Miriam Margolyes says ‘f*** you, bastard’ live on Radio 4’s Today programme over Jeremy Hunt

‘Oh no, no, no, you mustn’t say that. We’ll have to have you out of the studio now,’ said presenter Justin Webb

Miriam Margolyes broke the first rule of radio this morning (Saturday 15 October) as she said “f*** you” live on the Today programme.

The actor was reacting to seeing the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, in the BBC Radio 4 studio, when she swore.

“When I saw him there,” she told the hosts Justin Webb and Martha Kearney, as she was finishing her interview, “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.”

Margolyes made the remark at about 8.30am, at the end of an interview about her Harry Potter co-star, Robbie 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.”

Also on Friday, Prime Minister Liz Truss appointed the former Conservative leadership contender Hunt as her new chancellor after sacking her close ally Kwasi Kwarteng.

Kwarteng had been in the post for just 38 days. This made him the second shortest-serving post-war chancellor after Iain Macleod, who died in office.

This morning, Hunt gave an extraordinary series of interviews in which he indicated he will not be going with his new boss’s plan for Britain as presented by her first chancellor Kwarteng.

He admitted Truss made “mistakes” and said “difficult decisions” would need to be taken to calm markets and restore stability. Follow The Independent’s politics live blog here.

Miriam Margolyes and Jeremy Hunt (Getty)

Margolyes is well known for being outspoken. In her 2021 memoir, This Much is True, she called out John Cleese, saying the way he behaved towards her when they were younger was “diminishing, pointed and vicious”.

She also alleged that Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Tony Hendra and Humphrey Barclay all acted extremely negatively towards her.

Earlier this year, a Cameo video in which Margolyes went “seriously off script” talking about sex and Hitler went viral on TikTok.

She said: “I think Germany is a fabulous country. I wish it hadn’t had Hitler, I’m sure you do too. I’m very political, I’m very much on the left. So if you’re on the right, f*** off c***-face. In fact I’m supposed to end my message with peace and love. F*** off. Will that do?”