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It'll Be Alright on the Night

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It'll Be Alright on the Night
Presented byDenis Norden (1977–2006)
Griff Rhys Jones (2008–2016)
Narrated byDavid Walliams (2018–)
ComposersRod Argent &
Peter Van Hooke (1990–2006)
Music 4 (2008–)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes42
Production
Production locationsThe London Studios
(1977-2016)
Running time45-60 minutes
(including adverts)
Production companiesLWT (1977–2004)
Granada (2004–2005)
ITV Productions (2006–2008)
ITV Studios (2011–)
Original release
NetworkChannel 4 (one episode),
ITV, STV, UTV
Release18 September 1977 (1977-09-18) –
present (present)
Related
Auntie's Bloomers
Outtake TV
TV's Bloopers &
Practical Jokes
TV's Naughtiest Blunders

It'll be Alright on the Night is a British television bloopers show screened on ITV and produced by ITV Studios. It is one of the first shows created with the specific purpose of showing behind the scenes bloopers from film and TV and has run since 18 September 1977.

The show was originally presented by Denis Norden from 1977 until 2006. Griff Rhys Jones took over as presenter from 2008 until 2016. A new series of episodes was broadcast in 2018 narrated by David Walliams.[1]

Format

The show is usually one hour in length and aired in ITV's Saturday evening entertainment slot. However, some of the first few episodes up to and including It'll be Alright on the Night 6, which aired in 1990, originally went out on a Sunday evening. A new episode aired on Sunday 28 December 2014. Two episodes also debuted on a Friday: It'll be Alright on the Night 3 and It'll be Alright on Christmas Night on Christmas Day 1981 and 1987 respectively. The show's success led to the competing BBC One series Auntie's Bloomers presented by Terry Wogan, which focused on bloopers from some of the BBC archives.

The shows followed a simple format. Norden, traditionally holding his trademark clipboard in his hand, appeared on an otherwise empty stage and delivered a humorous piece to camera, followed by a selection of outtakes taken from various sources. Popular sources for clips include numerous British and American sitcoms, news reports and foreign broadcasts which may or may not include explanatory subtitles.

The show returned in September 2008 with Griff Rhys Jones who presented 11 episodes of It'll be Alright on the Night. The last episode featuring Rhys Jones was broadcast on 4 June 2016. After a two-year break, the show returned in summer 2018 with brand new episodes featuring David Walliams as narrator, which is opposed to a presenter in the studio, which meant that for the first time since the show began, there was no longer a studio set, no longer a studio audience and no longer an on-screen personality. Walliams provides commentary on the clips via voice-over, so that more outtakes can be shown.

Episodes

The audience figures (where given) are those for the initial transmission of an episode. It was not unknown, especially in the early years of the series, for episodes to achieve higher ratings on repeat showings. For instance, It'll be Alright on the Night 2 (first shown on 28 October 1979) was watched by 16 million viewers for a repeat showing in February 1983, while It'll be Alright on the Night 4 (first shown on 11 March 1984) was watched by 18.5 million viewers on its initial repeat in January 1985. A further repeat of The Second Worst of Alright on the Night (first shown on 24 November 1985) achieved the programme's highest ratings of 19.92 million in February 1992.

Episode Episode name Original airdate Presenter/Narrator Viewers
(millions)
1 It'll be Alright on the Night 1 18 September 1977[a] Denis Norden
2 It'll be Alright on the Night 2 28 October 1979[b]
3 The Worst of Alright on the Night 21 September 1980
4 It'll be Alright on the Night 3 25 December 1981[c]
5 It'll be Alright on the Night 4 11 March 1984[d] 16.90
6 It'll be Alright Late at Night 11 July 1985[e]
7 The Second Worst of Alright on the Night 24 November 1985 14.55
8 It'll be Alright on Christmas Night[f] 25 December 1987 17.95
9 10 Years of It'll be Alright on the Night 25 December 1988[g]
10 It'll be Alright on the Night 6 1 December 1990[h] 17.92
11 It'll be Alright on the Night 7 2 January 1993[i]
12 The Utterly Worst of Alright on the Night 10 April 1994
13 The Kids from Alright on the Night 26 November 1994[j]
14 It'll be Alright on the Night 8 10 December 1994[k] 14.89
15 Alright on the Night's Cockup Trip 12 October 1996[l] 13.00
16 It'll be Alright on the Night 10 15 November 1997[m]
17 21 Years of Alright on the Night 24 January 1998[n]
18 It'll be Alright on the Night 11 2 October 1999[o] 10.12
19 It'll be Alright on the Night 12 27 January 2001[p] 9.17
20 It'll be Alright on Election Night 7 June 2001 6.77
21 It'll be Alright on the Night 13 17 August 2001[q] 6.61
22 It'll be Alright on the Night 15: Silver Jubilee Special[r] 14 September 2002 8.11
23 More Kids from Alright on the Night 28 September 2002[s] 5.61
24 Alright on the Night's All-Star Special 31 August 2003[t] 9.63
25 It'll be Alright on the Night 16 6 September 2003[u] 5.53
26 It'll be Alright on the Night 18 2 October 2004[v] 6.89
27 It'll be Alright on the Night 19 24 December 2004[w] 5.84
28 Alright on the Night's 50 Years of ITV 17 September 2005 6.28
29 It'll be Alright on the Night 20 18 March 2006 5.32
30 It'll be Alright on the Night 2008: Part 1 20 September 2008 Griff Rhys Jones 4.30
31 It'll be Alright on the Night 2008: Part 2 25 December 2008 3.99
32 It'll be Alright on the Night 2011: Part 1 28 December 2011 4.95
33 It'll be Alright on the Night 2011: Part 2 31 December 2011 3.73
34 All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2012 28 December 2012 3.91
35 All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2014: Part 1 5 January 2014 3.86
36 It'll be Alright on the Night's Best of the Worst 12 January 2014 3.64
37 All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2014: Part 2 19 May 2014 3.11
38 All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2014: Part 3 28 December 2014 3.43
39 It'll be Alright on the Night 2015 30 December 2015 3.80
40 All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2016 4 June 2016 2.76
41 David Walliams Presents – Return of Alright on the Night 22 August 2018[x] David Walliams
42 David Walliams Presents - Revenge of Alright on the Night 29 August 2018[y]

Broadcasting

Despite being a staple of ITV's light entertainment programming for nearly 40 years, comparatively few editions of It'll Be Alright on the Night have been produced, with rarely more than one new episode a year being screened. Episodes presented by Denis Norden have normally included a number in their title screens to aid identification with the audience, while from 2008 to 2016, episodes presented by Griff Rhys Jones did not do so. Towards the end of the Denis Norden era, episodes up to and including It'll be Alright on the Night 20 were prefixed with "All New" to avoid viewer confusion with repeat screenings of earlier episodes.

During its run, several special episodes were also made, including anniversary specials, a late night edition for Channel 4 with more mature adult content and a one-off political special to mark the 2001 general election.

The majority of the episodes were filmed at The London Studios, but in the show's later years, the Granada studios in Manchester were also used, as well as the now-closed (and demolished) Meridian studios at Northam, Southampton. A few editions were also filmed on-location; most notably, Alright on the Night's Cockup Trip which was presented from the Great Cockup fell in the Lake District, 21 Years of Alright on the Night was presented on a yacht in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle (which, in reality, was in the south of France) and It'll be Alright on the Night 11, which was presented from an empty Haymarket Theatre, London.

During its run, the series has had three main producers: Paul Smith (1977–1984), Paul Lewis (1984–2002) and Simon Withington (2003–2006). Sean Miller, James Sunderland and Stephanie Dennis also produced some episodes. Grant Philpott was the series producer (2011-2012) and Simon Withington, who previously served as a producer from 2003 to 2006 has been the executive producer from 2014 to 2016. From 2018, Grant Philpott was once again the series producer.

Denis Norden's Laughter File

The series also inspired the spin-off show Denis Norden's Laughter File, which began airing on 22 September 1991 and ran until 13 May 2006. Although it largely followed the same format as its sister show, while It'll be Alright on the Night focused solely on bloopers/outtakes, Laughter File also screened clips that included pranks and practical jokes. As with It'll Be Alright on the Night, later episodes included the words "All New" in their titles to avoid viewer confusion with repeat screenings of earlier episodes.

The theme music used for Denis Norden's Laughter File throughout the whole of its run was a library piece, called "Dress to Kill" by Errol Reid. The show's producers were Paul Lewis (1991–2002) and Simon Withington (2002–2006).

Episodes

Episode Episode name Original airdate Viewers
(millions)
1 Denis Norden's 1st Laughter File 22 September 1991[z] 17.39
2 Denis Norden's 2nd Laughter File 4 October 1997[aa]
3 Denis Norden's 3rd Laughter File 5 December 1998[ab] 10.00
4 Denis Norden's 4th Laughter File 16 October 1999[ac] 8.46
5 Denis Norden's 5th Laughter File 30 September 2000[ad] 8.02
6 Denis Norden's 6th Laughter File 15 October 2001 7.21
7 Denis Norden's 7th Laughter File 30 March 2002 5.67
8 Denis Norden's 8th Laughter File 9 November 2002 6.62
9 Denis Norden's 9th Laughter File 4 October 2003 5.53
10 Denis Norden's Christmas Laughter File Special 27 December 2003 8.10
11 Denis Norden's All New 11th Laughter File 26 December 2004 5.73
12 Denis Norden's All New 12th Laughter File 12 February 2005 5.54
13 Denis Norden's All New 13th Laughter File 13 May 2006 3.88

Notes

  1. ^ A subsequent repeat aired on 6 January 1979.
  2. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 8 June 1980 and 4 February 1983.
  3. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 18 December 1982 and
    7 October 1984.
  4. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 11 January 1985 and
    22 June 1996.
  5. ^ Originally transmitted on Channel 4; subsequent repeats aired on ITV on 29 June 1986 and 19 January 1992.
  6. ^ Retitled and re-edited as It'll be Alright on the Night 5 for subsequent repeats on 2 October 1988 and 14 December 1991.
  7. ^ A subsequent repeat aired on 5 September 1992.
  8. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 31 August 1991, 17 July 1994 and 2 September 1995.
  9. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 2 January 1994,
    9 September 1995, 1 March 1997 and 20 March 1999.
  10. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 4 June 1999, 12 April 2000,
    1 January 2001 and 13 February 2002.
  11. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 30 December 1995, 1 May 1999 and 20 July 2000.
  12. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 21 September 1997, 9 May 1998, 11 June 1999 and 6 May 2000.
  13. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 29 August 1998, 31 July 1999,
    17 March 2001 and 24 July 2004.
  14. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 16 January 1999 and
    29 April 2000.
  15. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 28 August 2000, 28 April 2001,
    26 May 2002 and 31 July 2004.
  16. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 12 September 2001, 26 April 2003 and 28 January 2004.
  17. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 29 December 2001 and
    24 January 2004.
  18. ^ Retitled and re-edited as 25 Years of Alright on the Night for a subsequent repeat on 12 April 2003.
  19. ^ A subsequent repeat aired on 28 December 2002.
  20. ^ A subsequent repeat aired on 22 March 2005.
  21. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 21 February 2004 and
    29 March 2005.
  22. ^ A subsequent repeat aired on 21 June 2005.
  23. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 28 June and 31 December 2005.
  24. ^ Scheduled to be aired on 2 July 2018, but was moved five days later due to the England v Colombia World Cup game going into extra time. Unfortunately, the 7 July 2018 date was moved again to 22 August 2018 due to the Russia v Croatia World Cup game going into extra time.
  25. ^ Scheduled to be aired on 3 July 2018, but was moved to exactly, a week later due to the England v Colombia World Cup game going into extra time. Unfortunately, the 10 July 2018 date was moved to 29 August 2018 due to the Russia v Croatia World Cup game going into extra time.
  26. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 20 August 1995 and
    10 December 1999.
  27. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 23 May 1998, 7 May 1999,
    20 May 2000 and 7 July 2001.
  28. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 3 December 1999 and
    15 July 2000.
  29. ^ Subsequent repeats aired on 8 July 2000 and 9 May 2001.
  30. ^ A subsequent repeat aired on 23 June 2001.

References

  1. ^ Houghton, Rianne (28 June 2018). "David Walliams to host new It'll be Alright on the Night". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
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