TFI Friday
TFI Friday is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five series. The sixth series was hosted by a number of [|guest presenters]. The show was broadcast on Fridays at 6pm from 9 February 1996 to 22 December 2000, with a repeat later that night. Its theme tune was Ron Grainer's theme from Man in a Suitcase, in keeping with Evans' frequent use of 1960s television themes in his work.
A one-off revival episode of the show was broadcast on Channel 4 on 12 June 2015. The episode was well received; on 23 June 2015, Channel 4 announced that it had commissioned a full revived series, which began airing on 16 October 2015.
In 2016, Channel 4 announced that there were no plans for any further series.
Format
The show regularly featured live music, mostly of the then-popular Britpop school. A snippet of "The Riverboat Song" by Ocean Colour Scene, a band particularly championed by Evans, was used as an introduction to guests, as they walked the length of a walkway up into the "bar" to be interviewed by the host.Viewers repeatedly asked if they could have the TFI Friday mug that graced Evans' table every week, so the production company created a limited run of 1,000 mugs. These were offered for sale at a prohibitive price and for a limited period of time, after which, the remaining stock was destroyed live on air when a washing machine was dropped on to them from the height of the television studio.
Inspiration from/for other shows
During November and December 1999, the show included a segment titled "Someone's Going to Be a Millionaire!", inspired by the ITV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. TFI Friday paid out the promised £1 million jackpot on 24 December 1999, becoming the first British TV show to do so.Guest presenters
In the summer of 2000, Channel 4 announced that the sixth series of TFI Friday was to be the last. Chris Evans left the show moments after this announcement, leaving the final series to be presented by a number of guest presenters.- 10 November 2000 – Spice Girls
- 17 November 2000 – Big Brother 1 contestants
- 24 November 2000 – Davina McCall and Dermot O'Leary
- 1 December 2000 – Sara Cox
- 8 December 2000 – Donna Air and Huey Morgan
- 15 December 2000 – Davina McCall and Dermot O'Leary
- 22 December 2000 – Elton John
Controversies
Swearing
The show attracted controversy when Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder said "fuck" several times. Following the first interview on the show in which he had used the word, he was not allowed to be interviewed live, then during a Stars in Their Eyes skit, Ryder performed the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant". The section was transmitted live, as it was not an interview. Ryder shouted "fuck" several times. Subsequently, Ryder has been barred from appearing live on any Channel 4 programme – he is the only person listed by name in the Channel 4 transmission guidebook. Despite this, he reappeared for the live 20th Anniversary Special in June 2015.In 1996, Ewan McGregor also said "fuck" on the show, when ranting about the Conservative government of the time. In the wake of Ryder's and McGregor's antics, TFI Friday was forced to be pre-recorded. In episode 2 of the 2015 series, actor Nicholas Hoult was heard saying "oh fuck it" after Chris Evans asked him to play the trombone. Evans immediately apologised afterwards.
Car competition
The show gained more notoriety when as part of a competition, two children were forced to go head to head in a stare-out contest to win their parents a car. After the competition was won, the boy who had lost then started to cry, which led the tabloid press to attack the show. The next edition showed the boy with the consolation prize of an assortment of toys, an apparent attempt to mitigate controversy, but which was followed by another staring contest, again ending with the losing child crying. The ITC gave Channel 4 a formal warning following these two incidents, and the competition feature never appeared again on the programme. On the 2015 revival show, both losing children were invited back and given a free holiday to Barbados with their families. Chris Evans also took this opportunity to apologise for what they did to them, acknowledging that it should never have happened.Selected list of performers
- Aerosmith
- All Saints
- Ash
- At the Drive-In
- Barenaked Ladies
- The Beautiful South
- Beck
- Björk
- The Black Crowes
- Black Grape
- The Bluetones
- Blur
- Bon Jovi
- David Bowie
- Ian Brown
- Bush
- Cast
- Catatonia
- The Charlatans
- Cozy Powell
- Neneh Cherry
- Edwyn Collins
- The Corrs
- Elvis Costello & The Attractions
- The Cranberries
- Sheryl Crow
- The Cure
- The Dandy Warhols
- Dark Star
- Def Leppard
- Del Amitri
- Depeche Mode
- The Divine Comedy
- Dodgy
- Echo & the Bunnymen
- Echobelly
- Eels
- Elastica
- Electronic
- Embrace
- Faith No More
- Feeder
- Foo Fighters
- Roddy Frame
- Fun Lovin' Criminals
- Garbage
- Gene
- Green Day
- Terry Hall
- Happy Mondays
- PJ Harvey
- Headswim
- Hurricane No. 1
- INXS
- James
- Jamiroquai
- Lenny Kravitz
- Kula Shaker
- The Lightning Seeds
- Longpigs
- Manic Street Preachers
- Mansun
- Menswear
- Mercury Rev
- Metallica
- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Kylie Minogue
- Morcheeba
- Morrissey
- Muse
- Napalm Death
- New Order
- New Radicals
- No Doubt
- Ocean Colour Scene
- Page and Plant
- Pet Shop Boys
- Placebo
- Iggy Pop
- The Presidents of the United States of America
- Primal Scream
- Prince
- Pulp
- R.E.M.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Reef
- Republica
- Rialto
- Rocket from the Crypt
- Saint Etienne
- The Seahorses
- Shakespears Sister
- Shed Seven
- Brian Setzer
- Simply Red
- Skunk Anansie
- Sleeper
- Slipknot
- Space
- Spacehog
- Spiritualized
- Stereophonics
- Sting
- Suede
- Sugababes
- Super Furry Animals
- Supergrass
- Symposium
- Roger Taylor
- Terrorvision
- Texas
- Toploader
- Utah Saints
- Paul Weller
Revival
On 23 June 2015, it was confirmed that Channel 4 had commissioned a new series, which started airing on 16 October 2015, with U2 opening and closing the show. On 7 July 2016, Channel 4 confirmed it had "no plans" to commission more episodes of TFI Friday.
Episodes
- The Open Mic Night special only featured the Open Mic performances in the repeat. Due to time restraints, none of the performances could be broadcast during the first broadcast, and were subsequently edited into the repeat. ELO's performance of "Livin' Thing" was also only broadcast during the repeat.
Regular features
- Freak or Unique – Every week, there would be five people waiting outside the studio, of whom three would be selected to show off a special if freakish talent. A running gag throughout the run was the 'Incredibly Tall Old Lady' who would always be waiting outside the studio. She was never nominated
- Baby Left Baby Right: A small child was placed on a cushion and the guest was asked which way it might fall
- Fat lookalikes – People who looked like fat versions of celebrities which was then followed in later series by Asian lookalikes
- What Does the Fat Bloke Do? – An overweight man was invited on set and asked about his occupation, before dancing and leaving
- Comment from the Cafe – Evans would rope in Cedric to perform various embarrassing skits. Cedric became famous for his catchphrase "Hellooooooooo!" and wooden acting
- Ugly Blokes – Unattractive gentlemen would have the opportunity to turn down the amorous advances of a 'gorgeous girl'. A photo of footballer Peter Beardsley was shown during the 'Ugly Bloke' theme tune
- It's Your Letters – A wide assortment of viewers' letters.
- Fishbowl Challenge: A goldfish in a bowl would have two toy bridges for company. Which would it swim under first?
- Another running gag was directed at the show's producer, Will MacDonald, where everyone in the bar would point their fingers, begin to swivel them and chant 'Wiiillll' very creepily
- Will: Pub Genius – Will MacDonald would demonstrate a trick that could be performed using tools commonly found in a pub
- Wooden Bird with Purple Hair – Chris Evans would amuse the audience with a small nodding wooden woodpecker, that slid down a pole whilst an accompanying song was played.
- The Lord of Love – The veteran actor Ronald Fraser dressed in a quilted smoking jacket would recite love poems to girls in the audience.
- Wurthers – The shows cue card man. He became a frequent star of the show alongside Chris, during the last series of the show in which he was host. At the start of every show, they would both engage in telling a joke working alongside each other, with Wurthers finishing the joke with "I'm only joking of course!", with Chris then replying "He's only joking of course!". This became a frequent running gag before eventually fading out, with this being replaced with Chris sending Wurthers out on a task. The first and most memorable of these was sending him outside to look for a mini driver, while it was raining. Near the end of the show he found one and told her to say hello to the actor Minnie Driver, by waving at the camera who was at the same time being interviewed on the show with David Duchovny. The segment was originally a one-off, before being made a regular feature on the show.
- Show Us Your Face Then – someone in a football mascot outfit is introduced to the audience and invited to show them their real face.
- Sink or Swim – The studio audience were invited to speculate as to whether a chosen animal would sink or swim in a fishtank. To gasps of concern from the audience, the mouse turned out to be a good swimmer.
2015 series
- Too good not to be on TV - Unheard of acts appear on the show performing their talents.
- Slip and slide - Guests see who can go down the slip and slide the fastest.
- Cute contest purely for ratings - A celebrity will judge which thing or person is the cutest out of a possible three.
- Noah's killer question - Evans' son Noah asks a question in order to try and put them under pressure.
- It's Your Letters – Viewers' letters read out. Introduced by Coldplay, who took over from Reef in episode 4.
Transmissions