The new ITV documentary, The Life and Death of Lily Savage, shows how the first glimpse of drag act Lily Savage came in sketches Paul O'Grady made as a teenager.
His eldest sister Sheila holds up a library book to the camera and says: "It was in a bookcase upstairs, where he used to do his sketches. There's Lil. He was about 14 or 15, he just used to sit and do them, doodle." Close friends of Paul are also shown the sketches for the first time.
Looking at the drawings, comedian Julian Clary said: "That's interesting. Glamorous women who look like they're drag queens. Funnily enough, I did similar things. I was constantly drawing a face with heavily made up eyes. It's probably a subconscious thing predicting our futures, some way of expressing then, what we still need to express now."
Stand up and TV host Alan Carr added: "Oh look! It's almost like he's drawn bits of Lily. Look at the beauty spot there and those eyes. It's like the embryo of Lilly. It's a library book, he's actually defaced a library book. Naughty naughty!"
The documentary also plays audio of Paul describing his teenage years.
In an archive interview, he said: "I was enjoying growing up and I was really enjoying finding out about my sexuality. Finding out what was on the buffet, what was on the menu."
On the new ITV documentary, celebrities and friends line up to pay tribute to Paul and also praise his support of gay rights and being a leading voice in the battle for LGBTQ+ equality. It is the story of Paul through the prism of his most famous creation, Lily Savage, an underground cabaret star who took mainstream telly by storm, against all the odds. Comedian Julian Clary said: "I didn't know anyone else like Paul. I mean, obviously very, very funny and unique, but did actually really care about injustices in the world and did a lot of very kind things that no one knows about.
His daughter, Sharyn, also speaks out for the first time about growing up when he was hitting the height of his fame as Lily Savage. At one point as a child, she even bought his tights for him from the store.
- The Life and Death of Lily Savage is on Good Friday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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