Bruce Forsyth's Big Night

Last updated

Bruce Forsyth's Big Night is a TV show screened on ITV on Saturday nights in late 1978. It starred Bruce Forsyth. 12 episodes were broadcast between 7 October and 31 December 1978 with guests including Elton John, Dolly Parton and Karen Carpenter. Two further one-off specials were shown on 4 April 1980 and 21 September 1980 where Forsyth got the chance to perform an hour long show with idol and long-time friend Sammy Davis Jr, who had been a guest on an earlier show, which Forsyth later said was the best show he'd ever been associated with.

The show was made by London Weekend Television. Following the huge success enjoyed by The Generation Game , Forsyth was poached from the BBC for a reported £15,000 a show (equivalent to £108,696in 2023) with each show having a budget of £250,000 (equivalent to £1,811,602in 2023). The idea was that the show would provide Bruce with a vehicle for his many and various talents. The show was designed to take up an entire Saturday evening on ITV and win the ratings battle with the BBC. However, it was poorly received and was broadly unsuccessful, with Forsyth's former big hit The Generation Game (hosted then by Larry Grayson) winning higher audiences. The first episode topped the UK television ratings, but episode two didn't feature in the top 20, causing several attempts to revamp the format. Eventually, the show was cut to just 90 minutes in length, including advertisement breaks, and moved to a much earlier Saturday-night slot, but still ratings did not improve. Forsyth claimed in many subsequent on-screen interviews that the retooling did result in an increase in ratings, but this was not borne out by contemporary data. The format was later rebooted as one-off specials.

The show featured some mini-games, like "Beat The Goalie" (a phone-in game with similarities to The Golden Shot ) and little games with the studio audience – it also featured mini-comedies, such as a revival of 1960s series The Worker , with Charlie Drake as The Worker and Henry McGee (one of Benny Hill's stooges) as the man at the labour exchange, and also The Glums , a TV adaptation of short sketches from the radio series Take It From Here , with Jimmy Edwards reprising his role he immortalised on radio as Mr Glum, Ian Lavender (Private Pike from Dad's Army ) playing the role of Ron (played by Dick Bentley in the radio series) and Patricia Brake as Eth, the role played on radio by June Whitfield. Recognising that a lot of the programme's content was very popular, ITV continued many of the items in a different format as separate programmes instead of being part of a running show. Both The Worker and The Glums were made into a full standalone series. The show also featured Cannon and Ball doing their own sketches, but the producer decided to axe their part from the show every single week, as they believed more Bruce was the answer to the problems to the show. [1] Cannon and Ball were also given their own series. Each show also featured a game of The £1,000 Pyramid, hosted by Steve Jones, which was the first UK adaption of the American game show Pyramid . This show later also became a standalone programme on ITV, with Jones remaining as host. Forsyth himself continued on ITV by hosting the successful gameshow Play Your Cards Right.

One of the regular features on the show was Bruce (and sometimes his wife Anthea) taking questions from the audience. This was usually humorous but not so much on week 10. Forsyth was asked about the press comments made about the show. He gave a long and passionate reply criticising the press for several lies they had written about the show. This included saying it was being taken off the air which was totally false. He also revealed how one paper had been planning to write a story saying he had throat cancer, again false. Forsyth said that although he has friends in the press, the only part of a newspaper that can be totally believed is the date that they publish.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Tarrant</span> English broadcaster (born 1946)

Christopher John Tarrant, is an English broadcaster, television personality, former radio DJ and stand up comedian. He is best known for presenting the ITV children's television show Tiswas from 1974 to 1981, and the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? from its inception in 1998 until 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Forsyth</span> British entertainer and presenter (1928–2017)

Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson was an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years.

Take It from Here is a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and starred Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols. When Nichols moved to New York City in 1953, she was replaced by June Whitfield and Alma Cogan. The show is best remembered for introducing The Glums. Through TIFH Muir and Norden reinvented British post-war radio comedy – amongst other influences, it was one of the first shows with a significant segment consisting of parody of film and book styles, later used extensively in programmes such as Round the Horne and in many television comedy series.

The Generation Game is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two people from the same family, but different generations, compete to win prizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannon and Ball</span> English comedy double act

Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball, known collectively as Cannon and Ball, were an English comedy double act best known for their comedy variety show The Cannon and Ball Show, which lasted for nine years on ITV. The duo met in the early 1960s while working as welders in Oldham, Lancashire. They started out as singers working the pubs and clubs of Greater Manchester and switched to comedy after being told comics earned an extra £3 a night. They continued to work as a comic duo on television and in theatre and pantomime. Their partnership ended when Ball died on 28 October 2020 following a COVID-19 diagnosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ant & Dec</span> British television presenting duo

Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo consisting of Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly from Newcastle upon Tyne. After meeting as child actors on CBBC's drama Byker Grove, they performed together as pop musicians PJ & Duncan, the names of their characters from the series.

Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes comedies, variety shows, game shows, quiz shows and the like.

<i>Friday Night with Jonathan Ross</i> Former British television chat show

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross is a British chat show presented by Jonathan Ross and broadcast on BBC One between 2001 and 2010. The programme featured Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band. First broadcast on 2 November 2001, the show began its final series in January 2010 and ended on 16 July 2010.

<i>SMTV Live</i> Saturday Morning Kids Programme

SMTV Live was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to other Saturday morning programmes for children, such as BBC's Live & Kicking, the programme premiered on 29 August 1998 and ran for 279 episodes across five years, before its conclusion on 27 December 2003.

Tonight at the London Palladium is a British television variety show that is hosted from the London Palladium theatre in the West End. Originally produced by ATV for the ITV network from 1955 to 1969, it went by its original name Sunday Night at the London Palladium from 25 September 1955 until the name was changed to The London Palladium Show from 1966 to 2 February 1969.

<i>World of Sport</i> (British TV programme) ITV Saturday afternoon sports show (1965–85)

World of Sport is a British television sport programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 and 28 September 1985 in competition with the BBC's Grandstand. Like Grandstand, the programme ran throughout Saturday afternoon.

<i>Blind Date</i> (British game show) UK game show

Blind Date is a British dating game show first produced by London Weekend Television. An unscreened pilot was made with comic Duncan Norvelle as presenter but it was eventually hosted by Cilla Black, who already hosted the LWT series Surprise Surprise. Blind Date originally ran on Saturday nights from 30 November 1985 to 31 May 2003 on ITV.

<i>Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?</i> (British game show) British television quiz show

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show, created by David Briggs, Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill for the ITV network. The programme's format has contestants taking on multiple-choice questions based upon general knowledge, winning a cash prize for each question they answer correctly, with the amount offered increasing as they take on more difficult questions. If an incorrect answer is given, the contestant will leave with whatever cash prize is guaranteed by the last safety net they have passed, unless they opt to walk away before answering the next question with the money they had managed to reach. To assist in the quiz, contestants are given a series of "lifelines" to help answer questions.

The Price Is Right is a British television game show based on the American version of the same name. It originally aired on ITV from 24 March 1984 to 8 April 1988 and was hosted by Leslie Crowther. The show later briefly moved to Sky One for one series as The New Price Is Right from 4 September 1989 to 31 August 1990 with Bob Warman as the host.

<i>Itll Be Alright on the Night</i> British TV bloopers series (since 1977)

It'll be Alright on the Night is a British television bloopers programme broadcast on ITV and produced by ITV Studios. It was one of the first series created with the specific purpose of showing behind the scenes bloopers from film and TV.

<i>Ant & Decs Saturday Night Takeaway</i> British television variety show

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway is a British television variety show, presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, which was broadcast on ITV from 8 June 2002 to 21 March 2009, and again after a 4-year hiatus from 23 February 2013 to 13 April 2024, after which the show went on another indefinite hiatus.

<i>Red or Black?</i> Television game show broadcast 2011-2012

Red or Black? is a British television game show which was broadcast on ITV between 3 September 2011 and 29 September 2012.

The Cannon and Ball Show was a successful comedy variety show on ITV featuring the double act comprising Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball.

<i>The Worker</i> (TV series) 1965 British TV series or programme

The Worker is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1965 to 1978. Co-written by and starring comedian Charlie Drake, the programme revolved around a man who has been dismissed from nearly 1,000 jobs.

References

  1. "Cannon & Ball.Com – Cannon and Ball Biographies".