Take That singer Gary Barlow jokes he penned Calendar Girls musical to 'look at women with no clothes on'

Take That frontman Gary Barlow has penned a musical based on The Calendar Girls.

The 44-year-old singer - who has been working on musical, The Girls with his friend Tim Firth for three years - said he wanted to be part of the show so he could look at naked women.

Speaking to a stunned audience at Burnsall village hall near Skipton, where members of the original Calendar Girls were watching a rehearsal on Sunday, he joked: "That's the only reason I wanted to be part of the show. I want to look at women with no clothes on."

The Take That singer confessed that he would consider stripping off for the play. "We built a career on taking our clothes off so I wouldn't worry," he laughed. "It's all been downhill since we started wearing clothes."

The Girls is based on the story of 11 members of the Women's Institute in Rylstone, North Yorkshire, who hid behind baked goods for a nude calendar in 1999 following the death of Angela Baker's husband John from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

The WI ladies inspired the 2003 film The Calendar Girls starring Dame Helen Mirren and Julie Walters which was then adapted for the stage in 2008.

Barlow is set to embark on a arena tour next month with his fellow Take That band mates Howard Donald and Mark Owen.