Friday Night, Saturday Morning
| Friday Night, Saturday Morning | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Talk show |
| Created by |
Iain Johnstone Will Wyatt |
| Directed by | Phil Chilvers, John Burrowes |
| Presented by |
Ned Sherrin Tim Rice Jane Walmsley |
| Theme music composer | André Jacquemin Dave Howman |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 64 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Iain Johnstone Frances Whitaker |
| Location(s) | Greenwood Theatre, London |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC2 |
| Picture format | 576i |
| Original release | 28 September 1979 – 2 April 1982 |
Friday Night, Saturday Morning was a television chat show with a revolving guest host. It ran on BBC2 from 28 September 1979 to 2 April 1982, broadcast live from the Greenwood Theatre, a part of Guy's Hospital. It was most notable for being the only television show to be hosted by a former British Prime Minister (Harold Wilson) and for an argument about the blasphemy claims surrounding the movie Monty Python's Life of Brian.
The programme was the idea of Iain Johnstone and Will Wyatt, who insisted on a changing presenter every fortnight. Another innovation was that the presenters chose the guests they were to interview.
The editions of 12 and 19 October 1979 were the first television shows ever hosted by a former or sitting British prime minister. Harold Wilson had resigned as PM three years earlier. A media-savvy personality, he seemed a promising host for a talk show, an experiment now seen as a failure. Wilson was at a loss, often leaving gaps while he tried to think of a question to ask his guests, such as Pat Phoenix and Harry Secombe. In 2000, Friday Night, Saturday Morning was voted in the "100 TV Moments from Hell" by Channel 4. One critic described Wilson's reading the as if it were the Rosetta Stone.
Producer Iain Johnstone later attributed Wilson's poor performance to memory loss. It may have been an early sign of the Alzheimer's disease which caused Wilson's later dementia.
On the edition of 9 November 1979, hosted by Tim Rice, a discussion was held about the then-new film Monty Python's Life of Brian, which had been banned by many local councils and caused protests throughout the world with accusations that it was blasphemous. To argue in favour of this accusation were broadcaster and noted Christian Malcolm Muggeridge and (the then Bishop of Southwark). In its defence were two members of the Monty Python team, John Cleese and Michael Palin.
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