The BBC’s Question Time Leaders Debate happened last night and featured leaders of four of the main parties taking questions from a studio audience in Sheffield.
But some viewers soon noticed a face they recognised in the crowd – and even accused the BBC of ‘bias’.
Hosted by Fiona Bruce, the show saw the Conservatives’ Boris Johnson, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, the Liberal Democrats’ Jo Swinson and the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon come in for some tough questions.
And during Jo Swinson’s interaction with the audience, viewers spotted Coronation Street actress Kate Rutter, who was giving her a hard time.
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Kate also appeared in I, Daniel Blake, an award-winning 2016 film about Tory cuts and benefits directed by Ken Loach.
It wasn’t long before eagle-eyed viewers spotted Kate and made the connection.
Is Kate Rutter, an actress in 'I, Daniel Blake' a @BBCQT audience member? #QuestionTimeLeadersSpecial pic.twitter.com/sdp9k12Bht
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) November 22, 2019
Anyone shocked that Boris was stitched up tonight at #BBCQT tonight? Impressive thing is he still came out of it winning #BackBoris https://t.co/nFpNUgglwN
— Stephen Canning (@EssexCanning) November 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/Saczak1/status/1197995741404450816
Interesting that an I Daniel Blake actress or just playing yourself (no acting skills involved) is in the audience asking questions on #bbcqt
— Sara C (@ChinchenSara) November 22, 2019
#BBCQuestionTime @kate_rutter paid to be there or a genuine audience contributor ? I hope that her contribution was a genuine one.
— Julie Grant (@JULIEGRANT20) November 22, 2019
Good to see the Bias Broadcasting Corporation caught out fielding "Ringers" on question time again, this time far left activist and actress Kate Rutter (Coronation st & I Daniel Blake) pretending to be an angry local. pic.twitter.com/IyP7V0fnGS
— Lee Smeaton📈📉📈 75K_JD 💲 (@NavyReg1970) November 23, 2019
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One viewer said on Twitter: “So it seems Labour-supporting actress Kate Rutter (I, Daniel Blake) was invited on to the debate to grill Jo Swinson. Hmm”.
“Good to see the Bias Broadcasting Corporation caught out fielding ‘ringer’ on Question Time again,” another wrote.
And another made unsubstantiated accusations about Kate being both “far-left” and being in performance mode.
“This time far-left activist and actress Kate Rutter (Coronation Street and I, Daniel Blake) is pretending to be an angry local,” they spluttered.
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