The 11 O'Clock Show

The 11 O'Clock Show
Genre	Satire, comedy
Developed by	Talkback
Presented by	Brendon Burns (series 1) Fred MacAulay (series 1) Iain Lee (series 2-4) Daisy Donovan (series 2-4) Jon Holmes (series 5) Sarah Alexander (series 5)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	144
Production
Running time	30-35 minutes
Distributor	Fremantle Media
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 4
Picture format	PAL
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	30 September 1998 (1998-09-30) – 8 December 2000 (2000-12-08)
Chronology
Related shows	Da Ali G Show

The 11 O'Clock Show was a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4, which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items. It ran from 30 September 1998 to 8 December 2000, most notably, while hosted by Iain Lee and Daisy Donovan. The show is noted for launching the careers of Ricky Gervais, Sacha Baron Cohen and Charlie Brooker.

Hosts and presenters

The 11 O'Clock Show underwent a number of line-up changes during its run. There are numerous cases of external segment reporters becoming studio hosts, and vice versa. Notable presenters and cast members included:

• Iain Lee
• Daisy Donovan
• Mackenzie Crook
• Paul Garner
• Sacha Baron Cohen
• Ricky Gervais
• Fred MacAulay
• Brendon Burns
• Dan Demetriou
• Sarah Alexander
• Jon Holmes
• Rich Hall
• Alex Lowe
• Will Smith
• Tommy Vance
• Ricky Grover
• Danny Boyd
• Jimmy Carr
• Marc Wootton
• Jason Priestley

Going on to success

The 11 O'Clock Show introduced a number of performers who have gone on to much greater success.

• Iain Lee, who went on to host Channel 4 breakfast show RI:SE in 2003, and went on to forge a successful career in radio.
• Alex Zane, who later went on to present shows such as Rude Tube and Celebrity Scissorhands, and has a successful career as a DJ.
• Ricky Gervais, who went on to co-create The Office and Extras.
• Paul Garner went on to star in E4's The Pilot Show, VH1's BSTV, and write both series of the award winning Strutter.
• Sacha Baron Cohen, who went on to create Da Ali G Show and films Borat, Brüno and The Dictator.
• Mackenzie Crook, who also went on to The Office as well as TV to Go, before a role in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
• Sarah Alexander, who had appeared on TV before, and went on to play Susan Walker in Coupling, Dr Angela Hunter in Green Wing and Mel Cook in The Worst Week of My Life.
• Jon Holmes co-created Dead Ringers, stars in The Now Show and hosts his own show on XFM London.
• Brendon Burns, who went on to co-host I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Live! amid other regular television appearances.
• Marc Wootton who went on to star in Shirley Ghostman and My New Best Friend.
• Andre Vincent and Shaun Pye were both writers on the show.
• Comedy writer/performers who also wrote on the show include Alex Lowe, Robert Webb, Rhys Thomas, Tony Way, James Bachman, David Mitchell and Charlie Brooker. The latter two writers went on to co-present and write for 10 O'Clock Live, a later series which mixed comedy and news.

Controversy

In January 2000, the show came under criticism from the Broadcasting Standards Commission following viewer complaints about comments that were made on the show about recently deceased TV presenter Jill Dando, Bobby Black (the husband of entertainer Cilla Black) and golfer Payne Stewart.

External links

• The 11 O'Clock Show at the Internet Movie Database.
• The 11 O'Clock Show at TV.com .
• The 11 O'Clock Show at epguides.com.