Noel on Strike

Dancing on Ice is another very good argument for giving a show a rest when it gets tired, then bringing it back some way down the line. There's nothing necessarily wrong with the format, people are just a bit tired of it.

If egos weren't involved, you wonder if ITV would do the same with The X Factor.

I always felt things like Grab The Ads were crowbarred in to fit the "takeaway" premise, which was originally that you could take away the ads, and that itself was to disguise the fact that it was just Ant & Dec's House Party.

In Chris Evans' book, he talks about needing an amazing end game for Don't Forget Your Toothbrush. Solve that, and the rest of the show is (comparatively) easy to format. I wouldn't be surprised if the thought process for Saturday Night Takeaway is the same - strong end game to guarantee a big finish to every show and give it a concept and title.

Re: the series 7 set, compare this clip from early in the run, particularly the pink material/exposed metal backdrop to the performance area, but also the "psuedo house" bit on the upper level by the string players where it's tried so far to be abstract it looks half finished (there even appears to be a big hole in the wall 0:47 in). It looks like a TV studio in 1997, which is kind of the problem.



And here's the first live show of 1998, by which time all sorts of extra gubbins has been added - performance area now has a wooden/timber backdrop, the balcony has an ornate front which looks like it has been salvaged from the series 6 balcony but most of all the upper level is completely transformed with all sorts of pillars, panels and even a doorway to hide the joins.



But nothing quite tops this from the last few weeks on air in 1999, when at 6:01 they give up all attempts at disguising the setting.



Great opportunity to see how the series 8 set sat in the studio, though.

Here is the end of S7:

You can see more of the awful awful S7 set:

Nothing shows Noel's annoyance towards the end of the run more than this clip. Watch from 9.10 mark. He visibly looks annoyed when an expected VT doesn't play, then just stops talking completely and says for someone to tell him what happens next.

They then play the VT whilst Noel shouts out at the gallery they must listen to him as it's his show! He then also takes out his anger at the jib camera swooping which he also didn't like by smushing a banana in the lens. This was clearly Noel very much at the end of his tether by this point and indeed it was only 4 weeks later from this show that the BBC officially axed it.

The series 8 set was awful. At least the series 7 set was still recogniseable as an evolution of the original "Great House", but considering the arguments over budget I don't really get why money was wasted on a new set when it would have been better invested in the content of the show.

Am I right in saying that Noel didn't use an earpiece for the House Party? Which means that he isn't going to have that early warning that the VT isn't going to happen etc.

Noel also looked visibly annoyed when he had done his farewell speech only for Freddie Starr to come bursting through the door with a foam sprayer!

Does that guy still upload full episodes on to YouTube? They all vanished when I looked a few weeks ago so I would assume a copyright claim sadly put an end to them

He's currently uploading them episode by episode

https://www.youtube.com/user/BFBSradio/videos

I hated Noel’s House Party. A nasty show presented by an egomaniac that spent half its time humiliating people.