Clive Anderson guides us through the history of television's talent shows. Where did they come from? How have they evolved? And why do we so frequently end up laughing at them?
Clive Anderson charts the history of television's relationship with politics via the things that can and will go wrong.
Clive Anderson guides us through the history of television's love affair with animals. Never work with children or animals is an old adage, but TV continues to ignore it. And so mistakes and mishaps are bound to happen.
Clive Anderson guides us through the history of live TV, pointing out all the things that go wrong when the programme-makers have no second chance.
Clive Anderson guides us through the history of television's favourite experts and the pitfalls that attend the role. As well as pointing out the potential problems of being cast as a telly know-it-all, there's sage advice to the would-be experts of the future.
Clive Anderson tries to fathom the miracle of Christmas television. Why do we sit down in front of the box, year after year, with such high expectations, and then feel surprised when it feels like we've seen it all before? Mostly because, it turns out, we actually have seen it all before. The Funny Side of Christmas enjoys showing you the best and the worst that TV has served up to us over the years: the Blue Peter Advent crown, Christmas Top of the Pops, Morecambe and Wise, Nationwide's Christmas Panto, The Royle Family, Gavin and Stacey and one TV chef after another trying to come up with a variation on how exactly we should be cooking a turkey. Contributors include Valerie Singleton, Mike Smith, Diane-Louise Jordan, Esther Rantzen, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Mike Read and Barry Cryer. Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
Clive Anderson accompanies us through the most embarrassing chat moments on TV, including BA Robertson's interview with Annabella Lwin and Frank Skinner's interview with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, as well as his own car-crash TV moments. 'Chat' has been a staple on TV since television sets were made of Bakelite, so there is plenty of archive to pick through. As well as the history of chat shows on TV, Clive Anderson guides us through chat on TV in a more general sense: chat on news programmes, children's shows, daytime TV, as well as chat in other forms - such as the American-style confrontational shows like Trisha where the general public are the stars. As well as revelling in the most awkward chat moments, we get first-hand tips and advice from chat show regulars and insiders, such as how to make an entrance and how to survive an on-air walk-out. Plus Michael Aspel reveals the lowest point in his chat show career, which wasn't when Oliver Reed came on with a large jug of vodka and orange, or the time when Mel Brooks walked off after his first question. And there are other classic moments, such as Parky meeting Meg Ryan, Ben Elton meeting Robin Day, and Bill Grundy meeting The Sex Pistols. Contributors include: Michael Aspel, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Ulrika Jonsson, Nicky Campbell, Nicholas Parsons, Bea Ballard, James Whale, Trisha Goddard, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Tony Parsons, Mike Read and Sarah Greene.