TV

Shelia Hancock claims she was sacked from Celebrity Gogglebox for complaining about 'penises'

Shelia Hancock claims she was sacked from Celebrity Gogglebox for complaining about 'penises'
Gordon Ramsay finds out daughter has a boyfriend during Celebrity Gogglebox appearance
content.jwplatform.com

Former Celebrity Gogglebox star Sheila Hancock has claimed she was sacked from the TV show because complained about the number of nude scenes she had to watch.

The 90-year-old actor appeared alongside her friend Gyles Brandreth in the first series but didn't come back for the second season.

She claims it was over disagreeing with producers over having to tune in and comments explicit scenes from Naked Attraction for example, and added that one female producer got "quite angry," about this.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

"I used to love doing it with Gyles, but they sacked me from that. Well, they did not ask me back," Hancock told The Mirror.

“I think it was because there were a lot of shows with penises in, and because it went down [well] with the audience, they kept showing them to us.

"Eventually I phoned up the lady on the edit and said, ‘I am enjoying the show, but do you think we can have anything other than penises?’ and she was quite angry."

In the end, Maureen Lipman became Hancock's replacement next to Giles, but the actor also left the show citing similar reasons.

She told Radio Times: "I went in imagining that they wanted me for my wit and my brain. Of course, they just want to show you willies and for you to be shocked.

"Honestly, we were really funny together, but none of that was used. And if they don’t want to use what we gave them, f*** them."

In a different interview, Lipman further echoed these frustrations: "They’re not really interested in our opinions on what they’re giving us. I’d seen Gogglebox and I thought: ’Oh, [ours] is the grown-up version, is it?'

"But it’s your reaction to 12 dangling willies they want. They’re searching for ways to make me go: ‘Urgh!’"

indy100 has contacted Channel 4 for comment.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)