Richard & Judy

Infobox Television
show_name = Richard & Judy


caption = Original "Richard & Judy" opening titles
format = Chat show
picture_format = 16:9
runtime = 60 minutes
(inc. adverts)
starring = Richard Madeley
Judy Finnigan
location = Kennington, London
channel = Channel 4
first_aired = 26 November 2001
last_aired = 22 August 2008
preceded_by =
followed_by = "Richard & Judy's New Position"
num_series =
num_episodes = 1129
country = United Kingdom
producer = Cactus TV
related =
imdb_id = 0299374

"Richard & Judy" is a British magazine/chat show that aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2008. Presented by married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, it often featured the world's most famous stars, along with features that included their Book Club, Wine Club and Film Club. The show ended on 22 August 2008, with "Richard & Judy's New Position" airing on Watch from 7 October 2008.

You Say We Pay

This daily competition had a viewer at home describing images on a TV screen for Richard and Judy (who can't see the images, as the screen is behind them) to guess - without using any of the words on the screen. For each correct answer, the viewer wins £1000.

The game also appeared on the third series of Matt Lucas' and David Walliams' comedy hit Little Britain. Fictional characters Lou and Andy were seen playing the game, and Andy didn't really seem to get the hang of it (he just said exactly what the images were). Other comedy lampoons of this game included the song "Richard & Judy" by Lazyhand which described a man's descent into poverty through trying to phone into this show.

In January 2006, MP and Celebrity Big Brother UK contestant George Galloway played the quiz and won his housemates' shopping budget for the week. Tony Blair, Abi Titmuss and Carol Vorderman have also participated when they were guests on the programme.

On 18 February 2007 "The Mail on Sunday" revealed allegations that the quiz was cheating viewers by inviting them to phone in after the winning contestant had already been chosen. The paper stresses that the couple had no knowledge of any wrongdoing. [cite news
title = Richard and Judy quiz scam
publisher = Daily Mail
date = 18 February 2007
url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=436839&in_page_id=1770&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&icc=NEWS&ct=5
accessdate = 2007-07-06] This story was sold to the newspaper through publicist Jonathan Hartley [http://www.publicityagent.co.uk/press_cuttings.asp?rc=1&i=34] .

It was revealed on 6 July 2007 that Eckoh, the operator of the phone-in quiz, had been fined a record £150,000 by regulator ICSTIS.

ICSTIS said the Channel 4 programme had shown a "reckless disregard" for viewers after inviting them to enter a competition once the potential winners had already been selected.

In addition to the fine, ICSTIS has ordered that all the money be paid back to those viewers affected, around £2.5 million, and has referred the case to Ofcom. The media regulator has the right to impose its own ban if it feels the broadcasting code has been breached. [cite news
title = £150,000 fine for Richard & Judy quiz
publisher = Digital Spy
date = 6 July 2007
url = http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a64491/gbp150000-fine-for-richard--judy-quiz.html
accessdate = 2007-07-06]

Richard & Judy Book Club

In 2004, the Richard & Judy Book Club was added as a regular segment of the show. It been credited as having a massive effect on the sales of the books it features [cite news
title = Our top 50 players in the world of books
publisher = MediaGuardian
date = 5 March 2006
url = http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1723699,00.html
accessdate = 2007-07-06] , much like Oprah's Book Club in the USA. Each year they feature ten books and have discussions during the programme, often with guests. Alongside the discussions and programme features, the novels in contention for the Richard & Judy Book of the Year Award, presented at the British Book Awards, the winner being the book that gets the most votes from the public. Book club reviews are almost exclusively positive, with very little criticism from either Richard and Judy, or their guests. The same can be said for their film club section.

2004

*Monica Ali - " Brick Lane"
*Martina Cole - "The Know"
*William Dalrymple - "White Mughals"
*Zoe Heller - "Notes on a Scandal"
*David Nicholls - "Starter for Ten"
*Joseph O'Connor - "Star of the Sea"
*Alice Sebold - "The Lovely Bones" ("winner")
*Asne Seierstad - "The Bookseller of Kabul"
*Nigel Slater - ""
*Adriana Trigiani - "Lucia, Lucia"

2005

*William Brodrick - "The Sixth Lamentation"
*Paula Byrne - ""
*Justin Cartwright - "The Promise of Happiness"
*Karen Joy Fowler - "The Jane Austen Book Club"
*Chris Heath - ""
*David Mitchell - "Cloud Atlas" ("winner")
*Audrey Niffenegger - "The Time Traveler's Wife"
*Jodi Picoult - "My Sister's Keeper"
*Andrew Taylor - "The American Boy"
*Carlos Ruiz Zafón - "The Shadow of the Wind"

2006

*Julian Barnes - "Arthur & George"
*Richard Benson - "The Farm"
*Geraldine Brooks - "March"
*Michael Connelly - "The Lincoln Lawyer"
*Martin Davies - "The Conjurer's Bird"
*Nicole Krauss - "The History of Love"
*Anchee Min - "Empress Orchid"
*Kate Mosse - "Labyrinth" ("winner")
*Eva Rice - "The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets"
*Andrew Smith - "Moondust"

2007

*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - "Half of a Yellow Sun"
*William Boyd - "Restless"
*A.M. Homes - "This Book Will Save Your Life"
*Lori Lansens - "The Girls"
*James Robertson - "The Testament of Gideon Mack"
*Griff Rhys Jones - "Semi-detached"
*Jed Rubenfeld - "The Interpretation of Murder" ("winner")
*Catherine Ryan Hyde - "Love in the Present Tense"

2008

*Danny Scheinmann - "Random Acts of Heroic Love"
*Katharine McMahon - "Rose of Sebastopol"
*Roger Jon Ellory - "A Quiet Belief in Angels"
*Patrick Gale - "Notes from an Exhibition"
*Joshua Ferris - "Then We Came to the End"
*Mark Slouka - "Visible World"
*Lloyd Jones - "Mister Pip"
*Tim Butcher - "Blood River"
*Peter Ho Davies - "The Welsh Girl"
*Khaled Hosseini - "A Thousand Splendid Suns" ("winner")

Richard & Judy Summer Book Club

2004

*Jennifer Donnelly - "A Gathering Light"
*P. J. Tracy - "Want to Play?"
*Cecelia Ahern - "PS, I Love You"
*Maile Meloy - "Liars and Saints"
*Ben Richards - "The Mermaid and the Drunks"
*Bella Pollen - "Hunting Unicorns"

2005

*Karen Quinn - "The Ivy Chronicles"
*George Hagen - "The Laments"
*Anthony Capella - "The Food Of Love"
*Susan Fletcher- "Eve Green"
*Ben Sherwood - "The Life and Death of Charlie St Cloud"
*David Wolstencroft - "Good News, Bad News"

2006

*Jim Lynch - "The Highest Tide"
*Sam Bourne - "The Righteous Men"
*Victoria Hislop - "The Island"
*Dorothy Koomson - "My Best Friend's Girl"
*Elisabeth Hyde - "The Abortionist's Daughter"
*Elizabeth Kostova - "The Historian"

2007

*Kim Edwards - "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"
*Simon Kernick - "Relentless"
*Kate Morton - "The House at Riverton"
*Paul Torday - "Salmon Fishing In The Yemen"
*Jane Fallon - "Getting Rid of Matthew"
*Mark Mills - "The Savage Garden"
*Jonathan Tropper - "How to talk to a Widower"
*Mary Lawson - "The Other Side of The Bridge"

2008

*Sadie Jones - "The Outcast"
*Linwood Barclay - "No Time for Goodbye"
*Julia Gregson - "East of the Sun"
*John Hart - "Down River"
*Margret Cezair - "The Pirate's Daughter"
*Rebecca Miller - "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee"
*Toni Jordan - "Addition"
*James Bradley - "The Resurrectionist"

Richard & Judy Children's Book Club

In 2007, Richard and Judy hosted a special Children's Book Club edition of the show as part of Channel 4's "Lost For Words" season. The featured books were chosen with the help of pupils from several schools around the UK. [cite web |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2198257,00.html |title=Richard and Judy turn attention to children |accessdate=2008-01-09 |date=2007-10-24 |publisher=The Guardian] [cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/10/24/bojudy124.xml |title=Richard and Judy cast spell on children's books |accessdate=2008-01-09 |date=2007-10-24 |publisher=The Telegraph]

* 5+ / Early :
** Claire Freedman & Ben Cort - "Aliens Love Underpants"
** Sally Grindley & Lindsey Gardiner - "Poppy and Max and the Fashion Show"
* 7+ / Developing :
** Andrew Cope - "Spy Dog"
** Betty G. Birney - "The World According to Humphrey"
* 9+ / Confident :
** Mark Walden - "H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education"
** Derek Landy - "Skulduggery Pleasant"
* 12+ / Fluent :
** Sophie McKenzie - "Girl, Missing"
** Robert Muchamore - ""

Richard & Judy Wine Club

Hoping to emulate the success of their book club, Richard and Judy launched their wine club in 2005. Focusing on a different selection of wine each week, they reviewed the wines and gave tasting notes to the viewers.

eries

"The Paul O'Grady Show" shared the time slot with "Richard & Judy", with the shows alternating every three months. "The Paul O'Grady Show" began on 27 March 2006 and ended on 16 June 2006. "Richard & Judy" then took over on 19 June 2006 and ended on 1 September 2006. Then "Richard & Judy" took over again from the 29 January 2007. They returned to Channel 4 on 18 June 2007. Their latest-but-one run ended on 31 August 2007. They stated on the show that they would be back in January 2008. Paul O'Grady returned to the slot on 17 September 2007. The latest series was shown in early 2008, with the last episode of that series shown on 14 March 2008. Their final series for Channel Four began on 16 June 2008 and continued until 22 August 2008.

End of Show

It was announced on 2 November 2007 that Richard and Judy will leave Channel 4 in the summer of 2008. On 15 August 2008 edition of the show, Richard stated that the following week would be their last on Channel 4. Richard planned to work as a solo TV personality, whilst Judy planned to write books. Their Spokesperson said, "After 20 years of presenting live daytime television, Richard and Judy have called time." He added Richard and Judy may still appear on certain shows for the station to feature their book club. [ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article417640.ece Richard and Judy | Telly couple quit Channel 4 show | The Sun |Showbiz|TV ] ]

It was announced on 16 April 2008, that Richard and Judy have signed a £2 million deal with the UKTV network. The couple will host a show to begin in the Autumn of 2008 on a new UKTV channel called "Watch". The couple who announced in November 2007 that they were leaving Channel 4 have said that the show will be "a high octane prime time show". Richard Madeley has said " we were both hugely impressed with the team at UKTV, and their proposal was attractive and fun and will give us the kind of flexibility in our personal lives which we have been looking for". Richard and Judy will continue their very popular "Book Club" on the new UKTV programme.

UKTV controller Matthew Littleford has said, "I am so excited to have signed Richard and Judy, they are truly my TV heroes."

References

External links

* [http://www.channel4.com/richardandjudy "Richard & Judy"] at Channel4.com
* [http://www.richardandjudybookclub.com "Richard & Judy" - Book Club]
* [http://www.richardandjudywine.com "Richard & Judy" - Wine Club]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,1156756,00.html Article in "The Guardian" on the "book club effect"] (26 February 2004)
*imdb title|id=0299374|title=Richard & Judy
* [http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article15176.ece "The Independent"'s article on R&J]
* [http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7337 "Prospect Magazine"'s article on R&J]
* [http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=476932006 "The Scotsman"'s article on R&J]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A9936796 Richard and Judy at h2g2]
* [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article417640.ece]