Fiona Bruce regrets not shutting down John Rhys-Davies on Question Time: 'I don’t like it when passion edges into nastiness'

Actor shouted ‘oh, woman!’ at MP Caroline Lucas during his appearance on the BBC panel show

Fiona Bruce has revealed that she regrets not shutting down John Rhys-Davies on Question Time, after the Lord of the Rings star lost his temper with Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.

Rhys-Davies infamously shouted “oh, woman!” at Lucas during his outburst, which occurred when she challenged him on his views over the success of Donald Trump.

While the presenter said she loved it when guests were passionate on the show, she didn’t want things to “kick off”.

“Passionate, yes. Kicking off, not so much,” she told the Radio Times. “I don’t like it when passion edges into nastiness and there was a lot of nastiness around Brexit in particular, a lot of division and fear.”

“I remember more strongly the time we had another actor on [John Rhys-Davies] and he addressed Caroline Lucas as ‘woman’.”

Fiona Bruce replaced David Dimbleby on Question Time in 2019

Bruce said that, at the time, she thought she should shut Rhys-Davies down and explain that guests were expected to conduct themselves a certain way.

“We film the show as live and I always watch it back – which I don’t do with the news any more – to see if there is anything I should have done differently, and on that occasion, I should have done,” she said.

Bruce took over from David Dimbleby on Question Time in 2019, becoming the show’s first-ever female host.

Question Time airs each Thursday at 10.35pm on BBC One.