All language subtitles for Paula.S01E01.en

This programme contains strong
language and reference to suicide.

Take two. Anita, Ed? What?
Banging off the leg.

What...?

In your own time.
Shot one, take two.

Today, it's a very...

No, do that again.
LAUGHING: Pfft! I was laughing!

Paula Yates was probably,
next to Princess Diana,

the most famous female in England.

When she walked in a room
she was like a firecracker.

Woo-woo-woo-woo! Take that!

And she was great and irreverent.

Have you reached your peak now
or are you getting bigger?

LAUGHTER

Trailblazer and the
absolute epitome of charismatic.

I'm in Grand Master Flash's
dressing room

which is why I'm talking a bit funny

because it's making me,
actually, quite nervous, ooh!

Surely feminism was...
The point is that you get a choice,

you don't have to have it all
and do it all. You can choose.

She was a kind of chameleon
and a sort of maverick

and a kind of
self-invented person.

REPORTER: Paula Yates
is probably better known

for her private life
than for her TV career.

Every twist and turn of her
problems was front page news.

I think there was a sense that
she was the original wild child,

she linked up with a rock star,

linked up with another rock star,

that rock star has this tragic
death, and this...

..the person at the centre of
it had it coming to her

and was the cause of it all.

NEWSREADER: The rock star Michael
Hutchence was found hanging

from a door in a Sydney hotel room.

When I spoke to her,
the opposite was true.

I remember walking in to the room

and the room was just
completely still

and Paula was sitting at this table.

You always seem to be under siege...

MULTIPLE CAMERAS CLICKING

Presented for the first time by
a page-three girl today, meow.

INTERVIEWER: What's going through
your head thinking about her now?

Does it feel like
a long time ago or...?

It's strangely emotional.

As soon as I sit down in this chair

I just wanted to cry,

it's the weirdest feeling,

just feel quite...

Very emotional, yeah.

Er, I wrote a song about her. Um...

And I've never said it's
about her at all to anybody.

It's a song called Cursed,

and there's a lyric in it that goes,

"Told everybody I'd slept with you,
thought you'd like it,

"knew you wouldn't deny it."

It's not true, so if anybody goes
and checks that song out.

But it's true that she
wouldn't have denied it.

She wouldn't have denied it no, no.

HE LAUGHS

That's enough about that,
Bob's watching, erm...

What was the nature
of your relationship?

The nature of our relationship,

what was the nature
of our relationship?

I suppose...

..she would be a...

..confidante.

In order to be a good lover... Mm.

..do you think there's any particular
things that people should do?

Well, use lubrication.

Use lub...
LAUGHTER

A...

..older sister.

Do you find girls
a great inspiration?

I mean, are lots of your songs
written about girls?

Of course.

She was incredibly smart,

incredibly engaging.

I've gone all red.

You're in enough trouble as it is.

Why? Do you think I'm gonna...?
LAUGHTER

And somebody that was just
fascinating to be around.

Don't keep pulling me!
I'm not, you know...

I'm not like, you know,
an object. I'm sorry.

You know, I'm a person!

TERRY WOGAN: According to a recent
survey in Teenage magazine,

more girls would like to look
like my final guest tonight

than the Princess of Wales.

Her face appeared on
more front covers

than any other models last year,
she's a journalist, author,

businesswoman and
she's still in her 20s.

Ladies and gentlemen, Paula Yates.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

I'm dreadfully conventional.

I mean, I read romantic novels

which I buy and I hide under
a pile of serious novels

cos I'm embarrassed to buy them.

I collect pictures of Prince Andrew
and his chopper.

LAUGHTER

And I'm frightfully keen on
Doris Day films.

Well, the ones with Rock Hudson,
cos then I pretend it's you and me.

LAUGHTER

When I first met Paula,
which is like the late '70s,

I was a music journalist doing
reviews for Record Mirror,

and Paula Yates was a...

..was a columnist, so the
first time I went in there,

she was sitting in the corner,
banging away,

trying to get this column done,

but I subsequently found out that
she was always slightly late

with her copy, so I guess
she was sort of behind on

a deadline or something.

Was she quite intimidating?

She was quite unapproachable,
fiercely intelligent.

She was someone who really
knew what she wanted

and she knew how
to get what she wanted as well,

so there was a certain kind of
authority about her that, I think,

was attractive, certainly I
noticed her the moment I walked in.

I mean, she was quite a,
kind of, exotic figure

with the peroxide hair,
and she knew everybody.

I mean, really, really well
connected which, you know, for us,

I was sort of 18, 19, you know,

we were sort of in awe of that.

CHANNEL 4 FANFARE

ANNOUNCER: Good afternoon.

It's a pleasure to be able
to say to you,

welcome to Channel 4.

Britain's first new network
for 18 years went on

the air as scheduled at
a quarter to five.

One day on Channel 4,

a pop show broadcasting
from Newcastle arrives.

You know, bands are coming on
and they're playing live

and it's bumpy and it's weird

and then Paula Yates appears
and she looks incredible.

Well, here it is,

the studio where it's all
going to be happening.

For the next five months
you're going to be able

to see live music, interviews...

It was a pivotal part of my life.

I must have been seven
or eight years old.

You know, you looked on television,

I didn't want to be
a Blue Peter presenter.

They're such lovely colours
you see, aren't they?

Green, just like a bishops mitre.
Mm.

I didn't want to be Anne Diamond,

I didn't want to be
the girls on Miss World.

For me, Paula Yates was an icon,

she was everything,
all plates spinning at once,

everything a modern woman could be.

Now, you can tell that
this is live television

because I am sitting on my foot

because I wasn't allowed to go
to the loo before the show started.

However, there are so many girls
on tonight's show

that even the crew came
out of the pub early

and the whole place has the
overpoweringly erotic smell of Brut.

She flirts and she's sexy and, er...

It wasn't just, kind of, harmless,

coy, kind of, Princess
Diana flirting,

this was proper, sexual,
Marilyn Monroe,

but mixed with, kind of,
an NME cool slant.

Now, tell me, Sting, what we really
want to know is,

how come you get
your gear off so often?

Virtually every picture
you've got your shirt off.

So, come on, how come?
Well, I don't know, it's...

That was part of the magic of her,

that every time she appeared
on television

interviewing some gorgeous,
sexy man,

you could almost feel her
playing footsie under the ta...

SHE LAUGHS
Under the table!

Our next group I'm not
allowed to introduce

because you might have thought that
the lead singer had given me one.

Whereas, in fact, the lead singer,

the lead singer, in fact,
did give me one...

..of these records which
are their brand-new record.

ROCK MUSIC PLAYS

The Boomtown Rats had come along

and they had this singer with real
attitude, which was Geldof,

this kind of real, you know,
kind of, Jack-the-lad,

kind of like an Irish Jagger,

but a bit cooler than
Mike Jagger was back then.

And so when Paula came along
and hooked up with him,

Bob Geldof was a big thing and
Paula Yates, being his girlfriend,

she was a big thing as well.

MUSIC: I Don't Like Mondays
by The Boomtown Rats

I'm supposed to be
a pin-up star, erm,

who has a pretty girlfriend.

For the daily pop papers,

I'm supposed to be
Bob Geldof, rock star,

and supposed to be like Rod
and Britt or Mick and Bianca,

and it's not even Mick and Marianne.

# Tell me why

# I don't like Mondays... #

Let's meet the lady in your life,
TV pop presenter, Paula Yates.

# I don't like Mondays

# I want to sho-oo-oo-oot... #

APPLAUSE

Paula, did romance
blossom right away?

Well, it did for me,
but it didn't really for him.

The first time I saw him,

he had these incredibly tight,
red trousers sort of sprayed on

and a black jumper
and a plastic fried egg,

and the Lord's Prayer tied to his
jumper with a bit of string,

and I thought,
"Gosh, there's a hunk."

LAUGHTER
Well, Bob Geldof, hunk...

Paula Yates was
probably my best friend.

We must have met in
the '80s at some time

and we lived very near each other,

like literally, in the next street.

She was pregnant and I was
pregnant at the same time,

and that kind of
was more of a bond.

And then when the kids were little,

when we used to take them to
the One O'Clock Club at Battersea,

and hang out and that's
kind of how we became friends.

Because, of course, they made it
for me just after I'd had my baby

and, of course, the minute
I'd had her I wanted everything

to be skin tight and have to be
wedged into it with a shoe horn.

She was kind of like a cross
between Marilyn Monroe

and Mary Poppins, you know?

That's how I think of her, really.

She was an incredibly good mother,

incredibly kind,

very loyal to her friends,
extraordinarily well-read.

I mean, extraordinary,
you know, you could ask her,

whatever the conversation was,
Paula not just had an opinion,

but definitely had knowledge on
whatever you were talking about.

Um, but she kind of came across
as this ditzy blonde,

but she definitely wasn't.

She needed somebody who had her back

and who understood her
and was a friend.

So, yeah, we had a lot of fun,

just kind of do normal things
you do with your friends.

And then things changed, yeah.

Detectives say they're baffled
about the circumstances

of the death of rock star
Michael Hutchence.

His partner, the TV presenter
Paula Yates, is in London

and is expected to fly out
to Australia this evening.

I was the editor of OK! Magazine,

which is this national
celebrity magazine.

When Michael Hutchence died,

I saw a front page of The Sun

and it was all about Paula's grief
and this, that and the other

and, suddenly, a light bulb
lit up in my head

and I thought, "First interview
with her would be really good."

I found out that Paula had
this sort of right-hand woman

called Belinda Brewin,
called her and said,

"Look, I would be really
interested in doing

"the first interview with Paula."

I hadn't seen her face-to-face
for 20 years,

and here she was not looking
terribly different as a person

but her body language and her kind
of general demeanour was just...

..broken, really.

PAULA:

Michael was her love.

Well, she never got over it -
I don't think people do,

they just learn to live with it.

Paula didn't really learn
to live with it,

that was the problem.

It was a big, black cloud
every single day and to, to...

..to get away from that was
very hard.

TOWNSEND: Well, what do you think?

I mean, people keep saying to me,
you know...

PAULA:

PAULA:

THEY LAUGH

Shot three, take one.

What's wrong? No, no,
nothing's wrong at all,

there's just a bit of stuff that
won't be in shot that's over there.

Oh. In your own time, my love.

# It's Christmas-time... #

NEWSREADER: It all started
just eight months ago

when a contingent of 40
British rock stars got together

at a studio in London to record
Do They Know It's Christmas?

The sole purpose being to raise
money for the starving Ethiopians.

When Bob Geldof thought of the idea
for the Band Aid single,

he rather expected
it would make about 70...

It's all right, just carry on.
What is wrong with me?!

Just start again, you're fine.
Well, it's cos I'm seeing people!

LAUGHTER
OK, camera.

Start again, please.
Do you think I...?

I suddenly... That's why I had my
pause cos I was a bit worried,

do you think they all know
I live with him?

Yeah, of course they
know you live with him.

I don't really want to act
like I'm being...

No, no, of course, you're not.

OK.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back
to London, to Wembley and Live Aid,

will you meet and greet,
David Bowie?

MUSIC: Let's Dance

I can still remember

the whole day of watching
Live Aid as if it was yesterday.

All the big pop names of
the time in Wembley Stadium,

Live Aid was one of
the most important

and far-reaching charity ventures
that the world has ever seen.

NEWSREADER: By noon, 72,000 rock fans
were packed into Wembley Stadium

as Live Aid began
in brilliant sunshine.

The Princess, a keen pop fan,
apparently needed little persuading

to join the huge audience.

They were this iconic couple,

they were both ground-breaking
in their own rights.

I mean, I remember we were on
the Fulham Road

and we went into - there's
a jewellery shop there -

and we went in and
Princess Diana was in there,

and Princess Diana said to Paula,

"I love it when you're on
the front page of the papers

"because it means
I've got the day off."

NEWSREADER: Bob Geldof, the
rock star and inspiration

behind Band Aid, Live Aid
and Sport Aid,

received a personal reward
for his work this morning

when the Queen presented him
with an honorary knighthood.

Basically, these diaries came
along in The Sun, The Standard,

The Mirror, which
were daily showbiz diaries,

and it was the first, if you like,
daily monitoring

of national, British showbiz.

And we were, basically,
just filling the news,

trying to fill
the newspapers every day

with showbiz gossip and pop gossip.

And that was the massive change

that Paula and Bob
were in the middle of.

The Geldofs, cos they would be
people that journalists like myself

would be keeping an eye on,

if they had a row or there
was, you know, a bust up,

they'd be photographed,

there'd be people trying
to get words with them,

it was a lot of chasing around.
HE CHUCKLES

Getting into cabs and, you know,

getting pictures quickly developed
for the next morning,

and all that stuff.

It was a great time to be
a journalist, actually.

Blonde and blondes,

and you've wanted to be
a blonde since how old?

Since I was six,

but my mother, sensibly enough,
wouldn't let me.

Sorry, I was just... Have a quick...

And what she did instead
is she had this blonde wig.

And I used to wear it all the time,

finally a halt was put
to the wig borrowing

because I arrived at one of her
dinner parties wearing the wig,

came down the stairs,
Winceyette pyjamas, wig,

and her diaphragm on
the top of my head.

LAUGHTER
So that was that, the wig was
snatched away.

That was the end of that episode.
That was the end of that.

So, when did you actually become
blonde yourself?

I became blonde when I was 12.

Real blonde, the blonde that we...?
Like this, yeah.

She came in very much in
her style that was, you know,

'50s dress and peroxide hair
and she was great and irreverent,

and I can remember all those days
of, like, you know,

David Bowie coming in

and Paula Yates trying to pay with
a plastic bag full of change

and things like that.

I saw her a lot, three times a week,
four times a week,

it was every shoot that she did
and she did a lot.

Nobody else did her hair.

INTERVIEWER: Really,
the whole way through?

No, not at all, not at all and
I can't say that for everybody,

I mean... Did you become friends?

Yeah, we did. I think, you know,
you can't work for that long,

know that much
and not become a friend.

Yeah, she'd be quite
frivolous, I mean...

I mean, I can remember
I got a call from Bob

at like seven in the morning,
it was more or less on the lines of,

"For fuck's sake, can you get here

"because she's not having this baby
until she's had her hair done?"

But that was her way of doing
it and, of course, she did,

when she came out and presented
herself to the world,

she, on, you know, each of the
occasions of a birth,

it was in full Paula
regalia, you know,

hair done and I'm ready for
the cameras. So, that was her.

I suppose she just knew her market.

Today is the day, of course,
my perfume comes out. Yes.

Would you like sniff me?

It's, um... Are you uncontrollable?

LAUGHTER

Terry, be honest. It's strong,

I'll say that.
It is potent, isn't it?

It is potent, it's a good word,
yes, powerful.

I'm utterly thrilled with it

because of the effect
it has on men. Yeah.

LAUGHTER

Paula is doing what is now, through
today's eyes, incredibly natural,

you have a perfume and
you have a lingerie brand,

they're just spin-off things,
you know,

you make money, you bank,
you bank money.

That's coming out and
then followed by my underwear.

Followed by the underwear? I know.

So, Paula Yates smells in
her underwear.

BELINDA: You know, before
Kim Kardashian there was Paula.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

INTERVIEWER: Did you get a
sense that she was happy?

I really don't want to get into
the Bob and Paula stuff,

really, I don't.

At the time, there were allegations
about both of them in the press.

Well, Paula Yates didn't just
date and marry a rock star,

she lived her life like a rock star,
almost like a male rock star,

and the rumours would always be that
she was, basically,

shagging every single
one of these men.

I don't know if she did.

I hope she did.

Because these were some of the most
gorgeous and sexy, virile men

in their prime of the '80s.

Every once in a while, The Tube does
something to make everyone happy,

and this is it, so you have
to put down your baked beans,

you have to stand up
in your living room,

you have to take off your vest
because you're going to get so hot,

because it's just the best singer
you're going to see all year.

That's it, there we go, perfect.

Terence Trent D'Arby
has got a voice

that you just want to just kill for,

and here he is in
his first TV performance

with his debut single,
If You Let Me Stay.

# Honey, don't leave me now

# With my head on
my shoulders wrong. #

My name is Sananda Maitreya,

I was previously known in another
life as, as another thing.

# If you let me stay

# I'll say what I should've said. #

First, let me just say that
the subsequent 35 years,

I have been asked about
Paula Yates on numerous occasions

and I've always refused
to talk about her,

but it's a relief to finally
have this outlet to...

..to talk about and
celebrate her life.

Do you remember meeting Paula?

Yes, I do remember meeting
the madam.

The first time I met her was
before I went on stage for

my first appearance on The Tube.

What were your first impressions?

Er, my first impressions of her were

what you would expect from
a 24, 25-year-old,

you know, "Wow, she's, she's
hot!" You know what I mean?

You know, the business is full
of beautiful women,

but the ones who have made
the impact that she...

..she had on the culture
at the time.

There's something else there.

He originally came up to do
six songs and... Two songs!

And did six and I can hardly speak,
I'm so excited.

MUSIC: (She's Gonna) Do You In
by The Boomtown Rats

So, I'm in a hotel in New York,

and I get this call
from the front desk...

..telling me that there's
a gentleman downstairs

who would very much like
to meet with me.

"The gentleman says his
name is Bob Geldof."

Like, "Fu-u-u-ck!"

And it was something along
the lines of,

"So, what's this about
you and my wife, then?

"Are you knobbing my wife?"

So, of course, I did what any
other self respecting, you know,

25-year-old man would do
and I fucking lied to him.

What do you think about the
comparisons that have been made

about you, with Prince and,
and people like Michael Jackson?

Um, I think with Prince, to be fair,
a lot of it has to do with the fact

that we're both of
similar complexion.

There's a headline... I don't want
to see it. You can read it.

I'll read to you, it's front page,

it's News Of The World, just
says...

..and it's really shocking
to see it from this perspective.

Yes.

Was race an element of that...

..criticism that you faced,
of that story?

We're an Anglo-based culture,
how can it not?

How can it not?

The whole News Of The World,

"Paula caught with black star,"
and manipulating that for...

..for public...retribution,
I was going to pay for that,

I did, she was going to
pay for that, she did.

I do believe that connected with
that whole Bob and Paula thing,

there were the knives out, ready to
carve me into Thanksgiving turkey,

and that's subsequently
what I experienced.

Yeah, I don't think
in terms of rating,

I just think in terms
of getting my links right.

I'll just be, you know,
extremely relieved

if it all goes smoothly,
you know, to begin with.

REPORTER: The new £10 million,
five-mornings-a-week

Channel 4 Big Breakfast will have

a combination of studio activities
and live broadcast events

with ITN News bulletins
popping up too.

The format, in so far as there
is one, is very much along

the lines of television
youth programmes,

a sort of slam-bang-gotcha style
of presentation.

One of the things that I think
is great with this is,

it's so pacey, everything
just...rollicks along.

MULTIPLE CAMERAS CLICKING

Hello, so shocking to see
you not outside our house.

I know. It's really weird.

At today's launch, Bob Geldof,

the big name behind the
new show wasn't around,

but his wife, Paula Yates, a
presenter on the Big Breakfast was.

It is terrible in the morning,
are you good in the mornings?

I'm really sickeningly good.

Like, you know, those vomity
people that wake up

and sing selections from Rogers
and Hammerstein very loudly

up and down the stairs.

Is it true you had an affair
with Prince?

No, Prince has...has been an idol of
mine... Did you sleep with him? No.

Oh, come on! No!

I don't believe that anyone else
carried out their interviews

on a double bed,

I mean, that was very much her
sense of humour, she loved that.

That's more meaningful.

She always used to say to me,

"I'll never interview anybody
less famous than myself,"

and she asked the kind of questions,

naughty kind of questions,
flirty kind of questions.

You promised me you wouldn't wear
that dress again.

No, but you said you
wouldn't wear yours.

The Big Breakfast bed was somehow
this kind of sexy detonator.

You wouldn't be wolf mother
with a howl like that!

I could do a bigger howl
if I got revved up.

LAUGHTER
Hello!

She became absolutely sort of
key and crucial to it,

and emblematic of it in a way

because Paula Yates was
the on-the-bed person,

On The Bed With Paula,

and there she would be interviewing
the great big stars of the time.

Come on, give me some marriage tips,
big boy. All right.

And she would give these incredibly
sparky, spirited interviews.

It's not quite the
same though, is it,

saying you're doing well in Belgium?

It's like saying I was doing very
well in Cleethorpes, isn't it?

Right, right. I mean,
Belgium's quite dull, isn't it?

And she did it by seducing every
single person on the bed,

didn't matter who it was, whoever it
was, she would flirt shamelessly,

and she was irresistible.

Is it true you've got three nipples?
Yes, it is.

Is it true you have three nipples?

No, I don't, I don't have
this unusual asset.

It would be wrong to think that
the On The Bed interviews

were all kind of jokey
and light-hearted and frothy

and superficial
cos actually they weren't.

Do you get upset cos some of
the criticism

does insinuate that you're sort of

two vol-au-vents short
of the full buffet?

Somehow or other being on the bed
meant that people would talk in

a very open way about all
sorts of things

and Paula was expert, actually,

at really getting to
the root of an interview

and getting to the really
interesting stuff.

It doesn't matter
if you're a man or a woman,

everybody can do drag, you know?

But what attracted you to it
in the first place?

I mean, when was that moment
where you suddenly thought...

.."Hey, I'm going to put on girls
knickers"?

LAUGHTER

Of course, this was all before
nine o'clock in the morning,

and therefore it was a kind of,
um, revolutionary television,

kind of masquerading
as light entertainment,

but really having, sometimes,
a very serious kernel.

Does it make you cross that
it's not easier for gay men

to get a baby when they'd
probably make very good dads?

I think it's just the way things
are, really. It will change.

How quickly? Probably...

..within ten years.

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember
meeting her?

Er, I'm guessing it was
the Big Breakfast?

I must be the absolute most envied
woman in the entire country

because Jason's kissing...
You're married to Bob Geldof?

Yeah, because I'm married to Bob
and because Jason's kissing my arm.

You're going to ask me
what I was thinking then,

I was thinking, "Don't fancy Jason,"
like, everybody fancied Jason,

they still fancy Jason.

It's that chin.

I was, like... Did you fancy her?

Oh, yeah, course I did, yeah.

Nothing ever happened.

Yeah, no, nothing ever happened.

Yeah, I wanted her to fancy me.

Bob was just telling... Are you
going to come and see us?

No, you can't suck my big toe!

Are you going to come and see us?
No, cos it's all dirty. Yes, I am.

You know, she was easy
to get on with

and I don't find that many people
easy to get on with

because, you know, I'm quite
socially awkward myself,

so when you find people that
you do feel comfortable with,

they make an impact.

And when it's somebody
as exotic and intoxicating

and as smart as Paula,

it leaves a lasting impact.

But I suppose,
when you think about it,

there's only really one interview
that everybody remembers

and that was her interview
with Michael Hutchence.

This is a guest that has everything
that a rock star needs to have -

danger, talent, curly hair
and Australian subtlety.

And, for the first time,

this is a guest that I
want to have my leg over.

And it is...

..it's the fantastically talented
Michael Hutchence.

Hi.

Were you always very forward?
Am I forward?

Well, a bit. And you're talking.

THE CREW LAUGH

BELINDA BREWIN: It was
quite an outrage.

I mean, I remember her legs
were kind of entwined with his,

and he was a bit...

..well, not taken aback but you
could see he was blushing and...

But you could see a connection.

I mean, there was
definitely a connection.

I mean, the funny thing was,
she, for years,

had a picture of Michael on the
fridge and it said "Love Dog" and...

..Bob came down and I think he wrote
"cunt" across his picture.

And do you think you're
going to get married?

HE LAUGHS

Erm... What?

Do you think that you'll get
married? No! No, no... Why not?

I'm happily unmarried.
Are you? Mm-hm.

Why don't you fancy getting
married, though?

I... Because everyone wants us
to get married.

I don't. I know, except for you.

It's a terrible, terrible idea.
Terrible idea.

How quickly after that interview
did they get together?

Five minutes.

SHE LAUGHS
No, um...

In the green room.
SHE LAUGHS

I... No, don't put that in
for fuck's sake.

TOWNSEND: Maybe the initial shock
that her and Bob were no longer,

and that she was having this affair

with this very colourful
Michael Hutchence,

sort of very handsome,

very kind of desired kind of figure,

that would've been
a good story for a while,

but I think then the media sort of
took Bob's side

because he was Saint Bob
and Paula was the scarlet woman.

INTERVIEWER: Did she get it
worse than most?

Absolutely, beyond doubt,

all of the things that made Paula

so lovable when she was in her 20s,

the fact that she was gobby
and anarchic and sexual.

All of those things by the time
she had got into her late 30s,

they were no longer attractive
to lots and lots

and lots of men in media - and
women too - but it was mainly men.

And, er...

I think that the way
that she was, you know,

pilloried and picked on was
incredibly heart-breaking.

PHOTOGRAPHERS CALLING OUT

I wouldn't have changed
anything I had done,

but I would certainly have changed

a lot of things other people
have done.

Such as? What like? Erm...

Just the general coverage, you know,

I think that's been quite
difficult to deal with.

PAUL MERTON:Is it breast implants?
LAUGHTER

Oh, well, that's very gentlemanly!

LAUGHTER

That's really nice,

you could have said it
was, like, Gazza, me...

GRACE DENT: It's that constant
kicking up the arse, you know,

and that's what made me really angry

about how she was treated on
Have I Got News For You

because she got a drubbing
that a politician wouldn't,

who, you know, led the country
into absolute ruin,

and what had she actually done?

What, what...? What was it that
Paula Yates did that upset you?

What was it?

It's a big secret, though, isn't it,
your breast implants?

LAUGHTER

Erm, I mean, you certainly
kept it quiet.

LAUGHTER

Yeah, I was straight on
the phone to somebody

with a greasy shirt
in Wapping saying,

"Please discuss my breasts
with the nation."

"And can you buy the
rights of my book?"

LAUGHTER

I think it's always been
very difficult to be a woman

with multiple layers to you.

I mean, if you were a sort of
Dolly Dealer, you know,

you're pretty and bosomy,
and where all you had to do

was giggle or something like
that and be, you know,

cute and whatever,
that was one thing.

If you were a sort of
clever blue-stocking,

and you weren't supposed
to be pretty or attractive,

you were just supposed to be clever,

that was another thing, although
people didn't much like that

cos they didn't much
like clever women.

But to be lots of different things
was just confusing

and pissed everybody off.
You know, what are you for?

Am I meant to want
to masturbate about you?

Am I meant to want
to have dinner with you?

Am I supposed to marry you?
What am I meant to do?

And I think, particularly,
vocal woman,

didn't really matter what you
were saying,

it was much more that you were
saying it.

So Paula Yates was extremely vocal

and that alienated a vast swathe.

I mean, it's terrible bloody
media intrusion,

look, there's cameras here, Paula.

LAUGHTER

Ian...? She was invited
on this show.

Please stop being unkind.

Don't be unkind.

What was it that really
upset people?

Was it cos she was shameless?

She refused to go cap in hand
to these people

and rebrand herself as
being holier than thou.

And, er, she was absolutely
pilloried at every, every turn.

MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYS

PAULA:

INTERVIEWER: Were they
having a good time?

BELINDA BREWIN: Yes,
they had a great time.

Yeah, they had a really good time.

I mean, you know, they went
to Bali on holiday,

they went to Paris,
they went to Rome.

Michael had his place in
the South of France,

so they would go there and,
yeah, it was,

it was fantastic
and it was great to see them

and they were so happy,

and they were really,
really in love, you know?

I know Paula to be
incredibly playful

and get sucked in to things
of the moment, you know,

and so I can only assume that
she just got kind of sucked into

the whole, the power of Michael.

I can certainly remember when
he was going out with Kylie,

and there were a number
of clients that went,

"Oh, God, how's that gonna turn...?"

You know, so he already had this
reputation of being fairly wild.

I suppose there was an instant
where I'm thinking,

"Is Paula going to succumb to that?"

PAULA:

TOWNSEND: Did he ever use drugs
when you were together?

INTERVIEWER: What was the reaction
to their new relationship?

The press?

Well, it just went crazy, didn't it?

And it went crazy.

The whole thing with
the phone tapping and, you know,

all of that.

I mean, the phone tapping was
almost laughable you could hear it.

Click-click, I mean, it's madness.

But illegal stuff.

One day my daughter came
and said,

"Mum, there's a guy climbing
in the bedroom window."

And I was like, "What?"

"He says he wants to talk to you,"
so he thought it was OK to climb in,

into my daughter's bedroom,

scared the living daylights
out of her and then said,

"No, no, it's OK, I just want to
speak to your mum," so that was OK.

The papers had to be filled
every single day

and if they were, you know,

scandalous stories all the better,

all the more chance
of getting on page one.

How do you feel being part of that?

I was doing my job, is
what I felt and, you know,

my job was to report on a story
that was of public interest.

I look back on it now,
you know, I...

I don't regret anything
cos I, I just don't.

You know, I did... I did what I did
at the time for the right reasons,

but I think, erm...

..I could see how sometimes it would
be too much for people and, erm...

..that's not a nice feeling, really.

MICHAEL HUTCHENCE: It was
really easy, it was great.

She was fantastic. Brilliant.

What's it like being
a new dad, Michael?

It's, erm, it's beautiful.
I mean, it's fantastic.

I'm on cloud nine, you know,
what can I say?

TINA HUTCHENCE: Michael looked
so happy, he was so proud

of his little child.

Well, Michael was born
just after my 12th birthday.

We had this relationship where

I was his sister,

but I was his mother too.

This is very soon after Tiger
was born,

it's at Michael's villa.

Paula with mother and Ross,

they all just really loved this
photograph and...

Mm.

Paula, Paula? Paula,
this way, please. Paula.

The press surrounding that whole
thing with Michael and Paula

in London was a big deal.

At some stage he said to me,

"You know, it's like people
know where I'm going."

He said, "How do they know? When I
get a car they know where I'm going,

"they're there before I am."

You know, I had my suspicions
that...

..that Paula was making some calls,

even though I didn't
really know her well,

but there was something about her
background that made me think,

"Yes, they knew where he was going."

He said, "They're always waiting
for me with their cameras,

"it's just really hard
to live here."

TOWNSEND: I suspect there were
people in the press she liked

and people she violently didn't
like, as being Paula,

there'd be no halfway measures.

Pretty much everyone on tabloid
newspaper was not someone she was

going to like very much.

CROWD CHEERING

REPORTER: Rock and roll's most
talked about couple were attending

the glitzy opening of Sydney's
IMAX theatre last night,

at the same time detectives
were raiding their London home.

Acting on a warrant, police
seized plastic bags

containing a substance
believed to be opium.

I think the beginning of
the end of that was,

obviously, the "drugs bust".

That, that caused...

..huge, obviously, upset, worry and
then the press were like, you know,

"Now we've got them,
now we've got them."

PAULA:

TOWNSEND: Yeah.

But you're saying that it
never came into family life?

INTERVIEWER: So, it wasn't
like a police raid?

BELINDA BREWIN: No! Not at all.

The police didn't bust them,
did they, you know?

The nanny found them.

NEWSREADER: Paula Yates has arrived
back in London to do battle

with her former husband
Bob Geldof

over the custody of their children.

She cut short her Australian trip
after a drug raid

on the London home she shares
with her partner Michael Hutchence.

Well, I've just come back to fight
for custody of my children.

I've had to leave Tiger behind
in Australia with her dad.

In the end there were no charges,

but, you know, it's still there in
the press, so that's still true.

Basically, the kids were
going to go out with Paula,

Michael had arranged it all,
he'd rented this house,

everything was going to be great,

he was very excited
to have the girls come.

PAULA:

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