It'll Be Alright on the Night

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It'll Be Alright on the Night
Starring Denis Norden (1977–2006)
Griff Rhys Jones (2008–)
Composer(s) Rod Argent &
Peter Van Hooke (1990–)
Music 4 (2008–)
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 39 (as of 2015)
Production
Production location(s) The London Studios
Running time 60 minutes
(including adverts)
Production company(s) LWT (1977–2004)
Granada (2004–2005)
ITV Productions
(2006–2008)

ITV Studios (2011–)
Release
Original network ITV, STV, UTV
Picture format 4:3 (1977–2001)
16:9 (2001–)
Original release 18 September 1977 (1977-09-18) –
present
Chronology
Related shows Auntie's Bloomers
Laughter File
Outtake TV
TV's Naughtiest Blunders
External links
[Official Twitter Website]

It'll Be Alright on the Night is a British television bloopers show screened on ITV and produced by ITV Studios. It was one of the first shows created with the specific purpose of showing behind the scenes bloopers from film and TV and has been running since 18 September 1977.

The show was presented by Denis Norden from 1977 until 2006. Griff Rhys Jones has been the presenter since 2008.

Format

The show is usually one hour in length and aired in ITV's Saturday evening entertainment slot. However, some of the first few episodes up to and including It'll Be Alright on the Night 6, which aired in 1990, originally went out on a Sunday evening. A new episode aired on Sunday 28 December 2014. Two episodes also debuted on a Friday: It'll Be Alright on the Night 3 and It'll Be Alright on Christmas Night on Christmas Day 1981 and 1987 respectively. The show's success led to the competing BBC One series Auntie's Bloomers, which focused on bloopers from some of the BBC archives.

The shows followed a simple format. Norden, traditionally holding his trademark clipboard in his hand, appeared on an otherwise empty stage and delivered a humorous piece to camera, followed by a selection of outtakes taken from various sources. Popular sources for clips include numerous British and American sitcoms, news reports and foreign broadcasts which may or may not include explanatory subtitles.

The show returned in September 2008 with new host Griff Rhys Jones who, to date, has presented ten episodes of It'll Be Alright on the Night. The most recent episode was broadcast on ITV on 30 December 2015.

Episodes

The audience figures (where given) are those for the initial transmission of an episode. It was not unknown, especially in the early years of the series, for episodes to achieve higher ratings on repeat showings. For instance, It'll Be Alright on the Night 2 first shown on 28 October 1979 was watched by 16,000,000 viewers for a repeat showing in February 1983, while It'll Be Alright on the Night 4, first shown on 11 March 1984, was watched by 18,500,000 viewers on its initial repeat in January 1985.[1][2]

No new episodes were aired in 1978, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010 or 2013.

Episode Episode name Original airdate Presenter Viewers
(millions)
1
It'll Be Alright on the Night 1
18 September 1977
Denis Norden
2
It'll Be Alright on the Night 2
28 October 1979
3
The Worst of Alright on the Night
28 September 1980
19.92
4
It'll Be Alright on the Night 3
25 December 1981
5
It'll Be Alright on the Night 4
11 March 1984
16.90
6
It'll Be Alright Late at NightA
11 July 1985
7
The Second Worst of Alright on the Night
24 November 1985
14.55
8
It'll Be Alright on Christmas NightB
25 December 1987
17.95
9
10 Years of It'll Be Alright on the Night
25 December 1988
10
It'll Be Alright on the Night 6C
1 December 1990
17.92
11
It'll Be Alright on the Night 7
2 January 1993
12
The Utterly Worst of Alright on the Night
10 April 1994
13
The Kids from Alright on the Night
26 November 1994
14
It'll Be Alright on the Night 8
10 December 1994
14.89
15
Alright on the Night's Cockup Trip
12 October 1996
16
It'll Be Alright on the Night 10
15 November 1997
17
21 Years of Alright on the Night
24 January 1998
18
It'll Be Alright on the Night 11
2 October 1999
10.12
19
It'll Be Alright on the Night 12
27 January 2001
9.17
20
It'll Be Alright on Election Night
7 June 2001
6.77
21
It'll Be Alright on the Night 13
17 August 2001
6.61
22
Alright on the Night's Silver Jubilee SpecialD
14 September 2002
8.11
23
More Kids from Alright on the Night
28 September 2002
5.61
24
Alright on the Night's All-Star Special
31 August 2003
9.63
25
It'll Be Alright on the Night 16
6 September 2003
5.53
26
It'll Be Alright on the Night 18
2 October 2004
6.89
27
It'll Be Alright on the Night 19
24 December 2004
5.84
28
Alright on the Night's 50 Years of ITV
17 September 2005
6.28
29
It'll Be Alright on the Night 20
18 March 2006
5.32
30
It'll Be Alright on the Night 2008: Part 1
20 September 2008
Griff Rhys Jones
4.30
31
It'll Be Alright on the Night 2008: Part 2
25 December 2008
3.99
32
It'll Be Alright on the Night 2011: Part 1
28 December 2011
4.95
33
It'll Be Alright on the Night 2011: Part 2
31 December 2011
3.73
34
All New It'll Be Alright on the Night 2012
28 December 2012
3.91
35
All New It'll Be Alright on the Night 2014: Part 1
5 January 2014
3.86
36
It'll Be Alright on the Night's Best of the Worst
12 January 2014
3.64
37
All New It'll Be Alright on the Night 2014: Part 2
19 May 2014
3.11
38
All New It'll Be Alright on the Night 2014: Part 3
28 December 2014
3.43
39
It'll Be Alright on the Night 2015
30 December 2015
2.90
^A Originally transmitted on Channel 4; was first aired on ITV on 29 June 1986.
^B Retitled It'll Be Alright on the Night 5 for subsequent repeats.
^C The debut of the Rod Argent/Peter van Hooke-composed theme tune.
^D Retitled It'll Be Alright on the Night 15 for subsequent repeats.

Broadcasting

Despite being a staple of ITV's light entertainment programming for nearly 40 years, comparatively few episodes of It'll Be Alright on the Night have been produced, with rarely more than one new episode a year being screened. Episodes presented by Denis Norden have normally included a number in their title screens to aid identification with the audience, however, since 2008, episodes presented by Griff Rhys Jones have not done so. Towards the end of the Denis Norden era, episodes up to and including It'll Be Alright on the Night 20 were prefixed with "All New" to avoid viewer confusion with repeat screenings of earlier episodes.

During its run, several special episodes were also made, including anniversary specials, "late night" versions with less family-friendly content and a one-off 2001 election edition.

The majority of the episodes were filmed at The London Studios, but in the show's later years, the now-closed (and demolished) Granada studios in Manchester were also used, as well as the now-closed (and also demolished) Meridian studios at Northam, Southampton. A few episodes were filmed on-location; most notably, Alright on the Night's Cockup Trip which was presented from the Great Cockup fell in the Lake District, 21 Years of Alright on the Night was presented on a yacht in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle (which, in reality, was in the south of France) and It'll Be Alright on the Night 11 which was presented from an empty Haymarket Theatre, London.

During its run, the series has had three main producers: Paul Smith (1977–1984), Paul Lewis (1984–2002) and Simon Withington (2003–2006). Sean Miller, James Sunderland and Stephanie Dennis also produced some episodes. Grant Philpott was the series producer (2011-2012) and Simon Withington, who previously served as just a producer from 2003 to 2006, has been the executive producer from 2014 to present.

Denis Norden's Laughter File

The series also inspired the spin-off show Denis Norden's Laughter File, which began airing on 22 September 1991 and ran until 13 May 2006. Although it largely followed the same format as its sister show, while It'll Be Alright on the Night focused solely on bloopers/outtakes, Laughter File also screened clips that included pranks and practical jokes. As with It'll Be Alright on the Night, later episodes included the words "All New" in their titles to avoid viewer confusion with repeat screenings of earlier episodes.

The theme music used for Denis Norden's Laughter File throughout the whole of its run was a library piece, called "Dress to Kill" by Errol Reid. The show's producers were Paul Lewis (1991–2002) and Simon Withington (2002–2006).

Episodes

Episode Episode name Original airdate Viewers
(millions)
1
Denis Norden's 1st Laughter File
22 September 1991
17.39
2
Denis Norden's 2nd Laughter File
4 October 1997
3
Denis Norden's 3rd Laughter File
5 December 1998
10.00
4
Denis Norden's 4th Laughter FileE
16 October 1999
8.46
5
Denis Norden's 5th Laughter FileF
30 September 2000
8.02
6
Denis Norden's 6th Laughter File
15 October 2001
7.21
7
Denis Norden's 7th Laughter File
30 March 2002
5.67
8
Denis Norden's 8th Laughter File
9 November 2002
6.62
9
Denis Norden's 9th Laughter File
4 October 2003
5.53
10
Denis Norden's Christmas Laughter File Special
27 December 2003
8.10
11
Denis Norden's All New 11th Laughter File
26 December 2004
5.73
12
Denis Norden's All New 12th Laughter File
12 February 2005
5.54
13
Denis Norden's All New 13th Laughter File
13 May 2006
3.88
^E Filmed on location around the LWT offices.
^F Filmed on location in an easyEverything internet cafe.

See also

References

External links