''The Mrs Merton Show'' was a mock

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

starring

Caroline Aherne Caroline Mary Aherne (24 December 1963 – 2 July 2016) was an English actress, comedian and writer. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host ''The Mrs Merton Show, Mrs Merton'', in various roles in ''The Fast Show'', and ...

as the elderly host Mrs Dorothy Merton. Originally portrayed as 'Mrs. Murton' in a pilot for

Yorkshire TV ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...

which was not picked up, Caroline Aherne retooled the character, making her older, and recorded a second pilot in 1993 for

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

, who commissioned the series. Running from 10 February 1995 to 2 April 1998, it was produced by Granada and aired on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. The writers included Aherne,

Craig Cash Craig Cash (born 11 September 1960)
Retrie ...

Henry Normal Henry Normal (real name Peter James Carroll, born 15 August 1956) is a writer, poet, TV and film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Manchester Literature Festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In Ju ...

and, for the first few series,

Dave Gorman David James Gorman (born 2 March 1971) is an English comedian, presenter, and writer. Gorman began his career writing for comedy series such as ''The Mrs Merton Show'' (1993–1998) and ''The Fast Show'' (1994–1997), and later garnered ac ...

. Prior to television success, Aherne's Mrs Merton character appeared on

Frank Sidebottom Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

's album ''5/9/88'' and on Aherne's KFM Radio show in Stockport. After that she made a few appearances on local television in the north west including Granada's Saturday morning show ''Express!'' and on the Yorkshire Television series, ''Frank’s Fantastic Shed Show''. On the former show, presented by I Am Kloot's John 'Johnny Dangerously' Bramwell and Sumy Kuraishe, she was the regular celebrity interviewer and interviewed guests from a number of random locations in the north west, whilst the latter show was with Chris Sievey in his Sidebottom persona. Her national television debut came on the 1991

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 ...

gameshow ''

Remote Control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...

'', hosted by

Anthony H Wilson Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4. As a co-founder o ...

. The talk show was followed up by a

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

, ''

Mrs Merton and Malcolm ''Mrs Merton and Malcolm'' was a six-episode BBC One sitcom produced by Granada Television, and transmitted by BBC One in 1999. The series was written by Caroline Aherne, Craig Cash and Henry Normal. Network released the series on DVD in 2008. ...

'', based on Mrs Merton and her son Malcolm, who was played by Craig Cash.

History

For the first two series, the house band was Hooky and the Boys, fronted by Aherne's then husband

Peter Hook Peter Hook (born Woodhead; 13 February 1956) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Joy Division and New Order. Hook often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings wi ...

. Following their marital break up the band was replaced by The Patrick Trio from the 1996 Christmas special until the end of the show's run in 1998. In 1997 the production moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

for a series of specials with Hollywood stars. The series was not well received and was slated by critic

Garry Bushell Garry Bushell (born 13 May 1955) is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author, musician and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Cockney Oi! bands GBX and the Gonads. He managed the New York Ci ...

amongst others. For the following (and final) series back in the UK, Bushell was a guest and got appropriately roasted by Mrs Merton and her studio audience. In an interview in November 2001 Aherne revealed that she did not want to carry on with the show and wanted to write a sitcom with

Craig Cash Craig Cash (born 11 September 1960)
Retrie ...

and only agreed to a final series if she could do it. This became the

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

winning ''

The Royle Family ''The Royle Family'' is a British sitcom produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series from 1998 to 2000, and specials from 2006 to 2012. It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, com ...

''. In August 2006 a poll of 4,000 people was commissioned by

UKTV Gold Gold is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded UKTV Gold in 2004. In 2008, it was split into current flagship channel Gold and miscellaneous channel, W, with clas ...

for the best comic one-liner. In second place was a line from ''The Mrs Merton Show'' when she famously asked

Debbie McGee Debra Ann McGee (born 31 October 1958) is an English television, radio and stage performer who is best known as the assistant and widow of magician Paul Daniels. McGee is a former ballet dancer and for three years was artistic director of her ...

, "So, what first attracted you to the millionaire

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 ...

?" In 2022, the Patrick Trio-era series was acquired by

That's TV That's TV is a national television network in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Sky, Freesat and Freeview. That's TV started off as the owner of a number of Local television in the United Kingdom, local television licences in several conur ...

for its comedy line-up which also included repeats of ''Hale and Pace'' and ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''

Format

''The Mrs Merton Show'' was a mock chat show which featured real-life celebrities getting outrageous ''faux-naïf'' questions from Aherne in her Mrs Merton persona. In one memorable example the wife of magician

, was asked "So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" whilst in another episode Aherne asked comedian

Bernard Manning Bernard John Manning (13 August 1930 – 18 June 2007) was an English comedian and nightclub owner. Manning gained a high profile on British television during the 1970s, appearing on shows such as '' The Comedians'' and ''The Wheeltappers and ...

, after he had clashed with '' One Foot in the Grave's'' Richard Wilson, “Who do you vote for now

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

's dead?” in regards to his racist attitudes. As well as the celebrity guests and regular band, the show featured a few appearances from Craig Cash as Malcolm and a had audience of pensioners, who would sit behind Mrs Merton and the guests, and who would be used for regular discussion segments and for Aherne to field questions from. This group included a large number of older ladies who would be used for the programme from week-to-week and also included spots for the former child actor Roy Williams, who was known for his brightly coloured clothes and odd views, former Manchester City goalkeeper

Harry Dowd Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

and Stockport pensioner Horace Mendelsohn.

Episodes

: Christmas Special : Titled: "Mrs Merton in Las Vegas"

Media releases

*The Best of The Mrs Merton Show: Series One (VHS) – Released: 7 October 1996 *The Best of The Mrs Merton Show: Series Two (VHS) – Released: 4 November 1996 *The Complete Series (DVD) – Released: 25 February 2008

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mrs Merton Show 1993 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings 1990s British comedy television series 1990s British television talk shows BBC television comedy Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television English-language television shows