#172 - Graham Linehan - A Civilisation Built On Lies Cannot Survive
From The Peter McCormack Show by Peter McCormack
May 6, 2026 · 1h 40m
About this episode
Graham Linehan discusses the consequences of speaking out on gender issues and the societal changes surrounding activism and media.
Graham Linehan wrote Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd. Five BAFTAs. Then he said women's spaces should be for women, and the industry that built him decided he was a bigot. He lost his marriage, his career and twenty-five years of friendships. Once one of the most celebrated comedy writers of his generation, Graham became the first major artistic figure to be comprehensively cancelled for speaking out on sex-based rights - and has never gone quiet to claw his reputation back. He explains: • Why the people who built their careers alongside him refused to defend him • How a movement that didn't exist a decade ago captured medicine, sport, prisons and the BBC without a fight • Why women's sport, female-only spaces and child safeguarding became unsayable inside his industry almost overnight • How smartphones, algorithms and the collapse of physical community made a generation defenceless against ideological capture • Why activism replaced music, fashion and culture for a generation that was supposed to be having fun • What being arrested - and watching no-one call to ask if he was alright - actually teaches you about the people around…
People in this episode
Host: Peter McCormack
Guest: Graham Linehan
Topics covered
- cancellation
- gender rights
- activism
- comedy
- social issues
- media influence
Keywords
- cancellation
- gender rights
- activism
- comedy
- media
- social issues
- women's spaces
- sports
- community
Sponsors
Ledn
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Father Ted, Black Books, The IT Crowd
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