Wogan

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For other uses, see Wogan (disambiguation).

Wogan was a chat show on British television, hosted by Terry Wogan. The show was initially broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC ONE from 1982 to 1984, before being moved to weekday evenings at 7pm, where it remained, three nights per week, from 1985 to 1992. It was replaced by the soap opera Eldorado.

When Wogan himself was unavailable to host the show, guest presenters were brought in - most notably Kenneth Williams (in 1986), Ben Elton (in 1989), Selina Scott (in 1990), Jonathan Ross (in 1991) and Gloria Hunniford (in 1991).

The show was broadcast live from BBC Television Theatre in White City, London, and is mainly remembered now through repeats of notable interviews on compilation clip shows. For example:

• The appearance of an awkward Anne Bancroft, who admitted to her dislike of chat shows, and appeared before the audience counting up to ten in order to calm her nerves.
• David Icke appearing on the show wearing a turquoise-coloured shell suit, and claiming to be "a son of the Godhead". Wogan memorably commented to David at one point of the audience's laughter, "They're not laughing with you, David, they're laughing at you."
• Vivienne Westwood appearing on the show when it was being guest hosted by Sue Lawley, and displaying her latest medically-inspired collection. When the audience collapsed into laughter, Westwood told Lawley that if they didn't stop laughing, she'd tell the models to stop coming out.
• George Best appearing on the show in September 1990 extremely drunk, and needing to be escorted off set.
• David Bowie refusing to co-operate in with an interview. As Wogan put it, he "would not speak ... or at least not sensibly ... he will never know how close he came to a slap on live television". Most notably, Wogan asked Bowie (appearing with Tin Machine) "I suppose that's not a real guitar." to which Bowie countered "No Terry, it's my lunch". Part of Bowie's displeasure was that BBC policy forced him to mime "You Belong in Rock 'n' Roll" instead of singing live.
• Chevy Chase remaining silent through his interview.
• Geoffrey Boycott talking about his bank account, which was "a proper one, not like Ken Dodd's". Dodd was waiting in the wings to come on next.
• Five Star appeared on the show in 1990 amid allegations of bankruptcy, failing chart career, eviction, and other newspaper stories that had damaged the group's credibility. Five Star went on the show in an attempt to put an end to the bad press. Fans in the audience screamed and cheered support throughout the interview, and the group themselves appeared relaxed and happy, dismissing the allegations. The band then went on to perform the single "Hot Love" with an impressive dance routine.