Room 101 (British TV series)

This article is about the British series. For the Australian series, see Room 101 (Australian TV series).

Room 101
File:Room 101.png
Genre	Comedy panel game
Directed by	John F.D. Northover (1994–97) Phil Chilvers (1999) Geraldine Dowd (2000–07) Paul Wheeler (2012) Ian Lorimer (2012–18)
Presented by	Nick Hancock (1994–99) Paul Merton (1999–2007) Frank Skinner (2012–18)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	18
No. of episodes	141 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jimmy Mulville (Series 12–18) Richard Wilson (Series 12–18) Mirella Breda (Series 12–18)
Producer(s)	Lissa Evans (Series 1–3) Toby Stevens (Series 4–5) Victoria Payne (Series 6–10) Paul McGettigan (Series 11) Adam Copeland (Series 12–18)
Production location(s)	The London Studios (series 1–11) BBC Television Centre (series 12–13) Elstree Studios (series 14–16, 18) BBC Elstree Centre (series 17)
Editor(s)	Steve Dix (Series 12) Tim Ellison (Series 12–18) Dan Evans (Series 13–18)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Hat Trick Productions
Release
Original network	BBC Two (1994–2007) BBC One (2012–18)
Picture format	4:3 (1994–97) 16:9 (1999–2018)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	4 July 1994 (1994-07-04) – 6 April 2018 (2018-04-06)
Chronology
Preceded by	Room 101 (radio series)
Related shows	TV Heaven, Telly Hell Room 101 (Australian TV series)

Room 101 is a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities are invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign those hates to oblivion in Room 101, a location whose name was inspired by the torture room in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which reputedly contained "the worst thing in the world". Orwell himself named it after a meeting room in Broadcasting House where he would sit through tedious meetings. It was produced independently for the BBC by Hat Trick Productions.

Nick Hancock hosted the first three series of the show from 1994 till 1997. He was succeeded by Paul Merton, who hosted the show from 1999 till the show's original run came to an end in 2007. Frank Skinner hosts the revamped incarnation that started on 20 January 2012.

The 1994–2007 incarnation of the show was that of a one-on-one interview between the host and guest. Consignment of the nominated items, persons or concepts to Room 101 (theoretically banishing them from the world forever) was the decision of the host, sometimes after soliciting the opinion of the studio audience. The 2012 revamp introduced a panel format with three guests competing to have their pet hates consigned to Room 101, a decision made by the host. Guests included Ricky Gervais, Spike Milligan, Stephen Fry, Boris Johnson, Ben Miller and Ian Hislop (the only person to appear twice on the show in its original format). Fry went as far as to put Room 101 itself into Room 101.

A Dutch version of Room 101 started on 24 February 2008, but was short-lived. An Israeli version of the show was broadcast between 2010 and 2013. An Australian version of the show hosted by Paul McDermott began in 2015.

History

The radio series was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1992, where it was hosted by Nick Hancock. Hancock was also the first presenter when the series transferred to television two years later. The first ever guest on the TV version was comedian Bob Monkhouse who cast the French into Room 101.

In 1999, Hancock was replaced as host by Paul Merton (who was also the first ever guest on the original radio version). Merton's first guest was Nick Hancock and his last was his fellow regular team captain on Have I Got News for You, Ian Hislop. Usually, there were five nominations discussed in each show – represented by several surreal props. The last item usually goes in, sometimes for a forfeit.

Following Merton's departure in 2007, it was announced that a replacement would be sought; however, it was not until 2012 that a twelfth series, now fronted by Frank Skinner, was aired.

In July, 2018, Skinner announced that, after 24 years, the show had been cancelled by the BBC.

Rules

Under Hancock (1994–1997)

The rules were fairly tight. Nick Hancock clearly thought out his argument and could be quite strict. Sometimes nominated items he disliked would go into Room 101 and those he didn't would not. Should the guest succeed in getting three items into the room, they would be allowed to choose one rejected item to go in. Should they get too few items in, an item previously put into the room would get a reprieve (this only happened to Caroline Quentin, who released Paul Daniels – he was later put back in by Jim Davidson and was eventually a guest). Incidental music (from a fictional Room 101 radio station) would be played as the item went along the conveyor belt into oblivion.

Under Merton (1999–2007)

When Merton became keeper in 1999, the rules were very straightforward, the conditions for choosing a bonus item or releasing an item were relaxed, the music removed, and the conveyor belt replaced by an elevated trapdoor (coloured green from series 4 to 7 and blue from series 8 to 11). The conversation tended to be more relaxed, reflecting Merton's nature. Merton was often hesitant when asked to put animals into Room 101, normally saying, "You're asking me to get rid of an entire species", but he normally backed down. Merton generally put items into the room even if initially he did not want to. The theme tune was also less menacing for series 4; this was changed to a more jazzy theme tune for series 5 onwards.

Under Skinner (2012–2018)

The show's format was given a complete revamp when Skinner became the new keeper in 2012. Instead of the original Room 101 format, three guests were on each show. The show was divided into a number of categorised rounds, into which guests would nominate something they hated from in that category. They would then argue about why they felt their nominated item should go into Room 101, at the end of which Skinner would choose from all the nominations. Each show also had a "Wildcard" round, where the guests could pick anything they want. At the end of each show, the guest Skinner felt had argued the best would be declared that week's winner and allowed to put any object into Room 101 unchallenged, but this feature was dropped from 2013. In the fourth series, Christian Jessen was permitted a "bonus choice" where he sent German pop music into Room 101 unchallenged.

From 2016 onwards, the category element of the show was dropped and instead each round was essentially a "Wildcard round" where guests can nominate anything they want to go into Room 101.

Transmissions

Main article: List of Room 101 episodes

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	4 July 1994	22 August 1994	8
2	1 September 1995	20 October 1995
3	1 August 1997	26 September 1997
4	22 July 1999	10 September 1999
5	4 August 2000	29 September 2000
6	8 January 2001	12 March 2001	10
7	25 February 2002	22 April 2002	8
8	3 November 2003	22 December 2003
9	13 September 2004	1 November 2004
10	14 September 2005	2 November 2005
11	5 January 2007	9 February 2007	6
12	20 January 2012	9 March 2012	8
13	4 January 2013	22 February 2013
14	24 January 2014	14 March 2014
15	2 January 2015	6 March 2015	9
16	14 January 2016	17 March 2016
17	13 January 2017	8 May 2017
18	12 January 2018	6 April 2018

See also

• Room 101 (radio series)

External links

• Room 101 (1994–2007) at BBC Programmes
• Room 101 (2012–2018) at BBC Programmes
• Room 101 Extra Storage at BBC Programmes
• Room 101 at IMDb
• Room 101 (1994–2007) at British Comedy Guide
• Room 101 (2012–2018) at British Comedy Guide