Winner becomes latest to cry on TV

Winner, who directed stars such as Marlon Brando and Charles Bronson in his earlier film career, was reduced to tears by a heart-breaking tale while recording Michael Winner's Dining Stars.

In scenes to be broadcast on ITV1 next week, Winner said the story of a Lancashire woman whose young son has a life-threatening heart condition and whose daughter has cerebral palsy "hit me very strongly suddenly".

His emotional episode comes in the wake of a wave of prominent male figures – including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell and pop singer Peter Andr – who have been caught on camera crying.

But Winner's emotional outpouring is only short-lived and the show sees him on typically scathing form, branding the north of England an "alien country" and claiming northerners are "incapable of cooking".