Richard Bacon has revealed his 'shame' after Blue Peter cocaine scandal meant that he was the first presenter to ever be fired from the show13:42, 15 Jul 2026Updated 13:43, 15 Jul 2026Richard Bacon still reveals his 'deep sense of shame' that came with being fired from the children's show in 1998 after a drug scandal. He revealed that the repercussions of the incident were so intense his usually stoic father was left sobbing in the shower.‌In an interview on podcast How To Fail with Elizabeth Day, Richard, 50, spoke of the Blue Peter scandal said that he still carries shame "even to this day" and shared a horrible story that his mother told him.‌"Well, the biggest shame about it is, some time later, I don't know how much time later, my mum told me it was the only time that she'd heard my dad cry, ever. He's just from that generation that doesn't. His own dad came out of World War 2 and didn't show emotion," he confessed.‌"The News Of The World comes out on a Sunday and this is now the Monday morning. [Dad's] got to go to court where he works, [as a criminal defence lawyer] and he went into the shower to cry. He turned on the shower, so that [mum] wouldn't hear him cry. He didn't want her to know. She didn't tell me at the time. She left it quite a while to be honest."He added that he had a '"deep sense of shame" even now 28 years later: "Even to this day, she said It's the only time I've ever heard him cry. So when she told me that story, I felt a deep sense of shame."‌In the interview he also revealed that he knew that it was his best friend who sold the story on him, who he worked with at Radio Nottingham, and suggested that it was because of jealousy of his own success.‌"What happened was, well, what happened was I took some cocaine." He added that it was his first time: "You would see other people get caught up in that and they would always say, "I didn't do that... it was my first time" and I would be like really, the first time you did it happened to be the time you got caught?"The first time I took it was in a nightclub called Browns in Covent Garden with that guy that you alluded to whose name I am not going to use. We were best mates and he got a wrap of it and I took the whole wrap at once. I didn't really understand it and I threw up, but I had taken it a handful of times before that.He then joked: "I think he was jealous of me. So I did 20 months on Blue Peter, pretty much the same amount of time that Keir Starmer was Prime Minister. We went out and obviously I shouldn't have done that. Blue Peter was such a big opportunity and I loved the job and I still really respect it as a programme... It was an incredible job to have at age 21, 22."‌The Head of Children's BBC, Lorraine Heggessey, said that after the News of The World got hold of the story, they would have to let Richard go. He added he was forced to return his Blue Peter badge: "Then I had to hand in my badge. It's like leaving the LAPD. You have to hand in your badge, your Blue Peter badge. I could no longer get in free to the Motor Museum at Bewley."He added that he did get the badge back at the show's 60th anniversary in 2018: "Peter Purvis, in front of all the other Blue Peter presenters, off camera, pinned one on me in front of them. And he said, all is forgiven. And all the other Blue Peter presenters applauded."Article continues belowSince leaving the show in the 90s, Richard has continued to be a successful broadcaster, appearing on The Big Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, and on radio stations including Capital FM, Xfm London and BBC Radio 5 Live.Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.