Darren Day admits drink-driving

Darren Day admits drink-driving
Darren Day admits drink-driving (Image credit: PA Archive/PA Photos)

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here's Darren Day has admitted charges of drink-driving and failing to stop after an accident. The 41-year-old, who appeared on the ITV1 reality show in 2002, had 58 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath on the day of the accident in Edinburgh's West End last month - the legal limit is 35. But his pleas of not guilty to three other charges, including an allegation that he drove without due care and attention in the December 18 incident, were accepted by the Crown. Sentence was deferred until next month at Edinburgh Sheriff Court when he faces trial on one charge of possessing an offensive weapon called a kubotan. Sheriff James Scott also disqualified the actor from holding or obtaining a driving licence in the meantime. Day, who was starring in the Queen musical We Will Rock You in the Scottish capital, was arrested in the early hours of December 18 after an accident which damaged a lamp-post. The entertainer had denied all the charges against him during two previous hearings at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and he was due to go on trial on Thursday. But during a procedural hearing on Wednesday, his solicitor told the court his client would plead guilty to two of the charges he faced. Day, who wore a light grey suit and dark shirt for his court appearance, pleaded not guilty to allegations that he drove without due care and attention, failed to report the accident to police and failed to co-operate with a preliminary breath test. Day also denied possessing an offensive weapon but the plea was not accepted by prosecutors. Day could not comment on the case at this stage, but told reporters: "The show went great. I love Edinburgh."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.