''The Des O'Connor Show'' is a British variety and

chat show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (20 ...

hosted by Des O'Connor which was broadcast on ITV from 1963 until 1973.

History

Associated Television ATV Network Limited, originally Associated TeleVision (ATV), was a British broadcaster, part of the ITV (TV network), ITV (Independent Television) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on week ...

produced the programme, which was recorded in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

for the first six series. When the seventh series of the show aired in colour in 1970, its popularity spread internationally. ITV licensed the programme to the

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

(NBC) in the United States, where it aired during

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

, and continued for one more series. Some entertainment celebrities of the time, such as Patrick Newell and

Dom DeLuise Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, musician, chef, and author. Known primarily for comedy roles, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows. He is widely ...

, made multiple

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s on the show. In the United States, NBC retitled the programme to ''Kraft Music Hall Presents the Des O'Connor Show'', after their own popular variety show ''

Kraft Music Hall ''The Kraft Music Hall'' was a popular old-time radio variety show, variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949. Radio ''The Kraft Program'' debuted June 26, 1933, as a musical- ...

'', which also ended in 1971.

ITV transmissions

Series

Specials

DVD

A DVD release ''Des O'Connor Volume 1'' (22 June 2009) collects various highlights from ''Kraft Music Hall Presents the Des O'Connor Show''.

References

External links

''The Des O'Connor Show''
at BFI *
Des O'Connor's official website
1963 British television series debuts 1973 British television series endings British variety television shows British English-language television shows Television series by ITC Entertainment Television shows produced by Associated Television (ATV) Television shows shot at ATV Elstree Studios ITV talk shows {{ITCDistributions-stub