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The Story of Light Entertainment: Series 1

Stephen Fry

Elaine Shepherd

Anna Gien

Story of Light Entertainment: Episode 7: Chat Shows

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Story of Light Entertainment

Episode 7

Episode 7: Chat Shows

Chat Shows

BBC Two - Story of Light Entertainment, Chat Shows

Stephen Fry narrates a look at how the chat show has become a television staple.

Stephen Fry narrates a series tracing the roots of light entertainment. This edition explores how the chat show has provided some of the most controversial TV ever made.

One of light entertainment's most successful and most enduring formats, the story of the chat show - and the chat show host - takes in everything from tearful celebs and transatlantic flights to fake guests and drunken brawls. From the Gestapo-like questioning on Face to Face to Jerry Springer's' 'prostitutes v pimps', this documentary shows just how the chat show format has entertained and influenced the emotional make-up of the British public. 

It explores how the chat show often gives rise to some of the most controversial and stimulating TV ever and traces the evolution of the format from Steve Allen and Johnny Carson to Graham Norton and Paul O'Grady. Plus, a look at the explosion of 'confessional' TV and how, after the cynical celebrity plugging of the 80's, producers were forced to look to the revolutionary changes afoot in the US in a bid to save the format.  

It shows how the chat show has evolved, why the public now look for something a little bit extra from their celebrity interviews, how the comedy chat shows like Mrs Merton became every bit as successful as the genre that provided their comedy, and asks what the next evolution of the chat show will bring.

Featuring interviews with Michael Parkinson, Terry Wogan, David Frost, Sally Jessie Raphael, Clive James, Clive Anderson, Joan Rivers and Graham Norton.

BBC Two

BBC Two is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964.

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BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Series on the history of light entertainment, narrated by Stephen Fry.

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Episode 7: Chat Shows

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