Richard Whiteley was a spy, claims Ricky Tomlinson

Ricky Tomlinson has claimed that Richard Whiteley, best known for presenting afternoon gameshow Countdown for more than 20 years, was a member of the intelligence services. 

Tomlinson, who appeared alongside Caroline Aherne in sitcom The Royle Family, made the startling claim in an interview with The Chester Chronicle as he opened a Wetherspoons pub in the city. 

In 1972, Tomlinson, a former plasterer, helped to organise the first national building workers' strike in the upstairs room of the pub. He was jailed in 1973, along with his "Shrewsbury Two" partner Des Warren, after being found guilty of conspiracy to intimidate, unlawful assembly and affray, following altercations at a construction site in Shrewsbury.

The actor believes that the jury's decision to convict him may have been swayed by an ITV documentary that was aired on the day they retired to deliver their verdict. 

The documentary, Red Under the Bed, featured Warren and Tomlinson and was presented by the late Whiteley and former politician Woodrow Wyatt, who died in 1997.

Tomlinson claims the film was "designed, written, made and paid for by the security services".

Tomlinson, who also played Bobby Grant in Brookside, said: "I’ve got documents at home, which are printed 'confidential', 'strictly confidential', 'not to be seen', but it involves the likes of Ted Heath, Woodrow Wyatt.

"And we’ve just discovered that they made a film which went out on television the night the jury were out considering the verdict called Red Under the Bed and it was so anti-trade union that two of the jury changed their mind and brought a majority verdict in of 10-2 guilty."

"We found out this week that the film was designed, written, made and paid for by the security services. Woodrow Wyatt was a member of the security services and unbelievably so was Richard Whiteley who hosted the show. Richard Whiteley from Countdown was a member of the intelligence services.”

Whiteley died in 2005. He joined ITN as a trainee after graduating from Cambridge.