Saturday, September 3, 2011

Great TV gaffes

From Bill Grundy and the Sex Pistols to Oliver Reed on After Dark, the worst moments on the small screen

Sue Lawley invaded by feminist protesters on the Six O'Clock News

Sue Lawley's grace under fire received its severest test when a group of women invaded the Six O'Clock News studio in protest against anti-gay law section 28 in 1988. Lawley's co-anchor Nicholas Witchell grappled with protesters and is said to have sat on one.

The Sex Pistols and Bill Grundy

Bill Grundy's career never survived the staggeringly unedifying interview with the Sex Pistols on his Today Show in December 1976. His crime was to encourage them to swear ? which they did ? and just before the credits rolled sum up his experiences with the words "Oh shit". He was suspended for two weeks and the show cancelled two months later. He hardly worked again.

Elephant pooing on the Blue Peter set

Blue Peter was usually a safe bet when it came to working with children ? but animals? The moment Lulu the elephant crapped on set and stood on John Noakes's foot in 1969 has become part of the live show's folklore. And has kept the presenters in interview fees ever since.

A "tired and emotional" Lt Cdr Thomas Woodroffe reviewing the fleet

Retired naval officer turned BBC presenter Lt Cdr Thomas Woodroffe had reportedly been royally entertained by his seafaring chums before taking to the microphone just before 11pm to commentate on a 1937 review of the fleet. His bluster and inability to formulate even a coherent thought is embarrassing. But the BBC's excuse for his performance ? he was "tired and emotional" ? did at least add a new euphemism to the lexicon.

Sarah Murdoch announcing the wrong top model on TV

Sympathy in this case doesn't go to Sarah Murdoch, presenter of Australia's Top Model. It goes to Kelsey Martinovich who thought she had won the competition last year and delivered a gushing encomium to her fans before Murdoch revealed that she had read the wrong name out. "This is what happens when you have got live TV folks, I'm sorry," said a distraught Murdoch, wife of Rupert's son Lachlan.

Oliver Reed drunk on After Dark

Plenty of people who were students in 1991 claim to have watched a drunk Oliver Reed make a fool of himself on Channel 4's highbrow chatshow After Dark. He called the eminent feminist author Kate Millett "big tits" and tried to kiss her before the live show was taken off air and replaced with a grainy documentary about coal mining.

Parky and Emu

Michael Parkinson said that being set upon by Rod Hull's puppet Emu was his worst moment in decades of live TV. Parky ought to have learned a lesson from guest Billy Connolly who escaped similar attention on the same show after threatening Hull: "If that bird comes anywhere near me, I'll break its neck and your bloody arm." Quite.

Cab driver being interviewed on BBC News by a presenter who thinks he is the editor of an online magazine

Poor BBC presenter Karen Bowerman thought she was interviewing internet expert Guy Kewney about the growth of online music listening. Instead the wrong Guy ended up in the studio ? Guy Goma who was called up from BBC reception where he was waiting for a job interview for the post of "data support cleanser".


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/sep/03/great-tv-gaffes

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