Ugly truth about naked ambition and TV icons

BLIMEY. Who would have thought that daytime TV could be such a cesspit of deceit, rivalry, anger, duplicitousness and naked malice? I’ve lost track of the finer details of Schofieldgate, who said what to whom, who lied about what, who was managing a cover-up and quite why the entire world seems to hate Phillip so much, but there’s no shortage of people queuing up to have a go. Whatever he’s done, I hope he’s learned his lesson now.

But that’s so often the case with shiny, smiley people on the box: scratch the surface and you’ll find the kind of murderous ambition that wouldn’t look out of place in the Medici court.

Slights are not forgiven. Nor are half the people involved as wholesome as they seem. Who could forget the shock when a Blue Peter presenter was exposed as having snorted cocaine?

Looked at in a slightly different way, this involved a young man who had become slightly rich and famous and was exposed to all the temptations media circles are famous for and succumbed to some.

And yet still we were stunned when he turned out to be less than saint-like, and all because he scrubbed up well on TV. The difference between image and reality can be stupendous.

The most unpleasant woman

I ever met somehow managed to turn herself into some sort of feminist Mother Teresa, although anyone unfortunate enough to have actually met her felt the same way as I.

I also once interviewed a very famous comedian turned serious actor, with a fantastically jolly public image, fully expecting to be charmed.

Instead I found someone grumpy, patronising and too lazy to answer any of my questions.The interview never ran.

Of course the opposite can also be the case: people with a very sharp image can have a much softer side.

STEP forward Jeremy Paxman, who after the best part of 30 years of snapping people’s heads off, stepped down from University Challenge with what can only be described as a lot of grace.

It brings to mind what someone once told me years ago when the two men involved were still big names: “People tend to like Ken Livingstone until they actually meet him,” he said. “The opposite is true of Jeffrey Archer.”

As it happens, I have met Archer and I did like him.

So be careful with what you see on the telly. The truth isn’t always as it seems.