In an interview with the Radio Times she said she regrets giving a platform to the Ku Klux Klan in one show and waiting for the moment when guests would cry in another.

"I've been guilty of misusing TV. It is a dangerous medium and is misused all the time."

One programme she said she regrets was when a man confronted his wife with the news his mistress was pregnant.

"The look on the wife's face broke my heart. I said: `This should never happen to a human being,' and I told my producers: `I'm never doing confrontational television again,"' she said.

Jerry Springer 'vulgar'

She also criticised her chat show rival Jerry Springer: "If you want me to compete against him on his terms, I'll have to get out of television.

"He's vulgar, and the level of acceptance of vulgarity has deepened."

The presenter and actor said that her recent role in her film Beloved, soon to be released in the UK, has made her re-think her wish to turn her back on television.

"I've come from a people who have no voice, money or shoes to run, but they ran anyway. How dare I say I felt tired?