...asking Five Star a nice polite question

It’s one of the most notorious moments on kids’ TV – when a caller to Going Live unleashed the f-bomb against Five Star live on Saturday morning telly.

But why is less well known is that just after Eliot Fletcher phoned in to ask the pop stars why they were ‘so fucking crap’ they fielded a much more polite question from a well-spoken fan.

Who just happened to be Michael McIntyre.

Then just 13 years old, the future comic endearingly tripped over his words as he asked: ‘How many countries have you released records in?’

‘All over the world,’ the band replied, prompting the teenager to follow up with: ‘So there’s nowhere for you to go really, where you’re not famous?’

McIntyre's presence in the studio on that day in 1989, featured on BBC One last night during the documentary Kids TV: The Surprising Story.

Here is McIntyre’s question:

And here’s the sweary call that tested presenter Sarah Greene’s cool:

Five Star eventually won an apology for the incident – 30 yeas on.

When the clip was posted to Twitter in 2019, singer Doris Pearson replied to the tweet: ‘I wanna meet Eliot!! Twitter, do your thing.’

Fletcher then responded, saying: ‘Hi Doris. Thank you and sorry. It's great to hear you're still performing.’

‘No apology necessary,’ Doris replied, while admitting the band had been upset by the incident at the time.

• Kids TV: The Surprising Story is now available on iPlayer.

Published: 27 Oct 2022