Paul O'Grady's marriage of convenience, children and farm life with husband

A new documentary is set to honour the life of TV legend Paul O'Grady, a year on from his sudden death.

The 67-year-old rose to fame thanks to his drag queen persona Lily Savage after a big break on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast in 1992. He was renowned for hosting The Paul O'Grady Show, Blind Date and Blankety Blank, as well as ITV's For The Love Of Dogs.

Paul, from Birkenhead, passed away 'unexpectedly but peacefully' at his Kent home on March 28, 2023. It was later confirmed that he had died from sudden cardiac arrhythmia. Andre Portasio, Paul's husband of six years, said the star was in 'wonderful form' moments before his death.

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He told the Daily Mirror: "...We settled down in the living room and switched on the telly to catch up on Kent ITV News.... He left to get some tea, and I heard this loud bang.”

Andre said he found Paul “lying on the floor” with “a cut on his forehead”. The former ballet dancer said: "I called the ambulance and they said the best chance to keep him alive was to do CPR. I don’t know how long it took for the ambulance to arrive, but by the end I was exhausted.

“At one point, they were like ‘yes, he’s breathing’. I thought the nightmare was gone but it was very short-lived, and very shortly afterwards they pronounced him dead.”

While ambulance crews were attempting to resuscitate Paul, his dog Arfur – “one of his favourites” – had escaped and “nuzzled his face as he always did on Paul’s shoulder as if to say wake up”.

Now, close friends and family will reflect on what made Paul so extraordinary in a new ITV documentary, The Life and Death of Lily Savage. The program tells the story of decades of hard