| Richard & Judy | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Richard & Judy's New Position |
| Format | Chat show |
| Starring | Richard Madeley Judy Finnigan |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 1215 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Cactus TV |
| Location(s) | Kennington, London, England |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 (2001–08) Watch (2008–09) |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
| Original airing | Channel 4: 26 November 2001 – 22 August 2008 Watch: 7 October 2008 – 1 July 2009 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | This Morning (1988–present) |
Richard & Judy (later known as Richard & Judy's New Position) was a British magazine/chat show which was presented by married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. It originally aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2008 but later moved to digital channel Watch in October 2008. It featured the world's most famous stars, along with their Book Club. In July 2009, the show aired its final episode due to low ratings.[1]
Contents |
The Richard & Judy Show started on Channel 4 on 26 November 2001, and aired every weekday from 5 pm to 6 pm.
However, between 2006 and 2008, the Richard & Judy show shared the 5 pm – 6 pm Channel 4 weekday slot with The Paul O'Grady Show, which started in March 2006. For 3 months of each year between 2006 and 2008, the Richard & Judy show occupied the 5 pm – 6pm slot (January to March and June to August), and then the Paul O'Grady Show occupied the slot for the following 3 months (March to June and September to December).
On 15 August 2008 edition of the show, Richard stated that the following week would be their last on Channel 4. The final edition of the show was broadcast on 22 August 2008.
Richard and Judy went on to sign a £2 million deal with the UKTV network Watch. The couple hosted Richard & Judy's New Position from 7 October 2008. The couple said that the show would be "a high octane prime time show". Richard Madeley said "we were both hugely impressed with the team at UKTV, and their proposal was attractive and fun and will give us the kind of flexibility in our personal lives which we have been looking for". Richard and Judy continued their popular Book Club, which had begun on their Channel 4 show.
The new show featured a sofa area for interviews, and a bar area where the star guests and members of the show's crew gathered during the show. Each week the show had a celebrity barman; the first week's celebrity barman was comedian Rufus Hound, who appeared often on the couple's Channel 4 series.
The first show of the new series attracted an average audience of around 200,000; this figure included the audience who watched the show on Watch+1. The second episode attracted 53,000 viewers for the 8 pm slot. Watch said they were happy with the ratings and it was a good start for the show. Subsequently, viewing figures consistently fell, to a new low of just 11,000 viewers.
Richard and Judy took a Christmas break on Friday 19 December 2008. The show returned on Tuesday 13 January 2009 in a new 6 pm slot, instead of the 8 pm slot it previously occupied. The show also dropped the "New Position" part of the title and was simply called Richard and Judy again.
By April 2009, ratings had slumped to just 5,000 viewers.[2] The following month, it was agreed to terminate the show six months early.[3]
From the week of Monday 8 June 2009, the show was cut back to just one episode a week, airing at 4 pm on Wednesdays. On 1 July 2009, the show aired its final episode.
This daily competition had a viewer at home describing images on a TV screen for Richard and Judy (who can't see the images, as the screen is behind them) to guess – without using any of the words on the screen. For each correct answer, the viewer wins £1000.
The game also appeared on the third series of Matt Lucas' and David Walliams' comedy hit Little Britain. Fictional characters Lou and Andy were seen playing the game, and Andy didn't really seem to get the hang of it (he just said exactly what the images were). Other comedy lampoons of this game included the song "Richard & Judy" by Lazyhand which described a man's descent into poverty through trying to phone into this show.
In January 2006, MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant George Galloway played the quiz and won his housemates' shopping budget for the week. Tony Blair, Abi Titmuss and Carol Vorderman have also participated when they were guests on the programme.
On 18 February 2007, The Mail on Sunday revealed allegations that the quiz was cheating viewers by inviting them to phone in after the winning contestant had already been chosen. The paper stresses that the couple had no knowledge of any wrongdoing.[4] This story was sold to the newspaper through publicist Jonathan Hartley.[5]
On 6 July 2007, Eckoh, the operator of the phone-in quiz, had been fined a record £150,000 by regulator ICSTIS.
ICSTIS said the Channel 4 programme had shown a "reckless disregard" for viewers after inviting them to enter a competition once the potential winners had already been selected.
In addition to the fine, ICSTIS has ordered that all the money be paid back to those viewers affected, around £2.5 million, and has referred the case to Ofcom. The media regulator has the right to impose its own ban if it feels the broadcasting code has been breached.[6]
In 2004, the Richard & Judy Book Club was added as a regular segment of the show. It been credited as having a massive effect on the sales of the books it features[7], much like Oprah's Book Club in the USA. Each year they feature ten books and have discussions during the programme, often with guests. Alongside the discussions and programme features, the novels in contention for the Richard & Judy Book of the Year Award, presented at the British Book Awards, the winner being the book that gets the most votes from the public.
The Richard and Judy book club returned in Autumn 2010 and is run online in conjunction with retailer WH Smith.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010 - Winter
2011 - Spring
2011 - Summer
2011 - Autumn[8]
In 2007, Richard and Judy hosted a special Children's Book Club edition of the show as part of Channel 4's "Lost For Words" season. The featured books were chosen with the help of pupils from several schools around the UK.[9][10]
Launched in October 2008, the club "highlights 12 debut writers over the course of a year".[11]
2008
2009
Richard and Judy launched their wine club in 2005. Focusing on a different selection of wine each week, they reviewed the wines and gave tasting notes to the viewers.