Madness of the moment
- 7 Aug 07, 12:40 PM
There’s one personality amongst Catherine Tate’s menagerie of characters with which I can most closely relate. Thankfully I’m not talking about Lauren the cheeky teenager but the awkward party guest who can’t help but put her foot into it - usually in spectacular and toe-curling fashion.
As always, observational comedy is at its best when it’s accurate and so to 9.09am on Friday morning as the eloquent and debonair Rupert Everett graced the Breakfast sofa to talk about the paperback release of his autobiography Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins.
Like Catherine Tate’s caricature, Rupert surprised our viewers with a comment that at best can be described as startling, and at worst, lewd. In response to an innocuous question from Susanna Reid about how Julie Andrews’ Oscar winning performance as Mary Poppins first lured him into showbusiness, he unfortunately described how, until he’d seen the quintessential English nanny, he’d thought rural cinemas were places where you were able to become intimate with your girlfriend.
I’m not going to spell out here exactly what he said (it won’t take you long to find it in its colourful glory elsewhere on the ‘net) but needless to say some of those watching weren’t best pleased that the actor who can currently be heard as the voice of Prince Charming in the latest child-orientated Shrek film felt the need to be so graphic on morning television. And Susanna and co-presenter Charlie Stayt are to be commended on their appropriate reactions and swift on air apology.
Daily, I mentally applaud the bravery of the guests which we subject to live television. We don’t quite have the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd, but certainly with the knowledge that there are millions of people watching, the madness of the moment can sometimes get the better of even the most seasoned of performers.
I am convinced that this is what happened with our Hollywood star.
Were his comments inappropriate? Certainly. Were they deliberate? Certainly not. I greeted him as he came off air and I was struck by two things. Firstly, he looked much taller in real life and secondly he was mortified by his slip of the tongue. He walked into the corridor with a hand framing either side of his unshaven face. “I can’t believe I said that,” he apologised. “I am so sorry, it just slipped out”.
The abnormality of conversation under the watchful gaze of millions of viewers had, in my opinion, tripped Mr Everett, a man who makes a living from saying other people’s words. He visually flinches as soon as he makes his childhood recollection and I’ve no doubt his apology once he’d come off air was sincere. There is one thing I am sure of. You can’t get a more innocent question than one which features Mary Poppins and Julie Andrews and this won’t be the last time a guest shocks us on live television.
Stephen James-Yeoman is assistant editor, BBC Breakfast
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