Mo Gilligan leaves NTAs audience gasping with Andi Peters joke aimed at Miriam Margolyes

Mo Gilligan left the National Television Awards audience stunned on Tuesday night when he made a pointed joke about Miriam Margolyes and the controversy surrounding her recent comments about Andi Peters.

The 38-year-old comedian was presenting the Factual Entertainment award at the ceremony in London when he made an unexpected reference to the row that erupted following Margolyes’ appearance on This Morning.

Introducing himself to the crowd, Gilligan said: “If you know me, I’m Mo Gilligan. And if you don’t know me, then I’m Andi Peters.”

The remark was met with gasps and nervous laughter from the audience.

Gilligan then moved on to the award itself, announcing that Channel 4’s Gogglebox had won Factual Entertainment.

The joke quickly became a talking point online, with viewers divided over whether the comedian had struck the right tone. Some praised the gag, while others felt it failed to land.

One viewer wrote: “Mo Gilligan does make me laugh,” while another simply responded: “That was funny Mo.”

Someone else took the opposite view, writing: “That joke fell flat as a pancake.”

The 2026 National Television Awards were held at The O2 in London on Tuesday, September 8, with the ceremony hosted by Joel Dommett.

The comments that sparked the controversy

Gilligan’s joke referred to an uncomfortable exchange between 85-year-old Margolyes and 56-year-old Peters during an appearance on This Morning the previous week.

During the interview, Margolyes began discussing accents after impersonating the Northern Irish accent of presenter Christine Lampard.

She then asked Peters what accent would be “normal” for him.

Peters replied: “This is normal. This is what I am.”

The conversation then turned to his family background.

Margolyes suggested that Peters had “a black daddy and a white mummy”, prompting him to correct her.

“No, no, no. Both my parents are black,” Peters said.

Peters then joked about his complexion, asking whether he was “a lighter shade than normal”.

Margolyes responded by using the term “high yalla”, explaining that it was used in America for someone who was not “deeply black”.

The term, also spelled “high yaller” or “high yellow”, is an outdated and offensive expression historically used in the United States to refer to a Black person with a light complexion.

The exchange became increasingly uncomfortable, with ITV producers reportedly speaking to Peters through his earpiece.

Peters acknowledged what was happening on air, telling Margolyes: “They’re getting nervous now. They’re getting nervous now.”

Margolyes replied: “Don’t be nervous. We welcome everybody. That’s what I want to write about in my book. It’s about inclusion.”

The incident subsequently attracted widespread criticism online, with the clip circulating after the section was removed from the ITVX recording. Reports at the time said viewers were particularly shocked by the discussion of Peters’ race and family background.

Margolyes explains what she meant

Margolyes later addressed the reaction to the interview.

She said she had not intended to embarrass or hurt Peters, whom she described as seeming “very nice”.

The actress also explained that she had never met him before the programme and said she wanted to know what he thought about the discussion because his perspective interested her.

The conversation went further as Margolyes discussed how different groups of people might feel about their identities and about the way others perceive them.

She then used another offensive term when referring to disabled people, asking how Black people, brown people, disabled people and fat people might feel about how they are viewed.

The This Morning host intervened to clarify that Margolyes was essentially trying to discuss Peters’ identity with him.

Margolyes agreed and said she was fascinated by other people and their stories.

She explained that she was interested in what made people who they were, why they were the way they were and how their experiences shaped them.

Mo Gilligan’s joke divides viewers

That earlier controversy was still fresh when Gilligan brought Peters’ name into the NTAs ceremony.

His brief gag immediately connected the awards-show stage with the This Morning row, prompting an audible reaction from the audience before he continued with the presentation.

The response online was similarly split.

Some viewers appreciated Gilligan’s willingness to reference the controversy directly, while others felt the joke did not work.

The moment came during a ceremony in which Gogglebox went on to take home the Factual Entertainment award, one of several major wins at this year’s NTAs.

For Margolyes, the NTAs joke added another chapter to a controversy that began with an uncomfortable live television interview. For Gilligan, it was a brief line delivered from the stage that nevertheless became one of the night’s most talked-about moments.