The White Room (UK TV series)

The White Room is a United Kingdom music television programme, which ran for three series, as well as two special episodes, from 11 June 1994 to 23 August 1996. It was filmed in Westway Studios, London and produced for Channel 4 by Initial Film and Television Productions.^[1]

The first episode of The White Room, a special episode filmed for Channel 4’s Reggae Evening was presented by Mark Radcliffe and Lisa I’Anson, but when the series started in 1995, all presenting was by Mark Radcliffe alone.^[2]

All performances were live in the studio, with no interviews. In most episodes archive clips were shown.

Various unique collaborations between acts from different genres and generations were filmed, such as Ray Davies from The Kinks singing with Damon Albarn from Blur, or Stevie Wonder and Des’ree joining to sing Ribbon in the Sky.

Many major artists appeared on the show, such as Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins, Prince (performing as Tora Tora), Little Richard and Lou Reed. Iggy Pop famously appeared on the show wearing a pair of transparent trousers with nothing underneath. ^[3]

The first two series comprised seven episodes, and the third series was reduced to five episodes. Apart from the first Reggae episode, there was a New Years Eve special shown at the end of 1995, which was co-presented by Jo Whiley.

David Bowie recorded a complete show at the studios on 14 December 1995, four of the eleven recorded tracks being shown through the series, and all the songs being released as an album, ^[4] but the complete show has not yet been broadcast,

In 1996 the show won the PACT Indie Award for Best Music and Arts programme, ^[5] but was cancelled the same year because the show's ratings did not justify it's regular time slot.^[6]