Beadle's About

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Beadle's About
Format	Prank Show
Starring	Jeremy Beadle
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	10
No. of episodes	95
Production
Producer(s)	LWT
Running time	30mins (inc. commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	4:3, PAL 576i
Original run	22 November 1986 – 21 September 1996
Chronology
Related shows	Game For A Laugh
External links
IMDb profile

Beadle's About was a British television programme hosted by Jeremy Beadle, where members of the public became victims of practical jokes behind hidden cameras. It was produced by LWT for ITV, and ran from 22 November 1986 to 21 September 1996.

Contents 1 Format 2 Memorable Pranks 3 Popularity 4 Profanity Bubble 5 Infamous Moments 6 Transmissions

[edit] Format

An example of one of the practical jokes would involve a person's car or van secretly being swapped for an identical one, and then having a disaster befall on it, such as it exploding, falling into the sea, or being dropped from a great height, as the owner of the vehicle looked on in horror. After a few minutes Beadle would appear in disguise (typically as a policeman or some other figure of authority, and often wearing a fake beard on top of his natural beard), and interact with the shell-shocked and/or irate victim. He would subtly drop more and more hints and would remove his disguise and point a stick microphone at the person. As the public were familiar with Beadle from the earlier show Game for a Laugh, they would then immediately realise they had been had, often with the words "I don't believe it!".

[edit] Memorable Pranks

The most memorable prank that was ever seen on television was where a woman was convinced into believing that aliens had landed in her garden. Dave Hughes's Van Took An Early Bath At The Sailing Centre In Beadle's About

[edit] Popularity

At its peak, the show attracted approximately 15 million viewers, making it one of ITV's most popular Saturday night programmes during that period.

[edit] Profanity Bubble

The "Bleep" or "Oops" bubble used to block out offensive language was a well known feature from the show. The bubbles were simply clouds with either "Bleep" or "Oops" in them, the text being set in a font looking similar to the 'Balloon' typeface. Jeremy once revealed in an interview that during editing they deliberately inserted "bleeps" where there were no profanities as this made it more funny.

[edit] Infamous Moments

One infamous prank targeted a woman who was at a wedding, and was then destroyed. After Beadle removed his disguise and pointed the microphone at her, the woman ignored him and asked him to leave her alone, until a friend explained it was "Jeremy Beadle off the television".

One of the pranks in the early 1990s when a woman returned from shopping to find her red Ford Fiesta in amongst a car park full of identical cars. She instantly guessed it was a Beadle's About prank and the ruse had to be abandoned (the footage was never broadcast).

In 1993, a man was arrested for trying to pull the beard off a policeman, thinking it was Jeremy Beadle in disguise.

[edit] Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
Series 1	22 November 1986	27 December 1986	6
Series 2	5 September 1987	24 October 1987	8
Series 3	22 October 1988	17 December 1988	9
Series 4	16 September 1989	2 December 1989	11
Series 5	15 September 1990	24 November 1990	11
Series 6	22 September 1991	1 December 1991	10
Series 7	10 October 1992	26 December 1992	10
Series 8	29 October 1993	12 February 1994	10
Series 9	11 March 1995	13 May 1995	10
Series 10	29 June 1996	21 September 1996	10