Dame Sheila Hancock has claimed a Celebrity Gogglebox boss got ‘quite angry’ with her before she was sacked from the Channel 4 programme.
The actress, 90, recently announced she had been axed from the reality show after being left ‘deeply shocked’ by some of the racier programmes on the agenda.
Having joined in 2019 alongside Gyles Brandreth, Sheila did not return for a second series and was replaced by Dame Maureen Lipman, 76, whose place was then taken by Dame Joanna Lumley, 76, and later Carol Vorderman, 61.
She had complained about the amount of nudity that was required of her to watch, however has alleged a member of the Gogglebox team was not very understanding.
Gogglebox, produced by Studio Lambert, sees groups of friends and families watch the previous week’s TV shows and regularly features scenes from the controversial dating show, Naked Attraction.
Goggle-bust: Dame Sheila Hancock has claimed a Celebrity Gogglebox boss got ‘quite angry’ with her before she was sacked from the Channel 4 programme (pictured in 2022)
The Laurence Olivier Award winner told The Mirror: ‘I used to love doing it with Gyles, but they sacked me from that. Well, they did not ask me back.
‘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.’
MailOnline has contacted Channel 4 and Studio Lambert for comment.
Sheila recently spoke about the matter on BBC Radio 2, saying: ‘They didn’t ask me back for some reason, I suppose because I was too rude about some of the things I saw.
‘I, honest to God, had not seen most of the programmes they showed us – like all those where everyone was showing off their private parts.
‘And I was deeply shocked, quite genuinely overwhelmed by the whole thing.’
Celebrity Gogglebox sees an array of stars reacting to major moments from the week in television, with celebrity guests including Stacey Solomon, Shaun Ryder, Denise Van Outen and Nick Grimshaw.
Sacked! The actress, 90, recently announced she had been axed from the reality show after being left ‘deeply shocked’ by some of the racier programmes (pictured with Gyles Brandreth)
Back in June, Sheila saved a woman from assault when the attacker recognised her from being on Celebrity Gogglebox.
The actress says she once ‘intervened in a quite violent altercation’ in the middle of the night in London and managed to stop the ‘large attacker.’
Dame Sheila wrote in her new autobiography Old Rage: ‘I aspire to be a pacifist. It is one of the things you sign up to when you become a Quaker, as I did in 1993…
‘I once intervened in a quite violent altercation between a man and a frightened woman in the dead of night on Hammersmith riverside.
‘After a bit of a struggle, vocal and physical, I managed to stop the large attacker.
‘Sadly, not with my Quakerly anger-management approach, but because he recognised me off Gogglebox.’
It also comes after Dame Sheila revealed she is on a weekly biologic drug injection to manage pain after she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2018.
Racy: Gogglebox sees groups of friends and families watch the previous week’s TV shows and regularly features scenes from the controversial dating show, Naked Attraction
She visits the hospital for check ups and frequently has blood tests to monitor her health.
But she says she feels lucky to have her injections – which have only recently come into use for the public.
She told the Radio Times: ‘I’m on immunosuppressants so I was ‘extremely vulnerable’ and all that bulls**t during lockdown.
‘But I’m lucky because I’m on a weekly injection of what they call a biologic drug, only recently in general use.
‘It’s amazing. Somebody my age would have been crippled in the old days. I have occasional flare-ups of pain but I force myself to rise above it.’
Biologic drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are made from proteins. They work by blocking the activity of a key chemical or cell or protein involved in inflammation that gives rise to joint swelling and other symptoms.
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