X Factor creative director Brian Friedman says he is working hard to make judge and mentor Louis Walsh happy in the wake of Stephen Gately's death.

Support: Brian Friedman has been in contact with Louis Walsh

The grieving music manager was absent from the ITV talent contest's live shows last weekend after attending the Boyzone singer's funeral in Dublin, but continued to give mentoring advice to his group acts - girl band Miss Frank and twins John and Edward Grimes - over the phone.

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Friedman said: "Louis is definitely going to be back, we've been talking about his song choices this week and I think they're really good.

"Louis has been involved, even though he's been away he was still instrumental.

"He was still talking to his acts, he was still talking to me and making sure everything was going smooth and giving approval on all the things that I wanted to happen on stage.

"He loved John and Edward's performance of 'Oops!... I Did It Again' - he thought it was incredible.

"I'm just trying to make him happy as well, because he's already lost one act and obviously he lost Stephen so I've got to make him happy."

The 32-year-old choreographer - who has worked with Britney Spears, Pink and Fatboy Slim - also revealed he is frustrated by The X Factor studio's new state-of-the-art stage as it limits how creative he can be when staging the contestants' routines.

Friedman revealed: "Our new stage - it's gorgeous, it's massive but I can't do anything on it.

"Because we've got all these lights, there's LEDs everywhere - the floor lights up, the ceiling lights up, the screens behind us, everything's made out of Perspex.

"I can't put a mechanical bull on stage, I can't drape fabric across the set, I can't build all these sets that I used to build.

"It definitely is limiting with the creativity which makes it more challenging to try to come up with ideas."

But he added: "The stage speaks for itself - it is the most expensive reality TV competition stage in the world and it's just gorgeous to look at.

"Of course it's a little bit frustrating, but would I give up this stage to go back to our old stage so I could have props? Absolutely not - I think it looks beautiful on TV."

An X Factor spokeswoman said: "The X Factor auditions were held on a stage so the main show stage had to change to upgrade it."