Noel on Strike

So Mr Blobby made it on to the international versions as well then.

Certainly looking back series 6-8 are so baffling. 4 & 5 had done a great job of updating the series without abandoning it's core aims, but then it all seemed to go wrong and be a bit of a mess. I do think you have to remember it in the context of the time period - ITV's entertainment shows were shinier and less twee and Noel was never exactly the coolest person around. However the show undoubtedly suffered from trying to be something it wasn't rather than concentrating on what it excelled at.

Like with many long running shows though a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't - we've seen it with Saturday Night Takeaway that sticking with the same features year in year out does get tiresome (and suspect SNT will benefit from it's enforced year off). I do think losing two signature features in series 6 with the regular gunge tank and Grab a Grand axed was a risk too far - but to be fair throughout the last three series they were throwing new features at the series so it wasn't as if they ran out of ideas, they just ran out of ideas that resonated with the audience.

Did he?

I assumed the poster talking about New Zealand was referring to the UK version being shown rather than their own.

I don’t recall that set at all. In my opinion it actually looks like what the set could have been like in series 1, when it was just starting out, with a lower budget, and rather than building an elaborate house set, all they could run to was a standard stage set with a basic house backdrop.


Of course, now everyone says why did they keep changing stuff, but I bet back then, people complained it was always the same and tired with falling ratings, considering how lengthy each series was.

I have no recollection of that Series 7 at all yet I watched NHP religiously growing up. It looks so small compared to the previous version. It actually looks more like one that would have been used in a small theatre live tour or one of the theme park attractions compared to a TV studio.

It's quite a horrible ugly set and doesn't give much freedom, so no wonder it ended up being changed!

He can be seen in one of the international videos posted.

The problem is there is no real energy present, Noel spends most of the show sat down! The soap opera must have sounded a fantastic idea on paper but it really doesn't work, you really do need the doorbell ringing and Noel answering the door to a celeb playing a character from the village rather than just chucking them all together in a 5 minute scene!

Watching the uploads that tag on the end of Gen Game is really spooky too, Holiday with Jill Dando, Lotto with Dale, fast forward 20 years and it is amazing to think of all the big stars of the 90s that are no longer with us!

And yet Jim Davidson.....

But what was that 5 minutes VT sketch covering for in the studio? What was being reset/struck for later?

Wait Till I Get You Home, from series 2 onwards, gave the studio crew breathing space, the gallery time to recalculate timings and to set up for NTV usually straight afterwards.

Why only from series 2?
There certainly was a lot of VT in this one, Secret World, My Little Friend, the soap and the Gotcha.

I think Wait Till I Get You Home was the only item that they carried over from Saturday Roadshow wasn't it?

The Gotchas and the Lyric Game were also carried over.

The gunge tank as well I think.