Gogglebox is a British reality television series created by Stephen Lambert, Tania Alexander and Tim Harcourt, and broadcast on Channel 4. The series documents families and groups of friends around the United Kingdom who are filmed for their observations and reactions to the previous week's television from their own homes. The first series launched on 7 March 2013, and the twenty-fourth series began airing on 13 September 2024. The show was narrated by Caroline Aherne from its launch until April 2016, shortly before her death, after which Craig Cash took over.
The show has won numerous awards. In 2014 and 2022, it won a BAFTA in the Reality & Constructed Factual category.[2] From 2015 to 2018, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, it won a National Television Award.[3] The success of Gogglebox spawned three spin-off series, including a version featuring children (Gogglesprogs), a version featuring 16- to 24-year-olds as they watch online content (Vlogglebox) and a version featuring celebrities (Celebrity Gogglebox).
History
The show was created by Stephen Lambert, Tania Alexander, and Tim Harcourt. Lambert is a media executive who had previously launched the Channel 4 television shows Wife Swap, Faking It, Undercover Boss, and The Secret Millionaire. Alexander was Director of Factual Entertainment at Lambert's independent production company Studio Lambert, who said the idea was for Gogglebox to be a mix of the ITV comedy show Harry Hill's TV Burp, which looked back at the previous week's television, and the BBC sitcom The Royle Family, which centres on a television-fixated family, but with real, ordinary people.[4] Harcourt, a Creative Director for Studio Lambert, had the original idea for Gogglebox while watching the 2011 London riots,[5][6] and along with Alexander, devised the format for the show. They wondered what people talked about while watching the news, and came up with the idea of cutting between people watching the same TV shows.[7][8] Farah Golant, the boss of All3Media, said: "But the show isn't really about TV. The show is about people's lives, their relationships, their living rooms and the way children and parents talk about TV [...] That's quite priceless. It captures a cultural response to something that's happening in the world."[1]
The concept of Gogglebox was criticised before the show aired; Alexander recalled people thinking Channel 4 had run out of ideas, but credited the network's head of factual David Glover as the one who recognised the show's potential and subsequently ordered Alexander to produce a proof of concept tape.[9] The show's team set about casting, and it was during this period they signed on Leon and June Bernicoff. Alexander described the original reel as "a little rough around the edges, gosh it was actually really rough", and thought the script was "God awful" which was read by a narrator whose tone of voice was incompatible. Despite this, Glover felt strongly towards the concept and gave the green-light for a mini-series.[9] The first series consisted of four episodes, the first of which aired on 7 March 2013.[4] The show was a success, and a second series of 13 episodes began in September 2013.[4]
In November 2020, Alexander left Gogglebox after seven years to pursue a fresh challenge. She was replaced by Studio Lambert's deputy creative director, Mike Cotton, alongside Gogglebox executive producer Leon Campbell.
Production
The people cast on Gogglebox were found by the show, and the producers do not advertise for participants. Lambert said this approach is key to the show's success as it results in more likeable people and the audience can get to know the cast over time. From the beginning, Alexander did not want to feature people who wanted to be on television, and sought individuals "that had the ability to make us laugh very naturally and that's quite hard."[10] One of the methods used to find participants is termed "street casting", whereby the show's team looked in everyday public places; Leon and June were found in a bridge club, and Stephen and Chris were found in a hair salon. In later series, members of the show's production team visited random houses and held up a card that contained something, such as a picture of the British Prime Minister or a Daily Mail headline, and noted how quick the person responded and any funny, interesting, or insightful comments they had. The show has also found participants through recommendations, which was how the Siddiqui family and couple Giles and Mary were found.[10]
The programme is filmed in the viewers' homes using two small remotely controlled cameras, known as "hot heads", operated by a small team elsewhere in the home that set up a temporary production control room. This team consists of a producer/director, gallery operator, assistant, audio engineer, researcher for live logging, and a runner.[11][12] Each episode of Gogglebox is made in two days, and Alexander said that people who assumed the show is cheap or easy to make makes her "blood boil".[4] Filming starts on Friday and continues through the week, but most of the first four days are spent assessing the filmed material. Four-person crews circulate between the households two or three evenings each week, and the cast watch the same programs as each other, which can amount to as much as six hours of television.
Alexander said that the biggest problem encountered during the filming stage is the cast forgetting that they are meant to be commenting and having to be given "gentle prompts".[4] She added that "the craft happens over the last couple of days before it goes out on the Friday", which usually begins on a Tuesday afternoon or the Wednesday, with the production team working through the night to produce an initial cut. Lambert said the skill involved is "throwing away 99.9% of what people say".[10] The team reviews the first edit on a Thursday afternoon, after which further cuts or tweaks are made before the narration is recorded and the episode is delivered for broadcast.[10]
A version of the show featuring children, titled Gogglesprogs, launched as a Christmas special on Christmas Day 2015, and was followed by a full-length series that began airing on 17 June 2016.[16] In 2017, a spin-off show titled Vlogglebox aired on E4, which featured reactions from 16 to 24-year-olds as they watch online content on their smartphones, laptops or tablets.[17] In 2019, it was announced that a celebrity version had been ordered; Celebrity Gogglebox began airing in 2019. It was later renewed for a second series, which aired in 2020, a third series that aired in 2021, and a fourth series in 2022.
In August 2022, it was announced that a Welsh-language version of the show, called Gogglebocs Cymru, would be produced for S4C, after Channel 4 had agreed to release exclusivity of its rights to the show in the UK. S4C issued a competitive tender for the production rights on the same day, with the show scheduled to debut in autumn 2022 as part of the channel's 40th anniversary.
Series 1, 2015 Series 2, 2015 Series 3, 2016 Series 4, 2016 Series 5, 2017 Series 6, 2017 Series 7, 2018 Series 8, 2018 Series 9, 2019 Series 10, 2019 Series 11, 2020 Series 12, 2020 Series 13, 2021 Series 14, 2021 Series 15, 2022 Series 16, 2022 Series 17, 2023 Series 18, 2023 Series 19, 2024
Series 1, 2014 Series 2, 2015 Series 3, 2015 Series 4, 2016 Series 5, 2016 Series 6, 2017 Series 7, 2017 Series 8, 2018 Series 9, 2018 Series 10, 2019 Series 11, 2019 Series 12, 2020 Series 13, 2021 Series 14, 2021 Series 15, 2022 Series 16, 2022 Series 17, 2023
Series 1, 2015 Series 2, 2016 Series 3, 2017 Series 4, 2017 Series 5, 2018 Series 6, 2018 Series 7, 2019 Series 8, 2019 Series 9, 2020 Series 10, 2020 Series 11, 2021 Series 12, 2021 Series 13, 2022 Series 14, 2022 Series 15, 2023 Series 16, 2023
Series 1, 2016 Series 2, 2016 Series 3, 2017 Series 4, 2017 Series 5, 2017 Series 6, 2018 Series 7, 2018 Series 8, 2019 Series 9, 2019 Series 10, 2020 Series 11, 2020 Series 12, 2021 Series 13, 2021 Series 14, 2022 Series 15, 2022 Series 16, 2023
An Australian edition of the programme debuted on 11 February 2015. It is a co-production between pay TV provider Foxtel and commercial Network Ten. It airs on Foxtel's Lifestyle Channel first and is repeated 24 hours later on Ten.[21] The programme started its second season on 30 September 2015,[22] and its third season in 2016. It is currently in its 17th season as of March 2023.
An Irish edition of the programme debuted on 22 September 2016, a co-production between Kite Entertainment (Dublin) and Studio Lambert (London). By 2023, nine series had been broadcast.
Polish version
Polish version called Gogglebox. Przed telewizorem premiered on TTV on 6 September 2014.[27]
Russian version
A Russian version called Диван (translated as "The Couch") premiered on CTC on 30 March 2017. Only one season aired, consisting of 8 episodes.
Finnish version
The Finnish version called Sohvaperunat (translated as "Couch potatoes") premiered in February 2015. The show is set to start its 16th season in the autumn of 2023.
Welsh version
S4C and Studio Lambert aired Gogglebocs Cymru on 2 November 2022, as part of the channel's 40th anniversary celebrations. The show is narrated by Welsh comedian Tudur Owen.[28]
The series was renewed for a second series slated to air on 18 October 2023. It has also been nominated for a BAFTA Cymru award.
↑ In the beginning, when the first series was broadcast, the show had a shorter title: Gogglebox.
Related Research Articles
Fox8 is an Australian pay television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television's subscription platforms. It is the most watched subscription television channel in Australia. A high definition version of the channel, Fox8HD, was launched on the Foxtel and Austar platforms on 15 November 2008.
EP Daily is a daily news television show that covers video games, movies, TV shows, comic books, collectibles and gadgets. Created and executive produced by host Victor Lucas, and his Vancouver, British Columbia production company EP Media Ltd, EP Daily was a staple on airwaves since its debut in September 1997. The show continues to produce and publish content on the Electric Playground Network's YouTube channel.
Fox Footy is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Australia operated out of its Melbourne based studios and available throughout Australia on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel is a revival of the former Fox Footy Channel, which was in operation between 2002 and 2006. The channel recommenced prior to the 2012 AFL season after a new broadcast agreement was reached between the former Premier Media Group, Austar, Foxtel and the Australian Football League (AFL).
TLC, is an Australian and New Zealand television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific. The channel launched in 2004 in Australia and in 2015 in New Zealand. In Australia TLC is available on pay TV provider Foxtel and IPTV provider Fetch, and in New Zealand the channel is available on pay TV provider Sky.
Stephen Lambert is an English television producer and executive who works in Britain and America. He is the chief executive of Studio Lambert, one of All3Media's production companies, which produces Gogglebox, Undercover Boss, Squid Game: The Challenge, Race Across the World, The Circle and The Traitors.
Studio Lambert is a British television production company based in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Los Angeles. It creates and produces scripted and unscripted programs for British and American broadcasters, cable networks and streaming platforms. It is part of All3Media, the global production group.
Undercover Boss is a reality television series franchise created by Stephen Lambert and produced in many countries. It originated in 2009 on the British Channel 4. The show’s format features the experiences of senior executives working undercover in their own companies to investigate how their firms really work and to identify how they can be improved, as well as to reward hard-working employees.
The Jonathan Ross Show is a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2011 and airs on Saturday evenings following the conclusion of Ross' BBC One chat show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, in July 2010.
The Great British Bake Off is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, attempting to impress two judges with their baking skills. One contestant is eliminated in each round, and the winner is selected from the three contestants who reach the final.
Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) is the UK version of Stand Up to Cancer, a US charitable television telethon, broadcast between 2012 and 2018 on the Channel 4 network in the United Kingdom, and again from 2020. The most recent edition of the telethon was on 15 October 2021, a programme which was hosted by Davina McCall, Alan Carr, Maya Jama and Adam Hills. By February 2015, the 2014 broadcast had raised £15,585,444 in pledges, in aid of cancer research.
The People's Couch is an American reality television series that premiered on October 8, 2013 on Bravo. It is based on the British television series Gogglebox. It started as a three-episode limited series that featured real people watching and discussing popular television shows and news from the past week.
Gogglebox Australia is an Australian reality television program which airs on Network 10. It is an adaptation of the British series of the same name. The series, which is produced by Shine Australia, was originally a co-production between subscription television (STV) channel Lifestyle and free-to-air (FTA) network Network 10. It aired on Lifestyle first, and then aired on Network 10 a day later.
A reaction video, or a react video, is a video in which one or more persons react to something. Videos showing the emotional reactions, criticism or commentary of people viewing movies, television series episodes, film trailers, music videos, news, or other media are numerous and popular on online video hosting services such as YouTube and live-streaming services such as Twitch. The depicted persons may not even be aware that they are being recorded. In many cases, the video to which people are reacting is shown within the reaction video, letting viewers see what is being reacted to.
BBC First was an entertainment subscription television channel broadcasting in Australia. It was the localized version of the internationally available BBC First. The channel was wholly owned and operated by BBC Studios.
Gogglebox Ireland is an Irish reality show, broadcast on Virgin Media One from 22 September 2016 onwards and a co-production between Kite Entertainment in Dublin and Studio Lambert in London. The series is based on the original UK version and features 15 groups of families and friends from around Ireland who react to Irish, British and American television shows broadcast in Ireland. As well as RTÉ, Virgin Media Television and TG4, British channels BBC One, BBC Two and Channel 4 are also available to ROI viewers so these are included in the programmes reviewed along with some broadcast on satellite channels such as Sky One, TLC and MTV.
Celebrity Watch Party is an American reality television series that aired on Fox from May 7 to July 23, 2020. The show is based on the British television series Gogglebox and features celebrities recording themselves watching and reacting to television shows and news stories inside their homes. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television, Fox pushed back the premieres of some scripted series to later in the year and opted to create Celebrity Watch Party as one of two shows—along with The Masked Singer: After the Mask—that could be produced remotely to fill the programming gap.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
