Dave Woodhall talks to a Scottish independence campaigner looking for love.

Hardeep Singh Kohli is a man of many talents. Broadcaster, author, restaurateur, and now touring his stand-up show, Hardeep is your Love, which tells of the tribulations of looking for love in middle age.

He first came to national prominence on BBC 1’s the One Show, which he left following an unspecified complaint of harassment from a female BBC worker. Although this was never made official, Hardeep has not returned to such a high-profile show, which begs the question as to whether people fall into the trap of “If I can’t see you, you aren’t there”?

“Not really. The thing is that there’s a lot of shit telly now, whereas when I was on it seemed to be more meaningful. So people remember that and I’m not necessarily associated with reality TV and that sort of celebrity culture. I do the odd bit of telly now and again, but folk are really very nice about it.

“I think people overblow the importance of television and the media to life in general. If your child’s not well you still want a doctor. They’ve got a far more important job, even print journalists are more important than an entertainer like me but we live in a society where people want that. Television’s created a whole generation of people they can control, television made them so they will do whatever television requires. People like me, we question things and that doesn’t go down so well with the TV execs.”

The incident in 2009 was never made official, so while nothing was proved, neither were you ever given the chance to clear your name.

“No formal complaint was ever made, no charges were laid against me. It came down to one individual who I was trying to protect, I was caught between a rock and a hard place because that person’s career, if anything had gone further, would have also been in trouble. No matter what happened, and nothing happened of any consequence, but the point is that it was a vulnerable individual however you look at it. I wasn’t prepared for her to be put through what I was so it doesn’t always pay to have a degree of morality. This woman had other issues in her life, I did what I thought was right and I can put my hand on my heart and say I thought I did the right thing.”

As result of your leaving the show you’re now busier than ever.

“Yes, I have so much to be grateful for. Everything that came out of it, I really can’t complain.”

And now this tour with your new show.

“It’s all about falling in love at the age of 45. My marriage had broken up, I wasn’t really finding love and wasn’t sure what to do. Then a about a year ago I meet this woman, fell in love, thought I’d write a show about her. I did a UK tour, played Edinburgh and then we split up so it’s been quite an interesting experience. It’s a highly personal show, all my shows are personal and they’re about storytelling but I think everyone has a take on love, they’re either in love, coming out of love, wish they were in love. I just find it hilarious to look back on my childhood, why we’re shaped the way we are, and looking back on the funny things like dating. It’s no end of entertainment because I don’t mind people laughing at me.”

I suppose it’s also about doing things you haven’t done for twenty or thirty years, and the way the world’s changed since then.

“Exactly. I met my wife when I was seventeen. I had absolutely no experience, I was born into an age where feminism was totally different and so the whole thing has changed. It’s been a blessing, an absolute blessing so I’m now a fully-signed up feminists, albeit one with flaws. And I wonder whether that would have happened had I not had the experience I had at the BBC.”

Hardeep is also an outspoken supporter of Scottish independence.

“Very much so. We’re a different nation, we’re fed up of being governed by England. I’ve a lot of love for English people and for the nation but it’s about moving forward and having a different agenda to England. England has a majority of Conservative MPs, the Labour party in power has always required Scottish MPs to deliver their agendas. We’re two different countries; New Labour got in in 1997 because they appealed to the soft right in England, they gave more concessions to the banks than any Tories have ever done.

“Scotland subsidises England to the tune of £1,200 per person, man, woman or child. That’s a fact. Scotland is the only country in history to find oil and get poorer. Westminster doesn’t care about that, in the same way that Westminster doesn’t care about Birmingham. You’ve suffered as much as Scotland has. I’ve got a lot of time for the area, I’ve got family in Wolverhampton and I see an area that is being continually overlooked so the bigger issue is centralisation.”

As a high-profile member of an ethnic minority, do you see an independent Scotland as being a good place for others from minority backgrounds to live?

“It already is. We have a 17 year old Parliament that has 35% of its members from ethnic minorities, who are over-represented in Scottish politics. I don’t see why there would be abuse and discrimination of minorities. If anything, Scotland requires more immigrants because of the centralisation of London. The vibrancy of a young nation is going to be a haven for anyone who requires a higher standard of living and lower costs. You’ll see a big sky, you won’t get the weather but we can’t do anything about that.”

You’ve said before that the BBC is institutionally racist, the likes of the Daily Mail see it as a hotbed of Marxism. As someone who work for the Corporation, although not in such a high-profile role as previously, how do you reconcile these two opinions?

“So long as the BBC is annoying someone it’s doing a good job. The minute to worry is when everyone’s happy with them. We have the finest broadcasting organisation in the world. If you tried to set the BBC up from scratch it would cost billions and look at the cost compared to a Sky subscription.”

Hardeep Singh Kohli performs Hardeep Is Your Love at Artrix Arts Centre, Bromsgrove on 11th September http://www.artrix.co.uk/ and the mac, Birmingham on 19th September http://macbirmingham.co.uk/.