13 British TV Stars Who Were Absolutely Out of Control

For decades, British television and film gave us warm, familiar faces we welcomed into our homes every week. What we didn't know was that some of them were living lives that made their wildest roles look tame. A doorman blocking a famous actor from his own live television play, convinced he was a drunken tramp. A much-loved soap actress in the witness box at the Old Bailey. An Oscar winner who, according to his director, fired a shotgun at the film crew. And the star of one of the most famous film scenes of the 1970s, who rang his director at two in the morning to ask if he had embarrassed him. From Hermione Baddeley, Wilfrid Lawson and Nicol Williamson to Mark McManus, Paul Danan, John Hurt, Sandy Ratcliff, Jack Wild, Sarah Churchill, Rachel Roberts, Robert Newton, Hugh Griffith and Robert Shaw, these are thirteen British stars whose lives ran out of control, and what it cost them. Every story comes from court records, obituaries and the words of the people who were there, and where accounts disagree, we say so. Which story shocked you the most? Tell us in the comments. Like and subscribe for more true stories of the stars we grew up with. Note: A documentary retrospective made for historical and educational purposes. All accounts are attributed to published sources. Addiction and mental illness are illnesses; if you are struggling, Samaritans are free on 116 123 in the UK.