British television series on Channel 4
Eurotrash
is a 30-minute magazine-format programme in English, presented by
Antoine de Caunes
and
Jean-Paul Gaultier
and produced by
Rapido Television
. It was shown in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on
Channel 4
from 24 September 1993 and was a late-night comical review of unusual topics mainly from Western and Central Europe; though, despite the title, also around the world.
It ran for 16 series (134 episodes, plus 11 specials) until 2004, making it one of the UK's longest running late-night entertainment shows. The show averaged around a 20 percent audience share, pulling in around 2?3 million viewers each week, making it the most popular entertainment show on the channel.
[2]
Channel 4's slot average for Eurotrash's broadcast time was around 900,000 viewers, making the show an important hit for the channel at the time.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
The show was conceived in
Paris
for
London
-based Rapido Television by producer and director Peter Stuart, son of American film director
Mel Stuart
.
[4]
Rapido Television makes over 100 programme titles, mostly for Channel 4, and was launched with backing by
Richard Branson
. The first
Eurotrash
series were presented by
Antoine de Caunes
and
Jean-Paul Gaultier
, with narrative voiceovers by British comic actress
Maria McErlane
.
[5]
Gaultier left at the end of series 7 and de Caunes then co-presented with a range of guest presenters for the remainder of the run. 2016 saw Gaultier's return as co-host for the one-off special.
A number of features and stars survived from series one, including Pipi and Popo, two cardboard
giraffes
made from toilet paper tubes, and the
Belgian
singer
Eddy Wally
.
Victoria Silvstedt
was a semi-regular during 2003, often appearing in the studio with de Caunes to present the
Naked Germans of the Week
feature.
Graham Norton
featured as a roving reporter in series 9,
Carla Bruni
also appeared.
[6]
[7]
[8]
Melinda Messenger
appeared in the last series as a "roving reporter", always wearing a
Union Jack
minidress and big red boots.
[
citation needed
]
In 2009, digital channel
Living TV
began airing a series of compilation episodes under the title
Eurotrash: The Sexy Bits
. These included new voiceovers from original narrator Maria McErlane.
A one-off special aired on 17 June 2016 to coincide with the UK's referendum on European Union membership.
[9]
[10]
[11]
The entire series was released on DVD in 2022 by Network Distributing Ltd in a 20-disc box set. The set went out of print after Network went into administration in June 2023.
Content
[
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]
Despite being a big budget show (around £400,000 per hour to make) the programme was surreal and had a deliberate low budget feel. Bright colourful pop-art studio backgrounds used to be built full size, but in later years
chromakey
was used with model shots, adding to the comical 'trashy' feel. Studio material was shot in
Paris
. Topics covered included
rabbit show jumping
, singing dogs, 'nude cleaning services', magicians,
porn stars
such as
Lolo Ferrari
and
Europe
's very worst (but usually popular in their host country) bands and singers.
The series was voiced by
Maria McErlane
(who had also appeared in
The Fast Show
, a sketch show famous for its 'channel 9' segments, a spoof of European TV channels).
Davina McCall
provided English voice translations in series 1. In later years
Kate Robbins
provided
voiceovers
for the strange continental "stars", which she performed in
Yorkshire
and other
British accents
and similar quirky anglicised effects. Johnny Daukes, former singer and writer with the indie Band FIN in the 1990s, provided male voices in a similar fashion throughout the series.
One episode had an obituary of
Lolo Ferrari
that was produced and broadcast with a straight voiceover as a mark of respect, that stood out from the usual comic tone of the programme.
Episodes
[
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]
UK series
[
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]
Series
|
Start date
|
End date
|
Episodes
[12]
|
1
|
24 September 1993
|
29 October 1993
|
6
|
2
|
28 April 1994
|
13 May 1994
|
6
|
3
|
14 October 1994
|
18 November 1994
[13]
|
6
|
4
|
12 May 1995
|
16 June 1995
[14]
|
6
|
5
|
17 November 1995
|
29 December 1995
|
7
|
6
|
12 April 1996
|
17 May 1996
|
6
|
7
|
13 September 1996
[15]
|
18 October 1996
|
6
|
8
|
9 May 1997
[16]
|
27 June 1997
[17]
|
8
|
9
|
9 January 1998
[18]
|
20 February 1998
|
8
|
10
|
25 September 1998
|
18 December 1998
|
8
|
11
|
8 January 1999
|
1999
|
9
|
12
|
24 September 1999
[19]
|
24 May 2001
|
17
|
13
|
7 July 2000
[20]
|
7 September 2000
|
10
[21]
|
14
|
29 March 2001
[22]
|
7 June 2001
|
10
|
15
|
8 August 2002
|
December 2002
|
9
|
16
|
12 August 2004
|
December 2004
|
12
|
Specials
[
edit
]
Title
|
Air date
|
Christmas Special(s)
|
24 December 1994
|
22 December 1995
|
24 December 1997
|
December 1999
|
A Song for Eurotrash
|
12 May 1998
|
Euroballs '98
|
16 June 1998
|
Eurotrash - New Year Special
|
31 December 1998
|
Eurotrash's Big Bang
|
31 December 1999
|
Eurotrash - Olympic Special
|
22 September 2000
|
Euroballs 2000
|
2000
|
Unzipped
|
19 November 2001
|
Eurotrash EU Referendum Special
|
17 June 2016
[23]
|
A Song for Eurotrash
[
edit
]
A Song for Eurotrash
was a spin-off of
Eurotrash
broadcast for the first time on 12 May 1998. It was accompanied by an album with the same title containing mostly covers of successful songs to mark the
Eurovision Song Contest 1998
being held in the UK, plus a title track "A Song for Eurotrash" written for the programme:
- Track listing
- [24]
- Brigitte Bardot
? "Saint Tropez" (written by
Francis Lai
) (1:13)
- Kenickie
? "
Save Your Kisses for Me
" (written by
Martin Lee
, original by
Brotherhood of Man
) (3:22)
- Dubstar
feat.
Sacha Distel
? "
Poupee de cire, poupee de son
" (written by
Serge Gainsbourg
, original by
France Gall
) 3:10)
- Edwyn Collins
? "
Ding-a-dong
" (original by
Teach-In
) (2:38)
- Saint Etienne
? "
La, la, la
" (written by
Ramon Arcusa
, original by
Massiel
) (3:18)
- Dean Martin
? "
Volare
" (written by
Franco Migliacci
, Domenico Modugno,
Mitchell Parish
, originally by
Domenico Modugno
) (2:59)
- Terry Hall
and
Sinead O'Connor
? "
All Kinds of Everything
" (written by Derry Lindsay, Jackie Ward Smith - original by
Dana
) (2:43)
- Shane MacGowan and The Popes
? "
What's Another Year
" (written by
Shay Healy
, original by
Johnny Logan
) (4:01)
- Eva Henger
? "Ooh Yeah" (written by
Shaun Imrei
/ Peter Stuart) (03:22)
- Fox Force 5
? "
A-Ba-Ni-Bi
" (written by
Nurit Hirsh
and
Ehud Manor
, originally by
Izhar Cohen
and
Alphabeta
) (02:58)
- Annie Christian ? "
Congratulations
" (written by
Phil Coulter
/
Bill Martin
, original by
Cliff Richard
(4:02)
- Bananarama
? "
Waterloo
" (written by
Stig Anderson
/
Benny Andersson
/
Bjorn Ulvaeus
, original by
ABBA
) (3:04)
- 808 State
? Variations on "
Te Deum
" (Eurovision Theme) (5:00)
- Kate Robbins
? "A Song for Eurotrash" (written by
Peter Stuart
) (3:37)
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]