Harry Hill's TV Burp

For the Australian version, see TV Burp (Australian TV series).

Harry Hill's TV Burp
Title card
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Harry Hill
Presented by	Harry Hill
Theme music composer	Chris Moyles
Opening theme	Harry Hill's TV Burp Theme
Ending theme	Harry Hill's TV Burp Theme
Composer	Steve Brown
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	10
No. of episodes	123 (117 regular, 4 BBC specials & 2 Direct-to-video TV Burp Gold episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Harry Hill (uncredited)
Producers	Nick Symons (2002-2006) Spencer Millman (2007-present) Richard Allen Turner (TV Burp Gold) Grant Philpott (TV Burp Gold 2)
Production locations	Teddington Studios (2001-2009) BBC Television Centre (2009-present)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	25 minutes (without commercials) 30 minutes (with commercials)
Production company	Avalon Television
Original release
Network	ITV1 (regulars) BBC One (Red Nose Day specials and Blue Peter special)
Release	14 November 2002 – present
Related
The Soup The Harry Hill Show You've Been Framed! TV Burp

Harry Hill's TV Burp is a popular BAFTA award-winning British television comedy programme produced by Avalon Television for ITV and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. The show presents a satirical look at the week's television, including extracts from TV shows with added sketches, observational voice-overs, and guest appearances. It has been renewed for two more seasons along with You've Been Framed!.

History and airings

The show was filmed at Teddington Studios, Greater London, in Studio 1 for series 1 - 8, however, for series 9, the studio has moved to the BBC Television Centre in London. It is based on clips of the previous week of programming on television, showing lines of dialogue that can be twisted out of context, unusual set layouts and actions performed on the shows. Although Hill does most of the writing himself, Brenda Gilhooly, Paul Hawksbee, Dan Maier, Joe Burnside and David Quantick also help write the weekly show. The show premièred with a pilot on 22 December 2001. It contained many of the common elements that remain on the show to the present day, now in its ninth series. Following the success of the pilot, a full series was commissioned, starting on 14 November 2002. Eight subsequent series have followed, as well as two 'Reviews of the Year' (see Transmissions). Series 1-3 were originally shown in a late-night slot on Thursdays and Fridays respectively. While the show was well received, the scheduling received criticism, as its family-friendly humour made it more suited to earlier broadcast. Series 3 saw a repeat showing in a Sunday teatime slot. Series 4 and 5 saw Burp broadcast on a Saturday teatime slot - although now, from being criticised for being shown too late, some feel that its new slot was too early, and deserved a prime-time evening slot. Series 6 was given a boost following Hill's successful narration of You've Been Framed!. The eighth series began on 18 October 2008. On the 6 December that year, the show was broadcast in between two episodes of The X Factor, and received its highest audience to date with 8.28 million watching. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Hill said that he spends most of his waking hours watching TV. "This is now the eighth series and I'm spending most of my waking hours watching television. I think I'm trapped inside a version of Super Size Me but instead of eating McDonald's I'm watching television." He also said that he dreams about giving up the show, but feels trapped by its success. "I do dream of giving it up. I think about it all the time. But it's successful, so you're trapped."

Merchandise

DVDs

Although for a period, it was thought that a DVD was unlikely due to the multiple copyright clearance issues, a DVD titled Harry Hill's TV Burp Gold was released in November 2008. A second DVD titled Harry Hill's TV Burp Gold 2 was released on 9 November 2009. The DVD's contain unseen burps and outtakes. A complete series-by-series release still appears unlikely.

Title	Duration	Classification	Release Date
Harry Hill's TV Burp Gold	90 minutes	12	10 November 2008
Harry Hill's TV Burp Gold 2	93 minutes	12	9 November 2009

Books

• Hill, Harry (8 October 2009). Harry Hill's TV Burp Book. Ebury Press. ISBN 9780091932244.

Recurring elements

Fights

• Pre-advertisement 'fights' that attempt to determine which of two people or things from a scene are "best", such as "babies or cats" (from an episode of The Apprentice), "chicken or turkey", "White Rat or Brown Rat" (from a nature documentary), "Mars or meat" (from Life on Mars) or even "Jesus or Hitler". After making the comparison, Hill's signature tagline follows: "But which is better? (A) or (B)? There's only one way to find out... FIGHT!", at which point two actors representing the characters of the comparison appear from either side and engage in a wrestling match while Hill goads them on (usually favouring one specific party). After the commercial break, the show continues as normal, making no reference to the fight or who won it.
• In the Christmas episode of series 1, Jesus and Santa Claus fought. However, Santa was knocked out with one punch.
• During one episode in series 7, the fight consisted of seven people.
• In episode 2 of Series 8, the fight is to decide who is the naughtiest vegetarian. It is between Heather Mills and Hitler. After announcing "See you after the break" Harry is heard to say "C'mon Hitler!"
• During Series 8, one such fight was Smurfs vs gorillas. In the following episode, during another joke about gorillas with an actor in costume, the Smurf returned to renew the fight and had to be taken away. This was again repeated during the 22 November 2008 episode, when the closing song was sung by an albino gorilla. Following this, the Smurf received cameo appearances in various episodes.
• During Series 8, one fight involved two slow old men. They were so slow by the time the adverts had finished, they were still walking towards each other, and the fight had to be called off.
• A series 8 episode saw a fight between "Mermaids" and "Boobies", after a participant on Snog Marry Avoid? expressed an appreciation for both. While a mermaid emerged from one door, the other door contained two Bobbies.
• In the penultimate episode of series 8, the fight was between pasta and nothing, so only the pasta emerged from one side of the door, and when the other door opened to reveal nothing, the pasta walked off.
• In the second episode of series 9, after showing a clip of two vicars fighting in Emmerdale, the fight was simply declared as "Vicar Fight!", followed by several people dressed in religious clothing, launching into a punch-up.
• In one episode of series 9, a fight was announced but never actually occurred as the combatants could not open the doors to the studio (part of a joke about their alleged stupidity shown prior to the fight)
• In another episode of series 9, the fight was between a tree and a bench. The tree fell on the bench and won.
• In the first of the latter half of series saw a fight between "Light Green Soldier" and "Dark Green Soldier", after a character from Wild at Heart was using his toy soldiers in his room, as Harry narrated.
• In the third final episode of series 9, for the first time in the show's history, Harry Hill announced the fight in Spanish.

TV Highlight of the Week

• This is a tiny segment of a show showing an entirely mundane event such as throwing out some sour milk, exhaling, snoring, spraying disinfectant or serving tea.
• Usually this is replaced with a variant on the same theme, such as "TV High Voice of the Week" or "TV Expert of the Week", with the usual jingle artificially stretched to fit in the extra words.
• Series 7, onwards has featured the recurring "I Beg Your Pardon of the Week", which features a clip of mumbled or unintelligible dialogue.
• Other replacements include "Longest Exhalation of the Week", "Smallest Amount of Sick Produced When Being Sick of the Week", "Most Insincere Reaction of the Week" and even "Lopsided Glasses Wearer Who Looks a Bit Like David Baddiel of the Week".
• In Series 9, there was one "Campest Sigh of the Week", which featured Christian Clarke sighing.

Other jokes

• Harry looking sideways at another camera before giving a cheeky, risqué or sarcastic remark.
• At the end of every show, one of the people referenced in the show makes a guest appearance to sing a song. For example, in the pilot episode, Bruce Jones sings Rhinestone Cowboy after Harry gave him a pet horse.
• Staged or edited shots in which Hill 'appears' in a show (sometimes as himself, sometimes as a character from said show) to artificially alter the outcome of the scene or to mimic or attack a character that has annoyed him.
• Series-specific running gags, such as "Celebrity Big Brother Round-Up", pretending to be the banker on the other end of the phone on Deal or No Deal, and the uncanny ability of the respective casts of Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Dancing on Ice to make inadvertently animal-like noises.
• Praising The Mustard Shop whenever Norwich is mentioned.
• Victims of jokes turning up on set immediately after a scene in which they appear.
• Hill, a fan of the British singer Morrissey, has also used songs of Morrissey in the show on several occasions. TV Burp used to have a segment called "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", which was introduced by the Morrissey song of the same name. Also, in the 2006 series, Hill jokingly changed the theme tune of the popular soap opera EastEnders to "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths. In the 2009 series, Hill paid tribute to the series Paris Hilton's British Best Friend by singing Morrissey's recent single "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris". In Series 9, Hill wore a Morrissey wig.
• Since Harry Hill narrates the TV series 'You've Been Framed!' (which is broadcast just before TV Burp on the same channel) the two programmes are treated as a continuation of each other. Harry has often mentioned You've Been Framed in his jokes, as if it is his own show. Most notably when he defends it when Dermot O'Leary from X-Factor says "Your Saturday night starts right here!", Harry responds, "How dare you! Your Saturday night starts with Hole in the Wall, then turn over to You've Been Framed!". This was followed up in a later episode when Harry opened the show with "Your Saturday night starts right here!" when TV Burp was broadcast after The X Factor.
• TV Burp Poetry Corner - a segment in which a clip of some dialogue is said that inadvertently rhymes - making it sound slightly poetic. For example, in one episode the dialogue featured in this segment was, "Marine Biologist Dr. Mark Marks, who has spent his working life studying sharks". Or, "I thought you went to get the pies", "No, I was preparing a surprise." Or, "I didn't know what to do, she just came out of the blue." Or, "You're ill!", "Still...".
• Harry sometimes plays Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack contestant Calista Robertson's 'Bongo Jam', in parody of Robertson being shown recording it on the show and calling it 'quite popular on the funky house scene'. The song tends to appear when trends or bongo drums are mentioned. After a long absence, the gag was used on the 28 March 2009 show in reference to Sir Alan Sugar referring to contestants of The Apprentice being 'as easy to play as bongo drums'. It later returned as 'Bin Jam' on the 6 March 2010 show. It then returned the following week as 'Bongo Hob Jam'

Series specific recurring elements

Series 1

• Harry would say "We can't get clips of Eastenders!" (this was actually true, owing to legal reasons). The audience would then boo, then boo even more when Hill showed a picture of Greg Dyke. This joke ran all season until the final episode, when Harry visited BBC TV Centre in order to "appeal to him personally", with gifts of Kronenberg wine and a Twix. It was only used in season 1.

Series 7

• Almost every episode of series 7 contained a segment looking at that week's episode of the BBC Three lifestyle documentary programme Freaky Eaters, about people with strange eating habits. After a clip showing the particular food the 'Freaky Eater' is either addicted to or repulsed by, Harry will repeat them in a loud, moronic, toothless gurn (e.g. "beans!", "chippy chips!", "sausages!", "hoopy hoops!", "sweet snicknoin!" (sirloin). When collecting his BAFTA in 2008, Harry used this voice again, and jokingly said that Freaky Eaters should have received the award because it's the "best show on telly". This was continued in later episodes of Series 8.
• Emmerdale character Val's cataracts became a recurring joke, based on a scene in which she questions "Cataracts?" after a diagnosis. The scene was spoofed with Harry repeating the surprised declaration then passing the news onto a chain of various celebrities (mainly those under contract with ITV) and the show's own history of highlighted extras who respond "Cataracts?" one after another. A passing tongue-in-cheek mention of 'ear cataracts?' a few weeks later was spoofed on the 1 March 2008 edition of the show in exactly the same way, lasting almost a minute and a half and featuring cameo appearances from comedians Al Murray, Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, Jeremy Kyle and Noel Fielding. In all there were 41 cameos made.

Series 8

• Many jokes about Hole in the Wall, which mostly included the Hole In The Wall catchphrase "Bring on the wall!". The show's host, Dale Winton, appeared once as a guest during the series.
• Harry was regularly attacked by a puppet shark jumping out of various items. Harry will then attack the shark with a towel rail, leading to it eventually retreating. It started with a bowl of shark fin soup, then went on to a bowl of washing up liquid, then a budgie cage, and recently from a basket of pants. The shark's more recent appearances have seen it act more friendly towards Harry, although in one episode it attacked a member of Time Team.
• The "Eoghan Quigg" look - During series 8, Harry mocked X Factor contestant Eoghan Quigg (pronouncing the name as 'EE-OG-HAN') He claimed that Eoghan used a "vote for me" face (consisting of an awkward smile) and Harry would try to imitate the expression whilst wearing a blond wig. Quigg's failure to win the series was attributed by Harry on the 20 December show to his failure to have pulled the face during the final.
• The Many Faces of Louis Walsh (or the one-off "Many Faces of Alexandra Burke", "Many Faces of Peggy Mitchell" and "Many Faces of Jimmy King's Face) - a segment which shows facial expressions made by X-Factor judge Louis Walsh. They included surprise, joy, smug, outrage, sad and Hitler.
• A new recurring character was introduced, "Knitted Character", after a knitted toy which featured briefly in EastEnders. Knitted Character is implied to be part of the TV Burp staff and holds a rivalry with Peggy Mitchell. The character returned as part of a contest in series 9, in which viewers had to find a Knitted Character prop hidden in a television show aired between episodes in order to win a TV Burp book, DVD and Knitted Character toy.
• Harry wobbling a red jelly to The Surfaris' Wipe Out for a period of time, parodying a reference from Heston Blumenthal's Victorian Feast to the Victorians finding amusement at having wobbling jellies at the dining table. The first use of this joke also served as one of the show's frequent satires of ITV's often perceived low standards. The Knitted Character often asked to ride the jelly during this segment, and Harry's Alan Sugar puppet had ridden the jelly as well. At the end of the final episode of the series, an extra-large prop jelly was brought on for Harry to ride, whilst holding the Knitted Character. The jelly made a single return in Series 9, in which Hill pulled numerous running joke props out of a fridge.
• Harry repeating the theme song to Sky1 show The Lion Man with alternative lyrics. These include 'Frying Man', about Gordon Ramsay, 'Crying Man' about Minty Peterson from EastEnders and 'Cyan Man', about a contestant on The Colour of Money.
• Various characters/individuals passing behind Harry in succession. These include The Lion Man, Jeremy Paxman on a barge, Andrew Marr on a boat and an 'Attention Seeking Door', based on a sliding door very slowly closing in the background of a scene in Coronation Street.
• Harry regularly featured an overweight man dressed with a pink hairband and in red overalls to appear as Heather Trott from EastEnders (played by Steve Benham). The character is usually featured eating or the sketch has some reference to Heather's weight. This is continued in Series 9.
• Harry made recurring jokes about Paris Hilton and her television show, Paris Hilton's British Best Friend. He usually spoofs or makes reference to Hilton's use of abbreviations for phrases such as "TTYN" for "Talk to You Never" which Hilton used when a contestant was eliminated. He also spoofed the fact that in one shot of the show, it appeared as if Hilton's legs were dressed in different coloured tights. When the spoof was retired, it showed Paris Hilton announcing the winner of the show, but then cut to a different, similar looking and sounding woman claiming Harry had won the contest, him running towards her and knocking her off the top of a building, and then grabbing onto her legs, repeating the multi-colour tight reference.
• "This Week's Apprentice in a Nutshell" covering the first 2 episodes of the 2009 UK edition of The Apprentice. The fired candidate is shown boasting how they will surely win the contest, directly followed by the moment Sugar fired them. This has been continued in Series 9 with "This Week's The Restaurant in a Nutshell" and "This Week's River Cottage in a Nutshell".
• Harry would mention people/characters in shows who vaguely looked liked him, stating that for reasons he couldn't understand he thought they were quite handsome. A split screen of Harry and the other individual was then presented (in later series, the other person would actually pop up in the studio). The people who look like him were Heston Blumenthal and Toby Young in Series 8 and Gandhi, David Moore from The Restaurant, Dave, a guider from I'm a Celebrity in Series 9.

Series 9

• Harry Hill would find a person who looks like himself, say, "I like (person's name, for example Gandhi), I don't know what it is about him...", then sit in a pose similar to them while that person's picture is superimposed on the right-hand side of the screen. On an episode aired 28 November while talking about Britain's Best Butcher, one of the contestants he was comparing actually appeared in the studio right next to Harry where they struck a pose together. Similarly, the first episode of Series 9 showed Harry talking about Coronation Street. There was a character named Mr Kureshi who appeared in the studio next to Harry and actually did the announcing for him. Later, while Harry was reviewing Casualty, he appeared again and introduced the TV Highlight of the Week. He made several other appearances, including being the best man at Harry's 'wedding', receiving a wig from Harry, arriving late to Bradley's funeral, and dancing in a launderette along with Harry, the Knitted Character, Louie, and several others.
• The X Factor logo would fly into the studio (after showing some of the opening credits for the show). The first episode of Series 9, the logo fell on Harry's face, on the second episode Harry dodged it and on the third episode shot it down.
• In Episode 2, the show's first competition, "Where Has the Knitted Character Been This Week?", was announced. The aim is to spot the Knitted Character hidden in one of the week's TV shows. The winner of the weekly competition is announced on the show, which is open to everyone over 16.. A running gag in the show involving the competition is after the advert states "You must be 16 or over", at which point Hill always says something resembling talking to a child trying to enter, such as "Shame, too, as it's such a child-friendly prize!", "Put that phone down, Sonny!" and "I don't care if it is half term, you can't enter it!" Shows include: Countdown, The Paul O'Grady Show, The Wright Stuff, Working Lunch, The Gadget Show, The One Show, Later with Jools Holland, This Morning, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, CBBC, Match of the Day 2, Loose Women, GMTV with Lorraine Kelly, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Live from Studio Five.
• Gandhi making cameos in the studio (linked to clips from the BBC documentary The Three Lives of Gandhi).
• A new character, called "Mr Funny Face", appeared twice in the series, both times as commander of a vehicle. In his first appearance, he commanded a tank; in his second, a Galleon made of mincemeat. He is slated to appear in the final episode of Series 9.
• TV quiz catchphrases. Harry says that you must always have a good catchphrase for a quiz to be successful, and then includes a montage of catchphrases. Included have been Britain's Best Brain ("Inflate the balloon!"), Young Butcher of the Year ("5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Stop making sausages!"), The Colour of Money ("Start the machine!"), The Cube ("Enter the cube!"), The Krypton Factor ("Activate the cube!"), and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! ("Let's remove the shroud!"). The segment always ended with the Anton Du Beke version of "Bring on the wall!", after which the audience boo him for his poor delivery, and assures the audience that none of them can top Dale Winton's delivery of the line.
• As a parody of performing arts talent shows (eg. The X Factor, Popstar to Operastar), there was a new segment called "The K Factor: So You Think You Can Knit?", launched as a sequel to the "Where Has The Knitted Character Been This Week" competition. It is a competition about knitting, showcasing knitted items sent in by viewers. The judges are Knitted Simon Cowell, Knitted Cheryl Coles, Knitted Rolando off Popstar to Operastar and the Knitted Character. In one audition, a knitted duck called Peter caused controversy when he was not allowed through; he later auditioned again dressed as Harry Hill, but again was not allowed through. In another audition, a knitted couple called Brian and Caroline were separated by Simon. Brian later returned with a pair of scissors and cut off Simon's head. Peter the duck appeared with some pink wool to sew Simon's head back on. Unfortunately, Simon's head was sewn on backwards. Later the auditions had a duck theme. Many auditioned but not many succeeded. Peter the duck challenged his strengths into another TV show, Michael Winner's Dining Stars and sadly got voted off. Peter had decided to give up and was forced to suicide. Peter jumped of a tall cliff only to be caught by Knitted Simon Cowell. Simon told Peter he was very happy that Peter had saved his life so Simon put Peter though. Peter's dreams had come true! Peter the Duck won The K Factor.
• A minor character from Coronation Street, Mr. Kureshi (played by George Anthoni) appeared in the show four times.
• The flamboyant Louie Spence from Pineapple Dance Studios was a guest star in at least three episodes, appearing in skits and musical numbers.

Recognition and awards

• Harry Hill's TV Burp was nominated for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme at the 2007 British Comedy Awards.
• It won two 2008 British Academy Television Awards for Best Entertainment Performance (for Harry Hill) and Best Entertainment programme.
• Visitors to the British Comedy Guide website voted TV Burp as the "Best British TV Panel Show/Satire of 2008".
• Harry also won a third BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance in 2009.
• Sophie Heath from the Daily Mail said the show was "Genius, pure and simple."
• Mark Lawson from The Guardian said it was "The freshest and most original show in mainstream television."

Special Editions

Aside from "The Best of TV Burp" and "The Review of the Year", other special editions of TV Burp have been broadcast on television and/or released on DVD.

• Comic Relief TV Burp (2005) - Broadcast: 11 March 2005
• Comic Relief TV Burp (2007) - Broadcast: 16 March 2007
• Comic Relief TV Burp (2009) - Broadcast: 13 March 2009
• Blue Peter TV Burp - Broadcast: 4 February 2009
• Harry Hill's TV Burp Gold 1 - Released: 10 November 2008
• Harry Hill's TV Burp Gold 2 - Released: 9 November 2009

Transmissions

Series	Premiere	Last in series	Episodes
Pilot	22 December 2001		1
1	14 November 2002	19 December 2002	6
2	30 October 2003	18 December 2003	8
3	20 February 2004	2 April 2004	7
4	23 October 2004	11 March 2005	7
5	21 January 2006	25 March 2006	10
6	20 January 2007	14 April 2007	14
7	12 January 2008	5 April 2008	13
8	18 October 2008	4 April 2009	28
9	10 October 2009	20 March 2010	17
10	Autumn 2010	2011	TBA

Notes

• The Best of TV Burp 1-4 were broadcast as part of Series 8.
• The Best of TV Burp 5-9 were broadcast as part of Series 9.
• The Best of TV Burp 10-12 will be broadcast as the last three episodes of 9
• The Review of the Year 2008 was broadcast as part of Series 8.
• The Review of the Year 2009 was broadcast as part of Series 9.

External links

• Harry Hill's TV Burp at itv.com
• Harry Hill's TV Burp at British Comedy Guide
• Harry Hill's official site
• TV Burp Gold official site
• Avalon Television - TV Burp
• Harry Hill Fansite - Unofficial Fansite for Harry Hill