How BBC’s presenting duo Selina Scott and Frank Bough HATED each other
On the surface, they were the successful double act that helped make breakfast television a mainstay of family homes across the country.
From its launch in 1983, Selina Scott and Frank Bough had three successful years together on the BBC’s Breakfast Time, the forerunner of the company’s current morning news show.
But while they got along on camera, they didn’t get along in person, and Scott revealed earlier this year how he ran a “campaign” to “undermine” her on-air.
Her extensive Daily Mail piece on his antics came after she revealed that Bough, whom she called a “misogynist,” was a “nightmare” to work with and even bragged about his masculinity at work.
The pair’s working relationship came to an end in 1986, when Scott accepted another presenter role, two years before Bough was fired after he was found to have used cocaine with prostitutes at a Mayfair hotel.
Fast-forward nearly four decades to this month and the country is in the throes of Philip Schofield’s departure from the ITV show This Morning following the breakdown of his relationship with co-presenter Holly Willoughby.
ITV insisted today that Phil’s departure from the show was mutually ‘agreed’ with them, following speculation he was suspended amid a feud with Holly.
On the surface, they were the successful double act that helped make breakfast television a mainstay of family homes across the country. From its launch in 1983, Selina Scott and Frank Bough had three successful years together on the BBC’s Breakfast Time, the forerunner of the company’s current morning news show.
Bough and Scott (centre) can be seen with the rest of the original line-up on Breakfast Time, the predecessor of BBC Breakfast. Among them was David Icke (back right), who is now a notorious conspiracy theorist
But while it is known that Phil and Holly were once good friends, Scott and Bough never got along.
Explaining why she declined the BBC’s invitation to appear as a guest on BBC Breakfast in January to mark its 40th anniversary, Ms Scott said she spent much of her time on the ‘horrible’ red leather sofa made her feel like I was a warrior in a war zone.’
She told how Bough invited her to his home shortly after she was ‘poached’ by the BBC.
Afterward, she said he gave an interview to a national newspaper in which he told readers, “I wanted to see if I liked her.”
“Seasoned observers of Frank, a BBC lifer who knew his Machiavellian ways, understood that he ‘auditioned’ me to see if I was flexible enough and not a professional threat to him,” Scott wrote.
If he didn’t like what he saw, he’d signal the packs on the sixth floor and my breakfast TV career would be toast before it started.
“It was the opening shot in Frank’s campaign to undermine me on the air. If he felt like he wasn’t getting enough attention, he would interfere with my interviews, disrupting my guest’s train of thought and leaving me clumsy to try and get through to the next section in time.
“His tactics left me confused and unhappy until I finally realized it was his game to always seem like the dominant partner to the viewers.”
Fast-forward nearly four decades to this month and the country is in the throes of Philip Schofield’s departure from the ITV show This Morning following the breakdown of his relationship with co-presenter Holly Willoughby
The original Breakfast Time line-up, which would become BBC Breakfast, consisted of Frank Bough (centre), Selina Scott (right) and David Icke (top right). Also pictured: Debbie Rix and weather forecaster Francis Wilson
Scott worked with Bough on BBC Breakfast Time for three years before leaving the show
She added that he had made a “disparaging sexual remark” about her after he “took to bed” then-rookie presenter Fern Britton, who then presented This Morning on ITV.
Scott said she’s still angry about how Bough “felt compelled to press his lips on her” every time the couple had their photo taken.
She also opened up about the time Savile refused to answer any more questions until she kissed him on air.
“I found Savile repulsive, but to my bosses ratings were sacred and Savile was seen as TV gold dust. He was untouchable,” she added.
Bough was sacked by the BBC in 1988, a year after leaving Breakfast Time to become the presenter of the BBC’s holiday programme.
He was one of the highest paid broadcasters in the country, reportedly earning £200,000 a year, but a Sunday paper revealed he had taken cocaine with prostitutes in a Mayfair hotel.
Bough was later photographed exiting a sado-masochistic vice den, where he allegedly spent 50 minutes in a “torture chamber.”
The next day he went on TV with his wife and said embarrassed, “I feel extremely stupid. Many things in my life I regret bitterly, and if only I could undo them, I would.’
The pair’s working relationship came to an end in 1986, when Scott accepted another presenter role, two years before Bough was fired after he was found to have used cocaine with prostitutes at a Mayfair hotel. Above: Scott and Bough with fellow presenters (left to right)
The star passed away in 2020 at the age of 87 and had largely disappeared from public life since his demise.
In addition to Bough and Scott, the original 1983 lineup—when the show was called Breakfast Time—also included Nick Ross and “Green Goddess” fitness guru Diana Moran.
The likes of Kirsty Wark, Jeremy Paxman, and the late Jill Dando also made appearances in the 1980s.
David Icke, a former soccer player, worked as a sports presenter on the show – before he started claiming that the world is run by lizard-like creatures masquerading as world leaders.