Devious coldout caller brings Madeley’s ‘fruity’ side
Blessed with a famously long and happy marriage to Judy Finnigan — his co- presenter for many years, first on This Morning and later on Richard & Judy — the perma-tanned Richard Madeley has often been classified as TV royalty. But that, I can disclose, has not prevented him from falling victim to the common contagion of nuisance calls.
Madeley, 62, has been so exasperated by cold- calls and endless ‘ weird, cranky texts’ over the past few days that he has had to change his mobile number.
‘His language has been quite fruity,’ I’m told. ‘He says that “some t***” has got hold of his number and he’s had three days of cold- calls and what he describes as “weird texts”.
‘He pointed out that he blocked
“the t***”, but apparently whoever it was has been sharing the number around, so Richard’s having to get a new number immediately.’
Not a moment too soon, it seems. ‘He was being contacted about an exhaust system for an old Ford Scorpio. The guy had listed his number on a website for clapped-out cars.’
An interviewer once observed that ‘the only difference between real-life Madeley and telly Madeley is the swearing’, but ‘real-life Madeley’ scrupulously minds his language when confirming what’s happened. ‘I’m not going to add petrol to the fire,’ he tells me, before acknowledging that he’d had the same mobile number for many years.
It is not the only inconvenience Madeley has endured in recent months. Madeley and Judy, 70, had to spend their nights in separate beds after Madeley deputised for Piers Morgan during a three-week stint on the Good Morning Britain sofa, which required him to get up at 3.30am.