- 6/27/2025
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00:00Now, he's just performed in front of a sellout audience at Wembley to celebrate 25 years
00:07of Westlife.
00:08But this weekend, Mark Fili is going it alone and making his West End debut in the secret
00:15garden he joins us.
00:16Now, he's feeling excited.
00:17Absolutely, yeah.
00:18It's a big deal, though.
00:21I mean, we're just talking about filling Wembley in 25 years of Westlife, having your mates
00:26surrounding you that whole time.
00:27Yeah, I feel it just feels really warm looking at that picture even because, I mean, we're
00:32on tour at the moment with Westlife and I'm doing this theatre show in kind of a break
00:36that normally you're meant to go home and relax.
00:38But there's not many things I would have put into, you know, time off from the tour.
00:42But this was a very special opportunity for me to do my first ever theatre show and the
00:47secret garden and the whole thing was just far too good to to not get involved.
00:52And, you know, there's me singing with Hadley Fraser, a song from the show called Lily's
00:57Eyes.
00:58It's a beautiful song.
00:59But the whole thing is just like, honestly, life at the minute is great, you know, family
01:04life is great.
01:05Leila's back at home with Caelan.
01:07Westlife are on tour.
01:08We just played Wembley and I'm getting to do something now with this theatre show that
01:12I have, you know, been wanting to do for a very long time.
01:15Yeah.
01:16But you love musical theatre.
01:17It's always been there.
01:18It's always something you've really been fascinated by.
01:19And your voice is so, so suited to it, Mark.
01:24I met Shane and Cian really through doing musicals when we were teenagers, you know,
01:28before Westlife began, that's how we kind of got to know each other and formed Westlife.
01:32So, I mean, but that is a long time ago.
01:35So it's not like, you know, it's kind of it is still feels like a new thing for me again,
01:40especially to go into a room like this week.
01:42I've been in rehearsals with the cast and the director and the amazing team.
01:46And yesterday, you know, the ensemble walked in and they're from every single person in
01:51the room is like an amazing singer and they just like started singing.
01:56There's like about 30 of them.
01:57And I was just like, this is just, I would just want to sit here and listen to all these
02:01people singing.
02:02Yeah.
02:03And then I'm like, oh yeah, I have to sing a song as well, but it's just been a really
02:06lovely experience.
02:07And as I say, one that's probably, you know, I've wanted to happen for a long time, but
02:12I kind of patiently waited for the right opportunity, you know, and this show is
02:16a beautiful show.
02:16It's, it's a little bit more on the serious side of musical theatre.
02:19A lot of people will know the Secret Garden book from their childhood.
02:23It's a great story and the music is really beautiful.
02:26Like there's going to be an amazing orchestra on Sunday night during the performance.
02:31And as I say, the other, I mean, there's Hadley Fraser, who you just see me with there,
02:35Emma Williams.
02:36And there's amazing, like there's the children in the show, Darcy and Isaac are the name of
02:42the two actors.
02:42And I just sat and I was in tears looking at them and listening to the performance
02:47yesterday in rehearsals, because they literally are just as talented as all the adults, you know,
02:52and so impressive.
02:53And I'm just delighted to be part of it, you know.
02:55No, it's really exciting.
02:56You're playing Neville, of course, who's not the most pleasant of characters.
02:59Yeah, which it's, it's fun because, you know, obviously Westlife are all a bunch of angels.
03:03Oh, well, don't I know it?
03:05Sure, exactly.
03:06No, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's quite interesting to play a character that's a bit
03:09more sinister, you know, he's, he's not really, my character isn't the nicest person.
03:14He's quite manipulative.
03:15And he's sort of taken advantage of people that are vulnerable.
03:19His brother is, has been kind of struggling with illnesses all his life.
03:24His brother's like the lord of the manor, but he kind of gets to run the show because his brother
03:28isn't well and, oh, there's all sorts of, all sorts of twists and turns, but it's, yeah,
03:34I mean, it's, it's, it's fun to play a character that's obviously nothing like me.
03:40Exactly that.
03:41Well, you played a few of those this year, Robobunny being one.
03:44Yeah, absolutely.
03:45Yeah.
03:46I nearly forgot about Robobunny because it was so busy.
03:47Honestly, that was so brilliant.
03:50And again, something that's just out of your comfort zone.
03:53What a crazy experience, but actually you really enjoyed it and you think it's sort of,
03:57it has weirdly led to other opportunities.
04:00Yeah.
04:00I mean, look, these things, I mean, Robobunny in many ways, you know,
04:03if you just look at that picture and told me two years ago, that's you, you know,
04:08I mean, but I love the kind of bonkers element of the show.
04:11But I also love that in the end, that show is also all about singing, you know,
04:15and there was some serious vocalists on the show, you know, and there has been in the past.
04:20And so as bonkers as it is, it's also about big singers and big songs and stuff like that.
04:26So I got to show a side of my personality whilst, you know, singing some very difficult songs,
04:32dressed in that outfit, you know, and like, I was working the bunny's mouth with one hand
04:37and trying to sing a harmony and doing a duet with Nicola Roberts and, you know,
04:41it was just, I mean, it was looking back one of the best things I've ever done.
04:46It was difficult at the time though, you know, to add all those elements together.
04:49But as you say, you know, you do, you do a show like that and you don't know what may come of it.
04:54But, you know, you get some interesting phone calls afterwards.
04:56And here I am now doing The Secret Garden this weekend in London.
04:59And yeah, it's just, I just love at this point,
05:04like the fact that the band and stuff like this can all coexist.
05:07And that, you know, there's just a variety in, in my life, which I've always enjoyed, you know.
05:14Well, you have to fit everything around a little girl now, that's why.
05:17It's all about Leila, yeah.
05:18Exactly. And, and, you know, she, she's the centre of your world, Mark.
05:22And I, you know, it's, it's been a long time coming as well, because you've been very open,
05:27very honest about your surrogacy journey.
05:30One that's not easy for a lot of people, but it was tough.
05:34But you, you went in knowing how tough it was going to be.
05:37You did all the research, you did everything else, but I'm guessing the moment you actually
05:43held her in your arms for the first time was breathtaking.
05:46Oh, absolutely amazing.
05:47You know, like myself and Caelan couldn't believe it, you know, like, first of all,
05:51surrogacy, one of the things that isn't spoken about as much as surrogacy is expensive.
05:54So in many ways, I kind of feel quite privileged in the sense, you know,
05:59because there's a lot of people out there that would like to do surrogacy,
06:02and it's not the most affordable thing.
06:04So that's something that will be great to see changing over the years,
06:07as well as to make it more accessible to everybody.
06:09But anyways, our journey started a good three years before Leila was born,
06:15you know, and I would be very meticulous and sort of making sure that I was,
06:20everything was sort of done properly and that all the research was done.
06:24You know, there was no kind of knee-jerk decisions made at all.
06:27And so, you know, that's one side of it is that, you know,
06:31there was three years before Leila even kind of came, three years before the pregnancy was confirmed.
06:37And then another, you know, nine months obviously before she was born.
06:40And now she's nearly three.
06:44So, you know, I mean, she's just, she really is the apple of my eye and the apple of our eye.
06:50It's like you've heard a million parents say it before,
06:53but then when it actually happens to you, you realise what they actually all meant.
06:56And she's back in Ireland now.
06:59She's a little bit of a tummy bug at the moment.
07:00So I'm like over here in London and it's like, I feel like I'm a million miles away.
07:03I want to just get back home and take care of her, but thankfully, Caelan,
07:06and we've got a brilliant support network back home as well.
07:09And she's doing amazing and she's just at a brilliant age.
07:13She's, she's hilarious and she's very, she's very strong minded.
07:17And she loves singing all day, every day.
07:19So who knows?
07:21Who knows exactly that.
07:22And I know you're fighting for a change in different laws
07:25and it's an intense thing to get into and very intricate more,
07:28but I know you're doing your work there and hopefully that will all start to shift
07:32in the days, weeks ahead.
07:34Absolutely. Yeah.
07:34There's some very, very exciting feedback coming from Ireland at the moment.
07:38You know, I have been involved.
07:39I'm just one of many people involved in this amazing campaign in Ireland to,
07:43to change the legislation or laws surrounding surrogacy and families
07:46and the parental guardianship laws and everything,
07:49because it's just the laws are kind of catching up with the times.
07:52With the times, exactly.
07:53But, you know, we've been, we've all been working hard towards this goal.
07:56And actually, as I say, the feedback that's coming through is very positive.
08:01The politicians are telling us some very exciting stuff right now.
08:04Okay, Mark, thank you so much.
08:06Good luck at the weekend.
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