Maureen Lipman blasts Gogglebox bosses for 'cutting her wit in favour of fake reactions'

dailystar.co.uk:

Corrie star Maureen Lipman quit Celebrity Gogglebox because TV bosses didn’t like her jokes.The veteran actress was paired up with broadcaster and raconteur Gyles Brandbreth for Channel 4’s couch potato commentary show.But she has now left, claiming all the producers wanted was footage of their fake shock over seeing willies on screen rather than witty banter.Maureen, who plays Evelyn Plummer on the soap, tells Radio Times: “I went into Gogglebox imagining that they wanted me for my wit and my brain.“Of course, they just want to show you willies and for you to be shocked.“Honestly, we were really funny together, but none of that was used.“And if they don’t want to use what we gave them, f*** them.”Asked if this was now the end for her on the show, she added: “It is from my point of view.

I’m sure they’ll put someone else with Gyles.”Gogglebox is not the only TV show that Maureen claims is now a turn off for her.She cannot stand programmes where people end up crying.The star added: “I’m prejudiced against what I call weeping documentaries.“Even The Repair Shop, which I used to love, has gone completely lachrymose.”Last night Channel 4 declined to comment on Maureen’s complaints about Gogglebox.It comes after Maureen said comedy could soon be "wiped out" by cancel culture.She spoke out against cancel culture on BBC Radio Four's Today programme.The Corrie star said: "I think it’s a revolution, I think it’s in the balance whether we’re ever going to be funny again."It’s a bit like laughter in church, something has to be forbidden to make you really laugh, to make you belly laugh – it’s when you shouldn’t be laughing and so, therefore, all the things that are being cancelled out are, I’m afraid, the things that have always.