Don't Forget Your Toothbrush
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Don't Forget Your Toothbrush'' is a British light entertainment TV programme that aired on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
from 12 February 1994 to 25 February 1995 and was hosted by Chris Evans.


Background

''Don't Forget Your Toothbrush'' was written and presented by Chris Evans in his first major venture away from ''
The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002, and as a revival from 2021 to 2022. The show had various presenters, starting with Chris Evans (presenter), ...
''. The first pilot was considered unsuccessful by executives and Evans himself.
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
chief executive
Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...
said that the pilot was "like amateur's hour".Jones, David. Freak or unique?: The Chris Evans story. HarperCollins After two failed pilots, the broadcaster was reluctant to waste the money that they had spent developing the show. At some point in the process, executive producer Sebastian Scott left the project and Evans invited experienced game show producer William G. Stewart to develop the show. The show ran for two series in 1994 and 1995 on Channel 4. Shows were transmitted live on Saturday nights the first series at 10pm, the second at 9pm. Each episode would be repeated at teatime on the following Monday (series 1) or Sunday (series 2). The theme music was composed by
David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films (1997-2008), as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), ''Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998), '' Shaft'' (2000), '' 2 Fast 2 F ...
, though
Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...
(with his Big Band in series one, and Rhythm and Blues Orchestra in series two) provided the music during the live shows. The ensemble provided accompaniment for a musical performance by the star guest of each week's episode; guests included
Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...
,
Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...
,
Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...
and
Tony Hadley Anthony Patrick Hadley (born 2 June 1960) is an English pop singer. He rose to fame in the 1980s as the lead singer of the New wave music, new wave band Spandau Ballet and launched a solo career following the group's split in 1990. Hadley retur ...
. Evans ended each show with a song. In series one, he sang
Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew; 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman; 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working ...
's " Bring Me Sunshine" with that week's star guest, while in series two he sang
Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
' " It's So Easy". The star guest took part in a "Superfan" quiz, competing against an audience member who was a huge fan of theirs to see which of the two knew more about the guest. Evans asked toss-up questions for two minutes, and would often stop the clock after a question to have a brief conversation about it with the guest. Both the guest and the fan brought a personal possession to the studio, and the winner received the loser's item (e.g. a fan of
Paul Young Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. H ...
risking his first
snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...
trophy, and Young himself risking a
coffee percolator A coffee percolator is a type of pot used for the brewing of coffee by continually cycling the boiling or nearly boiling brew through the grounds (coffee), grounds using gravity until the required strength is reached. The grounds are held in a ...
). ''Don't Forget Your Toothbrush'' was also a game show, with members of the audience chosen to participate in a series of humorous challenges and win cash or prizes. One game featured during the second series involved home viewers following Evans' instructions to flash their house lights on and off at a particular moment. A camera crew in a mystery location would search for someone taking part. When a house had been found, Evans would read three unusual facts about that area, then give the occupants two minutes to throw 10 named items out of specific windows (e.g. "Throw a sofa cushion out of the living room window"). They received £1,000 for winning the game, thrown to them by the crew, and were not named on camera. The final challenge of each episode was the "Light Your Lemon" quiz. Each member of the audience was obliged to bring a passport and a packed suitcase to the studio, and to arrange to take the following week off work (unless they were unemployed or, as was pointed out, did not care if they lost their jobs). Two members were selected to play the quiz as a team, and a postcard was drawn from those sent in by home viewers. The team would win a holiday to one of two destinations, one much more exotic and appealing than the other, with both chosen for their similar-sounding names (such as
Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...
versus
Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...
, or the
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...
versus
Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...
). They were asked a maximum of nine questions about the exotic destination, alternating between teammates; each right or wrong answer lit a section of a giant cocktail glass or ice cream cone, respectively. If the team gave five correct answers, they would "light the lemon" on the glass and win the exotic holiday. However, if they missed five, they would "flash the Flake" on the cone and Evans then called the home viewer and asked him/her one question concerning something that had happened during the episode. If the viewer either missed the question or failed to answer Evans' call within five rings, the team won the exotic holiday by default; a correct answer awarded it to the viewer and the less appealing one to the team. Regardless of the outcome, the team departed for their holiday immediately after the show, and the viewer departed for the exotic one on the following day if he/she had won it. (On some episodes, a team that missed five questions would automatically receive the less appealing holiday, without a home viewer being called.) Evans would introduce this segment by looking between alternate cameras in time to a drum beat that parodied the scene changes from one of his favourite TV shows, ''
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films#Century 21, Centu ...
''. The hostess for the first series was Evans' then-girlfriend Rachel Tatton-Brown, who had previously worked on ''The Big Breakfast''. Despite being a former model, Tatton-Brown was uncomfortable in front of the cameras and aspired to move onto something else.Evans 2009, pp. 234–235. She was replaced in the second series by his then-new girlfriend, Jadene Doran, whom he frequently introduced as "Ms Let-Your-Hair-Down" and who let her hair fall loose as she arrived onstage, by releasing it from its tied-up style or removing a hat. In the penultimate episode of the first series, Evans constantly touted a huge surprise throughout the show, but did not reveal it until "Light Your Lemon" was about to begin. He announced that if the studio contestants won the exotic holiday, then every member of the audience would go for a week's holiday at
Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Marne-la-Vallée, France, located about east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, seven Disney-owned hotels, two convention centers, a golf course, an arena, and a shopping, dining and entert ...
. They won, and the whole audience left for Disneyland Paris immediately after the show. During the second series, it was announced that there would be no third series, in order to allow the show to go out on a high. Evans soon signed up to host the
Radio 1 Breakfast Show ''Radio 1 Breakfast'', also known as ''The Radio 1 Breakfast Show'', is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week u ...
, and returned to Channel 4 with
TFI Friday ''TFI Friday'' (Thank Four it's Friday) is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five ...
. In the final episode of this series, the item-throwing game was played for £2,000, and the "Light Your Lemon" quiz gave the chosen studio contestants a chance to win either a Ferrari 308 or a
fish finger Fish fingers (British English) or fish sticks (American English) are a processed food made using a whitefish or pinkfish, such as cod, hake, haddock, shark, salmon, or pollock, which has been battered or breaded and formed into a rectan ...
.


Transmissions


International versions


References


External links

* * {{Comedy Central programming 1994 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings Channel 4 game shows British English-language television shows Ginger Productions