10 Disturbing Interviews Because of What We Now Know
Caitlin Johnson
Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we’re looking at TV interviews and moments that are deeply unsettling in retrospect.
John Gummer’s Burger
In the 1980s, stories began to emerge of a strange and deadly new disease, BSE, afflicting Britain’s cows, which conclusively made the jump to humans in the 1990s, leading to 178 deaths. But in 1990, agriculture minister John Gummer wanted to persuade the public that there was nothing to worry about where British beef was concerned, so he and his four-year-old daughter Cordelia decided to eat beef burgers on television to prove that the fears about BSE spreading to humans were baseless. In hindsight, this is chilling. Cordelia, thankfully, was fine, but we now know that the risk was very real, and it’s shocking that Gummer took it.
Gavin Plumb
It’s not easy to find footage of this 2018 show now, as the BBC has understandably scrubbed it from its websites. But Gavin Plumb, the man now best known for his plot to kidnap and murder TV star Holly Willoughby, appeared in a documentary about his obesity years ago. Some clips have surfaced in news reports about the kidnapping attempt, as well as the revelations that he’d got previous convictions for attempted kidnappings and other violent incidents against women. In the clips, he talks about how he almost never goes outside – although, he DID have to go outside when, a decade prior, he went to prison for attacking two teenage girls with a boxcutter.
Princess Diana
It’s certainly one of the most infamous interviews ever, and made for uncomfortable viewing even back in the 90s. But decades on, and it’s finally come out that Martin Bashir only attained this interview through fraud, tricking the Princess of Wales by presenting her with falsified bank statements. It was emblematic of the wild press interest in Diana’s private life, made more disturbing by the fact that she’d die less than two years later because of the paparazzi. In 2020 there was finally an inquiry and the BBC apologised to Diana’s brother, and Bashir’s career ended in tatters. The BBC won’t licence the interview out anymore, but that didn’t stop Netflix from recreating it, warts and all, for “The Crown”.
David Icke’s the Son of God
Once upon a time, David Icke was simply a sports commentator, having a brief football career in the 60s and 70s and then switching to journalism. But did you know that as well as playing for Coventry City, he’s also the son of God? In 1997 he held a press conference saying that natural disasters were going to imminently destroy the world, and that he had this information because, of course, he’s the second coming of Christ. He went on “Wogan” to defend his views and was roundly humiliated. Today, Icke spends his time spreading wild conspiracy theories, many of them deeply anti-Semitic, including writing various manuscripts denying the Holocaust. It’s a world away from being laughed at by Terry Wogan.
Phillip Schofield Comes Out
Today, it’s believed that Phillip Schofield hastily made his coming out statement and appeared on “This Morning” on his day off because he was being pressured by the tabloids. It’s thought that if he didn’t do it, he was going to be outed, so he was trying to get ahead of the story. But it’s also speculated that he was trying to stop the other story about him and that male runner from coming out, a rumour that was already circulating in various outlets. Well, eventually, that DID happen, and Schofield was promptly pushed out of “This Morning” and out of all of his television roles as a result of his “unwise, but not illegal” conduct.
Victims Should Speak Up
In 2016, everyone’s favourite disgraced “MasterChef” judge was on “Loose Women” years before he faced any public controversy. The debate turned to online comments about sexual assaults against minors, something Gregg Wallace himself said he’d experienced in his autobiography. He encouraged victims to speak up and then, in 2024, they did: HIS victims. Now, to be clear, none of the allegations against Gregg Wallace were as severe as CSA, nor were they against anybody underage, but there’s something chilling about watching a man advocate on behalf of fellow victims while he was behaving so reprehensibly behind the scenes.
Rolf Harris & Yvette Fielding
No footage of this “Blue Peter” moment has surfaced in the years since it happened, and we’re not surprised. We only know about it because Yvette Fielding, “Blue Peter’s” youngest presenter, has talked about it since. But during a 1980s appearance when Harris was a guest on “Blue Peter”, Fielding talked about being left alone with him when he behaved inappropriately towards her. Many of Fielding’s other “Blue Peter” moments take on a different hue when you realise that she was tormented backstage by the show’s infamous boss, Biddy Baxter, too. She said Baxter took a dislike to her and she couldn’t understand why, even dictating where Fielding was allowed to live.
Prince Andrew on Wogan
Channel 4 unearthed this old clip, also from “Wogan”, with a young Prince Andrew for a documentary it ran about the so-called “Problem Prince”. In it, Andrew’s being interviewed not by Terry Wogan, who was on holiday, but by Selina Scott, and he couldn’t stop himself from flirting with her. Perhaps at the time, with Andrew still in the spotlight as a prominent heir to the throne, this somehow came across as charming. But we now know that Andrew never grew out of his inappropriate behaviour. He claims here that his notorious nickname was a result of a misunderstanding when he was visiting the girls’ dormitories during his time at Gordonstoun. Do you believe him?
Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer
In this old interview for Wired, fantasy writer Neil Gaiman appeared alongside then-wife Amanda Palmer to talk about the outrageous success of “Sandman” and what it’s like living in “Sandman’s” creative shadow. He talks a lot about his interactions with fans, as does Palmer, in a way that becomes unsettling in 2025, now that a bevy of criminal allegations against Gaiman have been brought to light. Some of the allegations are too explicit to repeat here, but he was accused of violating the consent of multiple women, many of whom he was in a position of power over, and sometimes in the presence of he and Palmer’s young son. He’s now being sued by at least one of these victims.
Evil Presence
Everything Jimmy Savile’s ever done is extremely disturbing in hindsight, and that’s if it wasn’t disturbing at the time – which, as we know, it WAS, since plenty of people were aware of what he was up to the entire time. It’s this moment in particular, though, from an old taping of “Jim’ll Fix It” that we’re going with. This child’s dream was for Savile to fix it so that he could meet Chewbacca, during the height of “Star Wars’” popularity. The little boy tells him that Chewbacca can sense an evil presence in the room, and Savile wonders who it could be. We all know exactly who it was, though.
Let us know in the comments which other unsettling moments you remember.
