You've Been Framed!

Title card (2010–14)

You've Been Framed! is a British television series where viewers can contribute to the programme with their humorous home videos for the entertainment of others. It is produced by Granada Television and comedian Harry Hill has been providing narration to the programme since 2004.

Format

During the show, the video clips are played and the people who sent them in receive £250. Just before the advert break, a "What happens next?" competition, where the viewers have to guess what happens after a clip is frozen, or "Framed Gold Records" competition, where viewers have to guess how many times something can happen before something else happens (for example, how many people can fall over before a dog gets through a very tight space?), or "Are You A Cry Baby? Maybe" competition, where viewers guess if there will be tears before bedtime, is played. The answer is revealed after the break. Its hosts were Jeremy Beadle, Lisa Riley, and Jonathan Wilkes.

History

The show is similar in format to a number of shows worldwide, including America's Funniest Home Videos and Australia's Funniest Home Video Show. In a deal with various foreign producers of similar shows, many imported clips are used, in exchange for home-grown videos from the UK. The Bottom sequence was not featured in the show.

The show was first commissioned as a pilot and aired on ITV on 14 April 1990 with Jeremy Beadle as the host, a second pilot was also commissioned and aired on 1 September 1990. These featured more audience participation, for example, brief interviews with people who had been featured in clips. Both pilots were a success with a full series commissioned, which aired on 6 January 1991. It became so popular within public consciousness that it peaked in popular culture when it was referenced in the closing episode of Bottom in 1995 with the name Jeremy Beadle's Hilariously Violent Domestic Incidents, for which the Richie and Eddie tried to film a fake clip they would later submit for it (had it been the Jonathan Wilkes 2003 era of the show, any clip they'd have made would have appeared in Named, Framed and Shamed.

The format has been tweaked in recent years, with Lisa Riley taking over from Beadle in the late 90s. While the programme was presented by Jonathan Wilkes, the studio audience voted for which clip was the best of the night at the end of the show, and the person who sent in the winning clip received £1,000. A segment was also introduced showcasing clips which had obviously been faked, called "Named, framed and shamed!", which ended when the studio was ditched in favour of an apartment setting later on while Jonathan Wilkes was still presenting.

This was short lived, and visual continuity was replaced with a narrator, voiced by Harry Hill, which meant that for the first time since the show began, there was no studio nor on-screen personality. Hill provides commentary on the clips via voice-over, which means more clips can be shown, as well as being seen by some as a cost-cutting exercise.

Submission of clips is free (without stampage) and in recent years, the show began accepting clips via e-mail, and more recently, the inclusion of mobile phone videos; noted on-screen by a small mobile symbol in the corner. Granada Reports newsreader Andrew Brittain was a regular announcer from 1991 until the end of the Lisa Riley era in 2002 when he left Granada Reports.

Nowadays in the show, Hill makes regular obtuse references to the Norfolk market town of Swaffham, in reprisal of the serious injuries he once received in a bizarre bird attack in the town.

Transmissions

Special episodes

Throughout its run since its debut in 1990, You've Been Framed! has featured several spin-off specials (often reusing clips from previous shows):

References

External links

• Official website
• You've Been Framed! on Twitter
• You've Been Framed! at the Internet Movie Database