Comedy legend Tommy Cooper is the subject of a controversial new film about his wife - a film that his daughter Vicky says is factually "all lies". The ITV drama is expected to attract eight million viewers on Monday night (April 21, 2013), though it depicts Cooper as an alcohol who battered both his wife Gwen and lover Mary Kay.

David ThrelfallDavid Threlfall Plays Tommy Cooper

However, speaking with the Sunday Mirror, his daughter Vicky said the two-hour show Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This, is all lies. She also claims she felt shut out of discussions about the script.

"If my father were alive he'd be disgusted people were cashing in on his memory like this," said Vicky after watching an early cut of the movie, which sees Cooper - played by Shameless star David Threlfall - punching his wife Gwen in the street. In another scene he leaves Mary with a black eye as she tries to drag him stumbling from a pub.

Vicky said: "My father would be utterly horrified to see how he's been portrayed as a vicious and violent alcoholic.

"To be labelled a woman beater is a hugely serious ¬accusation but it's completely false and it's been very hard to read this over the years.

"His lover Mary wrote a book saying he had hurt her just to make money, but he's not alive to defend himself.

"She was bitter as she'd been missed out of the will.

Vicky admits that the much-loved entertainer - who collapsed and died on-stage - had "a terrible temper". 

She says: "He used to have blazing rows with his manager Miff Ferrie. One time he slammed a chair on the floor and the legs broke off.

"But he'd take out his rage on things, not people.

"And the next day he'd have a good sense of humour about it.

"I remember him saying afterwards: 'Oh, that's a shame. That was my favourite chair!'

"He was a big drinker too but I don't know if you could call him an alcoholic.

"There's a fine line between drinking too much and being alcohol-dependant.

"He didn't wake up at 7am and start drinking, but he would let his hair down after a performance."

The film is based on the 2006 biography of Cooper, by his friend John Fisher - a former London Weekend Television producer.

More: David Threlfall lands honorary degree