Earlier this year, a clip of a 1975 interview between Michael Parkinson and Helen Mirren went viral. You’ve probably seen it already: the chat show host and the actress perched on leather chairs against a gravy-coloured background, the atmosphere between them crackling with tension and dislike.

Viewed from the vantage point of 2016, the interview is wince-inducing for its showcasing of 1970s sexism. Parkinson introduces Mirren as the “sex queen of the Royal Shakespeare Company”, before telling her condescendingly: “You are, in quotes, a serious actress.”

He then proceeds to quote a review which described Mirren as “projecting sluttish eroticism”, before asking whether her “equipment” – i.e. her body – stops her being taken seriously as a dramatic actor. “Because serious actress can’t have big bosoms, is that what you mean?” the 30-year-old Mirren shoots back, her blue eyes flashing steel.

Now, over four decades later, Parkinson has commented on the furore surrounding the infamous interview. And perhaps unsurprisingly, he doesn’t think there was anything seedy about his line of questioning. In fact, he rather seems to think that the young Mirren was – inevitably – asking for it.

Michael Parkinson responds predictably to that infamous Helen Mirren interview