View source for TV Hell

{{Short description|1992 BBC television special}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{one source|date=March 2011}}
'''''TV Hell''''' was a [[BBC Two|BBC2]] theme night broadcast on 31 August 1992, showing a whole evening of archive television clips widely regarded by critics{{who|date=December 2011}} and the public alike as among the worst ever produced in Britain.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/3434675fe7074666a8db53f1ebfb2524 BBC Programme Index - BBC Two 31 August 1992]</ref> It followed an unrelated series of archive theme nights called "[[TV Heaven]]", shown on [[Channel 4]] earlier that same year.
''TV Hell'' was defined as programmes and broadcasts where the conception of the production was misguided, even though it made use of established television cast and crew. Many of the resulting catastrophes caused promising careers to be curtailed, or in some cases led to a review of the commissioning process.
The term "TV Hell" has since been adopted in media culture to describe television programmes which are not very good.
== Broadcast form ==
The clips were linked by [[Angus Deayton]], playing the part of the [[Devil]], and [[Paul Merton]], playing a shellsuited [[couch potato]] who had been condemned to experience the worst of British Television for all eternity following his death, caused by a television falling onto his head from an upstairs window in the programme's opening sketch.
The comic sequences with Deayton and Merton were used to link several short documentaries, comprising, for example, ''Disastermind'' (a review of the worst performances on ''[[Mastermind (TV series)|Mastermind]]''), an A-Z of TV Hell moments, ''Storm in an Egg-Cup'' – a look back at the downfall of [[TV-am]] – and a short documentary about the production of the television soap ''[[Triangle (1981 TV series)|Triangle]]'', with interviews with cast and crew, followed by a repeat of the first episode. There were also humorous contributions from [[Victor Lewis-Smith]]. The evening also included a 60-minute documentary in the history of the ''[[Eurovision Song Contest]]'' narrated by [[Patrick Allen (actor)|Patrick Allen]] and featuring archive clips from the contest and interviews with (amongst others): [[Johnny Logan (singer)|Johnny Logan]], [[Michael Ball (singer)|Michael Ball]] and [[Katie Boyle]].
== Examples of programmes ==
Examples of the programmes included in ''TV Hell'':
*The first episode of ''[[Triangle (1981 TV series)|Triangle]]'', a short lived and critically panned BBC [[soap opera]] set aboard a fictional North Sea ferry.
*''[[Churchill's People]]'', a 26-part dramatised history of Britain screened on BBC 1 in primetime during 1974–75. The series was such a ratings disaster that the BBC changed its entire drama commissioning policy.
*[[Christopher Mayhew]] taking [[mescaline]] hydrochloride on an unbroadcast 1955 edition of ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]'', the first time an excerpt from this show had been screened.
*''[[Club X]]'' – a disastrous attempt at an arts programme by Channel 4. Notably, the series happened to be the debut of ''TV Hell'' contributor [[Victor Lewis-Smith]]
*[[David Dimbleby]] filling live airtime on ''Panorama'' when all available telecine and video tape machines were out of commission.
*The various appearances by a drunk [[Oliver Reed]] on live television
*Several embarrassing moments taken from the ''[[Top of the Pops]]'' archive, linked by [[John Peel]]
*[[Danny Baker]] presenting a selection of clips from chat shows where interviews had not gone to plan.  Baker made his debut as a chatshow host the following year.
*''[[Minipops]]''
An edited version of the BBC pilot for ''Mainly for Men'', a late night men's lifestyle magazine programme made in 1969, was also shown. Although this was never screened when first made, and never progressed to a series, some television critics have subsequently and erroneously assumed that it '''was''' broadcast in the 1960s.<ref>''[[Radio Times]]'' 5–11 June 2004 – Comments by [[Alison Graham]]: "There are lots of contributions from former big TV players and plenty of clips that will bring the memories [of 1960s television] tumbling back. ''[[Big Breadwinner Hog]]'', anyone? And the truly wretched ''Mainly for Men''."</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of television series considered the worst]]
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0103561|title=TV Hell}}
[[Category:BBC Two original programming]]
[[Category:British television specials]]
[[Category:1992 television specials]]