Davina McCall interviews broadcaster and producer Richard Bacon about his early career, addiction, and family life, alongside a detailed account of a near-fatal illness. Bacon describes growing up in Nottinghamshire, his mother’s childhood burn injury, and later attending therapy with her in Los Angeles. He recounts breaking into radio and television via the Daily Mirror’s Live TV, describing stunts that resulted in bans from Parliament and a local McDonald’s.
Bacon revisits the cocaine scandal that led to his dismissal from BBC’s Blue Peter, alleging that a close friend secretly recorded a telephone call which later appeared in the News of the World. He says the public fallout reached the House of Commons and recalls support he received from figures including Chris Evans.
Later, Bacon discusses an ADHD diagnosis in his 40s, claiming a US clinic showed low prefrontal blood flow on a brain scan and linking it to stimulant-seeking and addiction. The most consequential section centres on his medical emergency: he describes hallucinating on a flight, being admitted to Lewisham Hospital, and being placed into a medically induced coma within minutes, saying his oxygen saturation dropped to a level clinicians associated with death or brain injury.
He also speaks about marriage to his wife Rebecca, relocation to Los Angeles and New York for US work, and ongoing efforts to manage alcohol use with specialist support and medication.
Bacon says he attended the Amen Clinic in Orange County for ADHD assessment and was told imaging showed unusually slow blood flow in his prefrontal cortex, visible as a "black patch". He links the diagnosis to stimulant-seeking behaviour, including heavy coffee use and past cocaine use, and says the clinician told his wife she was "keeping you alive".
Read this moment →Richard Bacon alleges a person he describes as his best friend at the time secretly recorded a phone call with him. He says the recording was then taken to former editor Max Hastings.
Read this moment →Richard Bacon recalls a consultant at Lewisham telling him his chest X-ray was bad and that he needed to be put into a coma. He says he was told it would happen within 20 minutes, prompting him to call family before he was sedated shortly afterwards.
Read this moment →Bacon says clinicians later told him his blood oxygen saturation dropped to 58 during the same hospitalisation, which he describes as entering a "die or brain damage" zone. He says he turned blue and that staff expected him to die, before a treatment "kicked in" and he recovered.
Read this moment →