‘Don’t worry, Maggie. Charlie’s explained it all. It makes perfect sense – you know you love someone, but you also know you’re doing the right thing by finishing with them.’

How very ingenious of Charlie.

‘I need to talk to Troy first, obviously, sound him out. But Charlie said, well, he said he’d make it worth my while, you know.’

‘I bet he did,’ I muttered. ‘You know, Fay, you should really, really think about this before you do it.’

‘I have.’

‘I mean, how will Troy take it if you do something like that live on air, in front of an audience? There’ll be no going back once it’s done.’

I almost couldn’t believe my own ears. Me, who was usually trying desperately to persuade, to coax people into doing things on live telly that I’d never ever countenance myself.

Fay was absolutely blithe. ‘He knows it’s on the cards anyway. I’m sure he’d like to be on TV too, you know.’

‘Yeah, but Fay, this is real life. It’s not play-acting.’

‘Oh, yes, I know.’ I could picture her dreamy smile. I had the unsettling feeling that she was actually quite mad. ‘He’ll be happy for me. He knows I want to be famous.’

‘Famous?’

‘I’ve already got recognised in the street since the show. It’s so exciting.’

I cringed inside. ‘Look, Fay, I can arrange for you to be on another show. You don’t have to dump your boyfriend live on air to be famous, really.’ I was so tense my head was starting to ache.

‘It’s not dumping,’ she gabbled on. ‘It’s just telling the truth. And Charlie said he’d take care of me anyway.’

It was too late to save her. She’d been truly brainwashed.

In the end Fay and Troy split up long before the show. Instead she came on an episode that Sally produced called ‘I’d Do Anything To Be Famous’, where Fay showed the crash photo reverently and cried a bit, and then performed a rather innocuous pole-dance live, which resulted in one of the glamour agencies signing her up. I watched the show in the office with half an eye, busy signing contracts to secure a drug-addled celebrity set to reveal her addictions on a show next week for an awful lot of money. Suddenly I thought I heard my name. I took a swig of coffee and turned the volume up.