Christopher Biggins was ‘completely out of it’ after eating cannabis laced ice cream
John Fashanu, Pam St Clement, Christopher Biggins, Bobby George and Linda Robson take a drug-fuelled US road trip!
This time last year, Christopher Biggins was licking his wounds after being kicked out of the Celebrity Big Brother house.
But now he’s back on our screens and touring America with four other celebs to find out about the country’s cannabis industry.
“Big Brother was a hateful experience,” grimaces Christopher, 68.
“It was a terrible, unfair experience. I own up to doing it for a lot of money, the greed aspect was there, but I think it was very unfortunate the way it was handled [Christopher was booted out of the house after making a Nazi concentration-camp joke to Jewish housemate Katie Waissel].
“I handled the aftermath, I think, brilliantly because I gave up everything for six months. I didn’t do anything and that was the secret. Then on 1 January this year, I got a new agent and a whole new life started again.”
However, Christopher’s big return to TV is unlikely to be without controversy.
In ITV’s Gone To Pot: American Road Trip, he joins actors Linda Robson, 59, and Pam St Clement, 75, ex-darts ace Bobby George, 71, and former footballer John Fashanu, 55, to tour the US in a ‘psychedelic bus’, investigating the pros and cons of decriminalising cannabis. It even sees the stars taking the drug themselves, an experience Christopher isn’t keen to repeat.
“I didn’t smoke cannabis because I can’t smoke, but I did want to eat it and, my God, did I eat it,” he laughs.
“Bobby and I met a woman called Nonny who was 94 years old, and she had a daughter who had a terrible car accident and suffered 400-500 seizures a day. She began taking cannabis and was completely cured, so Nonny started to cook with it.
“She made gnocchi with a cannabis sauce, then she put some into ratatouille and even some into the ice cream. We were greedy toads and ate it all – in fact, Bobby had five scoops of ice cream and I had three.
“At the end of the meal, there was no real effect, but we were quite happy. We got on the bus and both fell fast asleep. When I woke up, I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. All I could do was gently whimper: ‘Help!’ I was completely out of it and vomited 15 times.
"Bobby started throwing up, then a man and a woman carried me off the bus and put me in bed fully clothed, and I went to sleep.
"I was not aware then, but I’ve since discovered, that our producer came in every hour to see if I was all right. I said then that I would never take cannabis again.”
Despite his own traumatic experience, after exploring both sides of the legalisation debate – from meeting a mother who says her son’s life has been ruined by pot, to chatting to people whose medical conditions have been improved by using the drug – Christopher is keen to see Britain’s laws change.
“I think, certainly medically, it should be decriminalised because there are a lot of good things you can do with it,” reasons Christopher. “And I reckon if you do that, you have to do it from a recreational side, otherwise you’ll have tremendous problems.
“The trouble over here at the moment is that a lot of drugs are mixed with bad things to pad them out.
"Marijuana in America is so clean. We were very impressed when we went round cannabis factories – they even played Bob Marley music to the plants!”
While Christopher’s return to public life is an entertaining, if divisive, one, he is planning to slow down his career next year, after a remarkable 52 years in showbusiness.
“I’m doing pantomime in Richmond [south-west London] this year,” he says, “and then the following year I’m going to be 70, so I will make that my final retirement pantomime.
“Because I play the dame I have 14 costume changes, so if I’m not on stage, I’m in the wings changing.
It’s exhausting! I do want to do a TV show and book about panto, go out on a high, and then potter around doing little bits of telly.
“But you’ll never see me doing Strictly Come Dancing. The thought is lovely, but they’d never get me off the floor with my knees – I’d have to be partnered with a JCB digger!”
NEW! Gone To Pot: American Road Trip Monday, Wednesday & Friday 9pm ITV
Don't know what to watch tonight? Get your daily guide to What's On TV from The Sun Online