''The Sunday Night Project'' is a British
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
-
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...
by
Princess Productions
Princess Productions was a London-based television production company, formed by Henrietta Conrad and Sebastian Scott, which produced broadcast shows and pilots for all the major British broadcasters across a variety of genres, mainly specialisi ...
that first aired on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
in February 2005 under the title ''The Friday Night Project''. Originally broadcast on Friday nights, the show moved to Sunday nights for its seventh series in 2008.
Each week, the regular hosts (from series 2 onwards)
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins (born 28 July 1974) is an actor and former radio and television presenter from Bristol, England.
Collins began his career as a stand up comedian in the 1990s when he was in his late teens. He then presented a number of TV sh ...
and
Alan Carr
Alan Graham Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian, broadcaster and writer. His breakthrough was in 2001, winning the '' City Life'' Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards. In the ensuing years, Carr's career burgeon ...
are joined by a celebrity guest host. These guests provide an opening monologue, are interviewed by Alan and Justin and take questions from the studio audience. They also take part in comedy sketches, hidden camera stunts and a game show where someone from the audience is selected to win prizes.
When the show was called ''The Friday Night Project'', it was not live: it was recorded at
The London Studios
The London Studios (also known as The South Bank Studios, The London Television Centre, ITV Tower, Kent House and LWT Tower) in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend Te ...
on the night before broadcast on Channel 4. When the show became ''The Sunday Night Project'', the Thursday-night taping schedule was retained.
Episode List
Series 1
''The Friday Night Project'' was originally presented by comics
Jimmy Carr
James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...
,
Rob Rouse
Rob Rouse (born 1974) is an English comedian.
Overview
Rouse grew up in Gawsworth, Cheshire. He trained as a geography teacher at the University of Sheffield and got into comedy in his final year at university. Having fully qualified as a teach ...
,
Sharon Horgan
Sharon Lorencia Horgan (born 13 July 1970) is an Irish actress, writer, director, comedian and producer who co-wrote and starred in the comedy series '' Pulling'' (2006–2009) and ''Catastrophe'' (2015–2019). She also created the HBO comedy ...
and, as a roving reporter,
Lucy Montgomery, with sporadic appearances from
Abi Titmuss. The first series began on 4 February 2005 and ran for 8 weeks.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 2
The show returned on 6 January 2006 for 8 weeks with new hosts comedians
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins (born 28 July 1974) is an actor and former radio and television presenter from Bristol, England.
Collins began his career as a stand up comedian in the 1990s when he was in his late teens. He then presented a number of TV sh ...
and
Alan Carr
Alan Graham Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian, broadcaster and writer. His breakthrough was in 2001, winning the '' City Life'' Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards. In the ensuing years, Carr's career burgeon ...
(who worked together on late night show
Flipside), with
Debra Stephenson
Debra Stephenson (born 4 June 1972) is an English actress, comedian, impressionist and singer, best known for her roles as Diane Powell in ''Playing the Field'', Shell Dockley in '' Bad Girls'' and as Frankie Baldwin in ''Coronation Street''.
...
replacing Lucy Montgomery for the Celebrity Spotting segment. The episode featuring
Billie Piper
Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woman ...
was awarded the 2006
Golden Rose of Montreux
The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakes ...
for best variety show.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 3
The third series of the show ran from 16 June 2006 for 11 weeks, and one special, whilst ''
Big Brother'' was shown during summer 2006.
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins (born 28 July 1974) is an actor and former radio and television presenter from Bristol, England.
Collins began his career as a stand up comedian in the 1990s when he was in his late teens. He then presented a number of TV sh ...
and
Alan Carr
Alan Graham Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian, broadcaster and writer. His breakthrough was in 2001, winning the '' City Life'' Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards. In the ensuing years, Carr's career burgeon ...
returned as hosts and the format is exactly the same as the second series.
Paul O'Grady
Paul James O'Grady Order of the British Empire, MBE Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and former drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his d ...
was due to host but had to pull out due to a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
one week before his episode was to start filming.
Cilla Black
Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter.
Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...
was also due to host an episode, but had to pull out.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 4
The fourth series of ''The Friday Night Project'' started on Channel 4 on 5 January 2007 and ran for 7 weeks, with hosts Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr returning. The format was almost identical to the previous series, with the exception of 'Celebrity Spotting with Debra Stephenson', which was not featured. A new feature was that the coat of cash is sometimes worn by a celebrity guest, rather than Justin, Alan, the guest host or a panelist.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 5
The fifth series began on 1 June 2007 and ran for 14 weeks, double that of the previous series. This was because the third series of ''
The Charlotte Church Show
''The Charlotte Church Show'' is a Channel 4 entertainment television show presented by Welsh singer Charlotte Church. It was first broadcast on 1 September 2006 and ran for six subsequent Fridays. The show was commissioned for a further two ser ...
'' was delayed, due to Church's pregnancy. In Series 5, 'The Friday Night News' was re-vamped and 'The Big Fun Gameshow' replaced 'Famous Five'. There were also questions on VT in the 'Ask Me Anything' segment from celebrity friends of the Guest Host. Comedian
Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show ''The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promine ...
and Actress
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her screen debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film '' The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various movies across the years, i ...
were slated to host an episode, but both pulled out.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 6
Series 6 of ''The Friday Night Project'' began on 21 March 2008 and ran for six weeks.
The guest hosts for the series were:
The show then took a 1½ month break and returned on 8 June 2008 to film a 7-part series. The show moved to Sundays and became known as ''The Sunday Night Project''.
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...
was originally slated to host an episode this series but had to pull out.
Series 7
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 8
Series 8 began on 14 December 2008. The series consisted of 8 episodes. This series saw the introduction of a segment called SNP Local News which, like the Sunday Night News, took a satirical look at the week's news headlines from the home town of that week's guest host. Also, The Big Fun Gameshow was axed for this series, with Who Knows The Most About The Guest Host and My Question Time moved to the final segment of the show.
Razorlight
Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo ...
were scheduled to be the musical guests for episode 4 but they pulled out at the last minute.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Cancellation
Carr said on
''This Morning'' on 25 June that the show would at least return at the end of the year for Christmas specials. However, Carr later confirmed that the Christmas specials had been scrapped as well and he would not be returning to the show. A new DVD named The Sunday Late Night Project was released 16 November. It was stated by
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins (born 28 July 1974) is an actor and former radio and television presenter from Bristol, England.
Collins began his career as a stand up comedian in the 1990s when he was in his late teens. He then presented a number of TV sh ...
and
Alan Carr
Alan Graham Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian, broadcaster and writer. His breakthrough was in 2001, winning the '' City Life'' Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards. In the ensuing years, Carr's career burgeon ...
that they would not be returning for any new series and new hosts would take over.
Beginning in March 2009, ''
The Justin Lee Collins Show
''The Justin Lee Collins Show'' is a British television chat show presented by Justin Lee Collins that aired on ITV2 between 19 March 2009 and 21 May 2009. Collins has a small band on the show and a continuing theme is to mention Labi Siffre
...
'' aired Thursday nights on ITV2. After Collins's solo series ended, ''
Alan Carr: Chatty Man'' began airing on Channel 4 in June 2009, during ''The Sunday Night Project's'' original timeslot.
Specials
The Friday Night Christmas Project 2006 on 24 December 2006 showed highlights from both of the 2006 series. Two specials aired in December 2007. They took the format of normal shows each with their own different Guest Host. On 5 June 2008, a special Big Brother episode aired to coincide with the launch of the new series.
''Big Brother''
When the show returned in 2006 with Alan and Justin, the show was repackaged around ''Big Brother''. The two series were scheduled at the same time as both ''
Celebrity Big Brother
''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...
'' and ''
Big Brother''. During the summer series, there would be several mentions of the show. The guest hosts would always mention in their monologue which housemate got evicted that night. During the Friday Night News, there would often be a taped segment (from Alan's supposed housemaid "Juanita") where Justin, Alan and the guest host would dress up as the housemates, making fun of them. Finally, the previous week's evicted housemate would always show up during the "Who Knows the Most about the Guest Host" segment as a contestant or to wear "The Coat of Cash".
Features
Opening monologue
The guest host of the show appears after being announced by Justin Lee Collins in the title sequence, after applause, the guest host makes jokes about the funnier side of the weeks news, things frequently mentioned are celebrity mishaps and
Big Brother, while funny pictures are often shown as well. After a few jokes, the week's musical guest is introduced by the guest host. The musical guest is usually an up-and-coming band, though established bands have appeared on a few occasions. After the introduction of the musical guest, the guest host sits down and talks with Justin and Alan, often about themselves, before they talk about how they met up and did something together in the previous week.
Bonding
A clip is displayed of Alan and Justin's visit to meet the guest host earlier in the week. Justin and Alan usually greet the celebrity, before they take part in an activity. The activities are very different each week, ranging from cruising in
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band o ...
with
Rupert Everett
Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English actor, director and producer. Everett first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film '' Another Country'' (1984) as a gay pupil ...
(Series 3, Episode 8), to recording a song with
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...
(Series 3, Episode 11). At the end of the meet, Justin and Alan fantasize about something, usually related to the guest host.
Dream Sequence Sketch
Justin, Alan and the guest host participate in a sketch of some sort, usually related to something that the guest host is famous for, sketches have ranged from Alan and Justin being TV detectives (Series 4, Episode 3), Alan and Justin having their own television shows called the AC and the JLC (Series 3, Episode 4) and Alan and Justin running a hotel Fawlty Towers style (Series 4, Episode 2). Alan often has a complaint about how the sketch has been carried out, while Justin often gets the leading role. After the sketch, the action returns to the studio, where the guest host calls a commercial break.
"The Friday/Sunday Night News"
After the break, Justin announces that they will be going over to Alan and the guest host for ''The (Friday) Sunday Night News''. Some news stories of the week are read out, which Alan comments on in a humorous way (such as Hug-A-Hoodie, where Alan commented that he would like to hug the hoodie, except that he cannot move as the hoodie has just beaten him up). After the news has been read, Alan makes a penis reference, which the guest host often takes the wrong way, before chastising the guest host for being dirty and bringing out his topical barometer. Alan identifies "what's hot and what's not", making comments on each item. In Series 3 Episode 11, Alan used
Sarah Harding
Sarah Nicole Harding (; 17 November 1981 – 5 September 2021) was an English singer, model and actress. Her professional career began in 2002 when she successfully auditioned for the ITV reality series '' Popstars: The Rivals'', during which ...
as the barometer. On some occasions, there is a spoof sketch of recent events, usually ''
Big Brother''. After this, the action returns to the sofa and into the next section.
"SNP Local News"
New for series 8, SNP Local News took a satirical look at the week's news from wherever the guest host was from.
"Who Knows The Most About The Guest Host?"
In this section, the guest host will host a quiz where all of the questions are about them. There are two teams, with Alan and a celebrity making up one team, and Justin and another celebrity making up the other. The celebrities are often ''Big Brother'' contestants, soap actors, 'it-celebrities' or someone who has a personal or professional link to the guest host. In the first round, questions are asked by the host and one of the players has to buzz in and answer correctly. The second round was different each week, and often saw the two teams competing against each other in a ludicrous activity, such as miming sex positions (Series 4, Episode 1) and doing Shrek Impressions (Series 3, Episode 8). In later series, Round 2 involves the Word Association Round in which contestants must give a word that directly relates to the Guest Host. If an unrelated or repeated word is given or a contestant hesitates to answer, they are promptly given an electric shock via panels which they must place their hands on, connected by a control box held by the Guest Host. The last contestant standing wins the point for their team. The team with the most points wins the game. Previously, the winner of the quiz, either Justin or Alan, would run into the audience wearing "The Coat Of Cash", a coat covered in five pound notes (or sometimes the currency of the guest host's home country). However, in recent series, a guest celebrity has worn the coat. Members of the audience are free to grab the celebrity to get the money, with the guest host often looking on, horrified. After this section, another break is called. From series 8, this segment becomes the climax of the show.
"Watch Out, (Guest Host)'s About"
After the break, the guest host talks to Justin and Alan on the sofa, before showing video footage of them playing a
prank
A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...
on an unsuspecting member of the public, similar to Beadle's About. These pranks have ranged from a man unveiling a bust of
Ian Wright
Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport.
Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...
only to break it, and
Mischa Barton
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born 24 January 1986) is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner's ''Slavs!'' and took the lead in James Lapine's '' Twelve Dreams'' at Ne ...
asking a man to break into her car to get her dog out, only for the car's real owner to come along. Celebrity Spotting sometimes replaces this. A segment of
Smile Like You Mean It
"Smile Like You Mean It" is a song by American rock band the Killers, written by lead vocalist Brandon Flowers and bassist Mark Stoermer. Originally released as a B-side of "Mr. Brightside" in September 2003, it is featured on their debut stud ...
by
The Killers
The Killers are an American rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingd ...
plays during the opening of this segment.
"My Question Time"
*When more than one host, it is called ''Our Question Time''
*Previously called ''Ask me Anything''
In this section, members of the audience are invited to ask the guest host some questions. These questions range from simple things about the guest hosts career, to cruder questions about topics such as the host's
sex life
In human sexuality, a sex life is a sector of a person's day-to-day existence which may involve sexual activity or represent the absence of sexual activity. In general parlance, the term can have many sub-meanings and social layers, but generally ...
, or if they have a
criminal record
A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...
etc. Justin sits with the guest host choosing people from the audience to ask questions while Alan goes into the audience with a microphone, often making sarcastic/derogatory comments about - or even flirting with - various audience members or complaining about the distance he must go to reach the person chosen.
Since series 8, this has been extended by several minutes and is the last segment of the show, after which the guest host thanks Justin and Alan, any celebrity guests and the audience before introducing that night's musical guest.
Live musical performance
The week's musical guest performs a song, generally their latest single, towards the end of the song, Justin, Alan and the guests can be seen dancing, while the credits roll.
"The Abi Titmuss Mystery Sex Tape Test"
In series 1, every week model
Abi Titmuss, who famously had a sex tape in 2004, would appear in a sex tape scenario, e.g. in a hotel room, with a mystery celebrity. Glimpses of the celebrity secret lover would appear, and viewers texted to guess his or her identity, from three name options, to win £1,000.
"Famous Five"
In this section, the guest host tried to win up to five prizes for a member of the audience, five different styles of questions were answered, with the first four often being things such as answering a question set by Stephen Hawking, guessing who Alan is imitating and naming a certain number of things in a time limit. The fifth question is then a take on a popular game or gameshow, with games like Dysfunctional Family Fortunes (Family Fortunes), The Jerryation Game (The Generation Game), Bitchbusters (Blockbusters), Sveniata (Pinata), The Dartness (Bullseye) and C**tdown (Countdown), after this, everyone celebrates (if the big prize was won), or is downhearted (if the big prize wasn't won), the celebrity then says thanks to the audience, Justin, Alan and all the guests, before introducing the musical guest and the song that they will be singing.
"Celebrity Spotting With ..."
In series 1,
Lucy Montgomery toured the streets where the guest host grew up trying to find celebrity lookalikes. For series 2-3 she was replaced by
Debra Stephenson
Debra Stephenson (born 4 June 1972) is an English actress, comedian, impressionist and singer, best known for her roles as Diane Powell in ''Playing the Field'', Shell Dockley in '' Bad Girls'' and as Frankie Baldwin in ''Coronation Street''.
...
who toured the streets of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, again looking for celebrity lookalikes, sometimes Debra would ask questions or ask the person to do something as if they were the celebrity they looked like. This segment of the show has also been done by
Chantelle Houghton
Chantelle Vivien Houghton (born 21 August 1983) is an English television personality, glamour model, and columnist. In 2006, she competed in the fourth series of the Channel 4 reality series ''Celebrity Big Brother''. Houghton was sent in as ...
and
Nikki Grahame
Nicola Rachele-Beth Grahame (28 April 1982 – 9 April 2021) was an English television personality, model and author. She was a contestant on the seventh series of ''Big Brother UK'' in 2006, in which she finished in fifth place, and later st ...
when Debra was unavailable.
In the fifth series, Celebrity Spotting made a comeback, with Chris Moyles taking to the streets to find more lookalikes. This was in place of the usual "Watch out (Guest Host's) about". This segment returned briefly in Series 5 during the Chris Moyles, Beth Ditto and Rupert Everett episodes.
Bingo
Series 1 saw a game of bingo played midway through the show specifically designed around the guest host. An example of this includes in Episode 1 where a game of 'Hard Man Bingo' was played as Vinnie Jones was the guest host. Jimmy Carr and the guest host would stand around the bingo machine whilst the guest host would take out a ball with a message or catchphrase on it, as opposed to the traditional numbers. Rob Rouse would act as the bingo caller and add a humorous comment to go with the catchphrase on the ball. The entire audience would have their own bingo card and would cross off the phrase once it was called out. The winner would be the first person to have a completed bingo card and would receive a nice prize. In the event of multiple people completing the card at the same time a near impossible to get spot on tie-break question was asked, regarding the guest host's career or personality. This item was scrapped for Series 2 and hasn't returned since.
"Rob's Magic Moments"
Again a feature only appearing during the first series. This involved a pre-recorded outside broadcast in public places (such as a shopping centre or high street) in which Rob Rouse would aim to bring cheer into the unsuspecting public. This usually meant they were led into a false sense of insecurity only for Rob to appear and sing accompanied by several backing singers.
Ask Me Anything
In this section, members of the audience are invited to ask the guest host some questions. These questions range from simple things about the guest host's career, to cruder questions about topics such as the host's sex life, whether they have committed a crime etc. From Series 5 there were also questions on VT from celebrity friends of the guest host and from special guests in the audience. Another break is called, whilst the guest host goes into the audience to select someone to participate in the next section. This morphed into ''My Question Time'' after the removal of the next segment and leading directly into the musical guest performance.
"The Big Fun Gameshow"
As of Series 5, the fourth part of the programme was "The Big Fun Gameshow", a game show style section in a bright buzzing set. Justin acted as the host and the Guest Host played with the audience member for prizes. There were six prizes on offer and these were selected from a huge spinning wheel on the floor - with the audience member acting as the pointer (complete with costume). He or she were spun on the wheel until a prize was selected. Different games that relate to the Guest Host were played to win those prizes. After playing four games the contestant had the option of taking the prizes they have won or gamble them by answering one 'A or B' question about the Guest Host. If they answered correctly, they won all four prizes and a holiday,"Good Times", or they went home with nothing,"Bad Times". Following this, the host thanked everyone on the show and introduced the band who play their song. Through this segment's run all contestants chose to gamble and none lost. "The Big Fun Gameshow" was cut from series 8, instead being replaced with an extended My Question Time followed by the Band performance.
''Best of the Projects''
Beginning on 3 May 2009, Alan and Justin presented a 10-part series containing the best clips from ''The Friday Night Project'' and ''The Sunday Night Project'' featuring guests hosts and shown on
E4 in ''Best of the Projects''.
References
External links
Princess Productions*
*
The Official Alan Carr website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday Night Project, The
2000s British comedy television series
2005 British television series debuts
2009 British television series endings
Channel 4 comedy
2000s British LGBT-related comedy television series
British variety television shows
English-language television shows