Ruby (talk show)

Last updated

Ruby
Ruby Title Card.jpg
Series 4 Title Card
Genre Talk show
Directed by Ed Bye
Peter Orton
Southan Morris
Presented by Ruby Wax
Theme music composer Simon Brint
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes48
Production
Executive producerClive Tulloh
Running time40 min
Original release
Network BBC Two
Release12 May 1997 (1997-05-12) 
9 November 2000 (2000-11-09)

Ruby was a late-night talk show broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom.

Contents

The series premiered on 12 May 1997, [1] and was hosted by writer and comedian Ruby Wax. In each episode Wax holds an unscripted roundtable discussion with up to five guests. Framed as a dinner party, guests included actors, writers, stand-up comedians, musicians, journalists and other well-known figures in the entertainment industry.

A total of 48 episodes were broadcast between May 1997 and November 2000.

Production

Wax with guests Salman Rushdie and Carrie Fisher Ruby Wax with Carrie Fisher and Salman Rushdie.jpg
Wax with guests Salman Rushdie and Carrie Fisher

Each episode was recorded at BBC Television Centre. All episodes were pre-recorded, and often with no time limit. The conversation between Wax and her guests would sometimes last up to three hours, and would later be edited down to 40 minutes for broadcast. Multiple episodes could be recorded on the same day. The set was dressed as a restaurant and bar, and guests would eat, drink and smoke as if at a dinner-party. To add to the restaurant atmosphere, additional tables were populated by BBC staff including producers, secretaries, cafeteria and office workers. [2]

Notable guests and episodes

Actress and writer Carrie Fisher appeared regularly on the series. Fisher and Wax had become close friends since first meeting on Wax's earlier series, The Full Wax. Fisher appeared in a total 7 episodes of the series. [3]

According to his 2004 autobiography, talk show host Graham Norton first met Fisher when they both appeared as guests on the same episode, and also became good friends with her. [4]

Actor and comedian Scott Thompson appeared during the series' third season, and spoke at length about witnessing the 1975 Brampton Centennial Secondary School shooting.

Actor Alan Cumming also appeared during the series' third season, and spoke at length of his experience of being stalked by obsessive fans while he was performing in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret .

Reception

In reviewing the first three episodes, columnist Jasper Rees wrote in The Independent :

Ruby (BBC2, Mon to Wed) doesn't feel fully thought through: you get the impression it's an experimental stop-gap. But - hats off - it doesn't skimp on ambition. Uniting guests round a dining table with no particular axe to grind or product to promote, the challenge accepted by Ruby is to keep the conversational ball up in the air without the support system of topicality, and without the flabby or ill-disciplined as an equivalent show on radio could get away with. [5]

Episodes

Series 1 (1997)

The first series of 12 episodes was broadcast thrice-weekly, usually on Monday-Wednesday nights, in May and June 1997.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
11Leo Bassi, Raoul Heertje, Eddie Izzard, Terry Jones and Babben Larsson 12 May 1997 (1997-05-12)
22 Eve Arnold and John Simpson 13 May 1997 (1997-05-13)
33 Marianne Faithfull, Lucinda Lambton and Will Self 14 May 1997 (1997-05-14)
44 Carrie Fisher and Salman Rushdie 19 May 1997 (1997-05-19)
55 Carrie Fisher, Joanna Bowen, Helen Lederer, Kathy Lette and Bernadette Moran-Ferreira20 May 1997 (1997-05-20)
66 Carrie Fisher, John Lahr and Hugh Laurie 21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
77 Frances Barber and Meera Syal 27 May 1997 (1997-05-27)
88 Frances Barber and Meera Syal 28 May 1997 (1997-05-28)
99 Jeremy Hardy, Jonathan Miller and Muriel Spark 29 May 1997 (1997-05-29)
1010 John Diamond, Carmen Callil and Helena Kennedy 2 June 1997 (1997-06-02)
1111 Rupert Everett, Jill Robinson, Fiona Shaw and Martin Sherman 3 June 1997 (1997-06-03)
1212 Alan Davies, Anna Massey and Glenys Kinnock 4 June 1997 (1997-06-04)

Series 2 (1998)

A second series of 12 episodes was broadcast thrice-weekly on Monday-Wednesday nights in July 1998.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
131 Jeanne Moreau, Joanna Lumley and Boy George 6 July 1998 (1998-07-06)
142 Frances Barber, Michelle Collins and Gerald Ratner 7 July 1998 (1998-07-07)
153 Rhona Cameron, Brigitte Nielsen and Joe Simpson 8 July 1998 (1998-07-08)
164 Edwina Currie, Helen Lederer and Tony Slattery 13 July 1998 (1998-07-13)
175 Dominick Dunne and Clive James 14 July 1998 (1998-07-14)
186 Carrie Fisher, Dominick Dunne and Clive James 15 July 1998 (1998-07-15)
197 Carrie Fisher, Julian Lennon and John Diamond 20 July 1998 (1998-07-20)
208 Ivana Trump, Dana International and Julian Clary 21 July 1998 (1998-07-21)
219 Richard Wilson, PD James and Elizabeth Wurtzel 22 July 1998 (1998-07-22)
2210 Bruce Robinson, Joanna Bowen and Ian Ross 27 July 1998 (1998-07-27)
2311 Neil Simon, Anna Massey and Josephine Hart 28 July 1998 (1998-07-28)
2412 Bret Easton Ellis, Carrie Fisher and Elizabeth Wurtzel 29 July 1998 (1998-07-29)

Series 3 (1999)

A third series of 12 episodes was broadcast thrice-weekly on Monday-Wednesday nights in September and October 1999.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
251 Terry Gilliam and Eddie Izzard 13 September 1999 (1999-09-13)
262 Anthony-Noel Kelly, Carrie Fisher, Graham Norton and Griff Rhys Jones 14 September 1999 (1999-09-14)
273 Frances Barber and Graham Norton 15 September 1999 (1999-09-15)
284 John Lloyd, Joanna Lumley and Sarah Miles 20 September 1999 (1999-09-20)
295 Billy Crystal 21 September 1999 (1999-09-21)
306 Robert Bly, Marion Woodman, John Simpson and Tony Slattery 22 September 1999 (1999-09-22)
317 Glenda Jackson, Helena Kennedy, John Diamond and Patrick Kielty 27 September 1999 (1999-09-27)
328 Marianne Faithfull, John Brown, Nicky Haslam and Anita Pallenberg 28 September 1999 (1999-09-28)
339 Scott Thompson, Rhona Cameron and Robert McLiam Wilson 29 September 1999 (1999-09-29)
3410 Malcolm McDowell and Edward Hibbert 4 October 1999 (1999-10-04)
3511 Malcolm McDowell, Edward Hibbert, Lindsay Duncan, Scott Thompson and Karen Moline5 October 1999 (1999-10-05)
3612 Olympia Dukakis, Martin Sherman and Alan Cumming 6 October 1999 (1999-10-06)

Series 4 (2000)

A fourth and final series of 12 episodes was broadcast on Monday-Thursday nights in October and November 2000.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
371 Roseanne Barr 23 October 2000 (2000-10-23)
382 Jerry Hall, Graham Norton and Georgina Beyer 24 October 2000 (2000-10-24)
393 Siân Phillips, Amanda Donohoe and David Sedaris 25 October 2000 (2000-10-25)
404 Lucie Arnaz, Alexis Arquette and Suzanne Bertish 26 October 2000 (2000-10-26)
415 Jackie Collins, Rich Hall and Helen Lederer 30 October 2000 (2000-10-30)
426 Roseanne Barr, David Baddiel and Lynda La Plante 31 October 2000 (2000-10-31)
437 John Diamond, Matthew Manning, Beechy Colclough and Jonathan Harvey 1 November 2000 (2000-11-01)
448 Jay McInerney, Kate O'Toole, and David Sedaris 2 November 2000 (2000-11-02)
459 Ewan McGregor and Eddie Izzard 6 November 2000 (2000-11-06)
4610 Michael Gambon, James Fleet and Kevin McNally 7 November 2000 (2000-11-07)
4711 Anthea Turner, Will Carling, Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott 8 November 2000 (2000-11-08)
4812 Robert Winston, Phil Hammond and Muriel Gray 9 November 2000 (2000-11-09)

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References

  1. "Ruby (1997)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  2. "60 Seconds Extra: Ruby Wax". Metro UK. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  3. "Carrie and Me". Huffington Post. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  4. Norton, Graham (8 December 2011). Graham Norton: So Me. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN   9781444717778 . Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  5. "Dinner for two (or more) chez Wax". The Independent. Retrieved 12 October 2019.