Britain in Bed

50 years ago, Britain was one of the most uptight places on the planet.

This programme contains some strong language and adult sex references.

But today, it's a very different story.

The idea of no-strings sex is very attractive to most men, gay or straight.

"I want a horse whip and a hat and nipple tassels."

I have been traumatised for life.

I like Page Three. Nipples up for Page Three.

Sex is a subject that we don't just talk about...

I plan to have sex with two different blokes that I met at the same time.

Sex!

-We read about it...

-Hello!

-Didn't expect that.

..obsess and pay for it.

This is a male form of entertainment.

-Do it in secret...

-I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

-And out in the open.

-Two minutes of talking, ten minutes of shagging.

With the help of modern technology, sex is everywhere.

Porn is definitely addictive. I go on every day of the week.

If a guy I knew had never watched internet porn, I would be concerned.

How did we Brits become such red-hot ravers in the bedroom?

-# I'm sexy and I know it... #

-You can always make it longer.

Tonight, the rise of sex in Britain.

We tell the story by looking back at the key events that created a nation

with an insatiable appetite for the "no pants" dance.

If you get caught having sex, it should be in the toilet.

That was a tape made for a bit of fun with a long-term boyfriend.

I think everyone has sex toys. If a girl says she doesn't, she's lying.

-Strap yourselves in, Britain.

-# I'm sexy and I know it... #

-That's for the Inland bloody Revenue!

-This will be a bumpy ride.

-That's disgusting!

# I'm sexy and I know it...

# Check it out

# Check it out

# I'm sexy and I know it... #

Hi and welcome to Britain In Bed. I'm Jessica-Jane Clement.

Tonight, I will be exploring the stories that have shaped how we feel about sex in Britain today.

Our red-hot marathon session will include sex on the beach,

a sex toy that conquered the world,

dogging and...ahem, the rise of internet porn.

And if it's salacious, celebrity scandals you desire, then relax, because we are all over it.

Let me take you on a journey of sexual discovery.

But first up on our carnal tour, a little pill that changed everything.

Our road to sexual freedom began in 1961

with an invention that would change the way we do it for ever.

The contraceptive pill has been hailed

as one of the greatest scientific inventions of the 20th century.

-I haven't been on the Pill for over a year.

-What?

I stopped taking it when we got married.

-You've been trying to get pregnant for over a year and you didn't tell me?

-I'm sorry.

-Why did you think it was OK?

-I didn't think it was OK.

-Why did you do it?

-To speed things up!

-What?

# We found love in a hopeless place... #

Clearly, the Pill was one of the most significant sexual developments

in the last few decades because it meant that you could actually enjoy sex stress-free.

Today, women in Britain enjoy greater sexual choice and freedom than ever before.

But it was just over 50 years ago that this revolutionary drug first arrived on the scene.

'Pharmaceutical chemists producing contraceptive pills expect this ultimate pill

'to be ready within a few years.'

After ten years of research,

American scientists launched the first commercially available birth control pill in 1960,

but during early clinical trials, the words "oral contraceptive" caused a few misunderstandings.

In the very early days when the Pill was being tested,

people had little idea what the Pill was and how it worked.

One of the issues that confused women was the word "oral".

Some confused the idea

of taking it orally with the fact that you maybe insert it in your ear.

Other women got confused about where it should be inserted

and put it up their vaginas.

The NHS first prescribed the Pill in 1961, but women had to be married with children to get it.

A lot of women, because they were keen to get hold of the Pill and they weren't married,

would go and buy a cheap wedding ring in order to access the Pill.

But not everyone was celebrating the wonder drug's arrival.

The initial controversy over the contraceptive pill was that it would encourage people to have sex.

There was a suspicion, I think, in some quarters

that this was going to allow women out of the house

and into a lifestyle of sexual pleasure.

By 1967, the sixties were swinging. The sexual revolution was happening and the rules were relaxed,

so all single women could finally enjoy the benefits of the Pill.

Do you think young people today have a better chance than their mothers did?

Yeah, they've got more freedom, they can go out more. They're more independent at an earlier age.

Today, over three million women in Britain start their day by taking this tiny tablet.

It gives a young woman freedom to do what she wants with her sex life

and still have the ability to know she's being safe.

It's very important to me because I like having sex

and, um... I'm really, really ambitious.

And if I wasn't on the Pill and I had sex and I did get pregnant,

it would really be a huge life-altering thing for my plan for myself.

In search of a contraception method for men that would rival the Pill,

scientists are developing a testosterone implant and an oral pill.

Both are still undergoing trials and are not yet available to the public.

The male pill, I think...

My problem with it is that I very rarely, if ever, menstruate,

so it would have little effect on me.

Why are they going to create a male pill?

It's never, ever, ever going to work. You know what I mean?

You can't even trust a guy to put out rubbish in bins.

He can't take out the garbage.

Why would you trust a guy to take the pill?

If there was a male pill, even if he said he was on it, I got to see it disappear daily,

I wouldn't trust him in the slightest.

Unless the male pill came

in sort of pint form,

then I think it would be something that I would probably avoid.

Now, my holiday checklist is simple -

hot sun, a cold drink and a towel on the beach.

However, some people around my age, say, 18 to 30, need a little bit more than that.

They like hot sun and they also enjoy a cold drink or three,

but for them, it's not just the towels getting laid on the beach.

The next year that shaped our sex lives was 1965,

the year that Club 18-30 first offered holidays to young singles.

During the '80s and '90s, a Club 18-30 holiday became a rite of passage

for thousands of pleasure-seeking young Brits.

But in 1995, it all came to a head

when the holiday operator that traded on sun, sea, sand and sex

found themselves in hot water

over a sexually shocking billboard campaign.

It's quite suggestive!

The ad campaigns in the '90s with all the nice double-entendres

like "Beaver Espana" and "moisten flaps and bend over"

with somebody licking an envelope...

Boys are going, "Moist flaps, 200 quid? I'm there!"

These ads generated almost 500 complaints

and Club 18-30 were in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority.

As a nation, we find sex funny,

so "the summer of 69"

or "can I interest you in a package holiday"

where there was a shot of a guy's crotch, the message was unambiguous,

but also funny.

Despite or maybe even because of the bad publicity, Club 18-30 became a '90s success story.

Although originally formed in the Swinging Sixties,

it took 25 years before they discovered the perfect itinerary for the British sun-seeker.

Booze and sex.

# Drinks are free Fun and sunshine, there's enough for everyone... #

Club 18-30 cottoned on to the fact that by having groups of people together,

you could get them to spend money, so excursion programmes developed

and they were based on giving people something pretty basic to eat

and getting as much alcohol down their necks as possible,

so a combination of those two things then ultimately led to sex.

-What are the girls like?

-They're smart girls.

They all talk, have a good laugh, get drunk. It's good.

But in 2002, Club 18-30 suffered another bout of controversy

thanks to the warts and all, reality TV series Club Reps.

Are you making loads of noise for your club reps?

Being a rep is the closest thing to being a celebrity.

We used to have a tag round our neck like a name badge.

That was called the "shag tag".

One of my mates came on holiday and he wanted to borrow my shag tag to pull

because he'd been out for a couple of days and couldn't pull. He said, "Give me that shag tag!"

Before he knew it, he was getting off with someone. It was amazing!

There's almost this pressure to get laid out there,

so if you're at the end of your two weeks and you haven't been laid,

you're kind of like, "Is there something wrong with me?"

There was one place I went to on an 18-30 holiday and the whole swimming pool turned into a shag fest.

You could dive in and get out and have caught chlamydia.

Club Reps didn't pull any punches.

It showed the seedier underbelly of Greek resort Faliraki

and most shocking of all were the drunken "sexploits" of Brits abroad.

Meet Vanessa and Rachel, two glamour models from Dartford

who have just arrived in Faliraki on a Club holiday.

Vanessa and Rachel were two guests that came along and basically had a competition with each other -

who could snog the most amount of people.

Then they said they wanted to have a threesome, their first ever threesome.

I plan to have sex with two different blokes that I met at the same time.

He thinks he's getting his end away.

If they want to do that on national TV, so be it, you do that.

Hello.

It was very, very, very good and I feel that I'm still shaking now.

I would probably say it was the best that I've ever had in my whole life.

Sex is basically what we have holes for

and it is very, very good.

The series boosted bookings for Club 18-30,

but it also attracted a flurry of lurid tabloid headlines.

I do remember the article which basically said, "I slept with over 50 girls and I'm proud of it"

or something like that. That was about ten years ago now.

But I must admit it is true because I did.

Since then, Club 18-30 has cleaned up its act

and is now working with the charity Drinkaware,

but in 2012, with flights abroad costing less than a bottle of duty free,

the singles holiday market has moved on.

What went on in the '70s and '80s is still going on today.

These days, it centres more around the clubs than it did around the excursions,

but people are still going out looking for sun,

looking for alcohol and absolutely looking for sex.

Basically, they're all in Prague now, so you've got boys with their tops off when it's minus six,

going, "Hey! Where are the ladies?" "There aren't any." "Oh."

A good newspaper reports major social and political world events,

but let's be honest - there's nothing wrong with a bit of light relief first thing in the morning.

Just don't stare at page three too long and end up dropping the marmalade down yourself.

By 1970, attitudes to sex and nudity were starting to relax

and one tabloid decided to test the water with a brand-new idea - a topless lady in a newspaper.

# And it goes like this

# Take me by the tongue and I'll know you... #

These days, Katie Price and Jodie Marsh have shown that naked ambition can lead to fame and fortune.

# Moves like Jagger I've got the moves like Jagger... #

A recent survey of young British girls revealed that 63% would rather be a glamour model than a nurse

and this trend can be traced back to the British institution of Page Three.

I like Page Three. Nipples up for Page Three.

You get your Sun, you have your bacon sandwich and a look at a boob.

# Girls, girls, girls

# Body Shop and the Marble Arch... #

When I was growing up,

I had three walls of my bedroom

tiled completely with page three of The Sun.

Every day I woke up, it was like a kaleidoscope of breasts and political opinion.

The first ever Page Three girl was 20-year-old German model Stephanie Rahn.

Editor Larry Lamb wanted a picture of the girl in her birthday suit for The Sun's first anniversary.

It went to press on the 17th of November, 1970, and the rest is history.

It's ridiculous that on what calls itself a newspaper is bare breasts

for no apparent reason,

but it's that sort of British sniggering, Carry On style nervousness about sex,

yet obsession with it...

Weirdly, yeah, it almost feels charmingly old-fashioned now.

I think it's quite a strange brand, really, Page Three.

In America, it blows their mind as there isn't that middle ground.

You're either a nude model or you're a fitness model.

It's quite a strange concept.

After just one year of featuring Page Three girls, The Sun's readership doubled,

making it one of the most popular newspapers of the '70s.

Page Three started in 1970.

Now, this was at the height of second-wave feminism

and like pornography, it offered a reassurance to some men

that they could still be the powerful ones,

that women were still there to be sexually ogled and there purely for their titillation.

Over the years, Page Three has been the springboard for many careers.

Actress Linda Lusardi,

TV presenter Melinda Messenger,

The Only Way Is Essex star Lauren Pope and glamour queen Katie Price are all ex-Page Three girls.

But the original superstar busted into the newspaper in 1983.

She was sweet 16. She was of course Samantha Fox.

Are you exploited by the newspapers or are you exploiting them?

I think we're using each other, basically.

Bubbly Sam was the ultimate fantasy girlfriend for the '80s Essex man.

I think Sam Fox was very unique.

She was younger as well when she started

and I think there was a real buzz around her.

She was quite unique and I don't think there'll ever be that again.

# Touch me, touch me I wanna feel your body... #

Sam retired from Page Three at the ripe old age of 20.

In 1986, she launched a pop career that turned her into a household name.

I loved Sam Fox. She was great. Who can forget her pop career...?

Oh, I have.

Right from the start, Page Three courted controversy.

Since 1986, Labour MP Clare Short has been campaigning to have topless models banned from all newspapers.

What I'm saying is we should draw a line that says these kind of pictures come out of the newspapers.

If you go abroad or foreigners come to Britain, they think that there's something wrong with us.

At this time, The Sun, in a typical tabloid-style stab at equality,

introduced the bare-chested Page Seven Fella.

There used to be a Page Seven Fella. It's interesting, that, isn't it?

The Page Seven Fella lasted for a week or something because nobody cares.

No-one wants to see a naked man's body.

Naked women's bodies are more attractive than naked men.

Even women will verify that.

Page Seven Fella failed

because in our society, women have less power than men

and it is women who are portrayed as lesser beings, as sex objects,

and it is men who are trained to see women as sex objects.

Girls are not groomed to see men in that way, so you just don't have that same demand.

From time to time, The Sun have flirted with whether to kill off Page Three,

but given that sex sells and there's a new generation of fans, that seems unlikely.

It's so fluffy and so unimportant, I can't even see it as sexist.

And I love those little straplines. "Samantha is very worried about the current Eurozone crisis."

I'm sure many of the girls are behind the scenes working with Angela Merkel on her crisis plan for the euro.

Absolutely. They're smart cookies.

It's quite a beautiful little bit of naughtiness

amongst what is effectively a paper for morons.

If you took away Page Three of The Sun, that's the only intelligent part.

But the Page Three phenomenon that began in 1970 was nothing

compared to the sex story that hit the headlines a few years later.

Throwing a party at home used to be as simple as tipping some cheesy puffs in a bowl

and whacking on a "mix" tape.

Nowadays, though, house parties have gone pretty sexy

and when they say, "Bring a bottle," they mean massage oil.

1978 was the year that Britain came out and admitted it.

Everyone was doing it.

# Let's go! Party rock is in the house tonight

# Everybody just have a good time... #

Today, sex parties can be found all over the UK

with many organised events and club nights where anything goes.

I think with the younger generation, with people my age, it's very much out there.

If you're not embarrassed, why would anybody else be?

There are sex clubs all over the place with fetish parties, but it is still a secret world.

Some people enjoy that because you're part of a secret club.

It all began 34 years ago when it was revealed

that a sensational suburban sex party scene was thriving in middle Britain.

Vicars, MPs and other influential people were often regulars.

Brothel days are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,

but this is just a sex party, so enjoy yourself.

When the police raided a house in the quiet, leafy suburb of Streatham, South London,

they found a full-scale fetish party, hosted by madam Cynthia Payne, in full swing.

'Mrs Payne denied controlling prostitutes there, but admitted holding wild parties.

'One neighbour couldn't help noticing.'

She never asked us to go to the party. We wouldn't want to.

Cynthia Payne had a fully furnished, well-equipped brothel to deal with every taste.

This one wants golden rain, Miss Cane.

Dirty old men were paying to dress up in women's lingerie and have their bottoms spanked.

Cynthia Payne, she had sex parties

and catered for old people, which is good.

I think that's a service that needs to be around now, but legally.

Gentlemen would come to her house and get spanked

and have, like, tea.

Basically, a tea party with a shag at the end of it.

She looks like a cast member of Last Of The Summer Wine

and she's doing sex parties. What a joke! Who's paying for that?

It was £15. That was food, drink, a show, poached eggs on toast

and a lady of your own choice.

# Money talks, money talks... #

But the party madam had a good business brain and came up with a very British way

of ensuring she didn't get ripped off.

The men were paying the girls directly

and the girls were short-changing her.

And Cynthia had supplied the food,

the drink, the beds,

all the necessities for which they needed to do their work,

so she had this brilliant idea

of giving the men luncheon vouchers to give to the girls...

..and the girls would hand back, say, three or four or five

or even more luncheon vouchers if they were that popular in a single evening

and she would pay them accordingly,

so it all ended up fair and square.

Now, when you go upstairs, you hand that in to the girl.

Don't pay the girl. I pay them later. They hand me back the vouchers.

Luncheon vouchers were given to workers after the war and were exchanged for meals in restaurants.

It was this one little thing that got into the newspapers

and she became known as the Luncheon Voucher Madam.

The authorities came down hard on Cynthia...

-I'm a pervert!

-..giving her 18 months in prison.

She got massive support from the public

because the public realised that she wasn't harmful

and realised that the sentence was savage.

But the British took Madam Cyn to their hearts and after her release from prison, she was big news.

'It was difficult to know if Mrs Payne came out of prison as a notoriety or a celebrity.'

-Are the parties over?

-Of course they are.

I'm too famous now.

Cynthia Payne became a household name, appearing on all the top ratings shows of the time.

Are my whips and leathers in readiness?

It's Madam Cyn, Cynthia Payne!

APPLAUSE

It's nice to have a lady on the show

who has become quite a celebrity in her own right. I'm all for it.

Cynthia Payne! APPLAUSE

I love the idea that she became a mini-celebrity

and turned up on Blankety Blank.

Or Spankety Spank as it should have been called. That's fantastic.

She'd turn up now on Strictly Come Dancing, combining ballroom and bondage, Come Strictly With Dancing.

Old Cynthia was the classic sort of tart with a heart

and became this kind of minor celebrity.

She loved the limelight, was funny.

The police bashed my front door down.

They went into the bedroom and there was this old boy with a young lady.

The police very politely went in and said, "Excuse me, sir. We're police officers.

"Would you stop what you're doing?" This old boy was determined to get his money's worth.

He said, "I don't care who you are, but I'm not going to stop now!" And he didn't either.

What we love about Cynthia Payne, I think, is that she confirms our suspicions

that the British establishment is full of perverts, older men wanting weird, kinky things done to them.

Sex!

The British are very closeted and as soon as you're allowed to let it out, it's like,

"I want a horse whip and a hat and nipple tassels and you, Cynthia!"

That's for the Inland bloody Revenue!

People suppress their desires to the point where every suburban household has a sex swing in the spare room.

In 1981, the outbreak of AIDS became the biggest sex story of the decade,

forcing the government to act with a hard-hitting TV campaign.

'There is now a deadly virus which anyone can catch from sex with an infected person.

'But you can't always tell if someone is infected

'and unless we're all a lot more careful,

'the people who have died so far will be just the tip of the iceberg.'

It's hard to imagine now, but many people thought you could catch HIV

from toilet seats or swimming pools.

Back then, AIDS was a new, misunderstood disease with no known cure.

In the 1980s when AIDS first appeared, it came as such a huge shock.

Sex had become safe during the 1970s

because of treatment for STIs

and because of the contraceptive pill,

then suddenly, bang, sex became really dangerous.

AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, attacks the immune system.

It arrived on these shores in 1981

and mainly affected haemophiliacs dependent on blood transfusions and also gay men.

AIDS has reached Britain.

So far, there have been 13 reported cases in the United Kingdom, all but one of them affecting homosexuals.

In 1984, Hollywood legend Rock Hudson, who had kept his sexuality hidden from the public,

stunned the world with the revelation that he was stricken with AIDS.

Two months later, the deadly virus took his life.

Other high profile deaths followed -

the flamboyant entertainer Liberace in 1987,

charismatic front man Freddie Mercury in 1991

and the Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev in 1993.

AIDS was at the forefront of everyone's mind.

I think the main misconception at the time was that HIV was something

that only gays could catch. It was called "gay plague".

And that reflected a lot of the bigotry and the ignorance and the nasty things that were said.

In 1988, I was 15.

It wasn't very nice. I was terrified.

It's not the greatest thing if you're 15 years old

to be told that your sexuality is going to put you in danger and it was horrendous.

Public fears escalated in the mid-'80s.

By then, several thousand people in Britain had been diagnosed with the disease.

The government realised drastic measures were required.

The government has given a warning that 4,000 people in this country

are already doomed to die from AIDS by the end of the 1980s.

I think in government we felt that we had a growing problem on our hands

and that if it wasn't stemmed, it could become an epidemic.

We knew we needed a television advertising campaign and it had to be directed at the whole population.

'There is now a danger that has become a threat to us all.

'It is a deadly disease and there is no known cure.'

The result was this now iconic public information film from 1987.

A bleak, almost apocalyptic vision shocked the nation.

'So far it has been confined to small groups, but it's spreading.'

When I saw the "Don't die of ignorance" HIV and AIDS campaign,

I remember my mum sitting me down in front of the TV with the leaflet.

If you ignore AIDS, it could be the death of you, so don't die of ignorance.

Even though it was a horrible, horrific message,

you could argue that it was a good thing in some ways because at least it made people take it seriously.

A public health campaign on this scale was unprecedented.

We also got all the broadcast channels - there were only four - to have a whole AIDS Day.

And each of them to do continuous broadcasting in whatever way they wanted.

Many celebrities got involved, including pop star Ian Dury.

Remember, you don't just catch AIDS. You allow someone to give it to you.

The safe sex message needed to be heard, but there was a problem.

In those days you weren't allowed to mention the word condom on TV, let alone show one.

Quickly, the rules were changed and condom demonstrations became par for the course on primetime TV.

You pinch that firmly to push the air out of the way and apply it to the erect penis.

-The campaign for safe sex, I think, worked.

-Make sure it goes all the way. It's as simple as that.

I think the public shared our anxiety and wanted to know more and we saved thousands of lives.

It's such a delicate thing. It doesn't interfere with sensation.

-It could be a lot worse.

-Just tell us what you've done.

The first soap to tackle AIDS was EastEnders.

- I've got a virus. - A virus?

Mark Fowler, one of the main stars, played by Todd Carty, contracted HIV from his girlfriend,

helping to dispel the myth that only gay men were at risk.

- AIDS? - No, Mum!

-That's what I'm trying to say.

-Either you've got AIDS or not!

No, that's not it, Dad. I've got the virus.

There is still no cure for AIDS,

but new advances in treatment have dramatically increased life expectancy.

Worryingly, the infection rate in Britain has increased since the 1990s.

In the UK in 2012, there are over 100,000 people living with HIV

and 25,000 of them don't know they have it yet because they've not had an HIV test.

I've got the feeling that in the younger generation

there is some loss of interest in the topic, people think there's medication and it's not a problem,

but it is, it still is.

You worry about chlamydia and syphilis and stuff like that,

but it would never cross my mind to get an AIDS test, to be honest.

There is a generation of younger gay men coming up who aren't so concerned about condom use

and the rates of HIV in the country are going up.

AIDS has been devastating

and tragic to MY generation.

It won't be to future generations in that it is manageable,

but it's still the sexually transmitted infection to avoid.

-Still to come on Britain In Bed:

-Welcome to the virtual sitting.

We uncover how the next three decades took Britain's relationship to sex to a whole new level.

-With a helping hand from an ever-ready bunny.

-More women own a vibrator now than washing machines.

Some celebs who should know better.

This was definitely our biggest film star suddenly in disgrace.

And the technological advances that rocked British bedrooms.

I did take some Viagra once. It was really like getting dressed up with nowhere to go.

Now sex and music make great bedfellows, but do you know who made pop sexy with a triple X?

OK, time for a bit of suggestive thinking. Blonde. Ambition.

Got it yet?

1983 was the year that pop stars realised a sexy video would help sell their song.

Today we take it for granted. Turn on a music channel and chances are there will be some pop star

imploring you to do something unspeakable to someone.

# Come on, rude boy, boy Can you get it up?

# Is you big enough? #

I think Rihanna, it's too obvious. Like the song that's basically about cock.

The thing that annoys me is it's being sung by kids who have no idea what it means.

All that body rippling and stuff. Is that sexy?

And the likes of Lady Gaga and Rihanna aren't content with causing a stir with their videos.

# This beat is sick I wanna take a ride on your disco stick... #

Their live shows are also x-rated. They can even start an argument in an empty field.

One of the world's biggest pop stars in a barley field near Belfast.

Local people couldn't believe what they were seeing. Some couldn't believe they were seeing so much.

She later took off some more layers. The farmer then asked for the filming to stop.

# When I'm not with you I lose my mind... #

And who can forget the former Mickey Mouse Club girl Britney Spears' transformation from sexy schoolgirl

to a super-sexualised vixen?

Britney Spears, initially when she came out, she was really nice

and poppy. Then all of a sudden there was a coming of age with her Slave For You video.

Great video, great moves, great sexuality. Very Madonna-esque, you know.

She decided to Madonna-ise it and she did.

# It's gonna get rowdy It's gonna get a little unruly... #

Sorry, Britney, Christina Aguilera et al, you're only following in the footsteps

-of the original trailblazer.

-# Like a virgin

# Touched for the very first time... #

Looking at modern artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna

or Christina Aguilera, they are putting their sex out there but it feels really different

to what Madonna did. It's like a superficial version of what Madonna did.

Madonna's second album, Like A Virgin, was a worldwide smash in 1984

and transformed her into a global superstar, but it was this video that caused a sensation.

# And your mine Make me strong... #

When she performed Like A Virgin, it really was quite shocking.

In a sense, some people were offended as it seemed sacrilegious.

# Like a virgin

# Hey... #

And I think Madonna knew exactly what she was doing.

She'd hit on pure gold when she found that song.

It became her signature song. It encapsulated everything about her, that mix of sex and spirituality.

And self-empowerment.

A string of hits and increasingly raunchy videos followed until 1990

when the Material Girl came out with a video so hot it was banned by MTV.

I remember waiting up to see it when my parents had gone to bed.

And it was risque, it really was, for its time when it came out.

# For you to justify my love... #

Justify My Love ticked off a few of the taboos that Madonna had yet to cover - cross-dressing, check.

Lady love, check.

Simulated sex, check. A bloke in a leotard doing interpretive dance, check.

When it first came out in 1990, Justify My Love was really shocking.

That representation of gay sexuality and S&M and bisexuality.

Now those sorts of images are more commonplace, but then in 1990 that was really unheard of.

# That's right, love me... #

If you're going to be truly a legendary pop star,

you've got to do stuff that is memorable and no one's done before.

And she did it.

Anyone who thought there was no way Madonna could top this video was in for a shock.

Her next stunt, in 1992, was a move into publishing, after which we really had seen it all,

printed over 128 glossy pages.

Madonna's contribution to the literary world arrives in Britain under wraps.

It's a sealed item, so it's not going to shock children. We're not making it available for them.

# Erotic, erotic Put your hands all over my body... #

Even now, 20 years on, the photographs in the Sex book are too hot for television

and very expensive, but that doesn't stop us showing them to others.

- Hello! - I didn't expect that.

So there she is, her nipple out. Perhaps giving a bit too much away early on in the date.

-Vanilla Ice.

-This is the one with the mask and finger-licking. She's not had KFC.

-"Stop! Taking my penis out..."

-This was the peak of his career.

I'll keep that.

# Erotica. #

Nowadays, what's considered acceptable on an early evening TV screen is very different

from what was OK in 1987.

No, not Jedward. I'm talking about the infamous EastEnders gay kiss shown at 7.30 in the evening.

I know footballers have been snogging on TV for a long time, but this was groundbreaking.

By the late '80s, Britain was ready to tackle the next big taboo - gay relationships on television.

# I've never been afraid... #

A gay kiss in Soapland is now quite common, even if everyone does lean in in slow motion.

There's the brooding mechanic Aaron in Emmerdale.

# You changed the way you kiss me... #

The Christian teens Sian and Sophie snogging on the Corrie cobbles.

And EastEnder Ben Mitchell.

Ah, a bit faster there. Well done.

I think it's important to represent gay people in soaps because gay people exist in life

and soaps have gone a long way in the last 25 years to normalise gay people's lives.

Gay people's lives ARE normal, like everybody else's.

-What exactly is your problem, eh?!

-In 2009, EastEnders controversially broke the mould

with the first inter-racial gay relationship between musclebound Christian and married Muslim Syed.

The Christian and Syed thing in EastEnders

was kind of brave

because if we're just going to have people objecting to you for being gay, it seems Victorian.

They've added this Muslim element, which I think is probably culturally quite interesting and valid.

I'd rather we kept this to ourselves for the time being.

When this tender post-coital scene appeared in primetime, the BBC received 125 complaints

that it was inappropriate family viewing.

Same-sex kissing on TV may still be a divisive issue,

but predictably this scene had some tabloids foaming at the mouth.

There is a minority than whenever there is a gay kiss on EastEnders

will inundate the BBC with complaints. My answer is inundate the BBC with congratulations!

-I'm not changing my name.

-Me neither.

In fact, the BBC received 77 messages from viewers who praised them for including the scene.

Dominic Treadwell-Collins, the brilliant writer who created that storyline, was always unsure

about how far he should push it about the kiss. They decided to wait for a while.

By that point, the audience were really behind these two characters.

-They're good with each other.

-That's the way it should be.

But when it comes to lesbian kisses in soaps, the gone but not forgotten Brookside was a trailblazer in 1994.

You know how I feel about you.

The controversial scene was played by Nicola Stephenson and the future Hollywood star Anna Friel.

At the time, 18-year-old Anna was a huge soap star and a pin-up to teenage boys throughout the land.

You can bet they were on the edge of their seat when this was broadcast.

Lesbians on television are rarer than gay men on television.

They were then, they still are now. So when Beth and Margaret kissed, there was electricity, headlines.

The tabloids weren't outraged so much as turned on.

-I'm sorry.

-Don't be.

'There was a lot of women complaining.'

Not so much from the guys. I don't know why, but that happened.

I'd better go.

'That was amazing. I think Anna Friel is forever more this huge lesbian icon'

because she kissed a lady on TV. Sexy.

Go back to bed.

But the first soap to screen a gay kiss before the watershed was EastEnders in 1987.

Filofax-toting Colin and Cockney barrow boy Barry shared the briefest of tender moments.

Promise me you'll take the day off and I'll ring you lunchtime.

'Colin wasn't a gay stereotype. He wasn't camp.'

He wasn't going, "Oh, yes, dear! Oh, no, matron!"

-I'm too angry to work.

-I'm sorry about your Filofax!

'He was an ordinary guy'

that did an ordinary job. He was a graphic designer. He fitted in.

This now quite innocuous show of affection was watched by more than 17 million viewers

and the BBC received a record number of complaints.

I'm not even sure if that is gay or a kiss. It's an innocent peck.

If that happened now, there'd be outrage that there wasn't more.

The forehead is the least erogenous of the zones.

There were no big snogs leading up to the peck and certainly no snogs afterwards,

but what was interesting was it caused such an outrage

that shot was embargoed by the BBC for many, many years.

It's hardly a kiss, is it?! It's... Good Lord!

You'd have more intimacy in a bromance these days.

The tabloid press reacted with fury and began a smear campaign, branding the programme "filth".

There were questions in Parliament about whether it was appropriate to have gay men in a family show.

When I was on the Sun many years ago, I got a tip that there was going to be what, at the time,

would have been the first ever gay love affair in a British soap.

So we ran that story and the headline, I didn't write it,

but the headline was, "It's EastBenders," our tribute to the politically-correct community!

It's going to be all round the area now, is it? "They're faggots. "They've got AIDS. Plague carriers."

EastEnders cleverly reflected the anti-gay bigotry of the outside world through its characters.

Most shocked was chain-smoking Square stalwart Dot Cotton.

Dot, I know what you think, but I need to talk to you...

'I knew what I was letting myself in for,'

but I think even the reaction from politicians,

moral campaigners so-called and the media really surprised me, but the general public were brilliant.

In 1987, TV was pushing the boundaries of sex in our society,

but it was about to be knocked off its perch by a technological revolution.

50 years ago, boffins invented the internet so they could swap information with each other.

You've got to feel sorry for them. All they wanted to do was help the world. What we got was 24-hour porn.

Eeew!

In 1991, the internet was invented and porn became accessible everywhere.

Sorry. I was getting the...

Mind if I have a quick word?

Ah! No! No, no, no!

# You can't stop looking at me... #

Once a pastime for dirty old men, porn is now more readily available than ever before and we're hooked.

Every second, 28,000 people are viewing porn.

With so many sites to choose from, your every fantasy is only one click away.

Basically, if you can think of it, it is on the internet.

If you type in "apple", "badger", "arse", "jizz",

it will absolutely be there. There is nothing now that is not available on the internet.

We'd like to think we've seen it all, but that was before the trailer for a Brazilian porno movie

-sent shockwaves throughout the internet.

-Oh!

What are you watching?!

Oh, my God!

YouTube was flooded by reactions to the fetish film nicknamed by bloggers as Two Girls, One Cup.

What the fuck is that?

When I first saw Two Girls, One Cup, that's a video that doesn't need any introduction. Watch this.

And I love the beautiful music in the background.

Then all of a sudden you're like...

-Oh, no.

-'Two girls were pooing'

for about 10 minutes straight.

-That's really ice cream.

-How did it come out of her arse?

'I've never seen it.'

I don't want to see it. I can't see how that's sexy. Is that some people's thing?

Aah!

'When you see it, you're like,'

"That's disgusting!"

I can't believe they're doing it. It's disgusting!

Oh!

Two Girls, One Cup went viral in 2007 becoming one of the most famous shock porn videos in history.

I have been traumatised for life. Don't watch it.

-# What the fuck? #

-In the days before the web, porn was a lot harder to come across.

We found some in the '70s

in my mate's loft. It was his dad's.

And it was just like, just like vaginas

that looked like they had big Brillo pads on top. Just hair galore.

It was such a big deal

and people felt very dirty. You were seen as a dirty old man

if you went into one of those shops.

Pornography had been traded electronically since the 1980s.

-Welcome to the virtual sitting.

-But opening up the web to the general public in 1991

led to an explosion of easily-accessible online porn.

A home computer and a telephone line. That's all it takes to access the new pornography.

Pornography has absolutely flooded the internet and it is now a global industry worth

over 100 billion.

This is business.

This is not creative ideas about sex. This is a highly predatory industry, which is colonising

not only the internet, but also our ideas about what sex is and what women are.

We've got this generation of boys

thinking women practically faint at the sight of an erect penis,

that women orgasm through penetration, that threesomes are normal. Nothing in porn is real.

This is all completely fabricated.

An American study showed that the average porn site visit lasts six minutes and 29 seconds.

Yeah, porn is definitely addictive.

I go on every day of the week. I need it before I go to bed, purely for biological reasons

so I can sleep.

Every guy I know has watched internet porn. If he hadn't, I think I would be concerned.

There cannot be a day goes by that I don't heart from readers

who have got problems connected with internet sex and pornography.

Anything that people enjoy is addictive, innit? You don't get addicted to washing up, do you?

"Oh, I love this! Oh!"

Depends what kind of night it is. If you come back in drunk, you might want a bit of chunky.

BBW, big beautiful women. On a normal day, you might just want a bit of lesbian.

There's too much stuff. It's so accessible, it's on your phone.

You select a website, you've got a menu. "What would you like?" Just some people fucking!

# It's five o'clock in the morning... #

Last year the government announced a tough crackdown on web sleaze.

New customers to four of the biggest service providers now have to opt in if they want to view porn sites.

# I know you'll be getting so horny... #

There is horrific stuff on the internet, but I'd rather some twisted individual watched at home

rather than going out and doing it on some unsuspecting poor young lady or gent.

The thing about the internet is it's made porn, basically, you can get whatever you want.

You start to develop weird fetishes.

Like, basically, you might have thought about it and thought,

"I don't even like over size 18 birds," but then it's I can't have a wank unless I'm watching one.

So, yeah, it kind of distorts you a little bit.

You'd think that having pornography beamed into our homes would satisfy our appetite for sex,

but Britain's desires were stronger than ever. Things were about to get up close and personal.

Before 1995, your lap was an innocent, fun place.

You could have your dinner on your lap, you could have a dog on it

or you could even get a tray and do a jigsaw.

In those days, the world of lap-based entertainment was very pure. My, how things have changed!

Since 1995, there's been an explosion of lap dancing clubs in Britain

where girls perform an erotic dance for the paying punter.

But is it harmless entertainment or sleazy exploitation.

Whatever your opinion, chances are these days you'll find a lap-dancing club on your local high street.

# And then just touch me 'Til I can get my satisfaction. #

I was with a male friend of mine. We weren't on a date, but there was a bit of a frisson.

We were a bit drunk and walked past the lap-dancing club and went, "Let's go in. It'll be a laugh.

"I've never been. Let's go." And she does a dance and I clap

and it was very good. There's quite a lot of art involved.

Until April, 2010, it was as easy to open a lap-dancing venue as a coffee shop.

As a consequence, what was once hidden away was now totally in your face.

I'm not the biggest fan of lap-dancing clubs. I don't like paying for anything sexually.

The women can be quite empowered and earn a lot, but they earn it out of the weakness of men,

which is, unfortunately, our biggest trait.

Strip joints and erotic clubs only used to exist in sleazy back alleys in the big cities.

Nowadays they're everywhere.

Starting in America, lap or table dancing hit Britain in 1995.

Club chain For Your Eyes Only first introduced us to the craze.

Hot on their heels was our most famous nightclub entrepreneur, Peter Stringfellow.

Off we went in 1996.

If you got in my club then, as now, the only difference is that at first the girls were topless.

Fully-dressed and their dance was three minutes and they'd finish with their G-strings on.

Now it's nude.

If you went into the club, beautiful girls may approach you and say, "Good evening, sir.

"Would you like me to dance for you?" It simply means on the next record, no longer than three minutes,

she will dance for you, table side.

I do find it very strange that a group of men will get together and do something that is

so obviously sexual. My friends and I might giggle a bit about sex,

but the idea of genuinely being turned on in a room together,

you know, we'd much rather just eat and chat.

First few times you go, especially when you're drunk, you think, "These girls are really into me!

"They won't leave me alone." Then they give you the lap dance for a bit and they ask for the money

and you're like, "Oh, yeah. I forgot where I was."

The main rule that everyone knows is you cannot put your hands on the ladies.

After a while, you start to think, "I've paid about 20 quid

"just to look. At least let me have a little feel."

But you put your hand out, you get turfed out. I see one geezer getting turfed out

and they were using his head as a battering ram on the door.

There are now more than 300 lap dancing clubs across England and Wales. In 2008,

one opened in Britain almost every week. Campaigners were up in arms.

Men come out of the pub and they're aroused and they're drunk

and that's a very dangerous cocktail for women walking in the area.

Lap dancing clubs allow men to walk through the doors and pretend

that the sexual revolution never happened,

because in those clubs the whole point is that you get to go in there

and pay a woman to sexually service you. And nothing will stop that from being sexist.

The truth is this is a male form of entertainment. It's for men.

It's not really for women. They have their own forms of entertainment.

For someone who says, "I don't understand that," then you don't understand it. Simple as that.

Victory for campaigners came in 2010 when new legislation gave local councils

greater control over the opening of lap dancing clubs, now classed as "sex encounter venues".

But despite better control of venue numbers, lap dancing has become part of the British way of life.

Some clubs have even become celebrity hangouts.

Rihanna was papped coming out of Stringfellow's and even Prince Harry paid a visit to Spearmint Rhino.

Like it or not, lap dancing is here to stay.

But as we're about to discover,

there were even more controversial ways to spend your cash.

For our next naughty tale, we'll show you how a celebrity who pays for sex really pays.

It could almost be a movie. A hot summer's night in LA,

a lonely millionaire cruising the boulevards in his car

and a truly divine prostitute in a mini skirt.

But Pretty Woman this wasn't.

By 1995, it was beginning to look as if the most unlikely characters

were hiding insatiable sexual desires.

Actor Hugh Grant found international stardom as the charmingly foppish bachelor

in the surprise hit of 1994, Four Weddings And A Funeral.

One of the things that helped Hugh's rise up the celebrity ladder

was his headline-hitting romance with Liz Hurley.

She became the face that launched Hugh Grant's career, really.

But they were the ultimate celebrity couple.

So what could possibly go wrong? Well, everything.

During the summer of 1995, Hugh was in Tinseltown to promote his latest flick.

But instead of getting an early night, he decided to cruise a notorious hang-out for hookers.

Cue Divine Brown.

Hugh was in a white BMW cruising around

and apparently he cruised past Divine several times

and she says that finally she said to him, "Are you stalking me?" and he said, "No, I want you."

Hugh was transfixed by her

and apparently she was well-known for being extremely good at oral sex.

# Relax, don't do it

# When you want to go to it

According to Divine, at the time she had red hair, she was wearing red underwear

and she had these red lipsticked-up lips which she was using for full effect,

and apparently he was calling her, "Oh, Cherry! Oh, Cherry Red!"

during this whole encounter which, frankly, I would put under the category of "too much information".

The cops swooped at the point that he gave her 100, I think it was.

So then he was in big trouble.

I would've loved to have heard the conversation when he got caught.

"I... I, er... I, erm... Erm...

"No, no, what I'm saying is, I...just into her mouth."

Divine and Hugh were hauled off to the nearest cop shop in downtown Los Angeles

where they were charged with lewd conduct.

They observed him in a car on Sunset Boulevard

speaking to a known prostitute on that street.

The known prostitute then got into Mr Grant's vehicle

and they drove for a short distance to a nearby residential street where they engaged in a lewd act.

In Hollywood, in LA, the cops, they love to play these things up.

They take this mugshot and it's within the hands of the press within seconds

and that picture of Hugh went round the world like lightning.

Some people say diamonds are forever, but really mugshots are forever.

I mean, we can all conjure up that image of him in that ugly golf shirt.

I think it was Hugh's naivety more than anything else that got him in trouble

because, believe me, he is not the first high-profile actor to decide he wants a prostitute one evening,

it's just that Hugh didn't know the system well enough to know that

the hotel concierge can provide those as easily as room service.

# I'm sexy and I know it

News hounds soon picked up the scent and the story of Hugh's arrest sent huge shockwaves around the world.

I was the West Coast correspondent for the Daily Mirror

and we've got lots and lots of showbiz stories, but undoubtedly...

I was there for eight years. Undoubtedly, this was the biggest.

This was definitely our biggest film star suddenly in disgrace.

Suddenly we had this massive story and it came out of the blue from nowhere.

"Hugh Grant with a prostitute? What's going on?"

The interesting thing about where Hugh was found in disgrace is,

had he been a couple of blocks further south,

he would've been looking for a lady boy.

So one of the newspapers in Britain got confused

and they actually ran for one edition that he'd been arrested with a transvestite.

With his face cherry red, Hugh shot back over the pond for crisis talks with girlfriend Liz.

I bet he really wants to let that Alsatian loose on those journalists.

I've got nothing to say. I just wanted you to get the picture

-so that perhaps you could...

-DOG BARKS

-Keep back from the dog.

If you could very kindly give the village some peace, that would be fantastic. I've got nothing to say.

Surprisingly, Hugh didn't lie low.

He returned to the US to keep an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The fact that Hugh actually showed up on The Tonight Show was astounding

and virtually unheard of in Hollywood, to actually go and face the music in that way.

Of course, the first thing Jay Leno says to him is, "What the hell were you thinking?"

which got a huge laugh from the audience and then you see this very kind of flustered Hugh Grant

who said very succinctly, very matter-of-factly,

"I think in life you know the difference between a good thing and a bad thing. I did a bad thing."

That moment, that pivotal moment on The Tonight Show saved his career.

So Hugh survived. But what about Divine Brown?

Surely the girl caught getting her head down just kept her head down, didn't she?

Divine couldn't believe her luck. All of a sudden, she was the hottest property on earth.

Nobody could find her, so the British papers were going round LA putting up billboards,

putting things on trees, "Have you seen this woman?"

"Divine Brown, if you see this, there's 100 grand in it for you".

It was an enormous amount of money, a lot more than she got for blowing guys just south of Sunset Boulevard.

In showbiz terms, Divine was red hot. She went from selling her body to selling her story.

She made numerous appearances on chat shows, posed nude for Penthouse

and played herself in the X-rated Sunset And Divine: The British Experience,

directed by legendary porn star Ron Jeremy.

-Would you consider yourself to be having a film career?

-Yes, I do.

Not porno career but, you know, movies, motion, you know, good movies.

Yeah!

She was really an early example of someone being caught up in scandal

who was able to turn it to her advantage, and this was a new thing.

If you were caught up in a scandal before, you kept really quiet.

And I think the fact that he'd gone on TV and talked about it

gave her the moral high ground and she felt that she could go and talk about it.

The former vice girl reportedly earned 1.6 million from the publicity,

milking the sex scandal for all its worth.

Divine Brown came out of it well because she looked quite grubby.

She needed some dry shampoo in that hair at the very least.

As for Hugh, his relationship with the press has been strained ever since.

But last year, it was payback time

when he confronted his tabloid tormentors during the phone hacking enquiry.

I'd love to hear what the Daily Mail's or the Sunday Mail's explanation for the article was,

what their source was, if it wasn't phone hacking.

Worthy of an Oscar, that.

Now, when it comes down to the crunch, girls like a man who can rise to the occasion.

But sometimes for whatever reason, a night that looks like it's going to fizzle on nicely

turns out to be as flat as yesterday's champagne.

That was until a little blue pill.

When this blockbuster drug was introduced to the world in 1998 as the miracle cure for impotence,

it was hailed as the sex sensation of the century.

# You got me horny in the morning and you kno-ow-ow

I have actually had experience with several men that have taken Viagra normally.

It's now the thing that guys do when they're really, really pissed.

# I'm horny, horny, horny, horny

In the old days, guys didn't get bladdered cos they wanted a shag at the end of the night.

Now they get obliterated, take Viagra and they're fine.

Once you've had sex three times, you go, "All right, we should probably go to sleep and relax".

Often a lady will say, "I don't want to do it again"

but your penis is just going, "Hello, I'm here!"

# I'm feeling sexy and free

The day Viagra launched in the UK, Richard and Judy conducted a now infamous live trial

to see how the drug would stand up.

This is Alec and Anna. Alec's been impotent for four years. What's that, Alec?

-This is a Viagra pill.

-Are you going to take it?

-I most certainly am.

-Go on, then.

Overseeing the trial and administering the drugs

was This Morning's medical expert Dr Chris Steele.

-It's actually licensed now.

-Yes, on Tuesday.

But you can't get it on the NHS.

Well, no, and it's hard to get hold of even now.

I was ringing around Tuesday and Wednesday trying to get a sample for the show

and a lot of it hasn't come across into this country yet, it's in big warehouses in France.

When I heard that Viagra was being officially released here in the UK,

I spoke to the producers at This Morning

and I said, "Look, we need to cover this story."

-Are you ready for this?

-Yeah!

-She's desperate!

-Are you desperate for it? You told us that.

This is a remarkable drug. The first oral treatment for erectile dysfunction.

So we must tell the viewers about that.

There are three cars and they're going to take you not very far, about half a mile round the corner,

to a very nice hotel, we've booked you separate rooms. THEY LAUGH

Viagra was originally intended as a drug to treat high blood pressure and heart problems,

but during clinical trials in 1993,

some volunteers noticed a hard to ignore side effect.

They were in a pharmacology unit overnight

and the following morning, the lady who was leading the study

gave them a questionnaire to fill in

but also asked the open question, "Did you notice anything else?"

and one of the students put his hand up and said, "Well, I seemed to have more erections during the night."

And then all the others said, "Well, we did, as well."

But that gave us the clue that there was another medical use for this molecule.

Erectile dysfunction affects an estimated 10 percent of the male population worldwide.

Boffins knew they were onto something big.

With nothing else like it on the market, Viagra was potentially worth millions.

There was great excitement at that point and it went from literally the lowest priority, almost dead project

to top priority in the whole company in a matter of two weeks.

# Mr Lover-lover

Four years later, Viagra became the fastest-selling drug in medical history.

# Mr Boombastic...

-A miracle drug.

-Yeah.

-THEY LAUGH

Hang on a sec, what did it do to the couples on This Morning?

THEY LAUGH We have, I'm afraid, one no-result,

one reasonably-OK result and one whey-hey-hey-give-me-more result.

-THEY LAUGH What happened this morning?

-Erm...

I know you'll choose your words carefully.

-Did you have a complete result?

-Oh, yeah, definitely.

-It actually started in the lobby.

-Did it really?

-So I was tingling and...

Feeling frisky, as we say.

Annette, how was it for you? As the expression goes.

THEY LAUGH

-You're shy.

-It was all right.

-THEY LAUGH

I think the impressive thing was the one guy who got a brilliant response.

I'm warm, I'm glowing and I could go another ten rounds.

He was a very happy man. His problem could be solved by a little blue tablet

and, of course, his partner was very pleased, as well.

And that was good to see.

It's estimated that the Viagra brand has now made more than 1 billion worldwide

despite the fact that it's the most counterfeited drug in the world.

While I was on one of those lads' holidays, I did take Viagra once.

It was really like getting dressed up with nowhere to go.

-I just wanted to see how it worked.

-# They say hey sexy

One of the big myths of Viagra is the idea that it's an aphrodisiac.

It does not make you want more sex.

So there'd be absolutely no point in a teenage boy taking Viagra

looking to improve their sex life, because it won't. They're having enough fun as it is, I assure you.

I was at a party and some guys in the year above us

gave me a drink and I didn't know what was in it, but I was so drunk. And everyone was like, "Down it!"

So I was downing this drink and I found out about ten minutes later that they'd spiked it with Viagra.

It kicked in and I was waking round the party for hours and hours with an erection.

I attempted to get rid of it, but I couldn't. It just stayed there.

You wouldn't see women being anywhere near as stupid. You don't see us taking recreational HRT.

There's lots of people going, "Let's take half a Viagra".

What's that going to do? Give you a hard on in a pub. That is what's going to happen.

By the late 90s, it seemed that Britain had become obsessed with sex.

Was there any limit to our carnal desires?

I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

Coming up, the nation decides that sex with strangers is the next big thing.

With dogging, you can't suddenly shout, "Banana! Banana! Safe word! Safe word!"

when there's a man jizzing on your windscreen.

And while some celebrities show the world how talented they are in the bedroom...

Getting to see a celebrity that we adore in a sex video is an exciting prospect for a lot of people.

..others try in vain to hide their indiscretions.

If you're going to be a Premiership footballer and have sex with somebody you shouldn't,

it will get spread faster on Twitter than any form of STD you've ever had.

OK, time for a pop quiz.

Clue one - he's a massive star but he's no stranger to a sex scandal.

Clue two - supermodels used to queue up to be in his videos.

And the final clue - he's a millionaire but he got into trouble spending a penny.

1998 was the year George Michael made getting caught in the act cool.

The pop superstar has sold over 100 million albums worldwide

and is truly an out and proud gay icon.

But these days, he's also known for his personal trials and tribulations.

He'd crashed his Range Rover into the front of this shop.

I'm coming out here on my own so that you'll realise I just want to start again.

-Merry Christmas, everyone.

-At the end of 2011,

a series of concerts were cancelled after George fell seriously ill with pneumonia.

I got streptococca-something, it's a form of pneumonia,

and they spent three weeks keeping me alive, basically.

Rewind back to the mid-80s when George and Andrew Ridgeley ruled the pop world.

-# You put the bing-bing into my heart

-# Ooh-ooh

Thousands of girls dreamed of a bit of "wham-bam, thank you, mam" with Mr Michael.

People talk about this gaydar thing and I know what it means

but I don't think I've got one, cos I think he looks great

with his gloves, he looks warm.

-# Turned a bright spark into a flame

-# Yeah, yeah

Back then, George had a straight image. In 1987, he famously dated celebrity makeup artist Kathy Jeung.

# When you act so cool

How do you not know that this man was gay?

He had hot pants.

# Wake me up before you go-go

Those budgie-smuggling shorts alone were a bit of an indication

that he perhaps preferred the boys

and liked to show off his own boys in a very tight pair of briefs.

You watch it now, you're like, "Oh, I get it"

but back then, no one had an inkling, no one had a clue.

Jumpers, gloves and shorts. If he wasn't confused about his sexuality,

he was certainly confused about the weather that day.

# I wanna hit that high

George kept the truth about his sexuality under wraps until 1998...

..when he was arrested in a Beverly Hills loo for lewd conduct.

# If I was just another dusty record on the shelf

# Would you blow me off and play me like everybody else?

George Michael's Beverly Hills mansion this morning is the focus of intense media interest,

photographers and television cameramen all trying to catch a glimpse

of the world-famous but intensely private star.

I'm a bit of a fan a George Michael. But when that came out, it was a little bit like, "What is going on?"

Less than a mile away, the public lavatory where 34-year-old Michael was arrested

and charged with lewd conduct by undercover police officers.

If you're going to get caught having sex, it should be in a toilet.

I got kicked out of a private members bar during the Edinburgh festival

for having sex in a toilet and I think at least I didn't do it in the main bar.

# I've had a little bit too much

It's a park just opposite the very famous Beverly Hills Hotel.

It's the kind of park where you'll see famous people taking their dogs for a walk.

# Where are my keys? I lost my phone

George was basically hanging around the guys' bit

and sidled up to this guy, who was relieving himself,

and sort of made improper suggestions and guess what, the guy was a cop.

# Just dance, it'll be OK

Following his arrest, the singer confirmed that he was gay.

He was annoyed at the way his sexuality had been revealed.

He wasn't just lured out of the closet, he was pushed out.

And at that time, he had to address not only he had done something

a lot of people would think was seedy,

but he also had to stand up and say, "Yes, I'm a gay man".

For George, it must have been a very painful and difficult time.

Since George, other pop stars such as Ricky Martin and Mark Feehily from Westlife

have publicly come out to accepting fans.

A year after George's outing,

the late Stephen Gately from Boyzone also told the world he was gay.

A brave move as, until then, members of boy bands had traditionally embraced a straight image.

But for George Michael, the real punishment for his 1998 misdemeanour

was not the paltry 450 fine

but the very public outing by the media circus.

He always said that he never came out because his mum would've been incredibly concerned about him,

especially with the threat of AIDS. That's why he never came out.

George Michael publicly claimed he was a victim of police entrapment.

-SIREN WAILS

-In retaliation, he turned the expose on its head

with the full-throttle disco anthem Outside.

Really it was this big, dramatic, camp re-enactment

of what had happened to him the night he was caught.

# I think I'm done with the sofa

That is the biggest two fingers up

to authority that you could possibly have and I thought it was wonderful.

I'll keep my fingers up, that's how wonderful I think it was.

He's a grown man having sex in a toilet. Oh, come on! We've all done it! Haven't we?

# And yes, I've been bad...

And George openly defended his gay lifestyle in this rare interview from 2006.

The idea of no-strings sex is very attractive to most men, gay or straight.

The difference is, if you do it within a straight life, you're very likely harming someone,

if not physically then definitely emotionally.

I'm a very, very happy gay man.

The fact that I'm portrayed as some kind of loser by straight society is their problem.

In the video, there are all kinds of people getting it on outside,

including two male police officers who are seen kissing.

The officer who arrested George Michael was very offended by this video

and felt it was a direct slam on his sexuality

and he actually sued George Michael over what he felt was the depiction of himself in the video

but he lost, the charges were thrown out and George's video can still be seen today.

# Let's go outside

George's video brought the house down in the UK where it got to number two in the charts.

Stateside, though, it was ignored and failed to even make a chart entry.

# In the moon shine, take me to the places that I love best

Fair play to George, he's flying the flag.

I also like to bang in the toilet every now and then,

so thank you, George, you're a trend-setter.

I hope to be remembered as a gay man, at least by the gay community,

as a gay man who would not be apologetic for his sexuality.

At least George kept it in the cubicle,

unlike his other celebrity friends who hit the headlines that very same year.

Oh, hello again.

Now, fame used to be something that was hard-earned.

It took years at drama school or on the stage before you made it.

Nowadays, you could still put all that effort in

or you could just film yourself having sex and then release the tape.

1998 was the year that also brought us the celebrity sex tape.

# There's so many ways to love you

In 2010, everyone's favourite pop tart Rihanna

and the R&B superstar Usher were the latest celebrities

to allegedly have a home-made sex movie stolen and leaked to a scandal-hungry media.

I think the thing about celebs having sex is,

it's kind of one of those things that you know it must happen

but you've never been given a way of actually seeing it happen.

And then you actually get to see it and you're like, "It's actually pretty shit".

# Oh, my gosh

Getting to see a celebrity that we adore

or we loath in a sex video is an exciting prospect for a lot of people.

I think I've seen every single celebrity sex tape ever made. It's a passion of mine.

There's no greater night in you can have than when you find out your favourite celebrity's got a sex tape

and it pops up on the news. You spend an hour searching for it. It's the greatest feeling when you find it.

Over the years, a string of stars have had their dirty laundry aired in public.

The underground trade in celebrity home-made porn is booming.

Why you would ever make a tape of yourself having sex

when you're famous and you're not very good with computers

or you know that it might leak, unbelievable stupidity.

I mean, celebrities are stupid in so many ways, but making sex tapes, unbelievable.

Arguably the most infamous celebrity sex romp ever

was between Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson and her rock-star hubby Tommy Lee.

The Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex tape is really one that will live on in infamy probably forever.

Most of it I believe was shot on their honeymoon in a variety of locations

and a variety of positions. There's a very famous portion

where she's giving him a blowjob which has been talked about.

Apparently she's an expert in the field.

Pammy and Tommy Lee's sex tape really is one of the first that came to prominence

and it's them having sex at home, having sex on a boat, and it's...

I think the thing that was quite shocking about it was because it was the first one

and it was the first time we'd seen a celebrity in this kind of way,

it is the one that sticks in everyone's mind, and also because she was incredibly famous at the time.

Yeah, I mean, that was just frustration for me, the Pammy and Tommy one.

I just wanted to see a little bit more get going

and all I kept hearing was, "Baby, I love you. I love you, baby." No!

-I love you!

-Pammy and Tommy's steamy sex tape

was leaked onto the internet in 1997 and went viral.

The distributors paid the couple 1.5 million in court

for their trouble and released an official DVD

which is still available today.

I actually believe this tape was stolen from their house, which they claimed it was.

A lot of people were very sceptical and remain sceptical because it's made so much money,

but I think if Pamela Anderson was going to do a sex tape,

she would've done one that was probably a lot sexier than this one is.

-I love you.

-I love you so much.

In 2004, former nurse turned model Abi Titmuss

was at the centre of Britain's biggest sex tape scandal.

The now defunct News Of The World broke a story of a stolen video

involving her and her then boyfriend, TV star John Leslie.

People ask me if I did that myself

and it's a really nice opportunity now to be able to say,

for the millionth time, to set the record straight,

that that was a tape made for a bit of fun

with a long-term boyfriend, I was with John for five years,

and somebody that stayed in our house one night as a friend in the guest room,

they went through all our things and they stole various things,

including holiday pictures and just all sorts of stuff,

but one of the things they found and took was that tape.

They then released that to the press and got paid a lot of money for it.

My world collapsed at that point.

It's really hard to remember, to sort of go back,

because the feelings are still there and it's...

I think that, as a woman, having sex with somebody

is the most vulnerable state that you can possibly be in

and to have that violated by somebody publicising that

to the world, effectively,

is the most difficult thing that I've ever had to handle.

And I don't honestly know if I'll ever come to terms with it

because I'm never going to be able to remove it from public view as far as I know.

Immediately after the scandal, Abi cashed in on her fame with a series of television appearances

and lucrative glamour modelling contracts.

But for the last six years, she's been forging a career as an actor.

I am very aware that the release of the stolen sex tape increased my media profile hugely

and I had probably a lot more modelling jobs and things because of that.

It came at great emotional cost to me

and if I could take it back and have earned less money

and have less profile, I would do that in a heartbeat.

Now, you might think that politics is boring,

but with the amount of sex scandals that politicians are involved in, is that really the case?

If that lot in Whitehall aren't sticking their ballot in somebody else's box,

they're in front of the chief whip for a tongue lashing.

You know what they say - there ain't no party like a political party.

In the late 90s, political sex scandals were nothing new.

And when it comes to crossing the line between representing the people and having sex with them,

naughty former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi must be the Godfather.

The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been asked to appear in court

to answer charges that he organised sex parties with young prostitutes.

Berlusconi's parties are legendary. The bunga bunga parties, he calls them.

I don't know what the direct translation is of that,

but by all accounts, it involves more women than men

and it involves quite a lot of Viagra.

# I want to sex you up

A number of women who've been involved in sex scandals with Berlusconi

have talked about his sexual prowess. One woman talked about being hypnotised by it.

I can't see it myself. Hair plugs doesn't do it for me.

But in this country, our political sex scandals are more of a British affair.

I have a statement I would like to read.

On Monday night, following a long meeting with the chancellor,

I needed to go to the toilet,

so I went to one that I knew would be open at three in the morning on Hampstead Heath.

Upon my arrival, I met two men,

Carlos and Eduardo,

who invited me into their cubicle to talk to them about government policy.

Unfortunately, I slipped on the wet floor

and became sandwiched between the two men

in a position that the arresting officer informed me is known as a spit roast.

But stranger than even Little Britain characters

was a parliamentary sex scandal seized upon by the press in 2002.

Edwina Currie's diaries alleged an adulterous affair

with former prime minister John Major.

John Major is the prime minister that time forgot, really.

Everyone remembers Margaret Thatcher and everyone remembers Tony Blair, but John who?

It was an absolutely shocking revelation at the time.

No one had a clue that they were having an affair

or that they'd had an affair, that there was anything between them whatsoever.

Major and Currie's spicy fling lasted for four years during the 1980s

when they were both ministers in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet.

The biggest danger at the time was that somebody might have seen him

on the staircase going up to my flat.

There were several members of parliament in that block.

So he always came up with a large envelope, as if he had something to give me

and we agreed that if anyone said anything, we would deny it

and deny it and deny it.

We never wrote to each other,

we didn't do text messages in those days. There was no trail.

Who knows what attracted these two to each other. I can't think of a less likely pair to get together.

Maybe Edwina was attracted to John Major for his greyness, for his solidity.

Maybe he was attracted to her because she was considered quite a wild thing.

In her day, she was quite something.

# We fade to grey

Edwina successfully kept the affair secret for 14 years,

revealing all after John Major retired.

The Conservative government decided we were going to have a campaign for back to family values.

I knew that at the heart of this was an hypocrisy

and that a man who had had an affair

should be aware that people's lives can be messy and that there's no perfection

and I thought that hypocrisy should be put on record,

particularly once his own autobiography came out

and I didn't exist! I thought, "Yes, I do! Watch."

But perhaps the biggest political sex scandal to shock the world occurred in 1998

and belongs to the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton,

and his 22-year-old work experience girl Monica Lewinsky.

It would be hard to imagine a greater sex scandal

than the Clinton/Lewinsky one.

Even now, the word Lewinsky is used in American slang to mean blow job.

Details of their affair started to unfurl

when Monica's co-worker, Linda Tripp, spilled the beans

by handing over recorded conversations to lawyers

investigating sexual misconduct allegations against Clinton.

-"We didn't have sex, Linda!"

-"Well, what do you call it?"

-"We fooled around!"

-"I don't know. I think if you get to orgasm, that's having sex."

-"No, it's not."

Lewinsky alleged that she'd had nine sexual encounters with the sax-playing president

in the Oval Office involving oral sex and other kinds of intimate contact.

If you were the president of the United States,

you're not going to book a Travelodge.

You're going to go, "I've got a magnificent office

where Abraham Lincoln sat."

If the Oval is your office

and you're talking about being bent over that desk,

that isn't your IKEA desk, that is THE desk!

And she had blow job lips, that girl. How could you not put it in there?

It was the idea of the leader of the free world having fellatio

from an intern young enough to be his daughter

while supposedly on the phone to the leader of Russia.

# I don't know how all of this happened

-# I don't know what to do

-# Say it wasn't you

-# All right

Clinton, who was under intense media pressure,

dug himself into a great big hole with his now famous televised denial speech.

I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.

I just have images, when you watch West Wing and stuff,

of this kind of political dogsbody just going, "I don't know how to get you out of this, Bill.

"Erm, right, you didn't have sex, so we're going to go with that.

"Relations, yeah. Just say you didn't have sexual relations." "What is that?"

"Don't know, but they won't know, so go to that. That's your line, Bill. Stick to it."

I never told anybody to lie,

not a single time, never.

If you share bodily fluids with a young lady and your penis has entered into one orifice or another,

you've had a sexual experience with that lady. That is a sexual relation.

So yeah, he's a bloody liar. But, you know, fair play to him for trying.

These allegations are false

and I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you. APPLAUSE

You and I probably thought anything more than kissing was probably a sexual relation.

No. Apparently, unless full intercourse, it doesn't count.

Bill Clinton apparently doesn't think that oral sex is sex.

I think that Hillary Clinton, his wife, probably differed on that one.

# No, no, why is this happening to me?

During the investigation, it was revealed that Clinton had used a cigar tube as a sex toy

and Monica had kept some seedy evidence.

The entire country was riveted on the nightly news every evening for the latest development.

Then there was a dress that apparently had some semen stains on it that she had kept

and they subpoenaed it.

There she is with her blue dress, not getting it washed, good girl.

Her mate Linda says, "Don't wash it."

You know, those long, lonely nights are made much easier

by gently rubbing the crust of it against your face.

The evidence kept mounting.

Eventually, he had to admit, under oath,

that he had actually had an affair with this woman of some kind.

It was just humiliating.

I had intimate contact with her that was inappropriate.

I do not believe any of the contacts I had with her violated the definition I was given,

therefore I believe I did not do anything but testify truthfully on these matters.

Most unfaithful hubbies who get caught only face their angry wives.

Bill had to fess up to his affair to an entire nation.

And despite telling porkies, he finished his second term as president.

The polls showed the voters still loved him. At the end of the day,

a politician who's delivering on the economy

can get away with pretty much anything.

Here's a love test. Can the man that you're with

match up to the best-selling female sex toy of all time?

Can you look him right in the eye and answer yes to all of these questions?

Is he 20 years old?

Does he take you right there every single time?

And lastly but most importantly,

can you stick him in the back of your knicker drawer when you're done?

By the millennium, Britain was becoming pretty advanced in the bedroom

and we were ready to truly embrace the sex toy.

Despite the recession, the sex toy market is on the up and up.

Sex toys these days are very complicated.

I mean, the manual alone is just... You know, it's in four languages,

there's a sort of flight desk manual.

Some of them are so large, they come with a kick start. It's frightening.

Erotic tool manufacturing is China's latest boom industry.

From vibrators to plastic vaginas,

the country now supplies 70 percent of the world's X-rated toys.

Nowadays, more women own a vibrator in the UK than a washing machine.

Because for most women, that's how they have their first orgasm and lots of orgasms after that.

-Stace, how's it going?

-Hiya!

-Got any batteries, Gwen?

-I don't know. What sort do you need?

-Two double-As.

-Don't think so.