The Word (TV series)

Last updated

The Word
Directed byLuke Campbell
Julia Knowles
Presented by Terry Christian
Mark Lamarr
Dani Behr
Alan Connor
Amanda de Cadenet
Huffty
Katie Puckrik
Jasmine Dotiwala
Michelle Collins
Theme music composer 808 State [1]
Opening themeOlympic (Euro Bass Mix) [2]
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series5
No. of episodes104
Production
Executive producerJane Buchanan
ProducersSean Borg
Paul Ross
Tamsin Summers
Asif Zubairy
Production locations Limehouse Studios (1990–92) [3]
Teddington Studios (1993–95) [3]
Running time60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company Planet 24
Original release
Network Channel 4
Release24 August 1990 (1990-08-24) [4]  
24 March 1995 (1995-03-24)
Related
The Girlie Show

The Word was a Channel 4 variety show in the United Kingdom that aired from 1990 to 1995. [5]

Contents

Format

The show's presenters included Terry Christian, comedian Mark Lamarr, Dani Behr, Katie Puckrik, Jasmine Dotiwala, Alan Connor, Amanda de Cadenet and Huffty. [6] Originally broadcast in the old Tube time slot of 6 pm Friday evenings, The Word's main live show was shifted to a late-night timeslot from 9 November 1990. The magazine format allowed for interviews, live music, features and even game shows. The flexible late-night format meant that guests could do just about anything to be controversial.

There was also an 'I'll do anything to be on television' section called "The Hopefuls" which ran for half of series 4 and half of series 5 in which people did generally repulsive things in order to get featured on the programme. [6]

Production

The show was the brainchild of Charlie Parsons and Terry Christian , the name of the show coming from Christian's Page covering up and coming Manchester bands in the Manchester Evening Newswhich he started writing in the autumn of 1989 called The Word Is Terry Christian and appeared in the paper every Friday evening . |The show originally had a working title of Club X2 and was originally produced for series 1 and 2 by the production company 24 Hour Productions, which later became Planet 24.

Paul Ross was the series editor on series 3 and 4, and became executive producer for series 5. Jo Whiley worked as a researcher/band booker on series 2 and half of series 3 and is credited as having given Nirvana their historic and notorious first TV appearance. [7]

The programme ran for five series from 1990 to 1995. From the start, there was considerable tabloid backlash against the show. In mid 2000, Channel 4 screened a short-running compilation series titled Best of The Word, which mostly featured music performances.

Tango sponsored the show in 1994.

Notable moments

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Evans (presenter)</span> English radio, TV presenter (born 1966)

Christopher James Evans is an English television presenter, radio DJ and producer for radio and television. He started his broadcasting career working for Piccadilly Radio, Manchester, as a teenager, before moving to London as a presenter for the BBC's BBC Radio London and then Channel 4 television, where The Big Breakfast made him a star. Soon he was able to dictate highly favourable terms, allowing him to broadcast on competing radio and TV stations. Slots like Radio 1 Breakfast and TFI Friday provided a mix of celebrity interviews, music and comic games, delivered in an irreverent style that attracted high ratings, though often also generated significant numbers of complaints. By 2000 he was the UK's highest paid entertainer, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. In the tax year to April 2017, he was the BBC's highest-paid presenter, earning between £2.2m and £2.25m annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoe Ball</span> British television and radio personality (born 1970)

Zoe Louise Ball is a British broadcaster and presenter. She was the first female host of the Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows for the BBC, and presented the children's show Live & Kicking, alongside Jamie Theakston from 1996 until 1999.

Mark Lamarr is an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. He was a team captain on Shooting Stars from 1995 to 1997, and hosted Never Mind the Buzzcocks from 1996 to 2005.

Eva Ulrika Jonsson is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, and moved on to present the ITV show Gladiators, and later featured as a team captain on the BBC Two show Shooting Stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Aherne</span> English actress, comedian and writer (1963–2016)

Caroline Mary Aherne was an English actress, comedian, writer and director. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host Mrs Merton, in various roles in The Fast Show, and as Denise in The Royle Family (1998–2012), a series which she co-wrote. She won BAFTA awards for her work on The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family.

What The Papers Say is a British radio and television series. It consists of quotations from headlines and comment pages in the previous week's newspapers, read in a variety of voices and accents by actors. The quotes are linked by a script read by a studio presenter, usually a prominent journalist. The show did not have a regular host, and was intended as a wry look at how British broadsheets and tabloids covered the week's news stories. The programme was most recently broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channel M</span> Television station based in Manchester, England

Channel M was a regional television station in England which broadcast to the Greater Manchester area between 2000 and 2012. The station, originally Manchester Student Television, was owned and operated by the GMG Regional Media division of Guardian Media Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Mayo</span> English radio presenter and author

Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Whiley</span> English television and radio personality

Johanne Whiley-Morton, better known by her professional name Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running weekday later weekend Jo Whiley Show on BBC Radio 1. She currently presents her weekday evening Radio 2 show. She is also the main presenter for the BBC's Glastonbury Festival coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Laverne</span> English radio DJ, model, television presenter

Lauren Cecilia Fisher, known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author and singer. She was the lead singer and additional guitarist in the alternative rock band Kenickie.

Terence Christian is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He has presented several national television series in the UK including Channel 4's late-night entertainment show The Word (1990–1995) and six series of ITV1 moral issues talk show It's My Life (2003–2008). He has also been a regular guest panelist on the topical Channel 5 series The Wright Stuff and Jeremy Vine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Bowman</span> Scottish radio DJ and television presenter

Edith Eleanor Bowman is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted Colin and Edith, weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and The Radio 1 Review on BBC Radio 1 until 2014 and has presented a variety of music-related television shows and music festivals. Since 2020, Bowman has hosted the annual Scottish Music Awards ceremony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Kielty</span> Northern Irish comedian, presenter and actor

Patrick Kielty is a comedian, presenter and actor from Northern Ireland. He is the host of The Late Late Show on RTÉ One and presents a Saturday morning programme on BBC Radio 5 Live. His television credits include the BBC's Patrick Kielty Almost Live and Channel 4's Last Chance Lottery. He has also presented ITV's Love Island and This Morning.

Andrea Huftika Reah, better known as Huffty, sometime credited as Huffty Riah or miscredited as Huffy Reah, is a British television personality. She was a presenter of Channel 4's 1990s television series, The Word. In his autobiography My Word, host Terry Christian said that Huffty, a Catholic lesbian from Whitley Bay who is listed in the alumni of Whitley Bay High School, was a "nice girl" and "not suited to the cut and thrust" of television.

BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Puckrik</span> American broadcaster and journalist (born 1962)

Katie Puckrik is an American broadcaster and newspaper columnist. Born in Virginia, Puckrik is best known for hosting British youth magazine shows The Word and The Sunday Show in the 1990s. She also created and hosted the British television talk show Pyjama Party and subsequently its American remake Pajama Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fearne Cotton</span> English television and radio presenter

Fearne Wood is an English broadcaster and author. She began her career in the late 1990s as a children’s television presenter for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. She went on to present various television shows, including Top of the Pops (2004–2020), Love Island (2006), The Xtra Factor (2007), and Interior Design Masters (2019). Cotton was a regular co-presenter of the Children in Need annual telethons from 2005 to 2015, with the exception of 2009. From 2008 to 2018, she was a team captain on the ITV2 comedy panel show Celebrity Juice.

This is a list of events in British radio during 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Radio 2</span> British national radio station

BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. The 'About Radio 2' BBC webpage says: "With a repertoire covering more than 60 years, Radio 2 plays the widest selection of music on the radio - from classic and mainstream pop to country, folk, jazz, musical theatre, soul, hip hop, rock 'n' roll, gospel and blues."

A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Radio 2, a British national radio station which began broadcasting in September 1967.

References

  1. Simon Donohue (31 December 2002). "Madchester revival may be on the cards – News – Music – Greater Manchester's CityLife". Citylife.co.uk. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  2. "Nottingham Music – 808 State". BBC. 3 February 2003. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  3. 1 2 "Wembley (Lee, Limehouse, Fountain)". TV Studio History. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  4. Date: Friday, 24 Aug 1990 Publication: The Times (London, England)Issue: 63793
  5. Parsons, Charlie (10 August 2010). "How The Word changed television for ever". Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  6. 1 2 Mark Lawson (9 March 1995). "The Last Word In Trash Tv – Life & Style" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  7. "BBC – Press Office – Jo Whiley". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Best of The Word". Channel 4. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  9. Tim Lusher (10 August 2010). "Best moments of The Word: from grunge to gross-out | Television & radio". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  10. Hill, Dave (1 March 2001). "Straight talking". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2024.