Harry Hill's TV Burp

Infobox Television
show_name = Harry Hill's TV Burp


country = UK
caption = Title card
format = Comedy Entertainment
picture_format = PAL (576i, 16:9)
runtime = 30 minutes (including commericials)
creator =
language = English
presenter = Harry Hill
channel = ITV
first_aired = December 22, 2001 (pilot),
November 14, 2002
last_aired =
present
num_series = 7 (including Pilot and 2 Christmas specials)
num_episodes = 66
producer = Nick Symons
(2002-2006);
Spencer Millman
(2007-present)
related = The Soup
imdb_id = 0352110

"Harry Hill's TV Burp" is a popular BAFTA award-winning British television comedy programme, produced by Avalon Television for ITV, and is hosted by the comedian Harry Hill. The show presents a satirical look at the previous week's television, including extracts from TV shows with added sketches, observational voice-overs, and guest appearances.

This type of format was pioneered by the US E! network's "Talk Soup" and subsequently "The Soup" but on a smaller scale.

History and airings

The show is filmed at Teddington Studios, Middlesex, in Studio 1 and is based on clips of the previous week of programming, showing lines of dialogue that can be twisted out of context, unusual set layouts and actions performed on the shows. Although Hill does most of the writing himself, Brenda Gilhooly, Paul Hawksbee, Dan Maier and David Quantick also help write the weekly show. The show premièred with a pilot on December 22, 2001, which is available to watch on Avalon's website. The pilot contained many of the common elements that remain on the show to the present day, now in its seventh series, such as "TV Highlight of the Week" and the pre-break "fight".

Following the success of the pilot, a full series was commissioned, starting on November 14, 2002. Six subsequent series have followed, as well as two Christmas specials (see Transmissions).

Series 1-3 were originally shown in a late-night slot on Thursdays and Fridays respectively. This received criticism from many, as it was very family-friendly humour, and called for it to be broadcast earlier. Series 3 saw a repeat showing in a Sunday teatime slot. Series' 4 and 5 saw Burp broadcast on a Saturday teatime slot - although now, from being criticised for being shown too late, some feel that its new slot was too "early", and deserved a prime-time evening slot. Series 6 was given a boost following Hill's successful narration of "You've Been Framed". The series reached a new high on 26 January 2008 when a peak audience of 8 million viewers tuned in, averaging 7 million, the show's highest audience to date. At the end of the Spring 2008 series, Harry announced that he would be returning in the Autumn, and the eighth series is scheduled to air from 11th October. [http://www.tv.com/harry-hills-tv-burp/show/18178/summary.html] Recording for this series begins on Thursday 9th October 2008.

A Best Of DVD is due to be released November 10th 2008. [http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=224;5;31;-1&sku=841765]

Recurring elements

*Pre-advertisement 'fights' that attempt to determine which of two people or things from a scene are "best", such as "babies or cats" (from an episode of "The Apprentice"), "chicken or turkey", "White Rat or Brown Rat" (from a nature documentary), "Mars or meat" (from "Life on Mars") or even "Jesus or Hitler". After making the comparison, Hill's signature tagline follows: "But which is better? (A) or (B)? There's only one way to find out... FIGHT!", at which point two actors representing the characters of the comparison appear from either side and engage in a wrestling match while Hill goads them on.
*"TV Highlight of the Week": a tiny segment of a show showing an entirely mundane event such as throwing out some sour milk, exhaling, snoring, spraying disinfectant or serving tea. Occasionally this is replaced with a variant on the same theme, such as "Extra of the Week", "Voiceover Highlight of the Week", or even something as complicated as "Lopsided Glasses Wearer Who Looks A Bit Like David Baddiel of the Week" or "Most Casual Turning On Of A Car Indicator of the Week', with the usual jingle artificially stretched to fit in the extra words. Series 7 also included the recurring "I Beg Your Pardon Of The Week", which features a clip of mumbled or unintelligable dialogue.
*At the end of every show, one of the people referenced in the show comes back to sing a song. For example, in the pilot episode, Bruce Jones sings Rhinestone Cowboy after Harry gave him a pet horse.
*Staged or edited shots in which Hill 'appears' in a show (sometimes as himself, sometimes as a character from said show) to artificially alter the outcome of the scene or to mimic or attack a character that has annoyed him.
*Series-specific running gags, such as "Celebrity Big Brother Round-Up", pretending to be the banker on the other end of the phone on "Deal or No Deal", and the uncanny ability of the respective casts of "Emmerdale", "Coronation Street" and "Dancing on Ice" to make inadvertently animal-like noises.
*Praising The Mustard Shop whenever Norwich is mentioned.
*Victims of jokes turning up on set immediately after a scene in which they appear.
*"Emmerdale" character Val's cataracts have become a recurring joke, based on a scene in which she questions "Cataracts?" after a diagnosis. The scene was spoofed with Harry repeating the surprised declaration then passing the news onto a chain of various celebrities (mainly those under contract with ITV) and the show's own history of highlighted extras who respond "Cataracts?" one after another. A passing tongue-in-cheek mention of 'ear cataracts?' a few weeks later was spoofed on the 1st March, 2008 edition of the show in exactly the same way, lasting almost a minute and a half and featuring cameo appearances from comedians Al Murray, Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, Jeremy Kyle and Noel Fielding, in all there were 41 cameos made.
*Almost every episode of series 7 contained a segment looking at that week's episode of the BBC Three lifestyle documentary programme "Freaky Eaters", about people with strange eating habits. After a clip showing the particular food the 'Freaky Eater' is either addicted to or repulsed by, Harry will repeat them in a loud, moronic, toothless gurn (e.g. "beans!", "chippy chips!", "sausages!", "hoopy hoops!", "sweet snicknoin!" (sirloin). When collecting his BAFTA in 2008, Harry used this voice again, and jokingly said that "Freaky Eaters" should have received the award because it's the "best show on telly".

Trivia

*Hill, a fan of the British singer Morrissey, has also used songs of Morrissey in the show on at least two occasions. TV Burp used to have a segment called "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", which was introduced by the Morrissey song of the same name. Also, in the 2006 series, Hill jokingly changed the theme tune of the popular soap opera "EastEnders" to "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths.
*Hill used members of the audience to sit behind his desk for his latest series to put on his website, the first being one Alasdair Bryce.

Recognition and Awards

Harry Hill's TV Burp has been nominated for "Best Comedy Entertainment Programme" at the 2007 British Comedy Awards. [cite web
url = http://www.sitcom.co.uk/news/news.php?story=000326
title = The British Sitcom Guide - News
accessdate = 2007-11-07] It won two 2008 British Academy Television Awards for Best Entertainment Performance (for Harry Hill) and Best Entertainment programme.

Transmissions

Series 1-8

It has been confirmed that an 8th series of the popular comedy show will be transmitted in Autumn of 2008, currently scheduled from 18 October 2008 with a bumper-run of 25 episodes, including 1 christmas special. (Source: [http://www.itv.com/PressCentre/HarryHillsTVBurp/S8Ep1Wk43/default.html] ITV Press Centre - Harry Hill's TV Burp

Other/Special editions

External links

*itv.com|id=harryhill|title="Harry Hill's TV Burp"
*imdb title|id=0352110|title=Harry Hill's TV Burp
* [http://www.harry-hill.tv/ Harry Hill's official site]
* [http://www.avalonuk.com/tv/ Avalon Television's website] (Contains the full pilot of TV Burp, amongst other programmes.)
* [http://harryhill.wordpress.com Harry Hill Fansite] - Unofficial Fansite for Harry Hill
* [http://www.itv.com/PressCentre/HarryHillsTVBurp/S8Ep1Wk43/default.html ITV.com - Press Centre - Harry Hill's TV Burp]

References