Presenter Paul O’Grady has revealed he quit his chat show because he couldn’t stand the guests, many who he claims were high on drugs while appearing on live TV.
Speaking to The Mirror, he said: “Every question had to go through the lawyers. I was just another plug for someone’s book or film. I saw some dross but I was too polite to say ‘how you’ve got the nerve to publish this is beyond me’.
“Guests would be on the couch coked off their minds. They’d start conversations, forget what they were saying, go onto something else.
“I’d feel like self-mutilating under the desk, thinking, ‘They’re going to swear, it’s 5pm, kids are watching.’ As soon as the ad break came, I’d fly off and say, ‘They’re off their face on coke, I can’t handle this, it’s live telly.’”
Paul’s partner, and former manager of 25 years, was dying from brain cancer, which also added to his irritation at the format of the show. He added: “If they were in a soap, they’d be talking about the long hours they worked or their Jimmy Choos. I wasn’t interested in bloody shoes. It would flash across my mind, ‘You’re sitting here talking about shoes and there’s a man dying in my bed.’”
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