''The Show'' is a British television show, produced by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

's factual programmes department for

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 ...

, which ran for a single series in 1997. Starring comedian Bob Mills, the series comprised six 40 minute episodes and was transmitted on Saturday nights. The executive producer was

Jeff Pope Jeff Pope is a British television producer and screenwriter who co-wrote the film '' Pierrepoint'' and the television drama ''The Fattest Man in Britain'' and who won a BAFTA in 2006 for the drama '' See No Evil: The Moors Murders''.

and the series producer was Stewart Morris. The format was unique to British television, with each episode effectively containing edited segments of ''The Bob Mills Show'' which took the form of a conventional chat show, with Mills interviewing celebrity guests and one or two musical performances. This was interspersed with real 'behind the scenes' footage of the production team and guests, which typically showed the processes involved in getting the show to air, such as researchers booking guests, and briefing the host on the questions to ask during the show. The backstage footage focused on controversy and drama, including several arguments and creative disputes within the team, guests who dropped out, or who were dropped, and the problems of finding last-minute replacements - none of which was alluded to during the actual chat show segments, which were always impeccably produced and presented. Although conceptually interesting, the programme was not a huge ratings success, and several guests were reported to be unhappy with a format that exposed their backstage tantrums, fee negotiations, and attempts to control the line of questioning from the host. Notably,

Sandra Bernhard Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American actress, singer, comedian and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures. She is perhaps b ...

lost her temper with both the audience and her pianist, and

Jean-Claude Van Damme Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian actor, martial artist, filmmaker, and fight choreographer. Born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, at the a ...

's agent was not pleased that her client's fee was ridiculed on behind the scenes footage that was transmitted. Steve Williams, who reviewed the show for the website offthetelly.co.uk, said: "The final programme summed up everything that was great about the series. On a basic level, the director's astonishingly sweary rant was amusing, particularly as Morris had announced earlier that C4 had told them to tone down the bad language. ..But even more fascinating was Morris and Pope discussing whether there'd be another series with some C4 executives. We were told that C4 would either do another run of The Show, or another run of the courtroom series Nothing but the Truth. The last sequence on The Show saw Mills and Pope deciding they probably wouldn't get another series – and they didn't."Off The Telly - "Shut up, Andre!"
/ref> Andre Vincent got his break on the show as co-writer of Bob's opening monologue and studio warm up man.

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Review by Matthew Collings in The Independent

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See also