I've spent the last few days down in London as the queen of daytime telly herself, Lorraine Kelly, very kindly invited me on her show this morning to talk about my new Edinburgh Festival Show Michelle McManus: Pop Goes The Idol.

It's the third instalment in my one woman trilogy. It's very much in keeping with the first two shows with lots of great music and stories from my alter ego's weird and wonderful life as an international mega star or so she thinks.

It was really lovely of Lorraine to have me on as a guest as I don't often get the chance to talk about my work and career south of the border because everything I do is here in bonnie Scotland.

After the Paddy Power advert, starring myself and The Krankies, debuted during the Champions League final in May my Twitter feed became inundated with messages from people in other parts of the UK. They were utterly shocked that I was still alive never mind running about the Scottish Countryside with Saltires painted on my face singing about England losing at the Euros.

I suppose who can blame them as I haven't really been around as far as they're concerned for many years. Pop Idol was a whopping 13 years ago, a simpler time before social media, youtube or even iTunes….God I'm old.

I tried my very best to make it in London in the years that followed. Don't get me wrong, I managed to pick up little bits and pieces of work here and there but after four years it was evident that if stayed any longer I'd be reduced to doing some awful celebrity reality show on a farm where viewers could see me milking a cow at 3am while trying to desperately cling on for dear life to any sort of career I had left.

So in 2008 I decided the best option would be to come back home to Scotland, to the people who had supported me so phenomenally through thick and thin to try to build some sort of career for myself and honestly. I've never looked back.

The past eight years working and living in Glasgow have been genuinely the best years of my entire life. I've worked for the BBC and STV extensively where I was lucky enough to interview the likes of John Cleese, Brian May and even Prime Minister David Cameron.

I've travelled all around our beautiful country filming for BBC Alba, I've sung for the Pope and the Queen when they visited Scotland.

I've hosted and performed at major events such as the Commonwealth Games and The Royal Highland Show.

I've guest starred in some incredible shows including Still Game and Scot Squad. Now I get to star in my very own one woman show and perform it all over the country not to mention that I have my wonderful family around me and I've met the love of my life to top it all off.

People sometimes ask me if I regret entering Pop Idol or do I wish that I had waited a few years and tried out for X Factor because it's so much bigger and better than any other TV talent show. My answer is always the same - absolutely not. I owe everything I have to Pop Idol and the millions of people who voted for me all of those years ago and regardless of how I'm viewed or what people think, I've had the most incredible 13 years as a result. I wouldn't change a single thing, I'm a very lucky girl indeed.

I'd like to say a very happy birthday to my wonderful friend, writing partner and the funniest man I've ever met Mr Bruce Devlin. The birthday boy will be celebrating in style tomorrow with his nearest and dearest, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you.

Thank you for being the best friend a girl could ever ask for, thank you for your comedy genius when writing my shows, they would be nothing without your input and thank you for just being you. I hope you have a wonderful day and I promise not to get too drunky wunky tomorrow night and hog the mic at your bash, well at least I'll try. Happy Birthday Bruce.