Ads put her off for life

Katherine Parkinson may have once advertised Maltesers – but says that making the commercials put her off them for life.

She says she developed ‘chocolate blindness’  while filming the ads with Amanda Abbington as she was getting her big break on The IT Crowd.

The Rivals star explained that on set 'they offered me something to spit it out in because it was so much chocolate we were eating’.

But she adds: ‘I saw it as a kind of challenge. I wanted to look really strong and method. So I ate all of them. And I kind of got a kind of chocolate blindness.

'If you have loads of chocolate, it does send you a bit strange. I've never eaten another Malteser since.’

Speaking on the Dish from Waitrose podcast, she also revealed: ‘I never got a single free Malteser when I did the Maltesers ad. Not a single thing.’ Not that she would have eaten any she did receive, of course…

- by Jay Richardson

Published: 12 Nov 2026