Bruce Forsyth's Big Night

Host

Co-host

Anthea Redfern (some episodes)

Broadcast

LWT for ITV, 7 October 1978 to 3 April 1980 (12 episodes in 1 series + 1 special)

Synopsis

Forsyth was poached from his Gen Game duties at the BBC with the offer of £15,000 a week to front this £250k-an-episode variety show of epic proportions. Two hours long, it had a moderately successful beginning but had a poor critical review. By the end, Forsyth was reduced to spending ten minutes of one programme trying to disseminate what had gone wrong. Originally commissioned for 12 weeks, it carried on to the bitter end (contrary to popular belief, it was not pulled in mid-run) but by the time the programme had been shortened and the ratings recovered, the damage was done and it was clear no second series was going to be forthcoming. There was a one-off edition on Good Friday 1980, but we're not sure how much of the original format was retained.

There were many parts to the programme including an early version of The Pyramid Game and, later, All Star Secrets.

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Trivia

The dance troupe were "Thirty Two Feet" (containing 16 people, presumably) with choreography by Brian Rogers.

Arguably the most successful part of the show was the sitcom element The Glums, which later spun-off into its own series. It was based on the original 1950s Take It From Here radio scripts by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.

Videos

The very first episode.

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