ITV viewers were startled on Saturday night when In For Penny included a Dot Cotton skit, days after June Brown, the actress who played the famous soap icon, passed away.
There are a lot of excitement amongst fans last week when Stephen, who was recently forced to take a break from TV 'on doctor's orders,' announced that his show, which started as a segment on Saturday Night Takeaway, would be returning for a new series. The news was welcomed by viewers and Stephen's ITV colleagues, including Takeaway hosts Ant and Dec who shared the announcement on their own Twitter timeline.
In For A Penny, which sees Stephen hit the road to get up to a load of high jinks in cities across the UK, is known for its comedic moments and in the second half of Saturday's new series opener, Stephen was joined by members of the public who had to try and guess if the men sitting in a barber's chair with a towel on their head had hair or no hair. On speaking to one woman, he started styling her hair in different ways, comparing her barnet to Celine Dion, Neil Morrissey and, finally, Dot Cotton.
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After a picture of June flashed up on screen, the woman looked insulted, before Stephen asked her: "Can you just say 'where's my Nick?" The woman did her best Dot impression, before minutes later, Stephen asked her to do it again, remarking: "Shall we go out on a Dot Cotton?" as the contestant mimicked smoking a cigarette.
But, while In For A Penny was filmed way in advance of June's death at the age of 95, the skit didn't sit well with some viewers at home. One took to Twitter to write: "Bad timing for that Dot Cotton joke on In for a Penny, nice job ITV."
Another swiftly replied to that tweet to respond: "Agreed." Another unimpressed viewer reacted: "Can't believe they didn't cut the Dot Cotton bit out."
