Sex pistols - Bill Grundy Interview BBC 1976

• published: 04 Dec 2014
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The Today incident Punk rock band Sex Pistols and their entourage appeared at short notice on the Today show of 1 December 1976. The Today show was broadcast live and uncensored at 18:00 on weekdays and at a time when spoken obscenities were forbidden. The interview began with Grundy introducing the band but he then began to provoke his guests. As he introduced them, he said that "they are as drunk as I am!" Initially, he received mocking but relatively innocuous responses from Glen Matlock. However, Steve Jones, when asked by Grundy what the band had done with the £40,000 given to them by their record company, said: "We fuckin' spent it ain't we?". The obscenity was overlooked by Grundy at the time. Following this, Johnny Rotten, in response to a question about Mozart, muttered the word "shit" under his breath. When challenged by Grundy, Lydon said that it was nothing but a "rude word" and asked Grundy to go on with the interview. Grundy insisted that Lydon repeat what he had said. When Lydon did so, Grundy mocked him. Next, Grundy spoke to Siouxsie Sioux, who appeared as part of the band's entourage, saying "I really wanted to meet you", Grundy responded by saying "let's meet after, shall we?" Interpreting this as a sexual comment, Steve Jones responded by calling the interviewer a "dirty sod" and a "dirty old man." Grundy further goaded Jones to "say something outrageous", a challenge that Jones met by calling Grundy a "dirty bastard" and a "dirty fucker".[3] Grundy mockingly responded "what a clever boy" and Jones retorted "what a fucking rotter." As the show ended and the credits rolled, Grundy mouthed "oh shit" as the band began dancing to the closing theme. Although Today was only a regional programme for London, it became a national story due to coverage and comment by the tabloid press. As a result, Grundy was suspended for two weeks and Today was cancelled two months later. In a 2008 poll conducted by FremantleMedia, the Today show interview was the most requested TV clip ever. Post-Today The broadcast wrecked Grundy's television career. By 1979 he was presenting a book review programme, A Better Read, broadcast not at prime time like Today, but early on Sunday mornings. In 1980, while filming "Changing Trains", an episode in Series 1 of the BBC TV travel documentary Great Railway Journeys of the World, he "apparently [fell] down the neck of a whisky bottle in Zurich", and, after being "air freighted home", was replaced by Eric Robson. His presenting slot on What the Papers Say in the early 1980s was his last on national British television, although he continued to present on BBC North West on such shows as Sweet and Sour and The Lancashire Lads into the mid-'80s. He also appeared as an interviewer in ITV's adaptation of A Kind of Loving in 1982. Grundy died of a heart attack in Stockport, on 9 February 1993, aged 69.