PETER Crouch plays the role of a Cowboy Tipster in a hilarious Line Of Duty spoof alongside EastEnders legend Shaun Williamson.
The footie ace is hauled into the Anti Cowboy Tipster Squad offices by BBC favourite Shaun, playing a Line Of Duty-style interrogator, and racing presenter Matt Chapman.
They accuse the former England international of “providing crap horse racing tips” ahead of this week’s Cheltenham Festival, which starts today.
Peter, wearing a stylish black leather jacket, is initially defensive, quizzing: “What’s that got to do with me?”
Ex EastEnders star Shaun, decked out in full police uniform for the crime show spoof, flicks on a tape recorder and asks Peter if he’s familiar with O’Shea’s pub.
He then showcases document two – a picture of the sportsman outside the drinking hole – before a video recording from the pub reveals he full picture.
Knowing he’s been caught out, Peter jokes he’d been caught claiming to be jockey “Ruby Walsh’s best mate,” before the camera shows him sharing his “best tips.”
After Shaun and Matt up the intensity of their investigation, it prompts a confession from model Abbey Clancy’s husband.
He said: “Alright, alright I don’t know anything about horse racing.
“I just tell people I get inside knowledge so they think I’m a hero. I admit it. I give out really s**t tips.”
As penance, Peter is asked to give up the rest of the cowboy tipster names or wear a badge stating “I give out s**t horse racing tips.”
Tense music plays as he leaves the office to a call from his ‘Boss’.
Wearing a gold Hoofball chain, they ask if he “kept his mouth shut” to which Peter agreed, saying it was “easy.”
Yet it appears there’ll be another instalment to this ingenious Paddy Power marketing campaign, which will no doubt attract giggles from Line Of Duty writer Jed Mercurio, with the final statement on screen reading: “to be continued.”
A spokesman for Paddy Power said of the hilarious video: “We’ve all got those mates who claim to know their stuff when it gets to Cheltenham time, even though everyone knows their tips are useless. So, to capture that sentiment, we brought in Peter Crouch to help us… because he hasn’t got a clue either.”
This year, the Cheltenham Festival will be a very different beast due to UK coronavirus lockdown and social distancing regulations.
The horse racing event sparked fury last year as tens of thousands of people gathered despite the emergence of Covid-19 and with a national lockdown called just days later.
Under the current rules, wedding ceremonies are limited to 6 people and audiences are banned from attending sporting events.
