''Lily Allen and Friends'' is a British TV talk show presented by

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

. The programme was produced 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 ...

for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

. It was first shown on 12 February 2008. The audience consists entirely of Lily's online friends, who sign up via the programme's website. Guests include celebrities, topical guests from the online world, chart-topping bands and lesser known acts chosen by the public. Also each week a member of the public has a chance to record a question for either of that week's guest along with an

internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

and a character known only as "Mary, the foul-mouthed grandma". Internet correspondents posed questions for the celebrities.

Host

The show was hosted by

. ''Lily Allen and Friends'' was Allen's first venture into television presenting.

Format

The show was filmed at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...

. The programme features a video diary of Lily's life outside the programme and a section titled ''weird and wonderful'', highlighting internet videos in the ''YouTube Hero'' and ''MySpace Band'' items.

Reception

The BBC was criticised by several teacher unions for a video aired on show of 18 March 2008 that apparently showed a student running up from behind and pulling down his teacher's trousers. The unions said airing this clip was irresponsible and greatly added to the teacher's embarrassment. While introducing the clip Allen called it kegging and said "It's very childish, but very funny". As the tickets are simply distributed by an online ticket agency which anyone can apply for in an identical way to other TV shows, there was comment passed on whether statement "the audience consists entirely of Lily's online friends" was valid. It was reported that during an interview with

Paddy McGuinness Patrick Joseph McGuinness (born 14 August 1973) is an English actor, comedian and television presenter. He rose to fame with the help of Peter Kay, who invited him to appear in his programmes ''That Peter Kay Thing'', ''Phoenix Nights'' and ''Ma ...

, Allen exposed her breast to the audience for three minutes.

Episode guide

References

External links