in the early 2000s (decade), schofield stated in interviews that since his television work of the 1980s/1990s, gordon has had a tragic (fictitious) life. in an interview on channel 4's "zippy and george's puppet legends" (2005), he revealed that gordon is now an alcoholic. in an interview with "heat" magazine (27 may – 2 june 2006 issue), schofield revealed that gordon had died in a ram-raiding accident. this claim, however, was negated by gordon's later television appearances.