GEORGE MICHAEL - MICHAEL: 'COLLINS WAS FIRST CHOICE TO PLAY TV ROLE'

MICHAEL: 'COLLINS WAS FIRST CHOICE TO PLAY TV ROLE'

Pop superstar GEORGE MICHAEL has learned he wasn't the first choice to play actor JONNY LEE MILLER's musical conscience in quirky new TV show ELI STONE - producers approached PHIL COLLINS before him. The Faith singer, who appears to Miller's troubled lawyer character in dream sequences, reveals he wasn't television bosses go-to guy because they felt sure he'd turn them down. Michael says, "Apparently, the studio didn't think I'd say yes. They wrote it for Phil Collins, I think." But producers needn't have fretted - Michael accepted the job as soon as they offered it to him. He adds, "They said they wanted to name each episode after a song of mine. It's all flattering to the ego, isn't it?" Eli Stone debuts in America on 31 January (08).