A Stab in the Dark (TV series)

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A promotional image, showing Baddiel (l) and Gove (r). A Stab In The Dark Gove Baddiel.jpg
A promotional image, showing Baddiel (l) and Gove (r).

A Stab in the Dark is a British television programme of topical monologues and discussion screened on Channel 4 in 1992, shortly after Channel 4 axed the similarly titled (but unrelated) After Dark . The series ran from 5 June [1] until 7 August 1992. [2]

It was hosted by comedian David Baddiel, television presenter Tracey MacLeod and journalist and critic Michael Gove, later a Conservative MP and minister. [3] [4]

The monologues, often containing very dark humour, were delivered straight to camera by each host in turn before a small studio audience on a stark set with numerous staircases. [5] Sometimes relevant guests were invited on, including Conservative MPs Jerry Hayes and Alan Clark. Contributions were also made by Richard Herring. [6] One of the writers on the show was Stewart Lee. [7] A segment was included where Gove examined the rubbish bins of celebrities, including David Attenborough's. [8]

Both MacLeod and Baddiel have described the show as a failure: Baddiel called it "not right in so many ways" and MacLeod called it a "fiftysomething commissioner's fantasy of merging The Tube and That Was the Week That Was ...the clips that exist capture the horrible, echoey silence with which most of our monologues were received...[it] turns out it's a good idea to have very strong opinions about stuff before signing up to do a polemical TV series." [9] [3] Baddiel also said in 2016 that "I actually think bits of it were interesting and funny. But the presentation was appalling." [10]

Viewing figures were not encouraging and the show ran for a single series; Baddiel was privately asked if he was interested in filming a second series without his co-hosts but declined. [3] It has never been repeated, although in 2016 Channel 4 released eight of the nine episodes to its All 4 streaming service, following increased public interest in Gove after the EU membership referendum. [11]

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References

  1. ↑ Date: Friday, 5 June 1992, Publication: The Times (London, England) Issue: 64351
  2. ↑ Friday, 7 August 1992 Publication: The Times (London, England) Issue: 64405
  3. 1 2 3 MacLeod, Tracey (5 July 2016). "The TV show I made with Michael Gove still gives me nightmares". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Aitkenhead, Decca (5 October 2012). "Michael Gove: the next Tory leader?". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Sexton, David (9 August 1992). "TELEVISION / Hard lessons from the autocue: David Sexton on problems met by presenters, Samaritans, chaperones and schoolteachers" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Skelton, Jack. "Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast". Broadway Baby. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  7. ↑ The Brexit government is lost in a fog of lies, Stewart Lee, The Observer , 2 August 2020.
  8. ↑ @Baddiel (1 July 2016). "there was yes. David Attenborough's included" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 March 2019– via Twitter.
  9. ↑ @Baddiel (1 July 2016). "I did a C4 late night show in 1991 that he was on. It had one series. Very weird not-right-in-so-many-ways programme" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 March 2019– via Twitter.
  10. ↑ @Baddiel (5 July 2016). "thanks L. I actually think bits of it were interesting and funny. But the presentation was appalling" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 March 2019– via Twitter.
  11. ↑ "A Stab in the Dark". All 4 . Channel 4. Retrieved 1 August 2016. Episodes 1–7 & 9. The excluded episode 8 includes interview material with Jimmy Savile as a Roll-Royce car owner.


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