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Scott talks to the Daily Record


Jono

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RADIO 1 star Scott Mills is so terrified of performing his first one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe next week he can't sleep.

The 36-year-old DJ stars in The Bjorn Identity, which mixes the film The Bourne Identity with the songs of Abba.

And he admitted the pressure of going on stage is getting to him.

He said: "I'm dreading it. As soon as I wake up I worry about it. When I go to bed after learning my lines, I think about it. The show is all I think about at the moment, to be honest.

"I'm getting next to no sleep and keep waking up. But when I get up, I'm not tired. I think it's nervous energy."

While Scott is one of radio's naturals - he beat Chris Moyles to be named Radio Personality Of The Year in May's Sony Radio Academy awards - the thought of facing an audience is turning him into a blubbering wreck.

Scott said: "What have I done? Am I just a glutton for punishment? I'm drinking a lot of chamomile tea."

He has been squeezing in rehearsal time while doing Chris's breakfast show this week as well as fitting in training for September's Great North Run.

He arrives in Edinburgh tomorrow and on Monday will be doing his usual Radio 1 Drivetime show from 4pm to 7pm all next week, live from Maggie's Chamber in Edinburgh's Cowgate.

It's where he will perform his one-man show on Thursday, too.

Tickets are free but you'll have to tune in to the Drivetime show next week to find out how to get your hands on them.

Scott said: "This week I've been getting up at 5am, doing the breakfast show, going to rehearsals at 11am, finishing at 4pm then spending three hours learning my lines.

"Really I haven't got time for anything else."

You can sense some panic in the jovial DJ.

He added: "Some scenes I know off by heart but others are just not going in. I'm trying to do those as much as possible with friends, just doing the scenes again and again and again.

"I've recorded the lines so when I'm running, which I do every day, I can go through them.

"But come Sunday, if I don't know them, I think I'll start listening to them in my sleep."

So why is he putting himself through it? He blames his producer, but much of the blame must lie with the success of Scott Mills - The Musical.

What started out as an on-air joke became one of the hits of last year's Edinburgh Festival and was watched by a million people online.

"But I wasn't really in it," whined Scott. "This year I'm the only person in the show. There's a lot more pressure."

It has to be said The Bjorn Identity sounds like a hoot. Scott, in Abba-style costume, will sing and act his way through 40 minutes on stage, joined by stagehands wearing masks of Radio 1 colleagues such as Sara Cox, Tim Westwood and Zane Lowe, who have all pre-recorded their voices.

Scott explained: "It's like a Britain's Got Talent audition."

But can Scott sing?

"I can't really hold a note," he admitted. "I asked Yvie from The X Factor for help but she's in Los Angeles doing American Idol."

But hitting the right notes is the least of his worries.

He said: "I'm quite shy so the idea of singing and dancing on stage is quite scary. I've been holding back in rehearsals but will go for it on the night.

"If I overact it won't feel like it's me on stage doing these things. I think that's how I will get through it."

He's also being helped by fellow DJ Nick Grimshaw, who will be performing his own one-man show Team Hate on Tuesday.

And Scott's on-air team, Beccy and The One That Doesn't Speak, have also written their own solo shows and will put them on during next week.

When Scott and the team come off stage, they will go straight on to Nick's 10pm show to tell him how they got on.

Hampshire-born Scott, who became the youngest radio presenter in the UK at 16 when he presented a show on Power FM, joined Radio 1 in 1998.

He was a presenter on The Early Breakfast Show and has slowly become one of the nation's favourite voices.

Pipping Moyles to the Sony Music Radio Personality of the Year award this year has heightened rumours he'll take over the breakfast show. He said: "If they offered it to me I'd be a fool to say 'no', because who wouldn't want to do that?

"But I haven't got any great designs on it."

Clearly a workaholic, Scott has never been happier.

He's just bought a house in North London with his partner of a year.

He is living a healthy lifestyle and stopped drinking as he prepares for his run.

And he is doing more TV. His show The Hoff: When Scott Came To Stay meant he got to live in Baywatch icon David Hasselhoff's home for a few days.

He is one of the hosts of the National Lottery draw and presented the results for Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as appearing in Skins and in River City.

Scott fancies a return trip to Shieldinch.

He said: "I was in the Hogmanay episode, which was recorded in October and I'd completely lost my voice.

"I was the DJ at the party and had to do the countdown to the new year - I had lost my voice so much they had to dub me in afterwards.

"I would be nice to go back to River City and actually speak."

So what about the Fringe. Given his fears, will he be back for a third time in 2011?

For a moment, Scott seems to forget the sleepless nights and his stage fright.

He laughed: "I don't see why we wouldn't do it again next year."

The Bjorn Identity is on Thursday, August 19, at Maggie's Chamber, Edinburgh. To find out how to get free tickets to it and the shows by Scott's Radio 1 colleagues, tune in to the Drivetime show from 4pm to 7pm next week, which will be broadcast live from the city between August 16-20. For more details go to bbc.co.uk/radio1

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I know, because I have my sources.. ;)

No, it was just on that thread about him making a documentary about Uganda. I think the thread was called Scott's up for the challenge of breakfast..?

And the fact Fraser's straight. It's been a discussion going on for ever.

OMASM. Radio presenters are like fruit. Matt is my kumquat and Scott is blatantly my orange.

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*must get Scottish & German television*

Scottish television is the same, apart from a few regional variations, and ITV is called STV.

German TV scares me. When I was in Switzerland, on the TV, they had French and German channels, none of which I could understand. At the time, there was a horrific programme involving children who couldn't sing. It was soon turned off.

:confused:

Ohai.

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;376878']Scottish television is the same' date=' apart from a few regional variations, and ITV is called STV.

German TV scares me. When I was in Switzerland, on the TV, they had French and German channels, none of which I could understand. At the time, there was a horrific programme involving children who couldn't sing. It was soon turned off.

:confused:[/quote']

Were they singing in English? They normally do.

The soaps are amazing! Verbotiene Liebe & AWZ. It's funny actually, sometimes they randomly say a sentence/phrase in English. Plus they speak Italian a lot. They always say 'Ciao!'

OMASM. Radio presenters are like fruit. Matt is my kumquat and Scott is blatantly my orange.

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;376878']German TV scares me. When I was in Switzerland' date=' on the TV, they had French and German channels, none of which I could understand. At the time, there was a horrific programme involving children who couldn't sing. It was soon turned off.

:confused:[/quote']

You were in Switzerland? Where exactly? And at which time of the year? I think I might know which programm you mean... Was it on the Schweizer Fernsehen?

"I like Franziska. Sounds mad as a box of frogs, but we like her." (Dev)

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