‘I love the panic of the presenters’: David Baddiel among stars to react to Miriam Margolyes’s ‘f*** you’ to Jeremy Hunt

Actor was telling the ‘Today’ hosts what she wished she’d been brave enough to say to the new chancellor when they crossed paths in the studio

David Baddiel, Kathy Burke and Krishnan Guru-Murthy are among the celebrities who have reacted with joy to Miriam Margolyes swearing about Jeremy Hunt live on Radio 4’s Today programme.

At the end of an interview on the Saturday morning episode of the show (15 October), actor Margolyes told the hosts her reaction to seeing the new chancellor, Hunt, in the studio.

“When I saw him there,” she told Justin Webb and Martha Kearney, “I said, ‘You’ve got a hell of a job, best of luck.’ And what I really want to say was, ‘F*** you, bastard.’ But you cant say that.”

“Oh no no no you mustn’t say that,” replied Webb. “We’ll have to have you out of the studio now.”

“We will,” added Kearney. “With many apologies.”

Reacting to the chaotic scenes on Twitter, comedian Baddiel posted: “I love the panic on the presenters’ parts. They know what’s coming as soon as she takes a breath.”

Actor and comedian Burke wrote: “Miriam Margolyes makes my day again by saying ‘f*** you’ on Radio 4.”

She added: “My first professional acting job, aged 17, was the film Scrubbers which also featured Robbie Coltrane and Miriam Margolyes. Now you know where I get it all from. The naughty ones were nothing but inspiring.”

Posting crying-laughing emojis, news presenter Guru-Murthy wrote: “The truth is you only book Miriam Margolyes to be live on air if you are either hoping she says something outrageous, or are a new producer who has never seen her on anything before.”

Miriam Margolyes and Jeremy Hunt (Getty)

TV presenter Anneka Rice posted: “A joy to start the day to Miriam Margolyes saying ‘f*** you’ on Radio 4. I love her reliability!”

Author Michael Rosen shared: “Miriam Margolyes! She’s done it again.”

Another Twitter user called it “possibly the greatest moment in the Today programme’s history courtesy of Miriam Margolyes”.

“That was hilarious, I’m pretty sure Robbie Coltrane would wholeheartedly approve of Miriam Margolyes giving him a beautiful eulogy, and then telling Jeremy Hunt to f*** off live on Radio 4,” added another person.

Margolyes made the remark at about 8.30am, at the end of an interview about her Harry Potter co-star, Coltrane, who died aged 72 on Friday (14 October).

Speaking about her friend, who played Hagrid in the franchise, she said: “I just feel furious he’s died. Such a waste. I hope somewhere he’s able to hear everybody mourning him and praising him and loving him, because he got a great deal out of human contact. He loved people.”

Hunt has just been appointed by Prime Minister Liz Truss as the replacement for Kwasi Kwarteng, who had been chancellor for just 38 days, making him the second shortest-serving post-war chancellor after Iain Macleod, who died in office.