The Terry and Gaby Show
Encyclopedia
The Terry and Gaby Show was a daytime television show broadcast on Five on weekday mornings between June 2003 and April 2004, produced by Chris Evans' company UMTV. It was hosted by Terry Wogan
and Gaby Roslin
.
The opening titles featured Gaby dressed up like a movie star driven to the studio in a limo and walking on red carpet
to the door. Meanwhile Terry, carrying a briefcase, rode a rickety old bicycle across London and parked it outside the back door before quietly entering the building through said back door.
The show was not well known for the guests who appeared on it, but rather for its many bloopers or double entendres (such as the instance when a number of various sized tennis
balls were located around the studio to mark that year's Wimbledon
tournament, and when introducing Pat Cash
as a guest Gaby announced "And I'm sure you can guess from the size of those balls who's coming up next!")
's This Morning
, it was much hyped before its launch. The first show included Jonathan Ross
as its main guest.
The early episodes tried to capture the atmosphere of Terry's BBC Radio 2
breakfast show. They even had a butler for Terry, named Bulstrode, who in reality was one of the show's producers, usually there to serve him drinks (of the alcoholic kind).
Roving reporter Danny McCall (a former Brookside
actor) featured in a section called "Live Loot". From Monday to Thursday, he would go to a certain location in the UK and go to someone's house trying to get them to sell something to him. He had £100 each day to bribe them with. The first person he visited on the first show was future regular Danny Baker
. On Friday, the four items collected over the week would be given away to viewers.
The show also featured a daily competition called "Kids in Headphones" in which a child of primary school age was shown with a pair of headphones
on, singing along to a tune playing in the headphones. Viewers had to identify the tune to win a prize, with winners drawn at the end of the show. In later episodes, winners were put into a draw to win a television
and a selection of DVD
s, which gave rise to a crude running gag
from Gaby about the size of the television. ("42 inches! Oh boy!")
A regular on the show was Johnny Ball
. At the beginning of each show from Monday to Thursday, he would take down three questions sent in by viewers and go off to research the answers. At the end of the show, he would come back and answer them. The third question always involved a rather more long-winded answer, explained using props.
In the autumn of 2003, Ball took a holiday, and was replaced by Danny Baker. The following Monday, Johnny returned, but on Tuesday Baker returned to take up the role permanently. He proceeded to make the slot his own, even adding a catchphrase ("And now back to my friends!"). He would answer three or four questions, and try and perform a silly trick or other gimmick instead of the prop answer that Johnny Ball did. In later episodes, if he ran out of time, he would put back questions to be answered on future shows. However, there was one question he kept putting back, forgetting to answer it the next day, and on every subsequent day; "What is the world's most potent aphrodisiac
?"
One of the most memorable moments of the show's short history came when Baker placed a piece of soap in a microwave oven
. Although an oven glove had been provided for protection, Baker failed to use it, resulting in him burning his hand when he took the plate out of the microwave to the great amusement of the audience, before removing the glass plate from the microwave which promptly shattered on the floor. The clip is a well-known out-take.
was hosting alongside Gaby. It was mainly Gaby who went away, and when that happened it was usually Jenny Powell
who took her place. The show was called "Terry & Gaby", but because of this guest host situation, it also became:
The low ratings finally led to the show being axed after 200 episodes. Another notable point, however, is that the only time the show ever made the news, was after its 199th episode, on which Anne Robinson
was a guest. This was supposedly her first television appearance since her much talked-about alleged face lift. Many observers noticed how different she looked from more recent programmes, and suggested that she'd had cosmetic surgery, which she denied. The next day, on the morning of the final episode, the story was all over the newspapers, some of them displaying "before and after" pictures of Anne on the front page, ensuring that at least the show didn't go out with a total whimper.
The last episode of The Terry & Gaby Show was broadcast on 26 March 2004. Hailed as yet another television flop by Chris Evans' production company UMTV
, Evans himself had the last word. The last show ended with a shot of Evans standing at a market stall (called "Chris's Fruit & Veg"), eating an apple, and then turning to the camera, saying "F*** it, we had a go, didn't we?". This is a joke on the fact that when the show launched, Chris said he would return to running a Fruit & Veg stall if the program failed.
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
and Gaby Roslin
Gaby Roslin
Gaby Roslin is an English television presenter and actress. She rose to fame while co-presenting The Big Breakfast on Channel 4 between 1992 and 1996, and also presented the BBC's Children in Need charity appeal from 1994 to 2004....
.
The opening titles featured Gaby dressed up like a movie star driven to the studio in a limo and walking on red carpet
Red carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.- History :...
to the door. Meanwhile Terry, carrying a briefcase, rode a rickety old bicycle across London and parked it outside the back door before quietly entering the building through said back door.
The show was not well known for the guests who appeared on it, but rather for its many bloopers or double entendres (such as the instance when a number of various sized tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
balls were located around the studio to mark that year's Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
tournament, and when introducing Pat Cash
Pat Cash
Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...
as a guest Gaby announced "And I'm sure you can guess from the size of those balls who's coming up next!")
Early episodes
Intended to compete head-to-head with ITV1ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
's This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
, it was much hyped before its launch. The first show included Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross (television presenter)
Jonathan Stephen Ross, OBE is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2001 until he left the BBC in 2010. Ross began hosting a new chat show on ITV1 starting 3 September 2011...
as its main guest.
The early episodes tried to capture the atmosphere of Terry's BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
breakfast show. They even had a butler for Terry, named Bulstrode, who in reality was one of the show's producers, usually there to serve him drinks (of the alcoholic kind).
Roving reporter Danny McCall (a former Brookside
Brookside
Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
actor) featured in a section called "Live Loot". From Monday to Thursday, he would go to a certain location in the UK and go to someone's house trying to get them to sell something to him. He had £100 each day to bribe them with. The first person he visited on the first show was future regular Danny Baker
Danny Baker
Danny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Since the late 1970s, he has worked for a wide range of publications and broadcasters including NME, LWT, the BBC, and Talk Radio....
. On Friday, the four items collected over the week would be given away to viewers.
The show also featured a daily competition called "Kids in Headphones" in which a child of primary school age was shown with a pair of headphones
Headphones
Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers, or less commonly a single speaker, held close to a user's ears and connected to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player or portable Media Player. They are also known as stereophones, headsets or, colloquially, cans. The in-ear...
on, singing along to a tune playing in the headphones. Viewers had to identify the tune to win a prize, with winners drawn at the end of the show. In later episodes, winners were put into a draw to win a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and a selection of DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, which gave rise to a crude running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
from Gaby about the size of the television. ("42 inches! Oh boy!")
A regular on the show was Johnny Ball
Johnny Ball
Johnny Ball is a British television personality, a great populariser of mathematics and the father of BBC Radio 2 DJ Zoë Ball.-Early life:...
. At the beginning of each show from Monday to Thursday, he would take down three questions sent in by viewers and go off to research the answers. At the end of the show, he would come back and answer them. The third question always involved a rather more long-winded answer, explained using props.
In the autumn of 2003, Ball took a holiday, and was replaced by Danny Baker. The following Monday, Johnny returned, but on Tuesday Baker returned to take up the role permanently. He proceeded to make the slot his own, even adding a catchphrase ("And now back to my friends!"). He would answer three or four questions, and try and perform a silly trick or other gimmick instead of the prop answer that Johnny Ball did. In later episodes, if he ran out of time, he would put back questions to be answered on future shows. However, there was one question he kept putting back, forgetting to answer it the next day, and on every subsequent day; "What is the world's most potent aphrodisiac
Aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire. The name comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexuality and love. Throughout history, many foods, drinks, and behaviors have had a reputation for making sex more attainable and/or pleasurable...
?"
One of the most memorable moments of the show's short history came when Baker placed a piece of soap in a microwave oven
Microwave oven
A microwave oven is a kitchen appliance that heats food by dielectric heating, using microwave radiation to heat polarized molecules within the food...
. Although an oven glove had been provided for protection, Baker failed to use it, resulting in him burning his hand when he took the plate out of the microwave to the great amusement of the audience, before removing the glass plate from the microwave which promptly shattered on the floor. The clip is a well-known out-take.
Blooper
A blooper, also known as an outtake or boner is a short sequence of a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms of misspoken words...
Rating failings
The show's ratings failed to match those of This Morning, despite several tweaks to the format. The show also drew criticism for seemingly having someone other than the two hosts of the title presenting the show every other week. Embarrassingly, the show's highest ratings of all came when Terry was not present, and Jimmy TarbuckJimmy Tarbuck
Jimmy Tarbuck OBE or Tarby is an English comedian. Growing up he was a schoolmate of John Lennon.His first television show was It's Tarbuck 65! on ITV in 1964. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game...
was hosting alongside Gaby. It was mainly Gaby who went away, and when that happened it was usually Jenny Powell
Jenny Powell
Jenny Powell , is a British television presenter.-Early life:Powell's parents are from South Africa, she attended Woodford County High School for Girls in Woodford Green and the Italia Conti school in London.-Career:...
who took her place. The show was called "Terry & Gaby", but because of this guest host situation, it also became:
- Les & Gaby (Les DennisLes DennisLes Dennis is an English comedian, television presenter and actor best known as the host of Family Fortunes for 15 years.-Early life:...
) - Lionel & Gaby (Lionel BlairLionel BlairLionel Blair is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah Greenbaum...
) - Jimmy & Gaby (Jimmy TarbuckJimmy TarbuckJimmy Tarbuck OBE or Tarby is an English comedian. Growing up he was a schoolmate of John Lennon.His first television show was It's Tarbuck 65! on ITV in 1964. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game...
) - Terry & Jenny (Jenny PowellJenny PowellJenny Powell , is a British television presenter.-Early life:Powell's parents are from South Africa, she attended Woodford County High School for Girls in Woodford Green and the Italia Conti school in London.-Career:...
- several times) - Terry & Linda (Linda BarkerLinda BarkerLinda Barker is an English interior designer and television presenter.-Education:Barker studied Fine Arts at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design in Farnham. She then did odd jobs in various areas including fashion, before settling into a career as an interior designer...
) - Donny & Gaby (Donny OsmondDonny OsmondDonald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...
- on Children in NeedChildren in NeedChildren in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
day) - Danny & Gaby (Danny Baker - that week had no questions since Danny was too busy hosting to answer them)
- Richard & Gaby (Richard WhiteleyRichard WhiteleyJohn Richard Whiteley, OBE DL , usually known as Richard Whiteley, was an English broadcaster and journalist. He was famous for his twenty-three years as host of Countdown, a letters and numbers arrangement game show broadcast most weekdays on Channel 4...
- who kept getting the phone-in number wrong)
The low ratings finally led to the show being axed after 200 episodes. Another notable point, however, is that the only time the show ever made the news, was after its 199th episode, on which Anne Robinson
Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...
was a guest. This was supposedly her first television appearance since her much talked-about alleged face lift. Many observers noticed how different she looked from more recent programmes, and suggested that she'd had cosmetic surgery, which she denied. The next day, on the morning of the final episode, the story was all over the newspapers, some of them displaying "before and after" pictures of Anne on the front page, ensuring that at least the show didn't go out with a total whimper.
The last episode of The Terry & Gaby Show was broadcast on 26 March 2004. Hailed as yet another television flop by Chris Evans' production company UMTV
UMTV (production)
UMTV is a British radio and television production company set up by Chris Evans in 2002.The Directors are Chris Evans, Executive Producer and Writer; Clare Barton, Joint Managing Director/Head of Production; Chris Gillett, Joint Managing Director/Head of Operations and Helen Wright, Financial...
, Evans himself had the last word. The last show ended with a shot of Evans standing at a market stall (called "Chris's Fruit & Veg"), eating an apple, and then turning to the camera, saying "F*** it, we had a go, didn't we?". This is a joke on the fact that when the show launched, Chris said he would return to running a Fruit & Veg stall if the program failed.