Channel 4

Correct - I noticed the whole former Riverside Studio site was gone, when looking out for it on the Boat Race coverage last Saturday afternoon - although they still used it as a camera position, using a Vortex camera.

So, you need somewhere which is large enough for a performance area, then to have a staircase to lead upto what will effectively be a large box on stilts at another end of the studio to double up as the bar area.

So there you have Studio 1 at LTS (if they roll the lower seating away), George Lucas stage at Elstree is another, or one of the stages at Pinewood. That's if they go for a studio - no doubt there are live music venues in London which could easily provide the bar/stage below vibe of TFI Friday.
Actually thinking about It - isn't there an open bar area in view of the stage at the Indigo 02?

On another point about how history has meddled with the show over time - who is going to produce it?

Pretty sure unless it's just dormant Ginger Television Productions isn't trading anymore. And I haven't seen a production from UMTV - a company that Chris set up with his agent to produce The Terry and Gaby show, Live with Moyles/O'Connell (For Channel 5), the dreadful Boys and Girls (for Channel 4) and that odd little live in vision continuity show for Challenge to lead upto the Daily Lotto draw, for a few years now.
Interesting times await (if you are a studio and production company anorak!)

Doesnt Ginger Television Productions still belong to STV?

Seems whoever programmed Samsung's predictive text was an absolute idiot. Back on my PC now so all my spelling mistakes are my own.

Actually saw something from UMTV just this weekend - think it might have been one of the Red Bull events. They are definately still around though whether Chris still has anything to do with them I don't know (Wikipedia contradicts itself).

I'd be surprised if they went to the effort of building a studio set for a one off when coming live from a venue would be much more in keeping with the style of the show. At worst the C4 reception would probably do the job (T4 style) for a one-off.

They produce The Hot Desk for ITV2.



They could just build the interview area/bar and show archive footage of performances. Depends how ambitious they're looking to be.

We don't know what form the programme will take yet. I'm hoping that it will be a new full episode potentially featuring guests that appeared on the original, but not limiting it to that. A homage, but a progression if that makes sense. I'm not sure how Chris Evans feels but surely if it does well, is entertaining and a good platform for live music on TV (that bar appearing on the reality shows as filler is virtually non existent these days) then they may look to commission a new series.

The countdown clips posted on his Twitter show him asking celebs (usually singers) if they want to take part in the show, so yes, there will most likely be live performances.

Notice C4 are playing a new (to me anyway) ad about their PSB responsibilities and how advertising allows them to deliver them all for free.

Unfortunately they chose to include clips of the dreadful Cucumber which certainly is not an exactly of quality programming.

I suspect this is being run because of the recent rumours of the Tories wanting to privatise it if re-elected.

Jay's invited a load of indies round to Horseferry Road to celebrate a "year of creativity and success" or something like that. This comes a day after it was announced the rather hopeless entertainment commissioning department will be merged into the more successful fact ent department.

There has to be more to the 'innovative' Channel 4 than scheduling Gogglebox, Embarrassing Bodies, 24 Hours in A&E and One Born Every Minute on rotation?

Worth remembering these things are subjective - I thought Cucumber was fantastic and it got good reviews, though the ratings were not fantastic. I don't think it's bad of Channel 4 to highlight that they do shows that are a little different to the norm.

It's all subjective too - Catastrophe was airing at the same time on Monday nights with pretty much the same (underwhelming) ratings yet was perceived to be a hit.

Pretty much every area at C4 isn't really doing as well as it should be - they're struggling with drama and comedy to get an audience from the start at a time when drama especially on BBC2 is thriving.