fixture on UK screens, rarely appearing without Emu, a mute and highly aggressive arm-length puppet modelled on the Australian bird.

However, in 1999, aged 63, Hull died in a freak accident after falling from the roof of his home while trying to adjust the television aerial.

After slipping and falling, he was taken to hospital with a severe skill fracture and chest injuries before being pronounced dead.

Following an inquest, the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.

But now, 25 years later, This Morning star Gyles has said he feels somewhat responsible for what unfolded.

Gyles Brandreth encouraged Hull to scale his roof the night he died (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Shutterstock)

Speaking on the latest episode of his Rosebud podcast, whose guest this week is John Cleese, the former MP explained how he encouraged his friend to scale his roof the night he died.

‘I killed a man – it was Rod Hull, the emu man,’ he told the Fawlty Towers comedian.

On the night of Hull’s death, he’d been at the theatre with Gyles watching the opening night of Animal Crackers, a show about the Marx brothers.

‘Terrible, terrible weather that night,’ Gyles recalled.

‘And he was sitting next to me, and he was complaining all through the show – was interrupting the show almost – going on about how he wanted to get home because he wanted to watch the football, but his Sky aerial wasn’t transmitting properly,’ he explained.

‘And I said, “Don’t moan about it, if you want to watch the television get a ladder out, climb on to the roof, and fix it Rod”.

Hull was best known for his comedic act with puppet Emu (Picture: David Hartley/Shutterstock)

‘And after the show, in this stormy weather, he went home, he got out a ladder, he climbed the ladder, and he tried to fix the aerial.

‘Unfortunately, the wind was very great and he fell backwards off the ladder and killed himself.’

Gyles said that while he wasn’t actually there, he’d ‘encouraged’ him.

He then went on to explain how Rod had wanted his famous puppet to also be part of his funeral, and the very quirky detail that surprised mourners.

‘It was a great funeral though because at his funeral the coffin came in, and as the coffin was being carried in, it was a sort of [constant tapping sound].

‘He’d arranged a beak sound to be inside the coffin as though the emu was also in the coffin.’

He died aged 63 in 1999 (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

During his career, Hull’s Emu became famous for attacking Michael Parkinson on his talk show.

Once dubbed ‘Britain’s naughtiest bird’, Emu and Hull caused crotch-poking mayhem on TV for decades.

Emu was most famous for attacking Michael Parkinson on his chat show, however fellow guest Billy Connolly wasn’t so keen to take part.

He said: ‘If that bird comes anywhere near me, I’ll break its neck and your bloody arm!’

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.

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