Large sections of the female population have dreams not dissimilar to this. Mark Owen and Jason Orange are sat on the sofa, Gary Barlow has made tea for everyone and Howard Donald is stripped to his underwear and oiled up for a massage.
Welcome to take that's dressing room. Tonight they play London's 02 arena (obviously an old interview, lol), the fifth date in an eight-night run. Next week, in the build up the Christmas, they conclude the Beautiful World Tour with 11 hometown appearances at the Manchester Evening News Arena.
It's the climax of a remarkable comeback that began in 2006. Ten years after they split up, Take That re-united (without Robbie Williams) for an 11-date tour. The demand was so high they added a further 19 dates. The following November they released Patience, their first single since how deep is your love in 1996. It went to Number 1 and stayed there for 4 weeks, securing the ultimate boy band prize in the process, Christmas number 1.
The band's 4th album, Beatiful World, also topped the charts, and two years later it is the third best selling album of 2007, shifting nearly a million copies in the UK in the last 12 months alone. "It's been a pretty shocking couple of years, really" says Barlow. All 4 members appreciate the second bite of the cherry, as only those who've experienced lacklustre post-boy band solo careers can. It's also the reason they are, in Donald's words "down earth" - as you'd need to be to conduct an interview in your pants. As they prepare to go on stage, they ponder success, Robbie Williams and the perfect ending.
Did you have any idea how successful Beautiful World would be?
Gary Barlow: I don't know if anyone's that wise to know whether an album is going to be big.
Mark Owen: What we haven't done, which I'm pleased about, is that there hasn't been a long-term plan for what we're doing. It's all been kind of a happy accident. We've almost been a bit afraid to take our foot off the gas. At the end of this tour and after New Year I guess we will step off the gas, and get out of the car for a bit and see where we are.
At what point did you realise you were back for good?
GB: Last Christmas, when we did so well with Patience and it was Number 1 at Christmas. We just thought 'Well that's it then.'
Jason Orange: Job's a good 'un.
GB: We're properly back. It's one thing doing a tour - a bit of nostalgia and all the rest of it - but to be able to compete again in a really difficult market...It's hard to get people into shops buying music now, but we did it. Not only that, but we sold more albums this time than we did with any of the old albums.
Were you nervous about the new songs flopping?
MO: We wanted to do Patience well, because it would have been a bit of a bummer us putting all the effort in and it going in at number 103. We had a clause in our album contract saying that if we didn't like it we could give the money back to the record company and never release it.
What have been the highlights of the last 2 years?
GB: It hasn't been things like winning at the Brits (Patience won Best British Single at the 2007 event). It's been things like being on a plane with just the 4 of us sat at the back talking about silly things. Then there was the day we drove from Glasgow to Newcastle in Howard's car. It was like the old days, just the 4 of us. Total freedom. No one watching us. No one listening in. There are 2 moments in the show that I love and look forward to. The 1st 1 is Rule the World when walk from the back of the stage to the front and we walk as a unit, the 4 of us. I dunno, I just love it. It feels so strong for me, that bit. Then there's another bit on Back For Good where we all turn in and look at each other. It's lovely because I'm looking in the eyes of the other 3 and then out of focus is just this chaos. It's like, wow, look at us in the middle of all this.
And the low point?
MO: Howard puncturing a lung was a crazy moment. [Donald collapsed a lung while performing the splits on stage in Milan in October 2007.] He was out for 10 shows.
Howard Donald: It spoilt the tour a bit, for me personally. I was a bit worried that they were going to get used to it being a 3-piece.
GB: (laughs) We did. It was good having the extra space on stage. It was good having the extra spotlight on us aswell. I felt the burn a bit more.
You're appearing on ITV's New Year's Eve show, Countdown to Midnight at the 02 Arena. How did that come about?
MO: New Year's Eve is always a difficult night to plan. It's always a bit of a let-down, isn't it? You always build it up so much that it's got to be this massive night. We thought the best way for us to get over that would be to do our own gig. It saves us having to worry about what we're going to do.
What are your plans for next year?
GB: Frist of all, some time off. Then some more time off. Then start thinking about some more music.
MO: We still feel there's another record inside us. There's still things we're learning and want to improve on and things we could still make better. So I think we'd like to make another record. And tour again. But when that'll be, who knows.
Do you think Robbie will ever rejoin the band?
MO: When we first agreed we were going to go on tour again, we asked him, but he had other commitments; he had to walk his dog that day.
GB: I don't think about it that much. I don't think it's even a possibility, him joining the band again. I think we've all got to hope that one day we'll do a one-off or something where we'll perform together. But I think when it comes down to it, he's just not going to be in the band again. I just don't think there's a place for him now here. I think to Rob, there never was a place for him. I've spent a bit of time with Robbie over the last year. I think he's made to be who he is. I don't think he's meant to be in a band, our Robbie. So i've never seen it as an option, really. I could be wrong, but I just don't see it happening.
MO: For me, it would be the perfect end. If i was writing the Take that film script and we'd come back ten years on and done a successful album and a couple of successful tours, if you wanted to put the perfect end to the story... Well, there's two; either we all die in a plane crash, which would be a good one; or Rob appears on stage and does something with us.
HD: But Mark saying that, that's Mark's perfect end. I don't think that's our fans perfect end. I think they see us as a four-piece now.
MO: I think they accept it but I really think they'd still like to see it. There was a time when Rob first left the band that if you saw a picture of us, it looked like somebody was missing. I think now, if you see a picture of the band, you don't think that.
The 20,000-strong audience at The 02 certainly don't. As might be expected, the reformed Take That's fans are predominantly women who were teenagers the first time round (with a smattering of boyfriends that have been strong-armed into accompanying them).
A number of groups are wearing pink cowboy hats and the event has the feel of a giant hen party. When the band take the stage the treble-y shriek is ear splitting. "Tuesday night audiences are always the best," sparkles Barlow. The two hours that follow are just as heavy handed with the cheese, but Take That know their business and they are never less than entertaining; even the boyfriends join in the dance moves, albeit sheepishly, during the big hits such as Back For Good.
The lasr word goes to Barlow. "Two years ago I'd have said this could never have happened," he says. "Who knows what will happen next." He looks like the happiest man in the country.
