In the late 1980s Hull bought Restoration House in Rochester for £270,000 but the cost of renovations and an unpaid tax bill resulted in bankruptcy in 1994. Hull’s second wife, Cher Hylton-Hull, already had a daughter, Catrina, and the couple had three children together: Toby, Amelia and Oliver. Cher, who had been instrumental in his success, moved to her home country of Australia with the children, while Hull remained in England and relocated to a shepherd’s cottage in East Sussex.
Hull was in the public eye less frequently during the 1990s, appearing in pantomime and television commercials, and winning the 1993 “Pipe Smoker of the Year” award. Nonetheless, his name remained well known, and comedians Richard Herring and Stewart Lee included a “not Rod Hull” character in their 1996 television sketch show, Fist of Fun, played by Kevin Eldon. This character was performed as a grotesque imitation of Hull, and was finally unmasked by the real Rod Hull, who appeared (minus Emu) in the last episode of the series. It was to be Hull’s penultimate television appearance.
A 2003 Channel 4 documentary, Rod Hull: A Bird in the Hand, suggested that Hull nursed an increasing resentment towards his puppet, believing that the success of the bird prevented him from pursuing other avenues in show business. He saw himself, according to the makers of the programme, as a talented performer who could have developed a more varied career in the entertainment industry had he not been repeatedly forced to play the ‘and Emu’ role. Hull once complained, “I want to write but Emu doesn’t leave me the time. I want to be a comedian in my own right, but again Emu won’t let me do it.”
