Vulgar confession about Lady Thatcher drags UK’s Channel 4 to a new low

UK’s Channel 4 hit a new low with a vulgar confession from former England footballer Paul Gascoigne over a visit to Downing Street when he met Margaret Thatcher.

The network, which is accused of screening increasingly sensationalist, crude and downmarket material, aired the appalling admission on its new reality series, Scared Of The Dark, at 9pm. The broadcast comes after it recently won a battle against the government which had hoped the publicly-owned network might flourish better if sold to a media giant.

The programme will feature Gascoigne revealing a dirty secret about a trip he made to No 10 in October 1990 when the late Lady Thatcher was Prime Minister. Britain’s first woman PM had invited the troubled star and the England squad to Downing Street after their performance at that summer’s World Cup in Italy where they lost on penalties to West Germany in the semi-final.

Gascoigne, now 55, who posed for pictures with Mrs Thatcher, confesses to participants on the show – including Scarlett Moffatt and former boxer Chris Eubank – that he became aroused after meeting the politician. He said he went to the toilet afterwards to perform a sex act on himself.

He asks: ‘Do you want a sexy story? I may get myself in trouble here. When I went to 10 Downing Street, I put my arm round Maggie Thatcher.’ He then goes into lewd detail of how he claims Mrs Thatcher left him in an aroused state. Eubank was incensed by the anecdote. Going to a private room to share his thoughts, he told the show’s producers that the story was ‘muck’. His reaction will also be aired.

 

Donna Preston, Nicola Adams, Chloe Burrows, Chris Eubank, Danny Dyer, Paul Gascoigne, Chris McCausland, Max George and Scareltt Moffatt in Scared Of The Dark.

Eubank says: ‘I don’t know Gazza, and I don’t want to know Gazza because that’s all muck. He’s brazen, he’ll drink you under the table. He’s a legend. That is not legendary.’ 

The Mail on Sunday has previously revealed how the former footballer and the boxer clashed angrily during the show.

Eight contestants live, eat and sleep in the dark in the programme, hosted by Danny Dyer. It runs over five nights until Thursday. It will inevitably prompt viewers’ complaints to media regulator Ofcom.

In 2006, 251 people wrote to the television regulator to share their disgust that the BBC had aired a programe in which Jonathan Ross asked former PM David Cameron lewd questions about if he had a crush on Lady Thatcher when she was PM.

 

Paul Gascoigne in the upcoming Channel 4 reality show Scared Of The Dark. Gascoigne, now 55, who posed for pictures with Mrs Thatcher, confesses to participants on the show that he became aroused after meeting the politician.

More than 1,000 people have complained to Ofcom about another Channel 4 programme, Naked Education – which is aired at 8pm, before the watershed, and features adults posing nude in front of children.

TV bosses have defended the show, saying it is a clear example of ‘valuable public service broadcasting’ that challenges the misconceptions that cause anxiety to young people.

For three decades, the network’s programming choices have been criticised as being ‘grotesque’. There has been concern over shows including Me And My Penis, Dogging Tales and My First Threesome.

Last year, the government hoped to privatise Channel 4 after 40 years of public ownership before making a U-turn. Instead, the broadcaster will get more money to make programmes in-house rather than buy them all in. Channel 4 failed to respond to a request for comment.–Daily Mail