Phillip Schofield was forced to apologise after Martin Clunes swore three times in the space of 10-minutes during an interview on Thursday’s This Morning.
Phillip and Holly Willoughby were joined by the Doc Martin star to discuss the new series of the true-crime drama Manhunt.
However, the segment ended in an apology from the host after Martin repeatedly swore live on air.
Discussing producers’ decision not to show gratuitous violence in Manhunt, he explained: “We don’t show the crimes in any way, nobody wants to see that, we just show ‘stop the bastard’, really, yeah.”
Later in the interview, Martin discussed the real police officer, Colin Sutton, that he portrays in the ITV series.
“I had a man come up to me in the petrol station come up to me and say, ‘I used to work for Colin Sutton at Surrey. You and that bloody cardigan, you’re just like him’,” he recalled.
“Colin now swears he’s never worn a cardigan in his life.”
Martin’s third strike came when he referred to other police dramas as “tosser-of-the-yard” shows.
He said: “They quite often do focus in on the cinematography of the act of violence or something grisly. A Russian prostitute’s body in the opening, do you know what I mean?
“I don’t really like those, but the whole challenge of this was first the type of guy that Colin is, and also the fact we’re just dealing with the resolution and solving the crime.”
Phillip then said: “I haven’t apologised for each of the uses of bad language, because obviously that would take up far too much time. So what I’m going to do is just apologise for all three in one.”
Martin joked: “Or I can add? Sorry.”
“Other swear words are available,” Phil said with a laugh. “God it’s good to have you back, we’ve missed you!”
Ironically, Thursday’s edition of This Morning began with a highlights reel of their best and most prestigious broadcasts from the past 18-months, after winning at the TRIC Awards and NTAs in the space of a week.
This Morning airs every weekday from 10am on ITV.