BOLTON comedian Paddy McGuinness said the recent Phoenix Nights Live shows raised £5 million for charity.

He will appear on Saturday night's Jonathan Ross Show to reveal the amount raised for Comic Relief by the 15 comedy gigs, organised by Peter Kay at the Manchester Arena.

He said: “I’ve not got an exact figure (of money raised) but it’ll be around the £5 million mark.”

The 41-year-old, who hosts ITV dating show Take Me Out, also speaks about the terrifying moment Ted Robbins collapsed on the opening night.

The 59-year-old actor had a heart attack in front of a sell-out 10,000 crowd on January 31, leading to that night's show being abandoned.

He suffered 12 broken ribs and a fractured sternum in the battle to save his life and is now recovering well from his illness.

Paddy said: "The first night of the tour Ted Robbins, who plays Den Perry, collapsed on stage and I was with Peter (Kay) at the time when it happened and we were watching Ted on the screen (backstage) and he’d just gone on stage and I noticed his hands shaking and I thought (he was probably just nervous) and he just collapsed.

"When you see it, it’s horrendous.

"He collapsed and he actually died, his heart stopped on stage.

"Now talk about luck, Richard Curtis (one of the founders of Comic Relief) was in the audience that night and there was a guy at the side of Richard Curtis, no connection just happened to be a heart specialist.

"If he hadn’t have (gone on stage to help), Ted would have been dead, that would have been it.”

On working with his old pals again, including another Bolton comic Dave Spikey, the father-of-two said it was like no time had passed.

He said: “We all got in a room the day we rehearsed — and it was one day’s rehearsal — we picked up where we left off and it was amazing.”

Other guests on the show are Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders, comedian Matt Lucas and hip hop artist Romesh Ranganathan.

The Jonathan Ross Show is on ITV1 at 9.40pm on Saturday.