We had a lorra laughs together

The son of Cilla Black and Bobby Willis grew up thinking it was normal for your mum to have number one hits and call The Beatles her best mates. And through his early years, it was the most normal thing in the world to watch her entertaining millions on Saturday night TV shows like Blind Date and Surprise Surprise.

Robert’s father took over from Beatles manager Brian Epstein as Cilla’s manager. And he spent his childhood hanging out on TV show sets. Little wonder he followed in his parents footsteps, therefore, as he forged his own successful career in TV, film and theatre.

He worked as a runner on TV’s The Big Breakfast, cut his teeth on TV news, was nominated for a Bafta and is now part of the team behind Cilla – The Musical, which will play Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre from October 10-14.

Working on a dramatised, theatrical version of his mum’s life was a peculiar experience – but one that he found therapeutic.

“We were covering all aspects of her life, like her romance with my dad. It’s always very strange to be involved with something like that when you’ve lived through it, particularly when it’s being turned into a drama.

“With some of the life stories that come around, there tends to be a dark, edgy side. But with mum, that wasn’t really there. She didn’t have any skeletons in the closet.

Ambition

“So the story we wanted to tell about her was one of ambition and drive – as well as the love story between her and my father. It was the story of the Swinging Sixties, of The Beatles and the Cavern Club. Liverpool was a global story back then – and mum was at the centre of it.”

As a kid, Robert grew up to view celebrity and fame as being normal.

“We didn’t know any different. Sometimes, when she was on TV we’d watch whatever was on the other side, like Planet of the Apes. We were just kids. We just saw her as our parent. We were very matter of fact. We weren’t starry eyed. As you get older, we appreciate what she was doing. We were always made aware that it was work.

“For mum and dad, fame was the result of something good. Dad always had the attitude that we had to make the business work for us, not make us work for the business.”

Robert got into production at an early age and started to get involved in managing his mum’s career. And when Bobby passed away, Robert took charge. “I was 27 and suddenly I was responsible for mum and my brothers. She went through a vulnerable time, which wasn’t part of the game plan.

“She was looking to retire but after my dad passed, we did some good things.

“There were always funny things with mum, like one time at The Royal Variety. The outfit she’d got didn’t work. I remember going through the lines with Dale Winton and Paul O’Grady and by the time I reached mum there was a guy working on the dress with a soldering iron.”

Robert remembers there being plenty of laughter in the Cilla Black Household. “I remember laughing at her pretty much every day, we spoke most days, we were good friends, we enjoyed one another’s company and I miss her.”

He was 12 when Surprise Surprise started and had grown up in theatres or the wings of summer holiday shows.

“I felt at home in TV studios, which is why I went into it. Some kids don’t have an interest but I loved it. I knew from a young age that I wanted to work in TV. I was a runner at the Big Breakfast, making the tea, and also on The Word, which I really enjoyed. Then I went over to GMTV.

“Eventually dad asked me to go into the family business. I was doing okay on my own but circumstances meant that’s what I did.

“Mum needed to know there was someone there for her, to keep things on the rails. She appreciated my honesty. That’s what people often lack. They’re surrounded by yes people who are on the pay roll. I just wanted the best for her there was no other agenda.”

He remembers quite clearly the affection people had for her when she passed away, after suffering a fall in her Spanish villa in 2015. “Her album went to number 1 on the week she was buried. It was incredibly poignant because she’d never had a number one album.

“She loved telly and was a real ground-breaker for women. She led the way for all of those girls that are on TV today. People forget how hard it is as a TV presenter but mum opened the doors to others.

“She died on the first of August 2015 and there hadn’t been that level of public reaction to someone passing for quite a while. It made a real impact and it was incredibly comforting for us and gave us hope. Your life is changed forever in a day. I’m old enough that I’ve had a few of those days – bad, or good, like the birth of kids. The day of mum’s passing was a day that everything changed. The general public’s affection helped us deal with what we had to deal with.”

Andy Richardson