John Barrowman Claims BBC Had Many Gay Men ‘Married to Women’

Torchwood and Doctor Who star John Barrowman, who was ‘blacklisted’ over his on-set behaviour, claims there was a ‘cover-up’ culture at the BBC.

The Scottish-American actor, 58, was one of the original hosts of BBC children’s programme Live & Kicking in the 1990s and says he was encouraged to hide his homosexuality.

‘In those days, at the BBC there was a culture, there was a lot of men who were married to women, but those men were clearly gay and they were running the stuff, or very powerful, strong single women who were running certain aspects of it, so there was a culture of cover-up, don’t say anything, and I just slotted myself in,’ he says on the podcast Gay Old Time.

‘Because of the time, and it was children’s television, so you could lose your job. But, for crying out loud, everybody was on the queer spectrum there.’

Barrowman is alleged to have flashed on the set of Doctor Who, but he says the allegations were ‘misconstrued’ and the incident was just ‘a bit of a carry on’.

Barrowman described allegations of flashing a crew member as ‘a bit of a carry on’

He explained: ‘If I was in a nude scene, completely naked, and if somebody walked on set, which they weren’t supposed to, I might just do something like that [jiggles] and it was nothing outrageous. I didn’t see it as outrageous. It was a different time.’

He is persona non grata at a Torchwood fan convention due to be held next year, despite having been the star of the Doctor Who spin-off, playing Captain Jack Harkness.

‘I haven’t been asked or invited,’ the actor confirms. ‘If you’re having a Torchwood convention and the star of Torchwood is not invited, you are the dumbest and the stupidest I have ever come across.’

While his hit Fawlty Towers stage show is currently back in the West End, 85-year-old comedian John Cleese confirms he is also to be the subject of a documentary film, which releases in cinemas this November. ‘For the first time, audiences will see a different side to me – not just the dashing, devil-may-care, devastatingly handsome bon viveur, but also the decrepit, addled, nasty old geriatric that my PR team work day and night to hide from the public,’ he says of the behind-the-scenes film, entitled John Cleese Packs It In. 

Queen Elizabeth’s accent shifted over the years, becoming less overtly upper-class. But it didn’t change enough for Lisa Maxwell – from Elephant and Castle, south London. ‘I met the Queen, but she was so posh I couldn’t understand what she was saying,’ the 61-year-old recalls. ‘She shook my hand and said something like, “Hyeldareyor?” She had to ask three times. In the end, the person next to me in the line-up jabbed me in the ribs and said the Queen was asking my age.’ 

I’m from Austria, not Australia

Nadja Swarovski says people in the US keep asking her about kangaroos – though she’s from Austria

Crystal heiress Nadja Swarovski has dual Austrian-US citizenship, but she’s grown weary of Americans who get in a muddle over her homeland.

‘I stopped bothering to tell people where I come from,’ the 55-year-old businesswoman told the popular Travel Secrets podcast. Nadja, who was born in Germany and raised at her glass-producing family’s seat in Wattens, Austria, explains: ‘In the [United] States, people often say, “You’re from Austria? You must have so many kangaroos.”‘

Grylls’ tasty wage

The second of his three sons, Marmaduke, is sweating away at Wimbledon – earning his keep by serving up hot dogs to ravenous fans.

Such resourcefulness delights Bear Grylls, 51, who says his son, 19, hands over up to 5,000 hot dogs a day and does so with a smile.

But Grylls’ own smile may be a little broader. I can disclose that the adventurer has notched up some tasty figures of his own.

He earned £627,575 last year, according to accounts for his firm The Natural Studios Productions, just filed at Companies House. That still allowed it to record a £1.5million profit.

Novelist Kathy Lette has turned the knife on her ex-husband, the barrister Geoffrey Robertson, who was too devoted to his job and wouldn’t help with chores. ‘Our marriage unravelled because I was lonely,’ says the author, 66. ‘You could never get the moral high ground. I’d say, “Can you change this nappy?” He’d say, “I’d like to, but I have 350 people on Death Row [to represent]”. After a year, I’d say, “Let them die.” After the second baby, I said, “I’ll go and kill them myself.”‘ Of her current beau, musician Brian O’Doherty, she says: ‘He adores me, doesn’t bore me and does all my chores.’ 

Game, set, murder! Judy serves up crime novel

Spared the agony – and ecstasy – of watching her younger son Andy putting his heart and soul on the line at Wimbledon, Judy Murray is allowing herself to indulge in gentler pursuits during this year’s championship.

Like crime – or ‘cosy crime’ as she puts it. ‘Basically, a tennis coach gets murdered,’ says Judy.

But admirers can relax: this isn’t evidence that Judy’s just mutated into a psychopath but a fairly abrupt summary of her second book, breezily entitled Game, Set & Murder, which is due to be published tomorrow.

‘It’s a whodunit. It could be any one of the ladies’ first team,’ adds the 65-year-old former tennis coach, who cites British author Santa Montefiore as one of her inspirations.

Judy retired from teaching the sport in 2023 to pursue a career as an author and released her first novel, called The Wild Card, in the same year.

Can’t remember the sainted Santa displaying quite such bloodlust…

Olivia’s ‘sacrifice’ for TV sex scenes 

Olivia says some sex scenes have left her feeling as though ‘chunks have been taken out of me’

House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke has called for directors to undergo intimacy coordination training as she reveals she’s had to ‘sacrifice’ herself for certain film shoots.

‘Sometimes a sex scene takes a piece of you, which it shouldn’t,’ says the actress, pictured right in the Game of Thrones spin-off. ‘It should feel in-keeping with the story, and you shouldn’t have to sacrifice a part of yourself… Sometimes I have felt like chunks have been taken out of me.’

Olivia, 31, adds: ‘Directors should go through an intimacy coordinating course so they have the language and the tools to talk to us.’