Dame Maureen Lipman has claimed she gave up her role as a couch potato on Celebrity Gogglebox because show bosses didn’t like her jokes.
The 75-year-old actress used to appear on the award winning Channel 4 series alongside broadcaster, writer and former politician – Gyles Brandreth, 74.
Gyles had appeared on the original season of the show back in 2019 alongside 89-year-old actress Dame Sheila Hancock – but Maureen replaced Dame Shiela for season two in 2020.
But then the Coronation Street star herself decided to quit the series – and Dame Maureen now claims it’s because the makers of the show failed to appreciate her humour.
She told the Radio Times: "I went in imagining that they wanted me for my wit and my brain. Of course, they just want to show you willies and for you to be shocked.
"Honestly, we were really funny together, but none of that was used. And if they don't want to use what we gave them, f*** them."
She went on to suggest Gyles will continue to appear on the show, but with another friend, saying: "It is from my point of view. I'm sure they'll put someone else with Gyles."
It’s not the first time Dame Maureen has complained about Gogglebox subjecting her to the unsightly vision of genitalia – with the show making cast members watch controversial dating show Naked Attraction.
Last year, the star hit out at Celebrity Gogglebox saying: "They’re not really interested in our opinions on what they’re giving us. I’d seen Gogglebox and I thought: ‘Oh, [ours] is the grown-up version, is it?
"But it’s your reaction to 12 dangling willies they want. They’re searching for ways to make me go: 'Urgh!'
“So I thought: 'Well, actually, no, life is too short to watch a series of hopeless men dangle their bits and pieces in my direction. So I’m going'."
Gyles agreed at the time, saying: "Some of the things that Maureen has said are Oscar-winning funny. But what do they use? Us yawning!"
Celebrity Gogglebox is currently in its third season – with the show being rocked by the sudden split of stars Denise Van Outen and her now ex-fiancé Eddie Boxshall.
The couple stunned fans at the beginning of the year when Denise revealed they had split up – with accusations Eddie had been unfaithful soon following.
In her recent autobiography, A Bit of Me: From Basildon to Broadway and Back, Denise shared the painful moment that she figured out Eddie was cheating on her.
Denise confronted a woman via Instagram to ask her about having virtual sex with Eddie, writing:
“Her name was Tracy and she had apparently spoken to Eddie over FaceTime and text for a long period — often from our home and sometimes from my flat in Hampstead, which she seemed to think was his.
“They’d never met in person, but she said the conversations had become sexual reasonably quickly. Some of the stuff I found on the phone seemed to support that.
“However she was upset with Eddie by then, because he had apparently ghosted her. ‘I hope you’re not angry with me,’ she wrote. ‘I’m not a homewrecker’.”
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@mirror.co.uk or call us direct at 0207 29 33033.
