Robbie Williams wants to "open a new chapter" of his career with his new role as an 'X Factor' judge.

Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams

The 44-year-old singer and his wife Ayda Field will both make their debut as judges on the ITV singing competition when it returns to screens on Saturday (01.09.18), and says recording the auditions has been "the most fun" he's ever had, and would like to keep his place on the panel for the future.

Asked what his goal is for this series, the 'Angels' hitmaker said: "Selfishly, for me, I've had the most fun that I've ever had in the entertainment industry. The past four, five weeks, however long it's been, I've seen the next 20 years of my career opening up in front of me. Everybody's auditioning for 'The X Factor', including me and including my wife, and we really need this. We don't, but it would be incredible to open a new chapter and have this be the start of it. I'm just having a whale of a time. Who knew that I would be a TV personality? I like it though!"

Robbie and Ayda are joined by One Direction's Louis Tomlinson and show creator Simon Cowell on the judging panel, and Robbie insists the group are "mates" and have great chemistry.

He said: "In the room, the mix is really right. You never know how that's gonna translate on television, because once it goes through that filter it's in the lap of the gods. But we're mates right now. At the end of this show, I'd still like to be friends with Louis and Simon, and I would like to be married and not divorced."

And the former Take That star had particularly kind words for Louis, whom he dubbed as "really clever" and "kind".

Speaking to Roman Kemp for ITV's 'This Morning', Robbie said: "Louis is like two different people. Off stage, he's Doncaster lad, Yorkshire lad, lad lad lad. And then when he's sat in the chair, he's erudite, empathic, kind, got a great critique. He can spot where people are going wrong and put them right. He's really clever, really smart."

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