An Audience with...

An Audience with...
Genre Entertainment
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 52
Production
Producer(s) LWT (now branded ITV Studios)
Running time 60-90 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ITV (ITV1/STV/UTV);
Channel 4
Original run 1978 – present
External links
Website

An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by ITV Studios, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.

The show began as An Audience with Jasper Carrott, as a normal six part television series for the comedian, his first television show, broadcast in 1978, produced by London Weekend Television (LWT). From 1980 onwards, the show then changed into An Audience with...(name of host), with one-off special guest hosts performing in front of celebrity audiences.

The show has traditionally been broadcast on ITV on Saturday nights, while some shows in the 1980s were broadcast on Channel 4. The show has been commissioned at varying intervals, with ten shows broadcast in the 1980s, followed by twenty in each in the decades of the 1990s and 2000s. Since 1994 there has been at least one and often multiple shows broadcast per year, with the exception of 2000 and 2003.

Some hosts have appeared multiple times. Dame Edna Everage has been host three times, while Freddie Starr, Ken Dodd, Joan Rivers, Shirley Bassey, Al Murray and Donny Osmond have all been asked to return once. One show, for Jeremy Beadle, was hosted posthumously. In 2010, a five-part highlights series of the show, 30 Years of An Audience With, was broadcast on ITV.

On June 22nd 2011, ITV filmed their latest show, An Audience With Barry Manilow, which was broadcast in October 2011.

Contents

An Audience with Jasper Carrott

The show began as a television series produced by London Weekend Television (LWT) for the comedian Jasper Carrott, which aired for six episodes in 1978, before the title was then used for the hour long specials of the current format.[1]

An Audience with...

From 1980, the show took on a format where a special guest would host a one off show in front of a celebrity audience, and have their name appended to the title. Dame Edna Everage was the first host of An Audience with... in 1980.[2]

The show has had numerous hosts since then, mostly comedians and singers. Occasionally, pop groups, actors and television presenters have also hosted the show. One-off hosts in the series have been an episode hosted by a puppet, Sooty, by the cast of a television show, the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, and by a sportsperson, the boxer Lennox Lewis. The Spice Girls were the first pop group to host the show, in 1997.[2] In 2006, An Audience with Take That was the first time the show was performed live, continued with the next show, An Audience with Lionel Richie.[3]

Hosts are often joined on staged by special guests. Singer Lionel Richie was joined by Westlife,[3] Lulu was joined in a duet with former husband Maurice Gibb,[3] the Bee Gees performed with Boyzone, Ricky Martin was joined by Kylie Minogue,[4] and Take That performed Relight My Fire with Lulu.[5] All round entertainer Des O'Connor was joined on stage by Martine McCutcheon, and dueted with Lionel Richie in a version of Three Times a Lady.[6] Comedian Ronnie Corbett had as his special guest his long time comedy partner, Ronnie Barker.[6]

Comedian hosts will often involve audience members on stage, such as Brian Conley's sword and card trick on Christine Hamilton performed blindfolded,[3] Freddie Starr's act of seemingly throwing knives at a blindfolded Garry Bushell.[4] Comedians will also interact with the audience, with Freddie starr throwing maggots over Faith Brown,[4] and Al Murray, in his Pub Landlord persona, spilt drinks over them.[6] Singing based shows will also sometimes involve comic relief, with Frank Skinner appearing in drag as one of Lulu's backing singers,[3] and Kylie Minogue being joined on stage for a romantic duet with Kermit the Frog.[6]

An Audience Without... Jeremy Beadle

After the death of the television practical joker Jeremy Beadle on 30 January 2008, ITV decided to commission An Audience Without... Jeremy Beadle, to celebrate his best work and raise money for some of his favourite charities. Broadcast on 16 May 2008, the show was hosted by Chris Tarrant, and included the results of an ITV public vote choosing his top-5 best ever pranks from his show, Beadle's About.[7]

30 Years of An Audience With

In 2010, ITV broadcast 30 Years of An Audience With, looking back at the history of the series, with interviews from past guests, and clips from old shows. The show was broadcast in five hour-long episodes, from 17 July 2010[2] to 14 August 2010.[6]

Episode 1 looked back at the shows featuring Dame Edna Everage, The Spice Girls, Bob Monkhouse, Joe Pasquale and Donny & Marie, and featured interviews including Dame Edna, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Joe Pasquale.[2]

Episode 2 looked at the shows hosted by Ken Dodd, Lionel Richie, Brian Conley, Victoria Wood, and Lulu, with interviews from all five hosts.[3]

Episode 3 looked at the shows hosted by Freddie Starr, The Bee Gees, Joan Rivers, Bruce Forsyth and Ricky Martin, with interviews including Robin Gibb, Joan Rivers and Bruce Forsyth.[4]

Episode 4 looked at the shows hosted by Dame Shirley Bassey, Take That, Sir Cliff Richard, Jackie Mason and Jimmy Tarbuck, with interviews from Jackie Mason and Jimmy Tarbuck.[5]

Episode 5 looked at the shows hosted by Des O’Connor, Al Murray, Ronnie Corbett, Kylie Minogue and Michael Bublé with interviews from Des O' Connor, Al Murray and Ronnie Corbett.[6]

List of episodes

No. Year Guest Genre Channel Air date Interval
(days)		 Notes
n/a 1978 Jasper Carrott comedian ITV n/a n/a Series of six shows
1 1980 Dame Edna Everage comedian ITV 16 December 1980 n/a
2 1981 Dudley Moore actor ITV 26 December 1981 375
3 1983 Kenneth Williams actor Channel 4 23 December 1983 727
4 1984 Mel Brooks comedian ITV 4 February 1984 43
5 1984 Joan Rivers comedian Channel 4 17 March 1984 42
6 1984 Dame Edna Everage comedian Channel 4 31 December 1984 289 (Another Evening with)
7 1985 Billy Connolly comedian Channel 4 26 October 1985 299
8 1988 Peter Ustinov actor ITV 3 January 1988 799
9 1988 Victoria Wood comedian ITV 10 December 1988 342 Won two BAFTA awards[3]
10 1988 Dame Edna Everage comedian ITV 15 December 1988 5 (One More Audience with)
11 1990 Jackie Mason comedian Channel 4 27 December 1990 742
12 1993 Bob Knowles comedian ITV 3 June 1993 889
13 1994 Bob Monkhouse comedian ITV 21 May 1994 1241
14 1994 Jimmy Tarbuck comedian ITV 22 October 1994 154
15 1994 Ken Dodd comedian ITV 3 December 1994 42
16 1995 Shirley Bassey singer ITV 21 October 1995 322
17 1996 Freddie Starr comedian ITV 2 March 1996 133
18 1996 Sooty puppet ITV 24 October 1996 236
19 1997 Bruce Forsyth presenter ITV 1 February 1997 100
20 1997 Alf Garnett actor ITV 5 April 1997 63
21 1997 Elton John singer ITV 27 September 1997 175
22 1997 Freddie Starr comedian ITV 11 October 1997 14 (Another Audience with)
23 1997 Ronnie Corbett comedian ITV 25 October 1997 14
24 1997 The Spice Girls pop group ITV 29 November 1997 35 All female audience.[2]
25 1998 Rod Stewart singer ITV 30 May 1998 182
26 1998 The Bee Gees pop group ITV 7 November 1998 161
27 1998 Simply Red singer ITV 12 December 1998 35
28 1999 Lennox Lewis sportsman (boxer) ITV 3 April 1999 112
29 1999 Tom Jones singer ITV 25 September 1999 175
30 1999 Sir Cliff Richard singer ITV 13 November 1999 49
31 1999 Diana Ross singer ITV 11 December 1999 28
32 2001 Des O'Connor presenter ITV 20 January 2001 406
33 2001 Ricky Martin singer ITV 10 February 2001 21
34 2001 Kylie Minogue singer ITV 6 October 2001 238
35 2002 Ken Dodd comedian ITV 9 February 2002 126 (Another Audience with)
36 2002 Lulu singer ITV 18 May 2002 98
37 2002 Brian Conley comedian ITV 25 May 2002 7
38 2002 Donny Osmond singer ITV 23 November 2002 182
39 2004 Harry Hill comedian ITV 16 October 2004 693
40 2005 Joe Pasquale comedian ITV 19 February 2005 126
41 2005 Al Murray (The Pub Landlord) comedian ITV 19 March 2005 28
42 2006 Joan Rivers comedian IV 14 January 2006 301 (Another Audience with)
43 2006 Shirley Bassey singer ITV 10 March 2006 55 (Another Audience with)
44 2006 Coronation Street soap opera ITV 22 April 2006 43
45 2006 Take That pop group ITV 2 December 2006 224 First live edition[3]
46 2006 Lionel Richie singer ITV 9 December 2006 7 Second live edition[3]
47 2007 Al Murray (The Pub Landlord) comedian ITV 27 October 2007 322 (Another Audience with)
48 2007 Celine Dion singer ITV 22 December 2007 56
49 2008 Jeremy Beadle presenter ITV 16 May 2008 146 posthumous; hosted by Chris Tarrant[7]
50 2008 Neil Diamond singer ITV 31 May 2008 15
51 2009 Donny and Marie[8] pop group ITV 11 November 2009 529 Donny returns after hosting in 2002
52 2010 Michael Bublé singer ITV 23 May 2010 193
53 2011 Barry Manilow singer ITV 28 October 2011

Ratings

Sir Cliff Richard is the star with the highest watched episode, with nearly 11 million tuning in to see his show in 1999.

DVD releases

In 2007, selected An Audience with... shows were individually released on DVD. Prior to this, the October 1985 show featuring Billy Connolly had been issued on its own, both in VHS format and on DVD.

References

  1. ^ "Jasper Carrott O.B.E. - A Brief Biography". Jasper Carrott Official Website. undated. http://www.jaspercarrott.com/biography.asp?SiteID=JAS&PageID=20&CatType=biog. Retrieved 17 August 2010. "His first television series was aired in 1978, 'An Audience with Jasper Carrott' for LWT, a series of six shows. The show title was then purloined for the hour-long celebrity shows with which we are now all familiar." 
  2. ^ a b c d e "30 Years of An Audience With, Episode 1". ITV. 6 July 2010. http://www.itv.com/presscentre/30yearsofanaudiencewith/week29/default.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "30 Years of An Audience With, Episode 2". ITV. 13 July 2010. http://www.itv.com/presscentre/30yearsofanaudiencewith/wk30/default.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  4. ^ a b c d "30 Years of An Audience With, Episode 3". ITV. 19 July 2010. http://www.itv.com/presscentre/30yearsofanaudiencewith/week31/default.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  5. ^ a b "30 Years of An Audience With, Episode 4". ITV. 28 July 2010. http://www.itv.com/presscentre/30yearsofanaudiencewith/week32/default.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f "30 Years of An Audience With, Episode 5". ITV. 4 August 2010. http://www.itv.com/presscentre/30yearsofanaudiencewith/week33/default.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  7. ^ a b "An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle". ITV. 31 March 2008. http://www.itv.com/Entertainment/comedy/AnAudienceWithoutJeremyBeadle/Abouttheshow/default.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  8. ^ Lee, Cara (11 August 2009). "Osmonds back with TV". London: The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/2580758/Donny-and-Marie-Osmond-to-reunite-on-Brit-TV.html. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 

External links