Sid Siddiqui, the 80-year-old Gogglebox star, has lost his £62,000-a-year NHS job after it emerged he was signed off work with stress while continuing to appear on the Channel 4 show. The environmental manager at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust had been on sick leave since July on mental-health grounds but was still filming Gogglebox.
Sources say Siddiqui had full permission from his doctor and employer to keep filming during his time off. However, his on-screen appearances angered NHS colleagues, who accused him of enjoying full pay while they struggled to cover his workload. One insider told the Daily Mail: 'We get home after a long day, put the telly on and there he is, laughing and joking on Gogglebox. He’s basically sat there with two fingers up at us while we’re picking up the pieces.'
Siddiqui, who joined Gogglebox in 2013 alongside his sons, is thought to earn around £4,500 a year for his TV appearances. Despite the backlash, sources close to him insist he followed all rules, with checks from his employer and doctor, who agreed filming was unrelated to his job and beneficial for his well-being.
A recent study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found stress and mental-health issues are top reasons for workplace absences, with UK employees taking an average of 9.4 sick days a year, the highest since 2010. Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust declined to comment on individual employee circumstances, while a Gogglebox spokesperson confirmed all necessary permissions were given for Siddiqui to continue filming.
