Gary Barlow loves being part of Take That – but he wouldn’t mind stepping in as the lead singer of Coldplay too.

The singer recently admitted performing on stage with bandmates Mark Owen and Howard Donald is his “happy place”, and he thinks he’d also fit in well with Coldplay because they’re an equally tight group. 

Speaking Kat Shoob and Tom Price on Magic Radio Breakfast about the Higher Power hitmakers, he said: “I always feel lucky that we are not one of those bands that fight all the time and you hear that a lot, that a lot of bands don’t like each other and we’ve always got on great and I’ve always felt blessed for that.

“It always appears to me that Coldplay are a very happy band, they like being together, so I’d love to nudge Chris to one side and sing a bit of Viva la Vida you know.”

The Relight My Fire star appeared on the radio programme to promote his BBC One special ‘I’m With the Band, which airs June 4. 

Offering an evening of music, it features an all-star house band comprising the likes of Jamie Cullum, Mica Paris, James Bay and Tom Fletcher of McFly.

And Gary confessed they were all feeling anxious about returning to work after being in lockdown for so long during the pandemic.

“I felt very anxious as I had to turn up at a time and do something,” he said. “And people were going to be looking at me, going come on then let’s do it.”

The Back for Good star added that “to have to be somewhere on time, to actually have to get in a car it was a very weird thing, and it obviously is something that has been very natural to us through our lives, but it did definitely feel strange. 

“I’m as desperate as anyone else to get back to normality because that’s not right. We should be able to turn up at things and feel fine.”