Of all the comebacks in the history of pop the renaissance of Take That has been one of the biggest and most surprising, not least to the band members themselves. The award for Best Single at the Brit Awards this week capped an astonishing few months for the group who now jokingly call themselves a “man band”. The sad irony was that as they enjoyed a standing ovation their former colleague Robbie Williams, whose walkout led to the band splitting and who went on to achieve global fame that eclipsed that of his former bandmates, was settling into rehab for addiction to prescription drugs.

Take That were the original boy band, put together by Nigel Martin-Smith, a Manchester casting agent. They were Gary Barlow, who – shock – wrote his own songs, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and a cheeky chappie from Stoke called Robbie Williams. Their success spawned countless other boy and girl bands. They worked hard, touring clubs and teen nightspots and after some flops eventually had a hit with It Only Takes a Minute. They went on to have a string of No 1s and to become the biggest-selling band since the Beatles.

In those heady days, they were followed by legions of girls and despite their fresh-faced image there were drugs on tours. However, tensions grew over the extent of Robbie’s partying. He walked out after an argument and a little later, in February 1996, the band split. Counselling hotlines were set up to help teenage girls to cope with their grief.

The group’s members embarked on solo careers, but while Robbie had enormous success the others had a mixed time. Gary Barlow built a successful career writing songs for others. Mark, dropped by his record label, fell into depression and recovered by playing for a local football team and, surprisingly, winning Celebrity Big Brother. Howard considered suicide but went on to work as a DJ. Jason Orange went travelling, studied psychology and did some acting.

Three of them are now fathers and gyrating in front of screaming fans once more seemed unlikely. But the group, excluding Robbie, started talking about reforming and putting out a greatest hits album. After they made a documentary a tour was announced. It sold out and extra dates had to be added. The greatest-hits album sold a million copies. The band have spoken of their surprise at seeing their single go to No 1. Their more reflective album, Beautiful World, also hit the top spot.

Picking up their award for Patience, their first single in ten years, they did not mention Robbie. But backstage there was acknowledgement of their tormented former colleague: “Cheers Robbie. Thanks a lot.” Relations have been uneasy in the intervening years but in an interview this week Mark expressed hope for a reunion with their old bandmate. “We all think that maybe one day it’ll happen. That’ll be the icing on the cake.”

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