An ex-con partnered with celebs on Channel 4's Banged Up says MP Neil Parish is an "absolute gentleman" and soap star Sid Owen is a "role model".<br /><br />Tony Gooch, 40, features in the new series, which sees celebrities spend eight days behind bars alongside former criminals.<br /><br />Set in HMP Shrewsbury, which was decommissioned in 2013, the show features seven famous faces and is aiming to shed light on the state of Britain's prisons.<br /><br />Tony, who went to prison before turning his life around in 2011, was among several former felons drafted in to add realism to the show.<br /><br />Tony, from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, said: "The celebs were brilliant. Sid Owen is a role model for me - I want to be on a sitcom in 10 years. <br /><br />"He didn't come out of his shell easily but we had long discussions concerning being a dad and his career.<br /><br />"I shared a cell with Neil Parish. He was absolute gentleman and I had some very interesting conversations with him.<br /><br />"We spoke about Winston Churchill a lot and the Covid lockdowns. And the steps I believes the government need to take to reform the prison service."<br /><br />Comedian Tom Rosenthal, journalist Peter Hitchens, singer HRVY, MP Johnny Mercer and Gogglebox star Marcus Luther completed the celebrity cast.<br /><br />Tony said of them: "Tom Rosenthal was very funny. The writer from the Times [Hitchens] was a tougher cookie to crack. <br /><br />"Marcus from Gogglebox, absolute gentlemen - he runs a boxing gym with the mindset of getting kids off the street.<br /><br />"HRVY I was very fond of. <br /><br />"He's very young but a very talented singer and I told him about the pitfalls of having money at such a young age. I told him to remember his friends and chose his circle carefully - he was a lovely kid."<br /><br />Tony spent around 17 years in and out of prison for crimes including theft, weapons offences and aggravated burglary.<br /><br />Following his last conviction in 2011, Tony decided enough was enough and he now runs his own production company and works as a recovery driver.<br /><br />He said: "I've been screaming at how inept the prison service is and it gave me the chance to voice my views and concerns about it to two MPs directly.<br /><br />"The whole purpose of the programme is to bring about change within the prison service.<br /><br />"The only guidance we were given was no violence, but we were allowed to take it right up to that point. <br /><br />"24 hours a day over a 12-day period. No script, no nothing. 100% real.<br /><br />"You couldn't have made it any more realistic. <br /><br />"I had a two-week period afterwards where I struggled to adapt back to normal life as you're put back in that criminal mindset."<br /><br />Tony was just 13 years old when he was first convicted of burglary for stealing motorcross bikes and spent time in young offenders prisons.<br /><br />He said: "We were never a gang, we were just close friends procuring cars for the older villains to do the jobs in. <br /><br />"They would sell them for huge amounts and we realised we were in the wrong game.<br /><br />"So we went straight in, we had no doubts about committing crime.
