The Wright Stuff

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The Wright Stuff
Genre Chat show
Presented by Matthew Wright
Country of origin Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Production
Producer(s) Princess Productions
Running time 90 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Five
Original run 11 September 2000 – Present

The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Five each weekday at 9:00am. It is repeated later on at 11:00am on Fiver.

It first aired on 11 September 2000 and was created at Anglia Television who produced it for two years until their takeover by Granada. It is now produced by Princess Productions. Originally broadcast from Anglia TV in Norwich, it is currently broadcast from Princess Productions studios on the third floor of Whiteley's Shopping Centre, Bayswater, London.

Contents

[edit] Presenter & Guest Hosts

Matthew Wright presenting The Wright Stuff.
Matthew Wright presenting The Wright Stuff.

Matthew Wright has hosted the show almost non-stop since it began in 2000. He is known for his no-nonsense, somewhat arrogant style often shouting at callers with a very short-minded point of view but he can also be quite sympathetic to callers who have been through a tough time. Wright is also known for his self-gratifying, yet generally mediocre sense of humor and has a very caustic laugh. He isn't one to mince his words and has strong opinions on other celebrities. A regular example of this is his utter disdain for Jeremy Kyle who's show is on at the same time as Wright's.

When Wright goes on holiday or is ill others fill in for him, many of the regular panel members have hosted the show. Richard Bacon is also a regular fill in host and Wright's former boss Piers Morgan also guest-hosted the show a lot in the early days. Jerry Springer and Anneka Rice among others have also guest-hosted the show.

[edit] Co-Presenters

There is always a girl in a booth towards the side of the desk; she takes calls and often reads out e-mails and text messages. The longest running girl was Korin Nolan who performed the task for four years between 2004 and 2008. While other girls include Becky Jago, Beth Palmer, Sarah Hogan and Stef Alexander. Korin left the show in May 2008 and actress Phina Oruche filled in for a week before a regular replacement was found. Amie Morris is currently the residing 'Babe in the Booth'.

There is also a 'Man with the Mic' who sits in the audience and takes views on the various topics from them. This position has become more prominent since Eric Johnson took the role in September 2007. He and Wright often share banter about Eric's love life on screen. Eric has also participated in several segments, including 'Something new for Eric to do' - a whole week where he had to learn a new skill each day, such as pole dancing and cow milking.

Eric and the booth girl often stage photo casebooks demonstrating a topic expert Dr Miriam Stoppard can help viewers with. Amie and Eric both went to De Montfort University in Leicester to study media, graduating a year apart in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

[edit] Regular Guests

Every week Matthew is joined by two regular panel members and a third special guest, the guest changes daily while the panel changes every week. A lot of the time panel members rotate and there is always a male and female panel member as well the special guest.

Regular panel members include journalists, politicians and comedians these include:

Janet Ellis
Dr David Bull
Carol Thatcher
Lowri Turner
Anne Diamond
David Grant
Linda Papadopoulos
Ed Vaizey
Stephen K. Amos
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Dave Gorman
Melinda Messenger
Amanda Lamb
George Galloway
Martin Lewis
Mel Giedroyc
Dominic Holland
Richard Park
Kate Silverton
Matt Allwright
Kaye Adams

James O'Brien was a regular in the early days.Vanessa Feltz was also a regular guest until she had a radio show which aired live at the same time as the Wright Stuff, she has also been the guest presenter in Wright's absence.

T.V. critic Ian Hyland used to appear on the show every Monday with a review of the week's T.V. he took the space of the guest panelist in the final segment of the show. However he left along the same time that the show was extended to 90 minutes.

The special guest is often on the show to promote something for example a new film, show or book recent guests on the show have included Morgan Spurlock, Michael Barrymore, Jane Asher, Terry Waite, Sarah Brightman, Martin Fry and Ian Smith on the week that Neighbours moved to Five.

Very occasionally a special guest will appear on the phone if their experience is relevant to the particular 'talking point' for example Simon Cowell was once interviewed over the phone during a discussion on if it pays to be nasty.

[edit] Format

The format is based upon the more traditional radio phone-in,featuring well-known guests discussing topical issues, and encouraging contributions from the studio and television audiences, text messages, e-mails and a phone vote.

When the show was first broadcast it was only an hour long but it was then extended to 90 minutes. The show starts at 9am and is divided into five segments:

Segment Content
Segment One The show will always start with a chat with the special guest and then a look at the talking points of the day before the panel delve into the daily papers. The special guest will always go first and each panel member picks three or four articles from a selection of the papers. This segment lasts about 25 minutes.
Segment Two The first 'talking point' or debate segment of the show this is often the most serious topic and the debate will last the longest. This will last about 20 minutes
Segment Three Often the shortest 'talking point' of the show sometimes light-hearted this segment is short to make up for time lost elsewhere in the show and only a couple of calls will be taken.
Segment Four Sometimes a regular 'talking point' but sometimes a human interest story which often features members of the public who've dealt with the issues raised such as cleaning up council estates or parent power in schools. There are more likely to be guests in the audience if Segment Five is a 'talking point'.
Segment Five The final segment of the show is more often than not an advice section where a specialist in a certain field discusses certain topics with Wright and fields calls from viewers. This section always occurs away from the desk set up for the panel where both Wright and the guest are sitting on comfy chairs. A regular contributor to this segment is Dr. Miriam Stoppard who deals with topics such as divorce, relationships and marriage. Dr. Christian Jessen has recently become a regular in this segment since the success of his programme Embarrassing Illnesses he helps callers who are too embarresed to see their GP. Jasmine Birtles advises callers how to make money in their spare time, Michael Rosen also hosts a children's reading clinic occasionally in this segment and is often a guest on the show. Other topics discussed include environmental issues, potty training and make-up tips.

When the advice segment does not occur a fourth debate segment of the show: often short, is added.

[edit] Controversies and Criticisms

In 2002, the show was at the centre of a media scandal when Wright 'accidentally' named John Leslie on air as the anonymous rapist mentioned in Ulrika Jonsson's autobiography. Since this time, Wright has been notably reticent about discussing issues that involve "unnamed" celebrities, such as the 2006 "football player and mobile phone" scandal - often remarking "given my previous record on certain issues, I feel more than a little nervous discussing this".

In May 2008, the show came under scrutiny from animal rights group PETA. The group claimed that the fishbowl containing Wright Stuff fish, Brad and Jen was too small. On the 27th May show, Wright told viewers that the show's resident vet would look into the matter.[1]

[edit] Facebook

In January 2008 it was announced that The Wright Stuff would be launching a new Facebook fan page, with lists of upcoming special guests and topics for discussion. The page currently enjoys a vibrant online community of several thousand fans who can access photos and videos of the show.

[edit] Popular Culture References

In 2003, Wright appeared in the video for "Proper Crimbo" the Christmas single released from the team behind Bo' Selecta. In a spoof of the Michael Jackson video for Thriller. In the video Wright took the place of the girl in the car while instead of morphing into a wolf the Michael Jackson character morphed into John Leslie who 'wanted a word' with Matthew Wright a reference to Wright revealing the John Leslie scandal by mistake on his show.

In 2006 The Wright Stuff featured in the third episode of the second series of Extras (TV series). Both Wright and Lowri Turner were discussing the fictional incidents of the characters that had appeared in the press. Wright has since revealed on his show that he receives a small repeat fee every time the episode is shown.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Show rapped for small goldfish bowl - Yahoo! News UK

[edit] External links