Phillip Schofield joke branded 'sick' as it's cut from TV show

Daily Mirror

19-05-2025

The Power of Parker returns to the BBC this week for another hilarious series - but star and creator Sian Gibson has revealed that some '90s references had to be cut
From the Queen's annus horribilis and John Major as prime minister to Depeche Mode storming the charts, The Power of Parker is taking us back to 1992 for its second series after two years off our screens. The BBC sitcom sees Conleth Hill return as down-on-his-luck businessman Martin Parker, who is out of a job after losing his electrical goods store over an affair with Kath (Sian Gibson) - the sister of his wife Diane (Rosie Cavaliero).
While the series fully embraces the early Nineties, star and creator Sian admits that there are some references that had to be left in the past. 'We did have one joke about Diane saying that her ideal man was Phillip Schofield,' she says. 'But that went because it's sick isn't it?'
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The disgraced TV presenter, who left This Morning two years ago after an affair with a younger male co-worker, didn't get a mention in the end. However, Sian and her co-writer Paul Coleman did include a few figures who happened to make headlines this year.
'Gene Hackman - we didn't know he was going to die,' Sian says. 'And we didn't know Daley Thompson was going to be on Celebrity Big Brother.'
We last saw Martin turn up on the doorstep of his mistress Kath after he was believed to have perished in a fire at his shop. Now two years on, Martin is living with now-girlfriend Kath and desperate for a job after Diane ran him out of the family business - now new and improved after the blaze.
'We left it on a cliffhanger thinking that the BBC will want to know what happens,' Sian admits.
Conleth is lacing up his cowboy boots once again to play Martin - but reveals that his family weren't too impressed with the character when the first series aired. 'My older relatives didn't like him because he was an adulterer,' he shares.
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'I based him on a mate of mine back home who wears cowboy boots and suits. When he doesn't, he looks like a dumpy middle-aged man but transforms in the suit and cowboy boots,' he admits. 'It's just something about the choice of 'I'm going to give myself a couple more inches' in the boots that I liked immediatley.'
Martin is at 'his lowest' at the beginning of the series, but resorts to his old manipulative ways as the series progresses. 'It's just self preservation at all costs. He'll betray the woman he used to love and betray the woman he currently loves just to save his own skin,' Conleth says.
'There's something liberating about playing somebody that selfish.'
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Conleth wasn't the only star in dodgy Nineties fashion however, with Sian and Rosie sporting 'flammable and tight' clothing and bouffant heads of hair. 'The hair took ages,' Rosie says. 'We would get in the chair for about seven or six in the morning and then the rollers would stay in for ages.'
Sian adds, 'I wore a very tight red dress and I said to Rosie at the fitting, 'I can't wear this, what can I do?' Rosie said, 'You're a comedy actress, you can't be vain.''
Meanwhile, the huge high heels proved to be dangerous for Sian. 'I slipped over for real in front of 70 supporting actors, all male over the age of 60,' she admits. 'I fell by Rosie and Steve [Pemberton's] feet. They burst out laughing. It went right up my coccyx to my head. Everyone tried to act concerned. All day, all these old men kept asking if I was OK.'
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BAFTA winner Steve Pemberton returns as Martin's former business partner Sandy - who joins forces with Diane and turns out to be a chauvinistic nightmare.
The Inside No. 9 star and co-creator admits that working on someone else's project for once made for a rewarding change. 'It feels like play to me because I'm not thinking about the schedule or the scripts or the casting. I'm just enjoying myself,' he says. 'That's genuinely why I said yes - I thought I'm going to really enjoy going back up north. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't very good.'
Sian adds, 'I'm always nervous when I send the script to you. I'm like, 'Steve, just say what you want!''
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Happy Valley 's Bob Costigan plays the role of Diane and Kath's dad Dougie - whose storyline was inspired by Sian's own life. 'We didn't want Diane and Kath to row over Martin anymore and me and my sisters row over my dad - who does the most, who went to see him the week before,' Sian says.
'We tried to bring a bit of that into it. I feel now we're all of a certian age where our parents are a certain age and that's another challenge you have in life. Maybe you have children and older parents - it's the juggle with all of that. That's the one thing that hasn't changed since the '90s.'