The Official History of TV Hell

As documented in this excerpt from BBC2's Official History of TV Hell (31/08/1992), The Sex Pistols replaced another act that fell through at short notice and arrived drunk, just minutes before going on air. Grundy intended this to be a probing investigation of Punk, but the episode quickly became an hilarious farce when he prompted Johnny Rotten, Glenn Matlock, Paul Cook and Steve Jones to say something outrageous. The air turned blue and the Thames switchboard was jammed with calls of protest. Meanwhile the following day's tabloids reported on "some of the dirtiest language ever heard on television" and there were stories of honest working men kicking in their TV sets in disgust, and old ladies having strokes and keeling over!