Jump to content

The Paul O'Grady Show

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 90.205.46.32 (talk) at 23:18, 22 May 2009 (→‎Series 6). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Paul O'Grady Show
File:Paul O'Grady Show.png
Title card (2008–present)
GenreEntertainment
Presented byPaul O'Grady
Voices ofPeter Dickson
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series9
No. of episodes649 (as of 22 May 2009)
Production
Executive producersRobert Gray,
Paul O'Grady
ProducerJohn L. Spencer
Production locationThe London Studios
Running time60 minutes (including advertisements)
Production companiesGranada Television
(ITV)
Olga TV
(Channel 4)
Original release
NetworkITV
(11 October 2004 –
23 December 2005)

Channel 4
(27 March 2006 –
present)
Release11 October 2004 –
present
Related
Today with Des and Mel (2002–2006)

The Paul O'Grady Show is a BAFTA award-winning British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format is a teatime chat show that consists of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, and occasionally viewer competitions. The show will return for a tenth series in September 2009.

2004 – 2005: First incarnation

File:PaulO'GradyShow2004-2005.jpg
The original titlecard from the ITV series; used 2004–2005

ITV commissioned The Paul O'Grady Show following O'Grady's appearance as a guest presenter for the (somewhat similar formatted) lunch-time entertainment show Today with Des and Mel (now defunct). ITV management were so impressed by his initial standing in - a last minute replacement for Des O'Connor - that he was brought back several more times to stand in for O'Connor, and subsequently O'Grady was given his own show (O'Grady also became good friends with co-presenter Melanie Sykes, who has since stood in for him on O'Grady's own show on occasion).

The series began broadcasting on ITV in October 2004, and had been greeted by ITV as the saviour of its 5–6 pm slot. The broadcaster previously had trouble filling the slot with a popular programme, with failed attempts including two daytime soap operas: Night and Day and Crossroads (the latter a revival of the soap which had been cancelled in 1988).

Guess the Tune (known as The Organ Game on the Channel 4 edition), a phone-in-competition where O'Grady plays tunes on his organ and the contestant has to guess them correctly to win up to £2000, became a popular feature of the programme. The tune that O'Grady played leading into the game was a truncated version of "Sing As We Go", by Gracie Fields. Also a stalwart of the show is O'Grady's Shih Tzu/bichon frise cross[1] dog, Buster, who has appeared for a full five minutes at the start of each programme since the ITV incarnation of the show.

2006 – present: Second incarnation

File:NewPaulO'GradyShow2006-2007.jpg
The New Paul O'Grady Show titlecard; used 2006–2007
File:PaulOGradyShowLogo.jpg
The Paul O'Grady Show titlecard; used 2007–2008

On 10 January 2006, in a shock announcement, O'Grady said that he had decided to leave ITV for Channel 4, following a dispute between O'Grady and Granada Television (who made The Paul O'Grady Show for ITV) after Granada 'forgot' to renew O'Grady ITV contract.[2] O'Grady was believed to have left ITV not only due to his contract renewal issues nor his salary, but rather he wanted more creative control over the show (Granada had promptly refused when the show was under their production). His own television production company, Olga TV (named after one of his pet dogs), subsequently took over production of the programme.

ITV informed O'Grady that they were unhappy with his move to Channel 4, and he became entrenched in an ongoing dispute with the broadcaster regarding the use of the same set design, props, and names.

The programme was renamed The New Paul O'Grady Show and began airing on Channel 4 in March 2006, in the same 5:00-6:00pm early evening slot, alternating in this slot every three months or so with Richard & Judy. When this new series started on Channel 4, ITV decided to air repeats of the original show in the same slot (this is partly why the Channel 4 show adopted the name The New Paul O'Grady Show). However, ITV quickly abandoned this after these repeats attracted just less than a million viewers (and was decreasing), whilst the new Channel 4 show was gaining over 3 million viewers.

The Paul O'Grady Show is broadcast live on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at 5:00pm. Thursday's and Friday's episode are pre-recorded on the Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, respectively, at 12:30pm (the same set-up occurred when the programme was under Granada's production).[3]

Series 1

The first Channel 4 series of The New Paul O'Grady Show began airing on 27 March 2006 and ran until 16 June 2006 (repeats of the show were broadcast on More4 the following lunchtime). The new show was recorded at the BBC Television Centre instead of the original home, The London Studios, due to an apparent dispute with ITV.

Series 2

The second series was planned to start on 4 September 2006, but was pushed back to 25 September due to O'Grady suffering a second heart attack. The second series ran until 26 January 2007.

Buster did not appear for the first two weeks due to a serious eye infection, so O'Grady's other pet dog Olga took his place instead. On 16 January 2007, viewers noticed that instead of the scheduled live show, a repeat show was aired instead. This was due to O'Grady pulling out of the show at the last minute due to illness, later discovered as a sickness bug[4]. O'Grady returned live the next day.

Series 3

The show returned for the seventh series (the third on Channel 4) on 17 September 2007, running until December of that year. The New from the show title was dropped from this series and the show went back to its original ITV title. The show's opening titles were retinted red, and subsequently the set backdrop was made red. The programme returned to The London Studios from BBC Television Centre.

Following news of premium rate phone in scandals, The Organ Game was suspended (as it relied on people calling in to enter the game). On the first episode of the new series (broadcast on 17 September 2007), Paul went over to play The Organ Game near the end of the show to find it tied up and him unable to use it. He invited viewers to telephone or e-mail Channel 4 bosses to allow him to play the phone-in game. On 22 October 2007, O'Grady announced on his show that The Organ Game would be returning; however there were only four special organ games leading up to Christmas, primarily for people who deserve the cash prize being offered (the phone line entries which used to be on the show have remained suspended). On 19 November 2007, the first of the four special Organ Games aired.[5]

Series 4

The fourth series began on 17 March 2008. The new series ran throughout the spring until 16 June 2008, at which point Richard & Judy returned for its last series. The studio set was given a slight revamp with added studio lights on the floor and walls.

On Tuesday 15 April 2008, Melanie Sykes hosted the show, although it was not announced that she would be hosting. Sykes informed the audience that O'Grady was ill with the flu, and as such was unable to present. Sykes hosted that week's shows before O'Grady returned on Monday 21 April. However, O'Grady hadn't fully recovered, and Sykes had to be called in to do the following show on Tuesday. It was announced that Lorraine Kelly would host Wednesday's show, Brian Conley would host Thursday's show, and Shane Richie would host Friday's show. O'Grady finally returned on 28 April 2008.

Series 5

The new series returned on Monday 22 September 2008 for a new series which ended on Friday 19 December 2008. Brand new titles were introduced as well as a slight revamp to the set.

Series 6

Series 6 of the show began on Channel 4 on 23 February 2009.[6] and concluded its run on Friday 22nd May 2009.

Series 7

Series 7 of the show will begin on Channel 4 in September 2009.

Show outline

Each episode follows the same general outline. It starts with O'Grady walking onto the show with Buster (or sometimes Olga), saying "What's all this on my desk? Look at the junk you've sent me!" or something similar, before sitting down at his desk to read the mail, usually with great disgust at the things that viewers send in (which have included vibrating soap, a viewer's dead goldfish wrapped in tissue, and children's letters asking if Paul wears a wig or dentures). In part two of the programme, he interviews two guests. The Paul O'Grady Show predominantly includes children either reviewing toys, games or films, or demonstrating skills (such as speed cup stacking). Some editions end with a performance by the Paul O'Grady Players. The show is filmed Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at The London Studios[7]

Guests

For the full guest list, see List of guests on The Paul O'Grady Show

Stand-in hosts

Whilst recovering from his heart attack, Channel 4 insisted O'Grady should take a week off from presenting the show. His first break occurred from 23 October to 27 October 2006 and guest presenters hosted the programme a day each. Since then, there have been three more scheduled guest-hosted weeks.

In April 2008, there were two unscheduled guest-hosted weeks. O'Grady hosted the Monday show during these two weeks, but was taken ill after contracting a flu virus for the remainder of the weeks. Melanie Sykes guest-hosted five of the eight remaining shows, having previously hosted the show three times.

2006

2007

2008

2009 [8]

The Paul O'Grady Players Annual Panto.

Every year, the show has an annual Christmas Panto. Roughly 15 guest stars appear in the panto. There is always one narrator, which tells the story throughout the panto. In the past this has been Antony Cotton , Dawn French, Kate Thornton and Sandi Toksvig. The panto runs roughly for the whole show, with usually five minutes left at the end when Paul and the stars will answer the questions that have been e-mailed in by the viewers. However, in the 2006 panto, Peter Pan, the panto only ran for roughly 40 minutes, ending around 5.40pm. After this, Paul interviewed Dawn French, who was the narrator, as he would do on a normal show. There was then, as usual, the organ game and Paul and all the stars then answered e-mails sent in by the viewers. The panto is always on the last Wednesday before Christmas, this means that it is always broadcast live. The panto's in the past have been:

Jo Brand is the only celebrity to have appeared in the panto every year.

Animals

O'Grady's use of animals has often been the target of criticism, citing it cruel to expose animals (in particular Buster) to harsh studio lighting for up to 55 minutes a day. However Buster and Paul's other dog Olga, only appear in the first part of each show usually for 7-8 minutes, sitting on O'Grady's desk while he reads letters from the postbag.

Buster was originally a stray that O'Grady spotted on a motorway around ten years ago and then adopted. Buster has many fans, so much so that a limited edition Nodding Buster was made and given as a consolation prize on the show and is now given away in a tombola (In November 2008, Paul revealed that a nodding Olga was also being produced). Animals feature heavily on the show (mostly dogs). O'Grady also has two other dogs, called Olga (a Cairn Terrier) and Louie (short for Lucifer) and 25 other pets (giving a total of 28 pets, as said on his show when responding to a viewer's question).

Awards

Despite being critically panned and considered a prime example of "dumbing down" TV, the show was a surprise winner at the National Television Awards in 2005 and also won a BAFTA. The show has occasionally beaten Richard & Judy in the ratings. It then won the National Television Awards again in 2008.

Guest appearances

The Paul O'Grady Show appeared in a series three episode of The Catherine Tate Show, where Tate's character Joannie "Nan" Taylor made an appearance. Originally she acted very sweet, but later revealed her true colours. When O'Grady mentioned that they had replaced Joannie's old chair with a new one and placed it in her flat, she became enraged at them for intruding her flat. Nan started swearing and walked off the set, much to the disgust of O'Grady.

A short excerpt is seen in the Doctor Who episode "The Stolen Earth" of O'Grady ranting to the audience of how many planets appeared above the sky (an allusion to the events in the episode). Ianto Jones is seen in the Torchwood Hub watching the show, commenting that it was amusing.

Controversies

  • On 15th May, legal issues with the popular game in the show came to light, as the BBC did not have a valid license for live entertainment in the studios. As a result, no live music or singing could be exhibited on the show until the license was granted a few weeks later. However, as the majority of the music 'played' by O'Grady was pre-recorded this avoided the problem.[citation needed]
  • In light of O'Grady's love of dogs, and the fact that O'Grady rescued Buster, the show runs a "Find A Dog A Home" slot where abandoned dogs from various charities are featured. Viewers can then call in to request they be placed on a list to give the dog a permanent home. A direct telephone number was given to connect viewers to the appropriate charity. On moving to Channel 4, the slot remained but now viewers had to initially call a 10p-per-call information service to get the direct number of the charity. Calls dropped dramatically, and charity groups including The Dog's Trust and Battersea Dogs' Home told producers that they would no longer be involved with the show. The premium rate line was quickly dropped from 29th May 2006, and the original format reintroduced with the full support of the charities.[13]

References

  1. ^ "BUSTER". Retrieved 2001-12-02.
  2. ^ "Paul O'Grady inks deal with Channel 4". Digital Spy. 10 January 2006.
  3. ^ Lost in TV - free tickets to your FAVOURITE television and radio shows!
  4. ^ "Paul unwell". TV Forum. 16 January 2007.
  5. ^ 19/11/07 show, community.channel4.com
  6. ^ http://uk-tv-guide.com/programme-details/Channel+4/23+February+2009/17:00/The+Paul+O%27Grady+Show/Chat+Show/
  7. ^ http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/P/paulogrady/organgame/
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ [2]
  10. ^ [3]
  11. ^ [4]
  12. ^ [5]
  13. ^ "O'Grady show rapped for charity line charge". Digital Spy. 28 May 2006.