Richard Madeley slammed by furious viewers as he shuts down Good Morning Britain guest by calling her ‘darling’

RICHARD Madeley has been slammed by viewers after he shut down a guest on Good Morning Britain today - by calling her “darling”.

The presenter, 65,  was chatting to parenting expert Jane Evans about violence in Squid Game when he used the “derogatory” term.

Jane was arguing that pupils should not be allowed to watch the show because they are replicating it in the playground.

She was debating with crime writer Mark Billingham, who says “we've been here before” because Squid Game "is no more violent than many other programmes".

He says it's more of a moral issue if parents are letting young children watch an overtly violent programme.

Richard turned to Jane and asked her: “Can you take Mark’s point, we have…”

As Jane interrupted, Richard retorted:”Darling, can I finish my question?”

Those watching at home were shocked to hear him calling her that and took to Twitter to discuss it.

One person said: “Did Richard just say 'Darling' to shut her up… may have misheard.”

While a second added: “Not sure a presenter should be calling female guests darling! It’s 2021 FFS.”

A third commented: “Did I just hear Richard Madeley say 'hang on darling' to shut up a guest so he can get his point across?”

And a fourth raged: "Did Richard really just call his guest speaker ‘darling’ !!!”