- TV Hell
"TV Hell" was a BBC2 theme night broadcast on
August 31 1992 , and was the first time the format was used by a UK TV channel.Fact|date=July 2008 The presenters wereAngus Deayton , playing the part of theDevil , andPaul Merton , who had been condemned to experience the worst of British Television. "TV Hell" was defined as programmes and broadcasts where the conception of the production was misguided, even though it made use of established television cast and crew. The resulting catastrophe described either curtailed a promising career or lead to a review of the commissioning process."TV Hell" established the format for the theme nightFact|date=July 2008 with short skits by Deayton and Merton used to link talking heads by a collection of media personalities, an A-Z of TV Hell moments, a more serious commissioned documentary and then screening of some of the original programmes.
The examples of "TV Hell" included:
*"Churchill's People " a 26 part dramatized history of Britain shot in a studio on video and screened on BBC 1 in primetime in the 1970s. The series was such a ratings disaster that the BBC changed its drama commissioning policy.
*Christopher Mayhew takingLSD on a1955 edition of "Panorama". The original programme was never broadcast and this was the first time an excerpt had been screened.
*"Club X " - a disastrous attempt by Channel 4 to adaptAcid House culture to television
*David Dimbleby filling live airtime on "Panorama" when all of the prerecorded items were lost.
*The early days of UK Breakfast Television and the downfall ofTV-am .
*The various appearances by a drunkOliver Reed on live television.The first episode of the BBC soap "Triangle" was shown preceded by a documentary on the production with cast and crew.
An unscreened BBC pilot for a late night men's lifestyle magazine programme dating from 1969 was also shown, and there were also humorous contributions from
Victor Lewis-Smith .The night included 'Disastermind' a review of the worst performances on "Mastermind".
External links
*imdb title|id=0103561|title=TV Hell
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