talkSPORT Meets… Terry Kiely aka Karl Fletcher, the Harchester United heartthrob

Beads of sweat are rolling down my cheek as I walk through central London’s narrow streets. It’s not because of the 30 degree heat, no, it’s because I’m due to meet Terry Kiely, better known to a generation of football fans as Karl Fletcher of Harchester United.

Fletch. I’m meeting Fletch in person and I’m a mixture of nervous and excited. Nervous that I accidentally call him ‘Fletch’ and excited because as the star of Sky One’s Dream Team about a fictional Premier League side – he was ‘Mr Harchester United.’

I needn’t have worried, as he points out – “My boss at work calls me Fletch.”

And that’s the power Dream Team still has. Its final episode – no.419 – aired in 2007 after 10 glorious years of winning, losing and many deaths and Fletch is still revered by fans despite not being real.

But he was the hero, the womanising bad boy who has done everything from score goals, have an affair with the chairwoman and be up for murder.

“I’ve been recognised in the weirdest places,” he explained. “Me, my brother and my friends went to an Oasis concert and I was queuing up for the toilets – it was a massive space – and when I was in there everyone started singing ‘Fletcher’s in the toilet’ and banging on the door. I was bursting but I could not go for love nor money!”

Although, Kiely points out, if it wasn’t for Take That we may never have known Karl Fletcher the way he portrayed him.

“Jason Orange was supposed to play Karl Fletcher, but he turned it down and went to do another drama, so they asked if I wanted to do it.”

“We did the fight and I loved the way it was done because I’ve never seen that before when it was so in your face.

“We’re so far into Dream Team now that you think ‘I’m not surprised’.”

And Fletch still wasn’t finished and came back as a ‘spirit guide’ of sorts, though he wasn’t sure about the idea when they pitched it to him.

“They told me, ‘We’ve got this young player who’s lacking in confidence’. They asked ‘have you seen True Romance?’ he said, explaining he was told it had a similar feel to the scene in the Quentin Tarantino-written classic where the character Clarence talks to his conscience, who happens to be Elvis Presley, played by Val Kilmer.

“It’s a bit tongue in cheek fun that I didn’t take too seriously.”

Kiely mentioned playing in Spain, which came about when he left the show in 1999 to pursue other projects, but later returned, though his character was at Real Mallorca by this time.

It meant he got to train with the club’s players for an afternoon where Lauren, the Arsenal Invincible, still played. But he had to stay in character as he warmed up and took part in drills.

“They kept slapping my arse because it was funny to them. I think they just thought who is this English guy shouting ‘give me the ball’ at us and being the lairy character I was playing. You really find out how good you are when you train with professionals!”

Soon, Fletch was back and driving his beloved yellow Lamborghini, which would have been a nice perk of playing a footballer – if only he could drive.

“We did a cattle call [of auditions for Dream Team] where there was a series of actors, who all said they could play football. Everyone lies on their CV – mine said I could play drums, ride a horse, sky dive.

“Football is something I could actually do a little bit but I also said I could drive and I couldn’t.”

That would have been key to playing a professional footballer, you’d imagine.

“They had to push me into scenes and put sandbags at the other end and all I had to do was put the brake on, but the first time I ever did that I braked too hard and smashed my face on the steering wheel.

“We once filmed a scene at Millwall on matchday at The Den in the yellow Lamborghini and I couldn’t drive it and you can imagine fans were stopping to look and there’s me waving before getting in and someone pushing the car behind me.

“Up to that point I spent my life not needing to drive but I can say, at 46 years of age, I can now drive.”

Incidentally, his motor was crushed into a cube by a bitter former lover of Fletch’s, who was seen crying over what was once his pride and joy.

Kiely was off and on again for much of Dream Team, with a part in 2001 comedy Mike Bassett: England Manager another highlight, but when the show ended he fell out of love with his profession.

“I did Family Affairs for a bit but to be honest, one of my best friends, who was an actor, passed away.”

This was in 2010, three years after the end of Dream Team.

“His name was Gerard Kelly and he was like a father figure in the industry for me and it took away all my hunger. It really did.

“I’m 46 and acting is something you can come back to and I still have connections in the industry and maybe I will come back.”

Something has been gnawing at me – there was an internet rumour doing the rounds that once he’d stopped acting, he became a lifeguard.

“It’s true. I’d stopped acting, I didn’t need any money at the time and I was quite bored.

“I used to go to a gym that has a beautiful outdoor pool – Pools on the Park in Richmond – all my mates went there and someone asked if I wanted to come and do some shifts at the pool. I used to be a swimmer and so I fancied it and did it for a couple of summers just sitting outside in the sun. I loved it.”

But now, having played a millionaire footballer for many years, he’s hosting them – as well as royalty and various other rich and famous types at Annabel’s, the private members club in Mayfair.

His new career began in plush steakhouse Hawksmoor where he worked as a host before completing a circuit of high-end private members clubs, including Soho House, 5 Hertford Street and Chiltern Firehouse where the rich and famous are left alone in their own little playgrounds.

“It’s a performance everyday,” he joked. “It’s something I’m good at. The members are amazing and a lot are ex-actors.

“When I was at 5 Hertford Street, Peter Crouch came in one day and it was so funny. He just asked “What the f are you doing here?”

And there the power of Dream Team is evident again. It still has a cult following with Classic Football Shirts selling the famous purple kit, while it made an appearance at Glastonbury and a group of dedicated fans even wore it on a stag do.

Now just try and get through the rest of the day without humming the theme.