Gary Barlow on his 78p Heartbeat role he called 'one of the worst things I've done'

Take That superstar Gary Barlow is one of the most successful pop stars and reality TV personalities the UK has produced - but not everything he's ever done has worked out perfectly.

There's a now legendary episode of ITV's hit drama Heartbeat which is repeated regularly - and it stars the man behind hits like Shine and Rule The World.

A very young Gary Barlow took time out from global pop fame in the 1990s to cameo in an episode of the long running laid back ITV drama, which ran for 372 episodes across 18 series between 1992 and 2010.

The Take That superstar is best known for his hand in hits like Relight My Fire, from way back when the group formed with Robbie Williams in the lineup in the 1990s to the modern era with Howard Donald and a now-beardy Mark Owen.

Heartbeat was a long running gentle Sunday afternoon drama set in Yorkshire which used to air on ITV1 but the episode where Gary made a surprise cameo is often repeated on ITV3.

A whole new generation of Heartbeat fans have been stunned to see a very young Gary Barlow appear in the episode from 1999.

He played hitchhiker Micky Shannon in a special 150th episode of the show, which is set in 1960s Yorkshire.

At the end of the special episode, Gary sings All That I've Given Away, which was taken from his 1999 record Twelve Months, Eleven Days.

Unfortunately the role was neither successful for Gary nor lucrative. He went on record to say later that it's 'one of the worst things I've ever done' and he receives about 78p per year in royalties for his unexpected role.

Discussing his cameo, Gary said: "Oh f**** hell. I swear that thing will not leave me. It's funny, when it gets repeated on something like Gold I get a cheque."

"And, I got one this year for 78p, so it wasn't even a financial decision. It was just one of the worst things I've ever done, it really was."