Room 101 (British TV Series)

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''Room 101'' is a

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comedy

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities are invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign those hates to oblivion in

Room 101 The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. The use of contradictory ...

, a location whose name was inspired by the torture room in

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

's 1949 novel ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...

'' which reputedly contained "the worst thing in the world". Orwell himself named it after a meeting room in

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...

where he would sit through tedious meetings. It was produced independently for the BBC by

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. History Hat Trick Productions was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville ...

Nick Hancock Nicholas John Hancock (born 25 October 1962) is an English actor and television presenter. He hosted the sports quiz ''They Think It's All Over'' for 10 years. He also formerly presented ''Room 101'' (1994–1999) on TV, as well as its earlier ...

hosted the first three series of the show from 1994 until 1997. He was succeeded by

Paul Merton Paul James Martin (born 9 July 1957), known under the stage name Paul Merton, is an English writer, actor, comedian and radio and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, Merton's humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and someti ...

, who hosted the show from 1999 till the show's original run came to an end in 2007. Frank Skinner hosts the revamped incarnation that started on 20 January 2012. The 1994–2007 incarnation of the show was that of a one-on-one interview between the host and guest. Consignment of the nominated items, persons or concepts to Room 101 (theoretically banishing them from the world forever) was the decision of the host, sometimes after soliciting the opinion of the

studio audience A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...

. The 2012 revamp introduced a panel format with three guests competing to have their pet hates consigned to Room 101, a decision made by the host. Guests included

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

Ben Miller Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two serie ...

and

Ian Hislop Ian David Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is a British journalist, satirist, writer, broadcaster, and editor of the magazine ''Private Eye''. He has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes and has been a team captain on the BBC quiz sho ...

(the only person to appear twice on the show in its original format). Fry went as far as to put ''Room 101'' itself into Room 101. A

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

version of ''Room 101'' started on 24 February 2008, but was short-lived. An Israeli version of the show was broadcast between 2010 and 2013. An Australian version of the show hosted by

Paul McDermott Paul Anthony Michael McDermott (born 13 May 1962) is an Australian entertainer, best known both for ''Good News Week'' and for his role as a member of the musical comedy group the Doug Anthony All Stars. He has frequently appeared at the Melb ...

began in 2015.

History

The ''

radio series A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

'' was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1992, where it was hosted by

. Hancock was also the first presenter when the series transferred to television two years later. The first ever guest on the TV version was comedian

Bob Monkhouse Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including ''The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'. Ear ...

who cast the French into Room 101. In 1999, Hancock was replaced as host by

(who was also the first ever guest on the original radio version). Merton's first guest was Nick Hancock and his last was his fellow regular team captain on '' Have I Got News for You'',

. Usually, there were five nominations discussed in each show – represented by several surreal props. The last item usually goes in, sometimes for a forfeit. Following Merton's departure in 2007, it was announced that a replacement would be sought; however, it was not until 2012 that a twelfth series, now fronted by Frank Skinner, was aired. In July, 2018, Skinner announced that, after 24 years, the show had been cancelled by the BBC.

Rules

Under Hancock (1994–1997)

The rules were fairly tight. Nick Hancock clearly thought out his

argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialectic ...

and could be quite strict. Sometimes nominated items he disliked would go into Room 101 and those he didn't would not. Should the guest succeed in getting three items into the room, they would be allowed to choose one rejected item to go in. Should they get too few items in, an item previously put into the room would get a reprieve (this only happened to Caroline Quentin, who released

Paul Daniels Newton Edward Daniels (6 April 1938 – 17 March 2016), known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series '' The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', whic ...

– he was later put back in by

Jim Davidson James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows '' Big Break'' and ''The Generation Game''. He also developed two adult pantomime shows such as ''B ...

and was eventually a guest). Incidental music (from a fictional Room 101 radio station) would be played as the item went along the conveyor belt into oblivion.

Under Merton (1999–2007)

When Merton became keeper in 1999, the rules were very straightforward, the conditions for choosing a bonus item or releasing an item were relaxed, the music removed, and the conveyor belt replaced by an elevated

trapdoor A trapdoor is a sliding or hinged door in a floor or ceiling. It is traditionally small in size. It was invented to facilitate the hoisting of grain up through mills, however, its list of uses has grown over time. The trapdoor has played a pivot ...

(coloured green from series 4 to 7 and blue from series 8 to 11). The conversation tended to be more relaxed, reflecting Merton's nature. Merton was often hesitant when asked to put animals into Room 101, normally saying, "You're asking me to get rid of an entire species", but he normally backed down. Merton generally put items into the room even if initially he did not want to. The theme tune was also less menacing for series 4; this was changed to a more jazzy theme tune for series 5 onwards.

Under Skinner (2012–2018)

The show's format was given a complete revamp when Skinner became the new keeper in 2012. Instead of the original ''Room 101'' format, three guests were on each show. The show was divided into a number of categorised rounds, into which guests would nominate something they hated from in that category. They would then argue about why they felt their nominated item should go into Room 101, at the end of which Skinner would choose from all the nominations. Each show also had a "Wildcard" round, where the guests could pick anything they want. At the end of each show, the guest Skinner felt had argued the best would be declared that week's winner and allowed to put any object into Room 101 unchallenged, but this feature was dropped from 2013. In the fourth series,

Christian Jessen Christian Spencer Jessen (born 4 March 1977) is a British celebrity doctor, television personality, and writer. He is best known for appearing in the Channel 4 programmes ''Embarrassing Bodies'' (2007–2015) and '' Supersize vs Superskinny'' (2 ...

was permitted a "bonus choice" where he sent German pop music into Room 101 unchallenged. From 2016 onwards, the category element of the show was dropped and instead each round was essentially a "Wildcard round" where guests can nominate anything they want to go into Room 101.

Transmissions

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Room 101 (Tv Series) 1994 British television series debuts 2018 British television series endings 1990s British comedy television series 2000s British comedy television series 2010s British comedy television series BBC television comedy BBC television talk shows English-language television shows Television series based on radio series Television series by Hat Trick Productions British television series revived after cancellation Works based on Nineteen Eighty-Four Television shows shot at BBC Elstree Centre Television shows shot at Elstree Film Studios