Former Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon has reflected upon his shock sacking from the children’s show during a stint on ITV’s Daybreak to promote his new memoirs.
Bacon was fired back in 1998 after he confessed to the BBC that he was a cannabis user but perhaps the most galling episode of the whole sorry saga came when he was forced to hand in his famous blue ship badge.
Recalling the episode Bacon said: “As I got up to leave, they demanded one more thing of me. This must be the only formality a Blue Peter presenter has in common with being in the Los Angeles Police Department – when you leave they ask you to hand in your badge.”
Britain’s second most famous Bacon was forced to confess after his drug dealer recognised recognised him from the telly and threatened to expose him.
It wasn’t all bad news though, one fan – a then teenage Sienna Miller, revealed years after the event that she had written to the BBC pleading with them to reconsider.