Petit had iconic cameo on The Bill because ‘he thought it would be like Friends’

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Emmanuel Petit has admitted that he went accepted a cameo role on The Bill because he thought it would be similar to friends – and got plenty of stick from his Arsenal team-mates.

The World Cup and Premier League winning midfielder enjoyed success under Arsene Wenger before leaving for Barcelona, returning to England under Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea.

The 50-year-old has now opened up about his career, including a rather usual appearance on police procedural television series The Bill, which ran between 1983 and 2010.

On 24th December 1998, Petit starred as a guest on the episode Christmas Star, in which he came into a hospital to offer support to an injured woman.

Petit, speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes at its launch of the 5-A-Side Bet on Crystal Palace v Chelsea, said: “I didn't know much about The Bill before I appeared on it for their Christmas special and I'm not really sure how they came to use me.

“Maybe it's because of the way I am, I had long hair which made me different to the other 99% of football players. I'd just won the double with Arsenal and the World Cup with France so I guess I was pretty popular at the time.

“They asked me if they wanted to be a part of the show as a guest and because of how much I loved Friends and all the guest stars they'd get on that show, I thought it would be the same with The Bill, so I said 'yeah, no problem, I'll do it.'

“In the space of one year I'd won six titles so it was the best period of my career. I was very popular in France and in England too, so someone from The Bill got in touch with my agent who asked me if I'd heard of the show.

“I hadn't, but I was happy to go along, I just wanted to know what I needed to do. They said I just had to make an appearance in a hospital to give some flowers to a young fan.

“Then he said I'd have a few lines and all of a sudden I was just so nervous about the whole thing because my English wasn't great, but I couldn't go back on it and it was nice to be invited onto something like that show as a guest.

“It was very good and it's not something I've thought about until very recently, where someone I was working with in France over Christmas found the video and showed it to everyone.

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    • “I walked into the shot with this bouquet of flowers and I looked so thin and it sounded like I was whispering because I was so nervous being on camera at the time.

    “They never called me back for a second appearance though, and my possible Hollywood career pretty much ended there.

    “Of course my Arsenal teammates took the p*** out of me for it. I used to do so many commercials back in the day, so the players were always printing out photos of me and putting them up in the dressing room.

    “It was funny, to be honest. It wasn't like any of them were jealous of me for getting to go on The Bill.”

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    • Arsenal FC
    • ITV
    • Premier League
    • Arsene Wenger

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