Paul O’Grady much prefers to ‘EastEnders’ to ‘Coronation Street’ nowadays, because there is "too much death and destruction" on the ITV soap.
The 63-year-old TV presenter has been critical of ‘Corrie’ recently, comparing the show to war-torn Syria, and as a result he has got into ‘EastEnders’ a lot more because he believes the programme is "more believable" than the likes of ‘Corrie’, ‘Emmerdale’ and ‘Hollyoaks’.
He said: "I love ‘EastEnders’. Makes me laugh. Never miss it. I love the Carters. I love Jessie Wallace as Kat. Old Mo, she’s fabulous.
"For me, it’s more believable than the other soaps.
"You see them in ‘EastEnders’ with a head full of rollers preparing to open the pub."
Paul believes ‘Corrie’ has become more like a Quentin Tarantino-like movie than a soap opera nowadays.
He is quoted by the Daily Mirror newspaper as saying: "There’s too much death and destruction in ‘Corrie’. It’s gone a bit Tarantino."
Earlier this year, the ‘For the Love of Dogs’ host blasted some of Corrie’s recent storylines – which have seen evil Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre) go on a killing spree, and Josh Tucker (Ryan Clayton) raping David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) – by comparing the show to troubled Syria.
He said: "It was about working class life in a little street, but now it’s like Syria.
"There used to be these wonderful vignettes in the Rovers – a conversation over nothing."
Fellow TV presenters Fern Britton and Sir Michael Parkinson have also hit out at the soap in recent months.
The former ‘This Morning’ co-host called for the show to be "saved", claiming it is "unsuitable for pre-watershed".
She tweeted: "Is it looking for a post watershed slot? Not witnessing the graphic horror/degradation/shame/pain of sexual abuse is worse than seeing it. Unsuitable for pre watershed @ITV #SaveOurCorrie (sic)"
What’s more, TV legend Michael blasted the soap for its violent and "gruesome" storylines.
He said: "I never imagined I would recoil from watching ‘Coronation Street’, but the storyline of the kidnapping and torture of Andy and Vinny and their brutal murder by Pat Phelan had little to do with that gentle, funny reminder of life in the North Country I discovered and so admired in the early 1960s when I joined Granada Television."