THERE'S nothing better than watching things go pear-shaped live on television - as long as you're not on the receiving end, of course.

Some great incidents I can think of include the elephant who answered the call of nature on Blue Peter, and the time Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker waggled his (fully clothed) bottom to demonstrate his annoyance at Michael Jackson's Christ-like delusions on stage at the Brit awards.

But neither can match the moment when Les "Fruitbat" Carter rugby-tackled smug TV presenter Philip Schofield live on a Smash Hits Poll Winners' party around a decade ago.

I caught up with Fruitbat, who used to be the guitarist for 80s indie darlings Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, to find out about his new music, his present band, his Worcester gig next month - and, of course, that rugby tackle.

The Smash Hits event was a

last-minute affair which Carter were advised to do by their record company Chrysalis, in a bid to break them into the top 20. The band certainly got themselves known to a wider audience - but not quite in the way their label had envisaged.

So what exactly happened, then, Fruitbat?

"We had rehearsals before the show and all the way through, Phillip was being an arse," he recalls.

"All the crew were rolling their eyes. I used to like Philip and thought he was amusing but I got to see the other side of him."

"The Farm, who were also on the show, went to Sainsbury's, brought back a trolley full of booze and we got really drunk. I got the most drunk...

"We had to mime and they cut the song short - I went mad and threw the guitar over my shoulder and knocked over the mike stand into the camera crew.

"Philip took the p***, and that just made me see red. I rugby-tackled him and was taken off by dancers dressed up as Gladiators," says Fruitbat.

And the fact that Schofield was dressed as a medieval knight at the time made it all the more hilarious.

"I broke his armour and his hair was dishevelled," laughs Fruitbat.

The incident certainly didn't do the band any harm.

"We had people coming up to us from the BBC saying we would never work on television again - but they forgave me and we were back on Top of the Pops two months later.

"It was in the middle of a tour which then sold out. People thought it was a pre-publicity stunt but it wasn't," says Fruitbat.

However, Carter - who were together for 10 years and broke up in 1997 - won't just be remembered for the Philip Schofield incident, but as one of a whole new group of indie bands which broke into the Top 40.

"Up until that time, indie bands had never got on to Top of the Pops, and there was this new batch of bands such as ourselves and Pop Will Eat Itself," says Fruitbat.

"We were all mates and did festivals together."

There's one other question I'm dying to ask Fruitbat, and that's how they came to acquire "John Fat Beast", a larger-than-life warm-up man who became a fixture at Carter gigs, where he used to whip the audience up into a frenzy.

"He was running a club in London when he met him. He was up in the lighting booth and we started shouting 'You fat b******' and the audience started shouting it.

"He volunteered to come on tour as an MC and he wound the crowd up before we came on."

Fruitbat says Carter came to an end because the band had always vowed to call it a day when it stopped being fun.

But since Carter's demise, Fruitbat is back with his new band Abdoujaparov, who he describes as a punkier version of Carter.

Named after the cult Uzbekistani Tour de France cyclist, the band formed in 1998 and have played hundreds of gigs in the UK, Australia, USA and Europe.

They have released five EPs and two albums on Fruitbat's own label, Spinach Records.

Fruitbat, who apparently got his nickname from kids at school because of his big ears, said his band will hopefully have a new record out this year.

When Abdoujaparov play at Worcester's Marr's Bar in November it will be a bit of a Carter reunion because Jim Bob, who used to be lead singer with Carter, will be bringing his band Jim's Super Stereoworld to The venue on the same night.

Jim's Super Stereoworld have released two singles and two albums.

Also on the bill of the tour, called Who's the Daddy Now, will be guitar band Invisibles.

And at the end of the night the three bands will pile on to the stage for Carter cover versions.

Catch all three bands at the Pierpoint Street venue on Thursday, November 14.