It'll Be Alright on the Night

Format

The show 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. A new episode aired on Sunday 28 December 2014. 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 show'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 shows followed a simple format. Norden, traditionally holding his trademark clipboard in his hand, appeared on an otherwise empty stage and delivered a humourous 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 which may or may not include explanatory subtitles.

The show returned in September 2008 with new host Griff Rhys Jones who, to date, has presented eleven episodes of It'll Be Alright on the Night. The most recent episode was broadcast on ITV on 4 June 2016.

Episodes

The audience figures (where given) are those for the initial transmission of an episode. It was not unknown, especially in the early years of the series, for episodes to achieve higher ratings on repeat showings. For instance, It'll Be Alright on the Night 2 first shown on 28 October 1979 was watched by 16,000,000 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 18,500,000 viewers on its initial repeat in January 1985.

No new episodes were aired in 1978, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010 or 2013. In 1985, an X-rated edition of the show was aired.

^A Originally transmitted on Channel 4; was first aired on ITV on 29 June 1986.^B Retitled It'll Be Alright on the Night 5 for subsequent repeats.^C The debut of the Rod Argent/Peter van Hooke-composed theme tune.^D Retitled It'll Be Alright on the Night 15 for subsequent repeats.

Broadcasting

Despite being a staple of ITV's light entertainment programming for nearly 40 years, comparatively few episodes 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, however, since 2008, episodes presented by Griff Rhys Jones have not done 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, "late night" versions with less family-friendly content and a one-off 2001 election edition.

The majority of the episodes were filmed at The London Studios, but in the show's later years, the now-closed (and demolished) Granada studios in Manchester were also used, as well as the now-closed (and also demolished) Meridian studios at Northam, Southampton. A few episodes were filmed on-location; most notably, 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 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 Simon Withington, who previously served as just a producer from 2003 to 2006 has been the executive producer from 2014 to present.

Denis Norden's Laughter File

The series also inspired the spin-off show 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 show, 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 show's producers were Paul Lewis (1991–2002) and Simon Withington (2002–2006).

Episodes

^E Filmed on location around the LWT offices.^F Filmed on location in an easyEverything internet cafe.