Gary’s army film had me in tears

Gary Barlow’s Afghanistan documentary is incredibly moving.

I arrived back in the UK for the Christmas break and it was straight off to another showbiz bash.

It was Gary Barlow’s X Factor party at the club One Marylebone after Sunday’s final.

One of the first people I bumped into was One Direction’s Harry Styles. I asked if he was behaving himself and he just looked at me with that big grin that tells you absolutely everything.

At one point he got behind the bar and started making cocktails. He decided to make me one in a champagne bucket. I think that’s where the night started to go wrong!

Sharon Osbourne was telling me that she was going to be here for Christmas. She has all the family coming over so they can be together in the Oxfordshire countryside. And Nicole Scherzinger was looking fabulous as always, every bit the superstar she is.

I got on the floor for my first dance of the Christmas season. Unfortunately I chose Dawn Barlow, Gary’s wife, as my partner. I completely forgot that she was a professional dancer for a long time, including with Take That. It’s fair to say I didn’t show up too well in comparison. It was Strictly NOT Dancing.

Afterwards we went back to Gary’s house and he made me breakfast. Good on him, I was very impressed. He was talking about it being an incredible year with his new album and single. And he said how he was looking forward to coming to the Hydro in April as he really loves Scottish audiences.

I know there’s been a bit of talk about how Gary didn’t take to Nicholas McDonald. But he didn’t have a problem. He loved Sam Bailey and wee Nicholas. He thought they both did incredibly well and it was just that Sam came out on top.

The finalists all get excited about who they were doing their duets with and, from a personal point of view, Gary was thrilled for Elton John to join him. He said it was a huge thing for him and a fitting way to end his time on the show.

I felt really privileged because he showed me his documentary, Gary Barlow: Journey To Afghanistan, which is on ITV tomorrow night at 9pm. It’s so moving I had tears running down my cheeks. It was two years in the making and had to be kept so unbelievably quiet. He had a 15-hour flight in one of those big transport aircraft and had to go straight after The X Factor on a Sunday night.

It’s in the judges’ contracts that they don’t go out of the country so he had to get special permission to leave. You see these things on TV, but Gary said realising you’re in a real war zone was something else. He had an incredible feeling of pride in the troops and put on a concert for them. He formed a group from different members of the military who sang, played drums, guitars and brass instruments.

They performed covers and one was The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) which was just brilliant. There was a female soldier singing He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, and it was just one of so many moving moments. It’s an absolutely beautiful documentary.

Gary gets on so well with people but he was saying that he wasn’t after my job he wouldn’t be happy just doing presenting. But if it involves music then he feels at home with it.

It was like having my own director’s cut of a movie because I could sit there watching and ask questions of the man himself. It looked scary and he said that’s because it was. He was completely at the mercy of what’s going on and he said it wasn’t a case of: “Stop firing, it’s Gary Barlow.” There was an alarm and when the helicopters took off he could see how heavily armed they were.

Especially at this time of year, Gary said it was a great reminder for him of how fortunate he was to be at home with his wife and kids. In fact, the life we all get to lead while others are away.

I felt Gary’s pride in watching it. It’s not to be missed.

Gary Barlow: Journey to Afghanistan, ITV, December 23, 9pm