Pier Morgan’s Killer Women, Thursday, STV
Piers meets the female Hannibal Lecters
GETTING up at 3.15am never gets easier, according to Piers Morgan.
“It basically slowly kills you!” quips the Good Morning Britain presenter, sinking a coffee shortly after coming off air.
Having switched his staple suit and tie for a more casual jeans and tee combo, 52-year-old Morgan, knackered or not, is ever the unflappable professional.
And while he’s here to talk about the return of his hit ITV show, Killer Women, he can’t help but share his opinion on a myriad of subject matters.
“You’re slightly apprehensive, because you know what they’re capable of. There’s one in particular who probably tried to kill her first husband, definitely tried to frenziedly stab her second husband to death and then stabs her lover’s girlfriend to death.
She came in with three heavily armed police officers. I’ve never seen that before, never. So they were clearly apprehensive about her. It’s like meeting a female Hannibal Lecter and you’re sitting two feet away and thinking, ‘She’s got nothing to lose, at all’.”
Piers on being kept in check on GMB, “They’re pretty good. I think they’ve just learnt to let me do my thing. You’ve got to remember that it’s kind of controlled anarchy. I’ve posted over 100,000 tweets and I’ve never been sued” over any of them. I never got successfully sued at the Daily Mirror in 10 years, by anyone going to court and winning court action against me, so I do know where the line is drawn.”
On co-host, Susanna Reid, “She is a perfect foil for me, so I can shout and scream and rant and rave and then she always brings it to a slightly more serious vein and calms everything down.
Quite often, if I soften people up, she’s actually the most lethal person on the anchor leg because she’ll come in and when they think it’s all calmed down, she skewers them with facts. So she’s very professional and she’s great to work with – we have great fun.”
Piers on playing cupid, “I don’t think [Susanna] wants any advice on her romantic entanglements from me. Although she did tell me her preferred choice of man was 6ft 2ins, tattooed and former military or current military. I am in a military family, I am 6ft 1in, nearly 6ft 2, I haven’t got any tattoos but that can be arranged. If I get a nice tattoo, I seem to be ticking every box here.” Piers on being opinionated, “A lot of people in TV are quite reluctant to give their opinions. I am not reluctant at all – I would rather just say exactly what I think and just hope it resonates with people. It normally does, normally I’ve got a fair idea of what most people are thinking. Normally.
“And I don’t worry about people being offended all the time – we’re in the ‘offence era’, where everyone is offended by absolutely everything. And you know what? You can have proper, vigorous debate about stuff without just being constantly offended. It’s fine.”
Piers on fending off Twitter trolls, “Twitter’s part of my full-time job. I’ve got nearly six million followers, which is three times as many people read the Daily Mirror when I used to run it, so I have a beast that has to be fed.
“My public need me! I only block idiots if they’re completely stupid. I tend to block people if they repeatedly tweet me idiotic stuff. But it doesn’t get to me, I just think they’re boring.
“The biggest crime for me is to be dull on Twitter. I don’t mind people tangling with me, but bear in mind you’re not just taking me on, if I respond you’ve got nearly six million people coming for you, and a lot of these trolls can’t handle it.”