WHAT IF BRITAIN’S MOST TRUSTED FAMILY SOFA WAS HIDING A STORM BEHIND IT? The Siddiquis have gone from cosy Gogglebox favourites to the centre of a growing backlash, as revelations emerge about their empire swelling to nearly £233,000 — while dad Sid reportedly filmed the show during a period he was signed off work from his NHS job for stress. The contrast has ignited fury. Viewers who welcomed the family into their homes every Friday night are now questioning what was really happening off camera. Living-room jokes, warm banter and easy laughs are suddenly colliding with accusations of blurred boundaries, workplace tension and uncomfortable timing. What once felt harmless now feels messy. And for a show built on trust, that shift hits hard.

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For more than a decade, the Siddiqui family have been the beating heart of Gogglebox — cracking jokes from their Derby sofa while the nation laughs along. But behind the cosy living-room scenes, the family has quietly built a six-figure fortune… and now their success is colliding with a very real workplace controversy.

We can reveal the true amount that the stars of Gogglebox are making from being a hit on our screen (the Siddiquis are pictured)

New company filings reveal that the Siddiquis’ business, Siddiqui Ents Ltd, is now sitting on £232,941 in reserves — a staggering figure for a family who began the show back in 2013.

In 2024 alone, the company’s holdings jumped by £115,449, following a £104,770 increase the previous year. Before that, records show regular corporation tax bills of around £20,000 a year — clear evidence their earnings were already surging.

Unlike other Gogglebox households, the Siddiquis are the only family to formalise their TV success into a registered company.

The firm is jointly run by:

  • Sid Siddiqui, 80 — NHS environmental manager

  • Bassit Siddiqui, 43 — IT teacher

  • Umar Siddiqui, 48 — microbiologist

Younger son Raza appears on screen but is not listed as a director.

The Siddiquis have been there since the show's inception in 2013 - and have been the only ones to set up a family business connected to the show called Siddiqui Ents Ltd

The NHS controversy that exploded behind the scenes

In October, it emerged that Sid had continued filming Gogglebox while being signed off work for stress from his taxpayer-funded NHS role at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust.

Although he reportedly worked just three days a week, the Band 8a post carries a full-time salary of £55,690 to £62,682, meaning Sid is believed to earn around £35,000 pro-rata.

The Trust confirmed Sid had been granted permission — both medically and professionally — to keep filming, insisting the show was:

  • Outside working hours

  • Unrelated to his NHS duties

  • Beneficial for his mental health

But inside the Trust, anger was quietly brewing.

One insider said:

“We’re stretched beyond breaking point. We get home exhausted, put the TV on — and there he is laughing on Gogglebox while we’re left picking up the pieces.”

Another added bitterly:

“It feels like two fingers up to the rest of us.”

What Gogglebox really pays

Despite the six-figure reserves, Siddiqui’s personal Gogglebox wage is thought to be around £4,500 a year, with each household sofa typically earning £1,500 per month — roughly £18,000 a year per family.

Family games

Filming takes place twice a week in the run-up to each broadcast.

A tweet by the NHS trust featuring the Gogglebox star who has been signed off work with stress from the roleMental health, pressure — and a nation watching

The controversy comes amid new figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, showing UK workers now take an average of 9.4 sick days a year, the highest level since 2010 — with mental health the biggest driver of long-term absence.

It appears he is continuing to take part in the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager, which, it is understood, he worked at three days a weekFor Sid, the Trust insists he followed every rule.
For his colleagues, the sight of him back on screen days after being signed off is harder to swallow.

And for viewers at home, the revelation that Britain’s favourite Gogglebox family are quietly sitting on nearly a quarter of a million pounds has changed how that familiar sofa now looks.