The Paul O'Grady Show

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The New Paul O'Grady Show
Titles from the 2006 Channel 4 show (minus the New)
Genre	Entertainment chat show
Running time	60 min per episode, including advertisements
Creator(s)	Granada Productions (2004-5) Olga TV (2006-)
Starring	Paul O'Grady
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original channel	ITV1 (2004-5), Channel 4 (2006-)
Original run	11 October 2004–23 December 2005 (on ITV1) 27 March 2006 – present (on C4)
No. of episodes	170 (episodes aired on ITV1) and 103 (episodes aired on Channel 4) (as of 10 November 2006)
Official website
IMDb profile

The New Paul O'Grady Show (formerly The Paul O'Grady Show) is a British comedy chat show on Channel 4, formerly aired on ITV1. The show on Channel 4 is filmed at BBC Television Centre in London.

Paul O'Grady, the comic from Birkenhead, previously more famous for his female alter-ego Lily Savage, hosts the weekday teatime chat show which is a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts and pieces, as well as viewer competitions.

1 ITV show
2 Channel 4 show
- 2.1 Guest presenters
3 Notable guest stars
4 Controversies
5 Show catchphrases
6 External links

[edit] ITV show

The series began in October 2004, and had been greeted by ITV as the saviour of its 5-6pm slot. The broadcaster had previously had trouble filling the slot with a popular program, with failed attempts including two daytime soap operas Night and Day and Crossroads, the latter a revival of the 1960s hit of the same name.

It relies heavily on parading animals (mostly dogs and household pets) for the 'cute-factor', and interviewing celebrities, mostly soap opera actors, tabloid celebrities and reality TV contestants. A regular feature since the start has been Guess the Tune (now known as the Organ Game due to the dispute with ITV), a phone-in-competition where O'Grady plays tunes on his organ and the contestant has to guess them correctly to win up to £2000.

Paul O'Grady's use of animals has often been the target of criticism, citing it cruel to expose animals (in particular Buster) to harsh studio lighting for up to 55 minutes a day. Buster is O'Grady's pet dog, who was originally a stray that O'Grady found on a motorway approximately ten years ago. Buster has many fans, so much so that a limited edition Buster Nodding Dog was made and given as a consolation prize on the show and is now given away in a tombola. Paul O'Grady also has two other dogs, called Olga and Louie (short for Lucifer) and 25 other pets (giving a total of 28 pets, including his cows - as said on his show responding to a viewer's question - He thought the name Wikipedia sounded like a rare skin condition).

Despite being critically panned and considered a prime example of "dumbing down" TV, the show was a surprise winner at the National Television Awards in 2005. The show had occasionly beaten daytime TV show Richard & Judy in the ratings, which aired at the same time on Channel 4.

[edit] Channel 4 show

O'Grady with his adopted dog Buster (Channel 4 promo).

On the 10th January 2006, in a shock decision, O'Grady decided to defect from ITV and take his daytime chat show to Channel 4 after the company which produces Granada programming apparently 'forgot' to renew his contract [1].

O'Grady was believed to have moved to Channel 4, not due to money, but an agreement to allow O'Grady to have his own Television Production company Olga TV produce the show, was granted. O'Grady is currently sharing the 5-6pm slot with former rating competitors Richard & Judy, alternating every three months.

In February 2006, ITV told O'Grady they were unhappy with his move to Channel 4, and he is currently in an ongoing dispute with the broadcaster regarding use of the same studio and props.

The first Channel 4 season of The New Paul O'Grady Show aired on the 27 March 2006 and ran until 16 June 2006 (with repeats being broadcast on More4 the next day). The new show is recorded at the BBC Television Centre. The second series was to start of 4 September, but was delayed due to O'Grady's heart attack. However, the show began instead on 25 September 2006, and will run until December. Buster did not appear for the first two weeks due to a serious eye infection, so Olga took his place instead.

ITV1 originally decided to air repeats of the original show whilst Channel 4 showed the new programme. However the network quickly abandoned this technique after the repeats attracted less than 1 million viewers and was decreasing, whilst the Channel 4 show was gaining over 2 million viewers.

[edit] Guest presenters

Whilst recovering from his heart attack Channel 4 gave Paul O'Grady a week off from 23 October to the 27 October 2006. Guest presenters were put in his place for the week and did one show each. O'Grady returned on the 30 October and is likely continue until the end of the series. The celebrities which presented the programme in his absence were as follows:

October 23: Vernon Kay
October 24: Cilla Black
October 25: Lorraine Kelly
October 26: Jesse Metcalfe
October 27: Alan Titchmarsh

[edit] Notable guest stars

In each episode it is usual for two celebrities to appear on the show. Such stars have included:

[edit] Musicians

[edit] Actors

[edit] Comedians

[edit] Other television personalities

[edit] Controversies

O'Grady's use of animals has often been the target of criticism, citing it cruel to expose animals (in particular Buster) to harsh studio lighting for up to 55 minutes a day
On the 15 March, copyright issues with the popular game in the show came to light, as the BBC did not have a valid license for live entertainment in the studios. As a result, no live music or singing could be exhibited on the show until the license was granted a few weeks later. However, as the majority of the music 'played' by O'Grady was pre-recorded this avoided the problem
In light of O'Gradys love of dogs, and the fact that O'Grady rescued Buster, the show runs a "Find A Dog A Home" slot where abandoned dogs from various charities are featured. Viewers can then call in to request they be placed on a list to give the dog a permanent home. A direct telephone number was given to connect viewers to the appropriate charity. On moving to Channel 4, the slot remained but now viewers had to initially call a 10p-per-call information service to get the direct number of the charity. Calls dropped dramatically, and charity groups including The Dog's Trust and Battersea Dogs' Home told producers that they would no longer be involved with the show. The premium rate line was quickly dropped from 29 May 2006, and the original format reintroduced with the full support of the charities [2]

[edit] Show catchphrases

"Evenin' folks!"
"It's fun, fun, fun all the way campers!
"They've only came in for the warm"
"Times are hard and friends are few"
"If I wanted your opinion, I'd slap it outta ya"
"Believe you, me"
"Oh puh-lease"
"Spend it on yourself"
"oooh, what? fabulous"
"Bert get your finger out your nose and play the VT"
"Live at five on four" or sometimes "Live on four at five"
"C'mon Bust, do yer trick!"
"<put DVD name here> is out now on DVDVD."
"Ooooh, by 'eck Lover Dover!"
"Its time for me to get busy on my organ as we play the organ game. Are you ready? 1,2,3.."
"Keep up or I get ratty"

[edit] External links

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Categories: Channel 4 television programmes | ITV television programmes | 2000s TV shows in the United Kingdom