It'll Be Alright on the Night

It'll be Alright on the Night is a British television bloopers programme broadcast on ITV and produced by ITV Studios. It was one of the first series created with the specific purpose of showing behind the scenes bloopers from film and TV.[1]

It'll Be Alright on the Night
Presented byDenis Norden
Griff Rhys Jones
Narrated byDavid Walliams
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes56
Production
Production locationsThe London Studios
(1977–2016)
Running time45–60 minutes
(including adverts)
Production companiesLWT (1977–2004)
Granada (2004–2006)
ITV Productions (2008)
ITV Studios (2011–2021)
Lifted Entertainment (2021–present)
Release
Original networkITV
Original release18 September 1977 (1977-09-18) 
present
Related
Auntie's Bloomers
Outtake TV
TV's Bloopers &
Practical Jokes

TV's Naughtiest Blunders

The programme was originally presented by Denis Norden from 1977 until 2006. Griff Rhys Jones took over as presenter from 2008 until 2016. Since 2018, the series has been narrated by David Walliams.[2]

Format

The programme is usually one hour in length and aired in ITV's Saturday evening entertainment slot. However, some of the first few episodes up to and including It'll be Alright on the Night 6 which aired in 1990, originally went out on a Sunday evening. Two episodes also debuted on a Friday: It'll be Alright on the Night 3 and It'll be Alright on Christmas Night on Christmas Day 1981 and 1987 respectively. The programme's success led to the competing BBC One series Auntie's Bloomers presented by Terry Wogan, which focused on bloopers from some of the BBC archives.

The programme followed a simple format. Norden, traditionally holding a clipboard in his hand, appeared on an otherwise empty stage and delivered a humorous piece to camera, followed by a selection of outtakes taken from various sources. Popular sources for clips include numerous British and American sitcoms, news reports and foreign broadcasts.

The programme returned in September 2008 with Griff Rhys Jones who presented 11 episodes of It'll be Alright on the Night. The last episode featuring Rhys Jones was broadcast on 4 June 2016. After a two-year break, the programme returned in summer 2018 with brand new episodes featuring David Walliams as narrator, instead of a presenter in the studio. New editions of the programme, narrated again by Walliams, began airing from September 2020. These editions introduced a new feature entitled the 'Big Cock-Up Question' where before each advert break, a small portion of a clip would be played before it stops and Walliams asks viewers to guess what happens next, the answer being revealed following the break.

Episodes

The audience figures (where given) are those for the initial transmission of an episode. In the early years of the series, episodes sometimes achieved higher ratings on repeat showings. For instance, It'll be Alright on the Night 2 (first shown on 28 October 1979) was watched by 16 million viewers for a repeat showing in February 1983, while It'll be Alright on the Night 4 (first shown on 11 March 1984) was watched by 18.5 million viewers on its initial repeat in January 1985. A further repeat of The Second Worst of Alright on the Night (first shown on 24 November 1985) achieved the programme's highest ratings of 19.92 million in February 1992.[3][4]

EpisodeEpisode nameOriginal airdatePresenter/NarratorViewers
(millions)
Ref.
1It'll be Alright on the Night 118 September 1977Denis Norden16.45[5]
2It'll be Alright on the Night 228 October 1979
3The Worst of Alright on the Night21 September 1980
4It'll be Alright on the Night 325 December 1981
5It'll be Alright on the Night 411 March 198416.90[6]
6It'll be Alright Late at Night11 July 1985
7The Second Worst of Alright on the Night24 November 198514.55
8It'll be Alright on Christmas Night[lower-alpha 1]25 December 198717.95[7]
910 Years of It'll be Alright on the Night25 December 1988
10It'll be Alright on the Night 61 December 199017.92[8]
11It'll be Alright on the Night 72 January 199315.03[9]
12The Utterly Worst of Alright on the Night10 April 1994
13The Kids from Alright on the Night26 November 1994
14It'll be Alright on the Night 810 December 1994
15Alright on the Night's Cockup Trip12 October 199613.00[10]
16It'll be Alright on the Night 1015 November 1997
1721 Years of Alright on the Night24 January 1998
18It'll be Alright on the Night 112 October 199910.12[11]
19It'll be Alright on the Night 1227 January 20019.17
20It'll be Alright on Election Night7 June 20016.77
21It'll be Alright on the Night 1317 August 20016.61
22It'll be Alright on the Night 15: Silver Jubilee Special[lower-alpha 2]14 September 20028.11
23More Kids from Alright on the Night28 September 20025.61
24Alright on the Night's All-Star Special31 August 20039.63
25It'll be Alright on the Night 166 September 20035.53
26It'll be Alright on the Night 182 October 20046.89
27It'll be Alright on the Night 1924 December 20045.84
28Alright on the Night's 50 Years of ITV17 September 20056.28
29It'll be Alright on the Night 2018 March 20065.32
30It'll be Alright on the Night 2008: Part 120 September 2008Griff Rhys Jones4.30
31It'll be Alright on the Night 2008: Part 225 December 20083.99
32It'll be Alright on the Night 2011: Part 128 December 20114.95
33It'll be Alright on the Night 2011: Part 231 December 20113.73
34All New It'll be Alright on the Night 201228 December 20123.91
35All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2014: Episode 15 January 20143.86
36It'll be Alright on the Night's Best of the Worst
(also known as All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2014: Episode 2)
12 January 20143.64
37All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2014: Episode 319 May 20143.11
38All New It'll be Alright on the Night 2014: Episode 428 December 20143.43
39It'll be Alright on the Night 201530 December 20153.80
40All New It'll be Alright on the Night 20164 June 20162.76
41David Walliams Presents – Return of Alright on the Night22 August 2018[lower-alpha 3]David Walliams2.81
42David Walliams Presents – Revenge of Alright on the Night29 August 2018[lower-alpha 4]2.61
43It'll be Alright on the Night S34: Episode 111 September 20202.62
44It'll be Alright on the Night S34: Episode 25 December 20202.80
45It'll be Alright on the Night S34: Episode 312 December 20202.94
46It'll be Alright on the Night at Christmas
(also known as It'll be Alright on the Night S34: Episode 4)
19 December 20203.02[12]
47It'll be Alright on the Night S34: Episode 530 April 2021[lower-alpha 5]<1.79[13]
48It'll be Alright on the Night S34: Episode 65 June 20212.65[14]
49It'll be Alright on the Night S35: Episode 117 December 2021
50It'll be Alright on the Night S35: Episode 222 April 20221.84[15]
51It'll be Alright on the Night S35: Episode 329 April 20221.70[16]
52It'll be Alright on the Night S35: Episode 46 May 20221.71[17]
53It'll be Alright on the Night S35: Episode 527 May 2022
54It'll be Alright on the Night S35: Episode 62 September 2022
55It'll be Alright on the Night S36: Episode 12 December 20222.05[18]
56It'll be Alright on the Night S36: Episode 224 December 2022TBC[19]

Broadcasting

Although a staple of ITV's light entertainment programming for over 40 years, few editions of It'll be Alright on the Night have been produced, with rarely more than one new episode a year being screened. Episodes presented by Denis Norden have normally included a number in their title screens to aid identification with the audience, while from 2008 to 2016, episodes presented by Griff Rhys Jones and from 2018 onwards, episodes narrated by David Walliams no longer did so. Towards the end of the Denis Norden era, episodes up to and including It'll be Alright on the Night 20 were prefixed with "All New" to avoid viewer confusion with repeat screenings of earlier episodes.

During its run, several special episodes were also made, including anniversary specials, a late night edition for Channel 4 with more mature adult content and a one-off political special to mark the 2001 general election.

The majority of the episodes were filmed at The London Studios, but in the programme's later years, the Granada studios in Manchester were also used, as well as the now-closed (and demolished) Meridian studios at Northam, Southampton. A few editions were also filmed on-location; these included Alright on the Night's Cockup Trip which was presented from the Great Cockup fell in the Lake District, 21 Years of Alright on the Night was presented on a yacht supposedly in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle (which, in reality, was in the south of France) and It'll be Alright on the Night 11, which was presented from an empty Haymarket Theatre, London.

During its run, the series has had three main producers: Paul Smith (1977–1984), Paul Lewis (1984–2002) and Simon Withington (2003–2006). Sean Miller, James Sunderland and Stephanie Dennis also produced some episodes. Grant Philpott was the series producer (2011, 2012 and 2018) and Simon Withington, who previously served as a producer from 2003 to 2006 has been the executive producer from 2014 to 2016. In 2020, Chris Thornton became the series producer.

The show has never been released on DVD or in any streaming format, in part due to rights issues.[20]

Denis Norden's Laughter File

The series also inspired the spin-off programme Denis Norden's Laughter File, which began airing on 22 September 1991 and ran until 13 May 2006. Although it largely followed the same format as its sister programme, while It'll be Alright on the Night focused solely on bloopers/outtakes, Laughter File also screened clips that included pranks and practical jokes. As with It'll be Alright on the Night, later episodes included the words "All New" in their titles to avoid viewer confusion with repeat screenings of earlier episodes.

The theme music used for Denis Norden's Laughter File throughout the whole of its run was a library piece, called "Dress to Kill" by Errol Reid. The programme's producers were Paul Lewis (1991–2002) and Simon Withington (2002–2006).

Episodes

EpisodeEpisode nameOriginal airdateViewers
(millions)
Ref.
1Denis Norden's 1st Laughter File22 September 199117.39[21]
2Denis Norden's 2nd Laughter File4 October 1997
3Denis Norden's 3rd Laughter File5 December 199810.00[11]
4Denis Norden's 4th Laughter File16 October 19998.46
5Denis Norden's 5th Laughter File30 September 20008.02
6Denis Norden's 6th Laughter File15 October 20017.21
7Denis Norden's 7th Laughter File30 March 20025.67
8Denis Norden's 8th Laughter File9 November 20026.62
9Denis Norden's 9th Laughter File4 October 20035.53
10Denis Norden's Christmas Laughter File Special27 December 20038.10
11Denis Norden's All New 11th Laughter File26 December 20045.73
12Denis Norden's All New 12th Laughter File12 February 20055.54
13Denis Norden's All New 13th Laughter File13 May 20063.88

Notes

  1. Retitled and re-edited as It'll be Alright on the Night 5 for subsequent repeats.
  2. Retitled and re-edited as 25 Years of Alright on the Night for subsequent repeats.
  3. Scheduled to be aired on 2 July 2018, but was moved five days later due to the England v Colombia World Cup game going into extra time. The 7 July 2018 date was moved again to 22 August 2018 due to the Russia v Croatia World Cup game going into extra time.
  4. Scheduled to be aired on 3 July 2018, but was moved seven days later due to the England v Colombia World Cup game going into extra time. The 10 July 2018 date was moved again to 29 August 2018 due to the Russia v Croatia World Cup game going into extra time.
  5. This episode was scheduled at short notice, after the last episode of drama Viewpoint - originally planned to air that time - was dropped hours before due to sexual misconduct allegations against actor Noel Clarke.

References

  1. "What time is Return of Alright on the Night with David Walliams on TV?". RadioTimes. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  2. Darvill, Josh (1 September 2020). "It'll be Alright on the Night start date as David Walliams hosts new series". TellyMix.
  3. "1983 – Top 10 programmes". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  4. "1985 – Top 10 programmes". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  5. "Jictar Ratings". The Stage. 29 September 1977. p. 20. Retrieved 22 December 2020 via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "Ratings". The Stage. 22 March 1984. p. 18. Retrieved 22 December 2020 via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. Young, Graham (8 January 1988). "Hilda beats Dirty Den". Sandwell Evening Mail. p. 10. Retrieved 22 December 2020 via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "1990 – Top 10 programmes". BARB. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  9. "Mr Bean jumps over his rivals". Aberdeen Evening Express. 13 January 1993. p. 10. Retrieved 22 December 2020 via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "Ratings Watch". The Stage. 31 October 1996. p. 24. Retrieved 22 December 2020 via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)". BARB. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  12. "Top programmes report - Dec 14-20". thinkbox.tv. 28 December 2020. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  13. "Top programmes report - week 17, April 26 - May 02 - ITV". thinkbox.tv. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  14. "Top programmes report - week 22, May 31 - June 06 - ITV". thinkbox.tv. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  15. "Top programmes report - week 16, April 18–24 - ITV". thinkbox.tv. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  16. "Top programmes report - week 17, April 25 - May 01". thinkbox.tv. Archived from the original on 10 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  17. "Top programmes report - week 18, May 02–08". thinkbox.tv. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  18. "Top programmes report - week 48, November 28 - December 04 - ITV1". Thinkbox. 12 December 2022. Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  19. "Week 52 2022 : Sat 24 Dec - Fri 30 Dec - It'll Be Alright on the Night". ITV Press Centre. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  20. https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/1675800/itll-be-alright-on-the-night-dvd
  21. "1991 – Top 10 programmes". BARB. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
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