OHMYGOSSIP — Richard Madeley hopes he and wife Judy Finnigan will be given the 1996 Best Talk Show TV BAFTA when ‘Panorama’ hand it back – after the former ‘This Morning’ co-hosts were originally told they had won the prize only for Martin Bashir to “nick it”.
The pair – who hosted the morning show from 1988 to 2001 – were “tipped the wink” they had landed the gong, but when they arrived at the ceremony they were informed ‘Panorama: An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales’ had scooped the accolade instead.
But after the BBC agreed last month to return the 1996 BAFTA for the interview, after an independent inquiry savaged the tactics used by reporter Bashir, Richard is hoping ‘This Morning’ could be given the award.
Speaking on ‘Good Morning Britain’ – which is his guest co-hosting – he said: “In 1996 we were supposed to win a BAFTA for the Best Talk Show on ‘This Morning’.
“We were tipped the wink that we’d won it. We had a speech prepared and everything Judy and I.
“We turned up and my press officer ran across and said, ‘You haven’t won it.’
“We said, ‘But you phoned us and said…’ She said, ‘No, they’ve given it to Martin Bashir.’
“‘Panorama’ won the BAFTA, which the BBC are handing back, for Best Talk Show. ‘Panorama’ – Best Talk Show?
“So Martin Bashir nicked our BAFTA.
“Maybe they’ll send it to us now? Maybe we’ll get it.
“Not that I’m griping.”
Former Supreme Court Judge Lord Dyson concluded last month that Bashir used forged bank statements to secure access to the Princess of Wales in 1995, and said that the BBC was “woefully ineffective” in getting to the bottom of his wrongdoing at the time.
And in response to the findings, the BBC agreed to hand back the BAFTA.
In a statement, they said: “The 1995 ‘Panorama’ interview received a number of awards at the time. We do not believe it is acceptable to retain these awards because of how the interview was obtained.”
Dyson’s investigation also found that Bashir “deceived” his way to the interview that made his name, while the BBC “fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark”.
Bashir said: “This is the second time that I have willingly fully co-operated with an investigation into events more than 25 years ago.
“I apologised then, and I do so again now, over the fact that I asked for bank statements to be mocked up.
“It was a stupid thing to do and was an action I deeply regret. But I absolutely stand by the evidence I gave a quarter of a century ago, and again more recently.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online
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