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Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
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Friday Night with Jonathan Ross is a comical chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It is on the British terrestrial TV channel BBC One and is broadcast at 10.35pm on Friday nights. It was first shown on 2 November 2001 and is now in its sixteenth series. The programme features Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews (usually 3 per show) and live music from both a guest music group and the house band.
The most frequent guests are Ricky Gervais (8 episodes), Jack Dee (6 episodes), Johnny Vegas and Stephen Fry (both currently on 5 episodes each).
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross most recent series began on Friday 23 January 2009.
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Encyclopedia
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross is a comical chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It is on the British terrestrial TV channel BBC One and is broadcast at 10.35pm on Friday nights. It was first shown on 2 November 2001 and is now in its sixteenth series. The programme features Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews (usually 3 per show) and live music from both a guest music group and the house band.
The most frequent guests are Ricky Gervais (8 episodes), Jack Dee (6 episodes), Johnny Vegas and Stephen Fry (both currently on 5 episodes each).
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross most recent series began on Friday 23 January 2009. The programme is now also being broadcast in high-definition on BBC HD. Studio TC4 in the BBC Television Centre in London, where the show is made, has recently been upgraded to HD, making it the third television studio in Television Centre to be upgraded to HD (others being Studios TC1 and TC8).
The show was pulled by the BBC on 29 October 2008 when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were both suspended from their TV and Radio shows, in the events after the Russell Brand/Andrew Sachs controversy. The show returned on 23 January 2009, attracting 5.1 million viewers.
The comedy stand-up show Live at the Apollo was shown in the 10.35pm Friday night slot during Ross's absence. A new series of the popular comedy stand-up show was quickly commissioned to fill the slot, which for four weeks after the suspension featured films.
Format
The show is filmed in Studio TC1 in the BBC Television Centre in London, but in aid of some bigger events such as BBC's Children in Need, the show is moved to Studio TC4. The studio TC4 is also the home of the BBC's popular children's programme Blue Peter. The Blue Peter studio receives a major transformation, and the seats are hidden in the wall. The house band Four Poofs and a Piano provide musical backing. The house band consists of Stephen de Martin, Ian Parkin, David Roper, and David Wickenden. Every time a guest enters the studio, the band will perform a segment of a song, usually one that is fitting to the guest. The four men are very flamboyant when performing and at the beginning of each show Jonathan Ross makes a homosexual innuendo about the group.
There have been a number of recurring themes on Friday Night. For instance, Ross often jokes about the age of veteran TV presenter Bruce Forsyth. This culminated in Forsyth appearing in the opening segment of the show broadcast on 30 November 2007, to supposedly take over as the show's presenter. Ross then appeared and called Tess Daly (Forsyth's co-host on Strictly Come Dancing) to supervise Forsyth safely out, again alluding to his age. Ross has also often made jokes about Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Paul McCartney. During a GMTV interview in October 2007, Mills complained about comments made by Ross.
At the beginning of the show, between guests and during interviews Ross often recounts incidents involving his wife, children and pets. He also refers to items in the news and demonstrates amusing products. His guests are seen at the start of the show sitting in the green room and Ross precedes the introduction of each by asking the audience 'shall I get my first/next guest out?'. While interviewing a guest he usually chats with the other guests in the green room.
At the end of the show, there is a musical performance from a performer or a group. There are rare occasions where the performer(s) are interviewed as well as then going on to play their song or sometimes songs.
Host
Ross speaks with a rhotacism, causing him to pronounce the consonant 'r' like a 'w', which has led to the British tabloid newspapers dubbing him "Wossy". He is also known for his flamboyant dress sense and regularly wins awards for being the best and worst-dressed celebrity (when he appeared on the series Room 101, his own dress sense was one of the things he wished to banish). Whilst appearing on They Think It's All Over, his dress sense was frequently mocked by the other panellists.
Ross was even blamed for a textile workers' strike in 1988 — David Cope, a sales director for a dyeing operation, made the claim: "Ever since that trendy Jonathan Ross started wearing his big, baggy suits on television, he set a fashion that has been extremely lucrative for the British cotton industry and now the textile workers want a share of those profits."
Ross is also well known for his distinctive long hairstyle, which creates mixed emotions in many viewers. Ross is also known for owning exotic pets, and is a big fan of David Bowie, British punk rock such as The Libertines, Star Trek, Doctor Who, anime and comic books. Ross has even co-owned a comic shop in London with Paul Gambaccini. He was also the visual inspiration for the main character in the comic book Saviour.
Suspension
The show was suspended on 29 October 2008 by the BBC when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were both suspended from their TV and Radio shows, in the events after the controversy. The guest lined up for the broadcast were Sir David Attenborough, Miley Cyrus, Frank Skinner, The Killers, and Alesha Dixon. He was later given an additional 12-week suspension, and returned on 23 January, 2009. The show's return was watched by 5.1 million viewers, and received 25 complaints (protesting the show's return), and 3 messages of support for Ross. Ironically, there were fewer than 25 complaints made about the original incident prior to its reporting in the media.
Notable interviews
- For the full guest list, see List of guests on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
David Cameron
The interview with British politician David Cameron on 23 June 2006 was the first with a politician. The house band played True Blue by Madonna upon his entrance. The leader of the Conservative Party was jokingly asked by Ross if he had ever masturbated while thinking of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. They also discussed British politics and in particular the future of the Conservative Party. The interview drew both praise and complaints from viewers and Cameron was criticised by political figures such as Norman Tebbit, for agreeing to appear on the show in the first place. However Ofcom rejected viewer complaints, stating Ross had a "well established presenting style which is deliberately provocative" and was not in breach of the rules.
Awards
- 2004 Best Entertainment Performance
- 2006 Best Entertainment Performance
- 2007 Best Entertainment Performance
- 2003 Best Comedy Entertainment Programme
- 2003 Best Entertainment Performance
- 2004 Best Entertainment Performance
External links
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