The Paul O'Grady Show

The Paul O'Grady Show is a popular British comedy chat show broadcast every weekday at 5:00pm on Channel 4 (formerly aired in the same slot on ITV), and hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format is a teatime chat show that consists of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, and occasionally viewer competitions.

2004 - 2005: First incarnation

ITV commissioned The Paul O'Grady Show following O'Grady's appearance as a guest presenter for the (somewhat similar formatted) lunch-time entertainment show Today with Des and Mel (now defunct). ITV management were so impressed by his initial standing in - a last minute replacement for Des O'Connor - that he was brought back several more times to stand in for O'Connor, and subsequently O'Grady was given his own show (O'Grady also became good friends with co-presenter Melanie Sykes, who has since stood in for him on O'Grady's own show on occasion).

The series began broadcasting on ITV in October 2004, and had been greeted by ITV as the saviour of its 5–6 pm slot. The broadcaster previously had trouble filling the slot with a popular programme, with failed attempts including two daytime soap operas: Night and Day and Crossroads (the latter a revival of the soap which had been cancelled in 1988).

Guess the Tune (known as The Organ Game on the Channel 4 edition), 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, became a popular feature of the programme. The tune that O'Grady played leading into the game was a truncated version of "Sing As We Go", by Gracie Fields. Also a stalwart of the show is O'Grady bichon frise dog, Buster, who has appeared for a full five minutes at the start of each programme since the ITV incarnation of the show.

2006 - present: Second incarnation

On 10 January 2006, in a shock announcement, O'Grady said that he had decided to leave ITV for Channel 4, following a dispute between O'Grady and Granada Television (who made The Paul O'Grady Show for ITV) after Granada 'forgot' to renew O'Grady ITV contract. O'Grady was believed to have left ITV not only due to his contract renewal issues nor his salary, but rather he wanted more creative control over the show (Granada had promptly refused when the show was under their production). His own television production company, Olga TV (named after one of his pet dogs), subsequently took over production of the programme.

ITV informed O'Grady that they were unhappy with his move to Channel 4, and he became entrenched in an ongoing dispute with the broadcaster regarding the use of the same set design, props, and names.

The programme was renamed The New Paul O'Grady Show and began airing on Channel 4 in March 2006, in the same 5:00-6:00pm early evening slot, alternating in this slot every three months or so with Richard & Judy. When this new series started on Channel 4, ITV decided to air repeats of the original show in the same slot (this is partly why the Channel 4 show adopted the name The New Paul O'Grady Show). However, ITV quickly abandoned this after these repeats attracted just less than a million viewers (and was decreasing), whilst the new Channel 4 show was gaining over 3 million viewers.

The Paul O'Grady Show is broadcast live on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at 5:00pm. Thursday's and Friday's episode are pre-recorded on the Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, respectively, at 12:30pm (the same set-up occurred when the programme was under Granada's production).

Series 1

The first Channel 4 series of The New Paul O'Grady Show began airing on 27 March 2006 and ran until 16 June 2006 (repeats of the show were broadcast on More4 the following lunchtime). The new show was recorded at the BBC Television Centre instead of the original home, The London Studios, due to an apparent dispute with ITV.

Series 2

The second series was planned to start on 4 September 2006, but was pushed back to 25 September due to O'Grady suffering a second heart attack. The second series ran until 26 January 2007.

Buster did not appear for the first two weeks due to a serious eye infection, so O'Grady's other pet dog Olga took his place instead. On 16 January 2007, viewers noticed that instead of the scheduled live show, a repeat show was aired instead. This was due to O'Grady pulling out of the show at the last minute due to illness, later discovered as a sickness bug. O'Grady returned live the next day.

Series 3

The show returned for the seventh series (the third on Channel 4) on 17 September 2007, running until December of that year. The New from the show title was dropped from this series and the show went back to its original ITV title. The show's opening titles were retinted red, and subsequently the set backdrop was made red. The programme returned to The London Studios from BBC Television Centre.

Following news of premium rate phone in scandals, The Organ Game was suspended (as it relied on people calling in to enter the game). On the first episode of the new series (broadcast on 17 September 2007), Paul went over to play The Organ Game near the end of the show to find it tied up and him unable to use it. He invited viewers to telephone or e-mail Channel 4 bosses to allow him to play the phone-in game. On 22 October 2007, O'Grady announced on his show that The Organ Game would be returning; however there were only four special organ games leading up to Christmas, primarily for people who deserve the cash prize being offered (the phone line entries which used to be on the show have remained suspended). On 19 November 2007, the first of the four special Organ Game aired.

Series 4

The fourth series began on 17 March 2008. The new series ran throughout the spring until 16 June 2008, at which point Richard & Judy returned for its last series. The studio set was given a slight revamp with added studio lights on the floor and walls.

On Tuesday 15 April 2008, Melanie Sykes hosted the show, although it was not announced that she would be hosting. Sykes informed the audience that O'Grady was ill with the flu, and as such was unable to present. Sykes hosted that week's shows before O'Grady returned on Monday 21 April. However, O'Grady hadn't fully recovered, and Sykes had to be called in to do the following show on Tuesday. It was announced that Lorraine Kelly would host Wednesday's show, Brian Conley would host Thursday's show, and Shane Richie would host Friday's show. O'Grady finally returned on 28 April 2008.

Series 5

The new series returned on Monday 22 September 2008 for a new series which will continue up until Christmas. Brand new titles were introduced as well as a slight revamp to the set.

Show outline

Each episode follows the same general outline. It starts with O'Grady walking onto the show with Buster (or sometimes Olga), saying "What's all this on my desk? Look at the junk you've sent me!" or something similar, before sitting down at his desk to read the mail, usually with great disgust at the things that viewers send in (which have included vibrating soap, a viewer's dead goldfish wrapped in tissue, and children's letters asking if Paul wears a wig or dentures). In part two of the programme, he interviews two guests. The Paul O'Grady Show predominantly includes children either reviewing toys, games or films, or demonstrating skills (such as speed cup stacking). The show is filmed Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at The London Studios

Guest presenters

Whilst recovering from his heart attack, Channel 4 insisted O'Grady should take a week off from presenting the show. His first break occurred from 23 October to 27 October 2006 and guest presenters hosted the programme a day each. Since then, there have been three more scheduled guest-hosted weeks.

In April 2008, there were two unscheduled guest-hosted weeks. O'Grady hosted the Monday show during these two weeks, but was taken ill after contracting a flu virus for the remainder of the weeks. Melanie Sykes guest-hosted five of the eight remaining shows, having previously hosted the show three times.

2006

• 23 October 2006: Vernon Kay
• 24 October 2006: Cilla Black
• 25 October 2006: Lorraine Kelly
• 26 October 2006: Jesse Metcalfe
• 27 October 2006: Alan Titchmarsh

• 27 November 2006: Judith Chalmers
• 28 November 2006: Melanie Sykes
• 29 November 2006: Patrick McGuinness
• 30 November 2006: Lorraine Kelly
• 1 December 2006: Brian Conley

2007

• 7 May 2007: Justin Lee Collins
• 8 May 2007: Melanie Sykes
• 9 May 2007: Vernon Kay
• 10 May 2007: Liza Tarbuck
• 11 May 2007: Lenny Henry

• 5 November 2007: Melanie Sykes
• 6 November 2007: Chris Moyles
• 7 November 2007: Lorraine Kelly
• 8 November 2007: Michael Buble
• 9 November 2007: Ross Kemp

2008

• 15 April - 18 April 2008: Melanie Sykes
• 22 April 2008: Melanie Sykes
• 23 April 2008: Lorraine Kelly
• 24 April 2008: Brian Conley
• 25 April 2008: Shane Richie

The show took a break on the week commencing 5 May 2008. Grand Designs Live was its 5:00pm replacement for that week, hosted by Melanie Sykes. The Paul O'Grady Show returned on Monday 12 May 2008 and continued until the series ended on Friday 13 June 2008.

Animals

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. However Buster and Paul's other dog Olga, only appear in the first part of each show usually for 7-8 minutes, sitting on O'Grady's desk while he reads letters from the postbag.

Buster was originally a stray that O'Grady spotted on a motorway around ten years ago and then adopted. Buster has many fans, so much so that a limited edition Nodding Buster was made and given as a consolation prize on the show and is now given away in a tombola. Animals feature heavily on the show (mostly dogs). O'Grady also has two other dogs, called Olga (a Cairn Terrier) and Louie (short for Lucifer) and 25 other pets (giving a total of 28 pets, as said on his show when responding to a viewer's question).

Awards

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 has occasionally beaten Richard & Judy in the ratings.

Guest appearances

The Paul O'Grady Show appeared in a series three episode of The Catherine Tate Show, where Tate's character Joannie "Nan" Taylor made an appearance. Originally she acted very sweet, but later revealed her true colours. When O'Grady mentioned that they had replaced Joannie's old chair with a new one and placed it in her flat, she became enraged at them for intruding her flat. Taylor started swearing and walked off the set, much to the disgust of O'Grady.

A short excerpt is seen in the Doctor Who episode "The Stolen Earth" of O'Grady ranting to the audience of how many planets appeared above the sky (an allusion to the events in the episode). Ianto Jones is seen in the Torchwood Hub watching the show, commenting that it was amusing.

Controversies

• On the 15 May, legal 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'Grady's 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.

References

External links

• The Paul O'Grady Show at Channel4.com