The Late Late Breakfast Show
Contents |
Host
Co-hosts
John Peel (outside broadcast anchor)
Mike Smith (outside broadcast anchor)
Broadcast
BBC1, 4 September 1982 - 8 November 1986 (approx. 130 programmes in 5 series)
Synopsis
The oldest, and arguably least fondly remembered, of the Edmonds Saturday night entertainment vehicles. Nevertheless, it did set out the ingredients for BBC1's fun-time schedule for around 15 years, namely: random celebrity appearances, large-scale stunts and gunge.
Main game feature was Give It A Whirl (a.k.a. the Whirly Wheel), where a punter gets to perform a Don't Try This at Home!-style stunt. The wheel's action was somewhat erratic, mainly because it was rigged by a bloke at the back ensuring it landed on the segment relating to the stunt that the production team had lined up for that week. (In a typical Edmonds move, this bloke was brought out in front of the camera to be ridiculed when one week the wheel landed on the 'wrong' space.) As certain eagle-eyed viewers spotted, the other wheel (the one with the names on it) was originally weighted so that the name at the bottom would end up at the top. This was eventually admitted on air, and while the wheel remained rigged, they did at least change the weighting from week to week afterwards, with Edmonds making a running joke out of it.
In November 1986, 25-year-old Michael Lush was killed while rehearsing for a Whirly Wheel stunt. The stunt was meant to be a bungee jump where the bottom of a box opened and the volunteer bounced on the bungee rope. However, the bungee rope was not properly attached to the box. In the subsequent investigation it transpired that the safety supervisor hired to set up the stunt was not properly qualified.
The programme was back just two years later, using the new title of Noel's Saturday Roadshow.
Theme music
Signature tune composed by Garry Kemp and performed by Spandau Ballet.
Trivia
For some reason, Christmas morning specials were broadcast live from the Post Office Tower. Further, Network Ten Australia simulcast one or two of these specials to make things just a bit more technically challenging than need be.
