Sir Alan Parker

British director who is known for taking on film critics whenever he is in the same room as them; thus, his appearance on the Film Review Show promised fireworks. And indeed there was a famous bust-up - but it was actually between Sir Alan and Vassos Alexander, the sports reader. Parker questioned Alexander's interpretation of comments made to the press by Arsenal players Thierry Henry and Robert Pires, in which they appeared to be strongly querying Arsene Wenger and the club's having not replaced Patrick Vieira in midfield (something which as of 2018 has still not happened, incidentally). A chastened Alexander returned to the studio brandishing both the original PA story and an extract from L'Equipe, in which Pires' comments had appeared in their original French. Sadly for Alexander, the only audio clip was of Henry merely praising Vieira (the striker had made his more forthright comments in a press-only interview), which rather backed up Sir Alan's perspective and left him grumbling about the state of British journalism. The row continued even off mic as Sir Alan left the studio.

During the Box Office Top 10 Sir Alan agreed with Mark's verdict on Domino - "it really cannot just be down to senseless, stupid, violent, shouting, glamorous photography - but apparently it is" - despite knowing the film's director Tony Scott personally.

It was also because Sir Alan and Lord Winston were scheduled for the same show that Mark felt somewhat under-titled, and began insisting on being called Dr Mark.