It started as a perfectly ordinary TV interview between an ageing rocker and the gang from Ten's nightly news and entertainment panel show, The Project. But within minutes something had gone badly wrong, and Johnny Rotten lived up to his name.

The former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon - stage name: Johnny Rotten - had agreed to an interview with the show. The program crossed to the backstage area of his Brisbane show.

The interview sailed through a series of routine questions about his tour, performing on stage and writing music but things went off the rails when one of The Project's panellists, Carrie Bickmore, turned the conversation to the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.