ONE OF THOSE self-styled comedy showcases that did nothing of the sort.
GEOFFREY PALMER more or less exported Jimmy off of FALL AND RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN into Harry Truscott
THE EEC, eh?
ASSORTED WRINKLED, weathered and washed-up embodiments of better days get trundled out once a week for seven years in the name of...
"I DIDN'T realise it at the time, but it was at that moment my relationship with dad changed...utterly."
JEREMY ISAACS'S favourite ever Channel 4 programme: fact!
HYSTERICAL HARBINGER of that STREET-PORTER-led microphenomenon that was "yoof TV".
WEIRD SITCOMSKETCH thing about an alien invasion of the made-up town of Middleford
REMIT-SATISFYING PSEUDATHON chucked out in the small hours by a bored Jeremy Isaacs.
BEFORE THEY discovered they could buy in decent comedy from abroad, ver Four made do with homegrown efforts like this
LORD FRED HARRIS jumped ship from MAKING THE MOST OF... momentarily to present his own amateur games-writing show
SEMI-ANIMATED WOULD-BE philosophical musings on life of a green round thing
FANTASTICAL NOODLINGS amongst the good folk of the Isle Of Sark
DROWSY DOMESTIC yankcom sitcom
EX-KENNY EVERETT Video Show dance troupe
NEIL PEARSON is a hard-done-by down-on-his-luck recently-made-doleite guy musician guy stuck for something to do
FROM THE pen of ROY CLARKE, therefore old people doing demented things while shouting a lot and rearranging the china well to...
TWITTERING TWOSOME raise havoc in a decorous 1920s village populated with the likes of NIGEL HAWTHORNE.
AGAIN WITH THE home computers.
CONTEMPORARY CHART action (Kajagoogoo, Belle Stars, Cyndi Lauper) gets radical re-interpretation by under-tens
PAST-YOUR-BEDTIME BARBATHON
A WELCOME re-appearance for LORD FRED HARRIS
NEEDN'T-HAVE-BOTHERED YOOFY show from the earliest days of Channel Four.
BASICALLY THE latest new NEW FACES since the last one, with ex-GIDEON TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR and ex-celebrity STAN "JEEEEMANS!" BOARDMAN introducing shit stand-ups...
WILLIAM G STEWART moved seamlessly from ITV sitcom producer and PRICE IS RIGHT pink tracksuit-wearing warm-up ubergrupenfuehrer to high spec quizmaster on...
JACK THOMPSON loafs around a depression-era shipping union as WARREN "GARNETT" MITCHELL invents satire in a tin-roofed music hall.
ONE OF those (now old chestnut) tales of a mentally handicapped kid experiencing the harsh realities of the world when his mum...
BARGAIN BIN trio of plays shot on cheapola video equipment and themed on the same.
VINTAGE WORTHINESS from Four's fledgling days
NOOOO! YOU don't want to give something that's supposed to be a far more sleek and with-it rival to Ceefax a name...
Ultra right-on com from Jeremy Isaacs-patrolled C4 (i.e. not funny)
BAFFLING EARLY C4 kids show (weren't they all?)
TOM VERNON was the rotund, bearded gastronaut
NOWT TO do with the above
WEIRD, FRANTIC Welsh sitcom set in a small radio station, taped twice - once in Welsh, once in English.
FROM OUT OF JEREMY ISAACS' much-in-evidence arch lever file marked "minorities" sprung this fondly remembered C4 ensemble fixture.
WILLY RUSSELL-PENNED did-you-see-that-on-the-telly-last-night? playground-bothering Channel 4 play
REALLY, REALLY shitcom
BASICALLY, THE Open University for anyone not predispoed to a particle accelerator.
LOW-KEY LARKERY in pretend London nightspot the Seal Club
WE-WERE-THERE-FIRST STATES-SIDE sitcommery
PETER BOWLES, playing himself, retires to the rural west coast of Ireland.
BEARDED BUMPKIN MICHAEL ROSEN leads kids in song, poem, story, poem and music ministravaganza with an "all nationalities/races etc. inclusive" spin.
SEMINAL SHORT horror film of indeterminate Spanish origin.
UNPRONOUNCEABLE IMPORT sneaked out on Thursday evenings as part of otherwise half-arsed early C4 yoof initiative.
Blatant porn dressed up as mystical quackery.
THE PREMISE: in 2074, we're all going to be idle proles.
Typically woeful attempt at pop-fest by junior C4
HOW TO fill half an hour of early evening Channel 4 telly quickly and cheaply.
THE TEST CARD? PAGES FROM CEEFAX? Bugger that - C4 had its own special way to pretend it was still broadcasting even...
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