The Gritterman

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Of course, Paul Whitehouse isn’t the only high-profile figure to lend his support to the Gritterman project. When I’ve been out in the day I feel like some kinda seasonal hero,” said Whitehouse, stood at the lectern. I guess I premiered ‘Deep Down’ and ‘Big Skies, Silly Faces’ with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, and I used a megaphone there. As family issues and love troubles pile on during Christmas, she is grateful that it is exclusively an annual occasion. Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel.

As we learn this is his last night on the job as the council has told him he’s no longer needed, and so he has one last beautiful snowy night in his van, savouring every moment and wondering what he will do now that he has nothing left. The most elated moment of a beatific set, ‘Look Who’s Talking Now’ is the most unguarded moment that Weeks has shared with the world. Weeks says the project was partly inspired by the similarity between his own circumstances and his father’s retirement. It's easy to see this becoming a Christmas staple on TV if a smart production company pick it up and add the accompanying soundtrack.

The plot is equally spare, giving us an insight into the Gritterman's life as he deals with a loss and the ageing process.

I suppose it’s just nice being busy, having lots to do,” he says, and notes that the amount of work he manages to accomplish comes partly from his own desire to be invested in every part of the creative process. It is dedicated to those who don’t have the privilege of family and comfort at Christmas; those whose lives continue during the holidays, and get turned upside down. Agatha Christie doesn’t exclude Christmas from her murder mysteries, creating a must-read for the festive times. This year my focus has been on writing a new album, so it will be nice to come back to The Gritterman music.His debut solo album proper, A Quickening , followed in 2020, and its successor, Hop Up , is set for release in January; he’s also composed a new soundtrack for the National Theatre adaptation of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 1998 film After Life , and is currently working on a new animation project for the Hepworth Museum. After fronting The Maccabees for the best part of fifteen years, Orlando Weeks turns his hand at illustrating and writing children’s book, ‘The Gritterman’. The result of his lonely efforts is a witty, affectionate book that sets the dignity of toiling away at night against an elegiac tale of climate change. The writing, by former Maccabees-frontman Orlando Weeks, shows Weeks' knack for lyrical storytelling but it's still simple enough to read it together with a child (and yes, I think this is a beautiful story for a family reading). He comes across rather more like a reticent children’s illustrator than a rock ’n’ roller — but then again, The Maccabees were among the more well-spoken indie bands of the past decade, the kind that played with an anxious intensity yet expressed themselves in bashful double negatives.

A lot of people’s work goes unrecognised and this is one of those jobs where that’s the case,” Orlando explains, “To just go about your business and not need thanks is a very attractive quality, and he finds comfort in that sense of purpose. A Quickening’ then took us to the expectations of new life, and now ‘Hop Up’ celebrates the now with ebullient pleasure.After a low-key premiere at London’s Union Chapel last December, The Gritterman live show is now coming to Manchester’s Albert Hall for its first ever performance outside of the capital. At the time, I wasn’t aware it was such a sweet gesture on grandad’s part, to let me pull that whistle. When I knew my grandfather, I felt that he had been a big strong man and now was less of a big strong man. A song for the unsung hero, this is a bittersweet story about stoicism, dignity and a man leaving behind the work that he loves.