[shyamz]

Ollie Reed on Aspel:

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This was accepted in a spirit of "anything can happen on live TV". Actually, it wasn't live at all.

Can you imagine if the BBC did that now?

I've always found his last few interviews very unpleasant to watch. The producers of these shows clearly knew what they were doing, and that they were guarenteed a bit of unpredictable fun from Ollie, so they happily sat back and let an alchoholic man drink himself stupid for their benefit.

It was as if his job later in life was to go on TV to get drunk and act daft, it was very sad as having watched these appearances I'm not completely convinced that he knew how he was been used.

You are right, if the BBC -or indeed anyone I'd say- invited a drunk man to appear on one of their shows and clearly used him for a cheap laugh, people today would probably be outraged. And people say television today sinks to new lows? As far as I can tell, it's been doing that for years - and not usualy the BBC either.

It seems such things were fine back then, particularly if it wasn't the BBC that was involved.

[Bones McCoy]

Oliver Reed?

He's dead surely...

But his spirit lives on. (Tesco's are doing a December special).

OK so he's dead, maybe his Hologram, Poltergeist or some such new-fangled thingy - Like Richard Burton doing War of the Worlds.

[lord_kobel]

The Beeb has pulled the edition of QI with him in it. Which is a pity, because it deprives us of Daira OBriain and Ross Noble.
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Saw this on the virgin media on demand. Nothing that much to complain about, although there was a bit with him talking about vet suicides.

[shyamz]

He's mentioned that before on an episode of Top Gear, no fuss made back then, even from the vet in the audience he was talking to at the time.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The BBC did have Bestie, of course, on live TV. They copped it for that.

Wogan didn't seem to be enjoying him being pissed. Just didn't know what to do. I think Partridge would have done a better job.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Seems Jezza's had enough, and he has gone for the Mail. Story is behind the Times paywall, but this blog covers enough to get the flavour.

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As we've said several times, Clarkson may be a boor and a bit of a tit, but he's a talented writer. I like this:

But that’s the trouble with the Mail. There are many creatures on this earth that behave in an unusual way. We can’t explain how pigeons find their houses from thousands of miles away or how salmon can find the very spot where they were born. But nothing in the kingdom of nature is quite so unfathomable as a Mail reporter.

"They look human. They have opposable thumbs and are capable of catching buses. But they don’t have the capacity for reason. You can tell them what happened. You can prove it. But it will make no difference."

I really do believe that in the whole furore over press standards the wrong newspaper has been closed down.

Interesting. Will Mailies still be calling for Jezza PM? The Mail is making a lot of enemies lately.

[The Red Arrow]

Good stuff, it has to be said. No doubt we'll be reminded soon that he has a DVD to flog and that he works for he BBC. The world waits with baited breath to see whose side Clarkson's self-confessed 'good mate' the Bard of Vero Beach comes down on.

A lot of enemies, yes. Lets hope the ranks swell further and others are encouraged by this welcome step in the right direction.

[Bones McCoy]

Good stuff, it has to be said. No doubt we'll be reminded soon that he has a DVD to flog and that he works for he BBC. The world waits with baited breath to see whose side Clarkson's self-confessed 'good mate' the Bard of Vero Beach comes down on.

A lot of enemies, yes. Lets hope the ranks swell further and others are encouraged by this welcome step in the right direction.

They won't have the cojones to target Jezza - he's a national treasure.
Instead they'll ignore it, knowing that it;ll go away.

Pity really, because the "Hey look at that Daily Mail - It's really shit" think was reaching proportions where Dacre was going in the wicker man.

[Fozzy]

He needs to start pointing and laughing at it on Top Gear - it'll get way more circulation than articles in The Times.

[moonshien]

Good stuff, it has to be said. No doubt we'll be reminded soon that he has a DVD to flog and that he works for he BBC. The world waits with baited breath to see whose side Clarkson's self-confessed 'good mate' the Bard of Vero Beach comes down on.

A lot of enemies, yes. Lets hope the ranks swell further and others are encouraged by this welcome step in the right direction.

They won't have the cojones to target Jezza - he's a national treasure.
Instead they'll ignore it, knowing that it;ll go away.

Pity really, because the "Hey look at that Daily Mail - It's really shit" think was reaching proportions where Dacre was going in the wicker man.

They've already printed a lot about his private life, which presumaboly is why he suddenly hates them

[Winegums]

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I haven't seen it, I don't know of the voracity of the comments, but I wonder if we're reaching a watershed on Top Gear/Clarkson. He's always been a bit of a soft-racist, and maybe people are a bit done with it. At best it's predictable and shit, and at worst it's snide rib-elbowing racism. Maybe this is faux outrage and bandwaggon jumping, did anyone see the episode in question?

[davidjay]

This sort of idiocy is best ignored rather than letting him play the victim and his followers do their "free speech/PC brigade/they could say it in a mosque" diatribes.

[shyamz]

Did anyone watch It'll Be Alright On The Night with Griff Rhys Jones?

It might not sound like it has anything to do with Clarkson, but he made a few silly jokes that some people could deem offensive (although mildly so), and I was just wondering why we hadn't heard simmilar complaints about that?

Except that it's ITV of course.

[bluebellnutter]

I saw the episode in question, I have to say I really don't see what the problem was.

[Esqui]

Same - it was the usual, rather stupid humour, but I didn't consider any of it racist.

If I remember from the mail article, the following are racist actions:
Saying that British people get the runs in foreign countries, particularly if they eat lots of curry
Pulling a stunt that turns pro-British industry adverts into rude words
Taking your trousers off in front of an Indian

Really?