Former Loose Women panellist Sophie Morgan has revealed that her co-stars are more powerful in person than they come across on camera, describing her time on the ITV programme as "such a privilege".
The disability activist and presenter, 41, was a panellist on the show between 2021 and 2024. Reflecting on her experience, she explained how the platform allowed her to speak about issues affecting disabled people.
A platform for disabled voices
Sophie, who fronts the new Channel 4 documentary The Experiment, was left paralysed in a car crash when she was 18 and is now a wheelchair user. She told the Daily Express: "It was such a privilege because I've always wanted to find platforms to voice the things that were happening to me and others like me."
She added: "You shout and no one's listening. You don't know who's going to pay attention. And so often as a disabled person, and certainly as a disabled woman, you don't necessarily get listened to."
"I was really grateful to be part of that because they did give me a voice. They allowed me to talk about some of the challenges I was facing in my own life, but also that were in the media at the time."
Praise for fellow panellists
Sophie said one of the highlights of her experience was sitting on the panel alongside Janet Street-Porter, whom she described as a "powerhouse". She was equally complimentary of her fellow panellists, suggesting their commanding personalities did not always translate on screen.
"I think they're probably more powerful in person than they come across on camera, which is an interesting thing to be around," she reflected.
"I loved Janet Street-Porter. Any side of her is fun. She's a powerhouse. I kind of grew up around women that were like that, so I just found her a breath of fresh air. I really like the women that were just so steadfast in their perceptions and perspectives. It was a privilege to work with them."
The Experiment documentary
Sophie is the face of Channel 4's new documentary, The Experiment. The programme uses a "meticulously constructed experiment to ask a disturbing question: would you recognise cruelty if it was dressed up as care? Could members of the British public be persuaded by ideas drawn from Nazi ideology if they were presented as progressive solutions to a modern social 'problem'?"
The synopsis explains that at the centre of the documentary is SegriLife House, a residential facility that appears to offer a radical model of supported living, but is not real. Disabled and neurodivergent actors feature as residents, while members of the public are invited to meet them and tour the facilities.
"But the truth behind the ideas is drawn from one of the darkest chapters in modern history: the segregation, devaluing and systematic extermination of disabled people by the Nazi regime, which had harrowing consequences," the synopsis adds.
Sophie said she was approached by Channel 4 while living in the States, at a time when eugenics conversations were "rearing its ugly head". She said she wanted to be part of a project that felt "so brave" and to learn about the history, having read a book called Hitler's Forgotten Victims. The Experiment can be streamed on Channel 4 now.
