The 11 O'Clock Show
1998 British TV series or programme
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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.[1] It ran between 30 September 1998 and 8 December 2000, most notably hosted by Iain Lee and Daisy Donovan.[2] The show boosted the careers of the previously little-known Ricky Gervais, Sacha Baron Cohen (in character as Ali G), Jimmy Carr, and Mackenzie Crook.[3]
Fred MacAulay (series 1)
Iain Lee (series 1–4)
Daisy Donovan (series 2–4)
Jon Holmes (series 5)
Sarah Alexander (series 5)
| The 11 O'Clock Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Satire Comedy |
| Presented by | Brendon Burns (series 1) Fred MacAulay (series 1) Iain Lee (series 1–4) Daisy Donovan (series 2–4) Jon Holmes (series 5) Sarah Alexander (series 5) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 144 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30–35 minutes |
| Production company | Talkback |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 30 September 1998 – 8 December 2000 |
| Related | |
| Da Ali G Show | |
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[4]
- Simon Greenall (in character as Vim Van Der Laan)[3][5]
- Daisy Donovan (in character as Pandora Box-Grainger)[2]
- Mackenzie Crook[6]
- Paul Garner[7]
- Sacha Baron Cohen (in character as Ali G)[8][9][10]
- Ricky Gervais[11]
- Fred MacAulay[12]
- Brendon Burns[12]
- Sarah Alexander[13]
- Jon Holmes[14]
- Rich Hall[15]
- Alex Lowe[16]
- Will Smith
- Tommy Vance[17]
- Ricky Grover[18]
- Danny Bhoy
- Marc Wootton
- Jason Priestley
- Jimmy Carr[19]
Production
The 11 O'Clock Show was written, recorded and transmitted on the same day, similar to The Daily Show (1996).
James Bobin was a director and writer and helped create the characters of Ali G, Borat and Brüno.[20]
"Ali G was the thing that kept the 11 O'Clock Show going. If we hadn't of had Ali G, the 11 O'Clock Show would have died."[3] - Iain Lee
MacKenzie Crook joined the show in Series 2.[21]
Ricky Gervais (54 episodes) joined The 11 O’Clock Show team for Series 3 replacing Sacha Baron Cohen (45 episodes).[22][23][24]
Charlie Brooker was a writer.[25]
"the show had been given the specific instruction, unbeknownst to me, to shock. Shock and offend was more important than being funny... The Ali G stuff was hilarious, the Ricky Gervais stuff was divisive but hilarious. But a lot of it wasn't very funny."[3] - Iain Lee
Sarah Alexander joined the show in Series 5.[26]
Controversy
In January 2000, the show came under criticism from the Broadcasting Standards Commission following viewer complaints about comments made on the show about recently deceased TV presenter Jill Dando, songwriter Bobby Willis (the husband of entertainer Cilla Black) and golfer Payne Stewart.[27]
In January 2000, the Independent Television Commission upheld complaints from viewers for sketches about the 1999 Armenian parliament shooting.[28][29]