Phoenix Nights still stands as one of the funniest ever comedy series - but it led the cast on very different paths.
The Channel 4 sitcom based in a working men's club in Bolton, The Phoenix Club, first aired in 2002 and only lasted for two series.
But it cemented itself as a cult classic which still has legions of fans to this day and won the People's Choice Award at the British Comedy Awards in 2002.
The standout star from the series was Peter Kay, who as well as writing and directing episodes also played three different characters, who often had to appear in the same scenes.
The main focus was on wheelchair-user Brian Potter's attempts to make the club a success despite his bumbling staff and rough punters, as well as his clashes with rival club owner Den Perry.
Peter wrote the show along with Neil Fitzmaurice and Dave Spikey, who also played major characters, but this led to a bitter feud once the show ended.
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There was anger that a third series was not made and over who got credit for the popularity of the show.
While Peter went off with best pal and co-star Paddy McGuinness to make hilarious spin-off series Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere.
Phoenix Nights shot Peter and Paddy into stardom and they have both become household names, but other cast members did not have anywhere near the same success.
Some have remained on our screens, others have failed to make it big and one now has a very famous son who stars in Coronation Street.
Here's a look at what happened to the Phoenix Nights cast.
Peter Kay - Brian Potter, Max Bygraves and Keith Lard
Not much needs to be said about this comedy genius.
Having written and starred in That Peter Kay Thing for Channel 4, Peter took the concept of one of the episodes and turned it into Phoenix Nights.
Peter's main character was eccentric club owner Brian Potter - nicknamed Ironside because he had to use a wheelchair after a fruit machine accident.
The role was actually written for controversial stand-up Bernard Manning, but he became ill before Kay was able to sign him up so he took it on himself.
As well as Brian, he also played dopey doorman Max Bygraves, one half of Max and Paddy, who was hired as a hitman and tried to escape from prison using a plastic spoon.
There was also jobsworth fire and safety inspector Keith Lard, who kept being accused of interfering with dogs.
Peter famously went on to become a national treasure with shows such as Britain's Got The Pop Factor and Car Share having audiences in stitches.
His 2010-11 comedy tour got into the Guinness World Records for most successful of all time and his Comic Relief version of Is This the Way to Amarillo saw the song become the best selling single of 2005.
But Peter took a few years out of the spotlight after his surprise appearance at a screening of his BBC show Car Share in 2018.
Fans were devastated when the Bolton-born funnyman was forced to cancel his £40million tour in December 2017 amid 'unforeseen family circumstances'.
Peter didn't return to screens until last year's Children in Need and Comic Relief spectacular Big Night In, which was held in a bid to cheer up the nation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Peter will now return to the stage to perform two charity shows in August for brave terminally-ill woman Laura Nuttall.
Paddy McGuinness - Paddy O'Shea
Paddy McGuinness became close friend with Peter during their school days in Lancashire, so they teamed up for Phoenix Nights as the club's terrible bouncers.
The other half of Max & Paddy, the character of Paddy was a sex-obsessed cheeky lad who was paranoid about going bald.
Paddy once admitted he "can't remember much" from his days of filming TV show due to his wild partying and would need to cal pal Peter to help fill in the gaps for parts of his autobiography.
He said that the pair had "too much fun" when they were filming, admitting: "Twenty or so years ago I was having so much fun that I really can’t remember much about it. Hopefully this way it will jog my memory."
Paddy has also spoken about how much money he received for Phoenix Nights and revealed he got more money from his other job.
"I do think men get a bit of a hard time about getting themselves a nice car when they're in their 30s and 40s," he said on on Absolute Radio.
"But it’s because that's the only time you can bloody afford one, you know you can’t get anything decent in your twenties.
"Well I couldn’t anyhow working in a leisure centre and on Phoenix Nights. And I earned more money in the leisure centre back then," he joked.
Paddy has gone on to become a very successful TV presenter on shows such as Take Me Out and Top Gear.
After Phoenix Nights he also turned down the opportunity to play a major Corrie character, although he did get a role as survival expert Dougie Ryan in 2015.
The TV personality tied the knot with wife Christine in June 2011 and the happy couple are parents to three children; twins Penelope and Leo, and daughter Felicity.
Despite Phoenix Nights being her husband's breakout role and regularly quoted, Christine confessed she hasn't actually watched any of it in June this year.
Commenting on a viral meme on Instagram using a clip of her husband appearing in the iconic show, the mum-of-three confessed that after "14 years with Patrick" she still hadn't got round to watching him as his most famous comedy character.
"I should definitely watch this one day!" The Real Housewives of Cheshire star wrote.
"14 years with Patrick and I've never watched #MaxAndPaddy" she added.
Dave Spikey - Jerry St. Clair
As well as being a co-writer, Dave Spikey also starred as the club's compere and licensee Jerry St. Clair.
The fall guy, Jerry was used in Brian's schemes such as being dressed up as a giant berry and was selling black bin bags in Asda after they lost the club.
Spikey didn't speak to Kay for a decade due to a bitter row - with Dave accusing his co-writer of taking all the credit for the show’s success.
"He rang me and Neil Fitzmaurice, the other writer on Phoenix Nights, and said we’d been nominated for a Writers Guild Of Great Britain award," he told the MEN in 2010.
"We thought it was fantastic, only for it to go away and for us to discover that actually we hadn’t been nominated, it was only Peter. And you think, ‘well, he’s probably not going to accept that because of all the work we did’.
"There were three writers. If you’re talking about the person who sat down at the end and collated everything and wrote it, then that was Peter. If that’s how you qualify, by putting the words on the paper, then so be it."
Dave also refused to appear in one scene where Kay suggested that he should be hosed down naked by Bolton firefighters following an anthrax scare at the Phoenix Club.
They eventually healed their rift when Peter told Dave he was planning live shows of Phoenix Nights for Comic Relief back in 2015, which turned into the "best two weeks of his life" and helped resurrect their close friendship.
Dave went on to become a regular team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats from 2005 to 2007, the host of a revived Bullseye in 2006 and did stand-up tour Juggling on a Motorbike in 2017.
He has slammed the decision to end Phoenix Nights after just two series, admitting he was upset that Peter and Paddy decided to leave then went on to make Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere.
"You can never go back," Dave tweeted in 2018. "Should have done a third series and a Christmas special. The ideas and storylines were there."
Seemingly taking a swipe at Peter and Paddy, he added: "Max and Paddy rode away into the sunset and sadly that was the end of that."
"Was that just thrown upon you that they wanted to go their separate way with it?" a fan replied, to which Dave agreed.
When a fan asked if a series three would be happening, he replied: "Lost cause I’m afraid."
In December 2018, Dave spoke about his failing showbiz career and questioned whether it was "an age thing".
After confirming he wouldn't be back on screens soon, he added: "Not for want of trying! Keep writing – keep getting rejections. Don't know what they're looking for."
"It can be frustrating and demoralising at times but hey, get your head down and crack on."
Ted Robbins - Den Perry
Popular actor Ted Robbins played Brian's nemesis Den Perry - the owner of rival club The Banana Grove,
Nasty Den burnt down the Phoenix by throwing his cigar in a paper towel bin.
The Birds of a Feather, The League of Gentlemen and Benidorm actor will be known to a certain generation as The Governor from CBBC show The Slammer.
During the opening night of Phoenix Night Live in 2015, Ted sadly had a heart attack on stage during his solo sketch at the Manchester Arena.
The event was cancelled and audience asked to leave as medical staff rushed to save Ted, who went on to lose two stone in a bid to improve his health.
He hosted a ball to celebrate the hospital unit that saved his life, saying: "Wythenshawe is a hospital that's close to my heart, both literally and metaphorically!"
"The team on the cardiothoracic unit is absolutely fantastic and everyone I came into contact with during my stay at the hospital and my subsequent visits, has been brilliant."
Ted now hosts the Friday afternoon show on BBC Radio Manchester and appeared on a rebooted version of Crackerjack! last year.
Neil Fitzmaurice - Ray Von
A former fairground gypsy turned DJ, Ray Von (see what they did there) was the man on the decks and hosted the pub quiz.
Ray was played by one of the show's co-writers, Neil Fitzmaurice, who has also written for and starred in Benidorm as Lucky Kev.
Neil has also appeared in Holby City, Waterloo Road, Mount Pleasant, Hank Zipster and most recently in Sky comedy Brassic and BBC Three's The First Team.
But he will forever be known as Jeff, as in "JEFF", from Channel 4 comedy Peep Show.
Nasty Jeff was David Mitchell's character Mark's work nemesis and they fought over the affections of Sophie, played by Olivia Colman.
He was also the applicant David Brent interviewed in the first ever episode of The Office.
Enid Dunn - Joyce
Brought in for the second series, Enid Dunn replaced Marion as the barmaid and best pal of Holy Mary.
Enid worked with Kay and McGuinness again as her character was brought back for an episode of Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere.
After the show ended she played Betty Pargetter in Cutting It then had roles in Casualty, Shameless and The Bay.
In 2016, Enid won an NHS Unsung Hero Award for helping women who are recovering from breast surgery, having had breast cancer herself before volunteering with Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.
The actress has also played four different characters on Coronation Street, including Maureen Rothwell, Joan Lawson, a woman and an Old Crone.
It's pretty apt as her son Corrie favourite Antony Cotton, who plays Sean Tully in the ITV soap.
Last year, in a hilarious clip for the 'That'll Do' campaign for Yorkshire-based communications provider Plusnet, Antony couldn't stop laughing when he got a telling off from his mum.
She said: "You’re not too big for a slap, Antony. In front of these, I don’t care!"
Janice Connolly - Holy Mary
Janice Connolly starred as Holy Mary, a devout Catholic who worked as a cleaner and bar staff.
The comedian is better known as her alter ego Barbara Nice, a caricature of a middle-aged housewife from Birmingham.
Barbara often acts as an agony aunt for the audience and Janice has appeared as the character at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival three times as well as on Britain's Got Talent in 2019.
She appeared twice in Coronation Street as Dolly Gartside and played Carole in Phoenix Nights co-star Dave Spikey's show Dead Man Weds.
Connolly launched her own theatre group, Women and Theatre, and ran the 'Laughing for a Change' project to encourage comedians and audiences to talk about mental health.
Justin Moorhouse - Young Kenny
Justin Moorehouse had the role of idiotic handyman Young Kenny, who wasn't the sharpest tool.
Young Kenny once had to walk around with his face painted like a tiger for days because of a dodgy face painting job at the family fun day.
The stand-up comedian went on to star in the blockbuster film Looking For Eric alongside the football legend Eric Cantona.
From 2010 to 2011 he starred in Harold Brighouse's play Zack at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and he spent a year playing Dean Upton on Coronation Street between 2014 and 2015.
Justin has appeared on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, Celebrity mastermind, Still Open All Hours and wrote and appeared in his own BBC Radio 4 show Everyone Quite Likes Justin.
Steve Edge - Alan Johnson
Steve Edge's character, Alan Johnson, was in the club's resident band Les Alanos.
Alan left his wife because he found out she was having an affair with Paddy as well as several other men.
The former stand-up comedian appeared in two episodes of Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere after Phoenix Nights ended.
He starred in celebrity satire comedy Star Stories, Cold Feet, Benidorm, Plebs and most recently in Death in Paradise this year.
However, his most popular role was a fleeting one, as he played Darryl the racist in one episode of Peep Show.
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