Showbiz News
-
-
-
Loading
Loading
Sue Perkins has found herself at the centre of an unexpected throwback controversy, after her long-time comedy partner Mel Giedroyc revealed that Sue was once “touched” by puppet Orville the Duck during a live broadcast in the 1990s.
The surprising anecdote was shared during Mel’s appearance on the Parenting Hell podcast, hosted by comedians Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe. Reflecting on their hit Channel 4 series Light Lunch, Mel described a particularly memorable, and bizarre, episode from 1997 that featured a trio of famous puppeteers and their sidekicks.
“We’re back in the Naughty Nineties, woof!” Mel exclaimed. “Weren’t they naughty, they were a very naughty decade.”
She recalled an episode of Light Lunch where Keith Harris appeared with Orville the Duck, the wide-eyed, nappy-wearing green duckling who was a children’s TV staple throughout the 1980s and ’90s. But what happened next wasn’t quite so family-friendly.
According to Mel, things took a turn when Orville got “a bit naughty” with Sue during the live broadcast.
“Keith Harris with Orville… Orville got a bit naughty with Sue!” Mel claimed, making it clear that, through the puppet, Harris may have crossed a line. “Yes. Harris via Orville got a bit ‘Naughty Nineties’.”
When Beckett asked, “He was nipping at the body?”, Mel laughed and replied, “Yes. There is a ruddy hand in there!” Josh Widdicombe added, “They’d get away with it by claiming it was a grey area,” to which Mel agreed: “Exactly!”
Keith Harris passed away in 2015 at the age of 67, but during his lifetime was one of Britain’s most beloved children’s entertainers. However, this revelation offers a look at how looser boundaries on live TV in the 1990s sometimes blurred the lines between comedy and impropriety.
The show also featured other nostalgic puppet favourites like Roger de Courcey with Nookie Bear and Matthew Corbett with Sooty, who Mel said were all charmed by Sue Perkins.
“They were trying to get all over Perks’s grill,” she joked. “She was the honey trap. I was just the fly buzzing around the edge rather desperately. They bloomin’ loved Perks, all of them.”
Mel and Sue, known for their warm, self-deprecating humour and incredible on-screen chemistry, have been a comedy duo for over two decades, and their success on Light Lunch helped launch both of their careers into the mainstream. Their stint as the original hosts of The Great British Bake Off further cemented their place as national treasures.
Mel and Sue have been a TV duo since the 90s - Credit: BBC
While this throwback may be eyebrow-raising, it also serves as a reminder of how television, and expectations, have dramatically changed over the years. Today, behaviour like this would almost certainly not fly on live daytime television.
Neither Sue Perkins nor representatives of Keith Harris’ estate have commented further on the claims.
Keith and Orville were guests on Light Lunch - Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
