TV Hell

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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. The presenters were Angus Deayton playing the part of the Devil and Paul 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 Night' 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 taking LSD on a 1955 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 adapt Acid 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 of TV-am.
  • The various appearances by a drunk Oliver 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.

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