''O.T.T.'' ("Over the Top") is a late-night adult version of the anarchic ATV children's show ''

Tiswas ''Tiswas'' (; an acronym of "Today Is Saturday: Watch And Smile") was a British children's television series that originally aired on Saturday mornings from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982, and was produced for the ITV network by ATV. It was c ...

'', and was made by its

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

franchise successor

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

. It was broadcast at 11.00pm on Saturday nights for one series from 2 January until 3 April 1982. ''O.T.T.'' was created and presented by

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...

, and also starred ''Tiswas'' performers

John Gorman John Gorman may refer to: * John Gorman (director) (1884–1936), American movie director *John Gorman (entertainer) (born 1936), English vocalist and musician *John Gorman (politician) (1923–2014), Northern Ireland politician *John Gorman (footb ...

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenn ...

and

Bob Carolgees Bob Carolgees (born Robert Frederick Johnson; 12 May 1948) is a British comedy entertainer who appeared on the Saturday morning TV series ''Tiswas'' and then later in its adult versions '' O.T.T.'' and '' Saturday Stayback''. He is best known fo ...

Helen Atkinson-Wood Helen Atkinson-Wood (born 14 March 1955) is an English actress and comedian born in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire. She studied fine art at the Ruskin School, Oxford University, where she performed with Rowan Atkinson (no relation). She also performe ...

was the female sidekick replacement for Sally James, who stayed behind to present the concurrent and final series of ''Tiswas'' alone with special appearances from

Ellen Thomas Ellen Thomas (born January 24, 1947) is an American peace activist. She first became involved with the White House Peace Vigil on April 13, 1984. The daughter of a US Marine, Thomas was born in Brooklyn and grew up in California. She became opp ...

Origins

The programme's origins can be traced to Tarrant and Gorman discussing the future, and accepting that they couldn't go on forever doing a kids' programme, and explored the idea of doing a 'grown-up, late-night Tiswas'. Gorman's ' Bucket of Water' song, getting into the top 30. After a successful nationwide tour with Sally James and Bob Carolgees, as The Four Bucketeers, confirmed that there was an 'Adult' audience out there. Initially, the aim had been to do Tiswas in the morning and OTT in the evening; but it was felt that this wouldn't work. On 28 March 1981, Tarrant, Carolgees and Gorman left Tiswas for good to start work on ''O.T.T.''. In January 1982,

told Kenneth Kennaugh: "We know Tiswas has enormous potential appeal for adults. Quite what that appeal was remained remarkably ill-defined." The same article stated that

" ... doesn't know what he will be doing in tonight's ''O.T.T.''. But one thing is sure. When the show ends he'll be standing under a hot shower - 'just to recover' ... Henry loves the uncontrolled humour where even he never knows what is going to happen next. ''Tiswas'' was marvellous to work on. It was a new style of lunatic humour, and we got away with murder. When I first started ''Tiswas'', my nerves used to go before each show simply because it was live. But now, in OTT I just get on with it."

Series

Later, in his book ''Great Bus Journeys of the World''

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th gr ...

said of his time on the show "I was good, Lenny Henry was good, the show was packed with vibrant life... it was happy to come from Birmingham and not tainted with Londoniswhereitsatism... despite being short-lived, it was very popular amongst adults with 7-8 million viewers."

The name OTT

An abbreviation of the phrase "over the top". The origin of the name came about when John Gorman, working with Chris on a late night version of Tiswas, compiled a list of possible titles; which included BigTis and OTT. It was Mike Palin who 'voted' for the OTT title.

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born and raised ...

told an interview with Tiswas Online that he was a member of: "an elite showbiz club, called 'Over The Top' in the late seventies. I became chairman and the president was a

record plugger Radio promotion is the division of a record company which is charged with placing songs on the radio. They maintain relationships with program directors at radio stations and attempt to persuade them to play singles to promote the sale of recordi ...

called Allan James, who also used to supply some of the music acts for Tiswas. We would all meet up in restaurants. There were about 20 of us in all, and whilst the evening meal would start quite normally, it usually ended in ejection or sometimes arrest as things became very similar to that of the Tiswas programme. We called ourselves the Over the Top Club. Membership was elite and we were banned eventually from at least nine restaurants to my knowledge."{{unreliable source, reason=This is a dead link on an unofficial, user-generated fan site, date=September 2022

Episode guide

12 episodes and 2 specials "Russel Hardy" and ''The Best of OTT'' were broadcast.

References

External links

BBC Comedy Guide - ''O.T.T.''
archived at the Wayback Machine
Tiswas Online page on related shows (including OTT)
archived at the Wayback Machine 1982 British television series debuts 1982 British television series endings 1980s British television sketch shows Television series by ITV Studios English-language television shows Television shows produced by Central Independent Television