''The Sunday Night Show with Iain Lee'' was a

Sony Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

Silver-winning weekly radio show broadcast on

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British National radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and on 1215 kHz MW. History 1993–1997: Virg ...

, between 10 pm on Sunday and 1 am on Monday, hosted by

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career began ...

and produced by Eloise Carr, formerly by Dave "Davis" Lambert. The format of the show was primarily phone-in based, with callers discussing the pre-set topics of the evening, or to discuss topics that they themselves introduce. The show is notable for allowing calls to be aired unscreened for the last half-hour of the show, in a segment called "MMM" (or Triple M), which is similar in format to The Human Zoo. As well as talk, records are sparsely played throughout the show (approximately 4 to 5 records per hour) due to Absolute Radio's license as a music station. The show ended in September 2009, and was replaced a month later by Iain Lee's ''2 Hour Long Late Night Radio Show'' on the same station.

Origins

The ''Sunday Night Show'' was similar in format to Iain Lee's ''Good Evening'', which was broadcast on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

until November 2007. Unlike Lee's previous show, it was only broadcast one night a week as a niche show, as it was the only predominantly phone-in show broadcast on Absolute. The show featured some continuity from the LBC days, with callers from the previous station contributing similar output on the new show, for instance

Barry from Watford Alex Lowe (born 15 January 1968) is an English actor, comedian and voice artist. He is the creator and performer of the character Barry from Watford on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show and Iain Lee's shows, as well as also being the creator ...

Regular features

The ''Sunday Night Show'' had several regular features including "Answerphone Messages", where best bits of messages left during the week on the answerphone were played and "Triple M", the part of the show (broadcast at approximately 12.30 am) when calls went straight to air with no screening. However, as this may lead to inappropriate utterances from callers, the show was broadcast with a

seven-second delay In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...

. "Win Win or Lose" was a former feature where Lee gives away items he has received that week. Occasionally, he has given away other items as prizes, e.g. unwanted presents from relatives. The feature was not strictly speaking a competition but a game of chance – the only criterion needed to win was to be on hold on the right line(s) when the feature was played. The format has recently been changed to allow more than one person to play, however there is still no element of competition – if two callers partake, then the "winners" split the items equally, and may have been given the chance to swap prizes on air. The "Col-Lee-Seum" (conceived by

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

guitarist

Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who founded the rock music, rock band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writi ...

) was a feature when two listeners both argue separate issues. Following this the first five people to call in and vote for one of the contestants meant that contestant wins. Although the game was meant to be serious, due to the contestants and issues chosen, for instance chocolate or vanilla, the feature normally became a rabble.

References

{{Absolute Radio Virgin Radio (UK) British talk radio programmes