The word channel 4 show

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The Word was a 1990s Channel 4 television programme in the United Kingdom.^[5]

Format[edit]

The show’s presenters included Terry Christian, comedian Mark Lamarr, Dani Behr, Katie Puckrik, Jasmine Dotiwala, Alan Connor, Amanda de Cadenet and Huffty.^[6] Originally broadcast in the old Tube time slot of 6 pm Friday evenings, The Word’s main live show was shifted to a late-night timeslot from 9 November 1990. The magazine format allowed for interviews, live music, features and even game shows. The flexible late-night format meant that guests could do just about anything to be controversial.

There was also an ‘I’ll do anything to be on television’ section called «The Hopefuls» which ran for half of series 4 and half of series 5 in which people did generally repulsive things in order to get featured on the programme.^[6]

Production[edit]

The show was the brainchild of Charlie Parsons and Christian and was originally produced for series 1 and 2 by the production company 24 Hour Productions, which later became Planet 24.

Paul Ross was the series editor on series 3 and 4, and became executive producer for series 5. Jo Whiley worked as a researcher/band booker on series 2 and half of series 3 and is credited as having given Nirvana their historic and notorious first TV appearance.^[7]

The programme ran for five series from 1990 to 1995. From the start, there was considerable tabloid backlash against the show. In mid 2000, Channel 4 screened a short-running compilation series titled Best of The Word, which mostly featured music performances.

Tango sponsored the show in 1994.

Notable moments[edit]

• Nirvana’s international television debut performance of «Smells Like Teen Spirit», with Kurt Cobain declaring Courtney Love to be «the best fuck in the world.»^[8]
• Singer/guitarist Donita Sparks of L7 removing her jeans and underwear during a performance, the full-frontal nudity displayed when she drops her guitar being briefly broadcast.^[8]
• The TV debut of Oasis playing «Supersonic».^[8]
• Rage Against the Machine playing «Killing in the Name», resulting in a stage invasion with guitarist Tom Morello and singer Zack de la Rocha both being stopped from performing by the chaotic crowd.^[8]
• Lynne Perrie, best known for her role as Ivy Tilsley in soap opera Coronation Street, performing a tuneless rendition of the Gloria Gaynor song «I Will Survive».^[8]
• A very drunk Oliver Reed giving a barely coherent interview before performing «Wild Thing» by The Troggs with Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.»^[8]
• Shabba Ranks advocating crucifixion of homosexuals, which received universal condemnation including from presenter Lamarr.^[9]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The Word at IMDb

The Word was a seminal moment in youth culture during the nineties. A Channel 4 exploit, designed to capture the rising viewership of Generation X, The Word acted as a conductor not only for bored teens desperate to have their brains filled with ultimate, irreverent, po-mo guff, but also as the proving ground for the growing musical landscape that surrounded it. From Nirvana to Oasis here we look back at the show’s most memorable musical moments.

The Word was a TV show in the early-nineties which, like its predecessor Tube, was designed to engage with a new and emerging youth movement who, though jaded by MTV, still refused to believe anything that didn’t come through the small screen. The show was hosted by radio personality and all-round shit-smirker Terry Christian and only really got moving when it was moved from a 6 pm slot to a new late-night slot on Friday nights. It allowed the show to truly flourish and their guests to do pretty much whatever they wanted. They had big plans.

The magazine format of the show allowed for interviews, live music, features and even game shows. The new flexible late-night format meant that guests could do just about anything to be controversial. There was also an ‘I’ll do anything to be on television’ section called “The Hopefuls” in which people ate worms, bathed in maggots, licked the sweat off fat people, intimately kissed old people, and did generally repulsive things in order to get featured on the programme.

This allowed for a variety of musical genres take the stage. It allowed bands to express themselves without fear of reproach, it was less stuffy than BBC’s Top of the Pops, and far more engaging than any other show on at the time. It invited the world’s best musical acts and it got them.

Nirvana perform ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ for the first time (1991)

The band took to the TV studio in 1991 to give the first televised performance of the iconic ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Their raw energy, fury of performance, and undoubted star power meant that the band left an indelible mark on the youth of Britain. Nirvana, after this, would never be the same band, instead, they would be the hope of a disenfranchised generation.

Not only was the performance the first televised showing of Nirvana, but it was the first time that the world was formally introduced to Cobain’s girlfriend and future mother of his child, Courtney Love. “I’d like all of you people in this room to know that Courtney Love, the lead singer of the sensational pop group Hole, is the best fucking the world.”

Oasis write a rock and roll tale on their TV debut as they perform ‘Supersonic’ (1994)

The welcoming of Oasis to the stage of The Word would not only set the stall out for one of the biggest acts Britain has ever seen but also see Oasis start their journey as career-Rock stars. Host, Terry Christian accepts full responsibility for giving them the air time to perform their new track ‘Supersonic’ in ’94 and the rock and roll story that ensued.

Christian says: “Since Oasis made their first television appearance, on Channel 4’s The Word on 18 March 1994, everyone from the series editor and music booker to the cleaning lady has tried to take the credit – when, of course, it was really all down to me, me, me!” He then continues with the insights on Liam Gallagher’s budding rock star career.

“As it was the last show, most of the maggot-eating Hopefuls who’d been on that series had come down for the after-show, and one of the girls made a beeline for Liam. He then took her back to the band’s studio where they were staying that night (no hotels in their rock’n’roll lifestyle then) to do the business.”

So, yes, this was the making of Oasis. This TV performance was the beginning of the legend of the band from Manchester with enough attitude to sink a Britpop battleship. As Christian says: “So that was Oasis: pushed themselves on to TV by pestering, great performance on the night, everyone got trashed, and the lead singer banged a Hopeful.”

The late, great Oliver Reed sings The Troggs’ ‘Wild Thing’ with Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (1992)

The wonderful and vibrant personality, and drinking habits, of the late Oliver Reed, got a full screening on this 1992 episode of The Word as the acclaimed actor, some what inebriated, gave the nation a memorable performance of ‘Wild Thing’.

Backed by British rock band Ned’s Atomic Dustbin Reed eventually, after some cringeworthy conjuring from Christian and his co-host, gets to the stage and does his best to give the nation what they wanted. Fair to say he succeeded.

Sadly, the thing the nation wanted was for an old school alcoholic actor to make a bit of a tit of himself. They had tuned into The Word after all. But maybe we’re being too sensitive as Reed doesn’t seem to matter a bit as he ad-libs and generally tries to make love to the camera.

Rage Against The Machine perform ‘Killing in the Name Of’ (1993)

Mark Lamaar, a much-beloved host of the show introduces this next performance accompanied, for some reason, by the championship-winning boxer Chris Eubank and then tells the viewers to “swivel” if they’re easily offended. He introduces Rage Against The Machine to perform their new track.

The 1993 performance is notable, not least of all because it remains one of the few times that RATM was allowed to perform the song on TV, but because the crowd, a young and hopefuly lot, were bouncing and moshing like you’d expect to see at one of their actual gigs.

It builds, helped along by some awesome editing, until the crescendo moment of “fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” and sees Zach De La Roche disappear into the audience.

Snoop Dogg turns Manchester into Long Beach performing ‘Gin and Juice’ (1994)

Sometimes the British infatuation with Americana can feel a little stupid. One particular facet of this silliness is when the suburbs of Stourbridge and Leamington Spa are bouncing to the sounds of ganagsta rap. But in 1994, that’s exactly what was happening and Snoop Dogg was partly to blame.

Over in the UK to promote his US chart hit and now iconic song ‘Gin and Juice’, Snoop takes to The Word studio to give not only a very special performance of the slow jam, surrounded by lads with curtains, Gola trainers, and Ben Sherman shirts, but also a hilariously awkward video. You’re welcome.

Primal Scream change rock and roll with ‘Movin’ On Up’ (1991)

The founding fathers of the baggy scene the first taste much of the nation got of the merging forces of rave culture and rock n roll was Primal Scream’s stunning performance on The Word in 1991.

Their rendition of ‘Movin’ On Up’ (a permanent mash-up anthem) would set the stage for what would become the Madchester scene which would later morph it’s way into what we could call Britpop today. It’s a fair bet that this could’ve been the igniting moment for many of the bands who would cultivate the decade’s musical output.

Looking back it’s fair to say, however contrived the Channel 4 execs were when creating The Word in the early nineties, they got it spot on. The show was full of notable moments of gross grandeur and musical madness. It was perfect late night telly.

Notable Mentions

Cypress Hill performs ‘Insane in the Brain’

Weezer ‘Undone the Sweater Song’ (1995)

Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder’s interview (1992)

Pixies take the early stage to perform ‘Cecili-Ann’ and ‘Allison’ (1990)

The ’90s were bloody mad, weren’t they? We didn’t have the proper internet yet, so we had to make our own fun. Before a time where everyone got offended by everything, shows like The Word were somehow able to exist.

Everyone seemed off their face. The presenters, the producers, the audience, the guests. You felt giddy just watching it. It was perfect after-the-pubs-had-shut telly on a Friday night on Channel 4. Nowadays, the craziest thing you’ll see on a Friday night is Leon getting up out of his seat on Gogglebox.

But what have the formerly famous faces of The Word been up to since the show ended in 1995?

1. Terry Christian

We’re not sure if anyone has ever been more Mancunian than Terry.

He had already been a prolific broadcaster on local Manchester radio and for BBC Radio 1 before the Word gig came along in 1990. Since being lifted into the show’s crazy spotlight, he has continued to host radio shows for the likes of TalkSPORT, BBC Radio Manchester, and Stockport’s Imagine FM.

A die hard Manchester United fan, you’ll often see him pop up on the club’s MUTV channel, and he has appeared on the likes of Come Dine with Me, Would I Lie to You? and 8 Out of 10 Cats.

He also came so close to winning Celebrity Big Brother back in 2009, losing out to Ulrika Jonsson in the final. He’s also the go-to guy for anything Manchester-related on shows like Good Morning Britain or BBC Breakfast.

Writing about The Word on his blog in 2015, Terry wrote: «The Word is still being slated and denigrated all these years later by the home county small satellite town cultural commentators. Yet here it is 25 years later and clips are still being strewn all over television like so much confetti. We made mistakes. I particularly hated ‘The Hopefuls’ strand… it was a gimmick.»

2. Mark Lamarr

Before he became «’50s Throwback Mark Lamarr» in Vic and Bob’s Shooting Stars, Mark first found proper fame as co-host of The Word (including an interview where he completely owned Shabba Ranks for saying gay people should be crucified). Before that he started his career as a poet-turned-stand-up comic.

The ever-cheerful Mark essentially hated his time on the show: «No fun at all; it was a horrible, horrible, repulsive environment to work in, mainly due to the company. They were just very… just an obnoxious group of people to deal with, and I think that came across in the shows they ended up producing.»

He went on to host The Big Breakfast from time to time in the early 1990s, and eventually departed Shooting Stars after years of constant pisstaking, as he didn’t want to be typecast for doing panel shows. So he then went straight to hosting panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks for 9 years.

He has since hosted various radio shows for the BBC and elsewhere, and co-wrote the sitcom 15 Storeys High with Sean Lock and Martin Trenaman. But for the past few years, Mark has remained rather quiet on the TV and radio front. Comeback on the cards soon?

3. Dani Behr

The lads’ mag staple and one-off WAG went on to host The Big Breakfast and BBC children’s series The Saturday Show after her time on The Word, and later went on to have some success in the US. She appeared on NBC’s Extra, and various other shows on Fox and VHS, and appeared on the 2003 reality series Boy Meets Boy.

And who could forget her hosting stint on the critically abominated «dwarf Bachelor» show The Littlest Groom?

She has also had the odd minor acting role over the years, including an appearance in The Vagina Monologues alongside Kate Winslet, Oprah Winfrey and Glenn Close in the West End and Broadway.

After appearing on a few reality shows like I’m a Celebrity and Come Dine With Me, Dani has now got herself a «proper job» as she put it. She now works as an estate agent in LA, selling expensive homes in the luxury market.

She told The Mirror: «I was once hanging out with the most famous people in the world, dating sportsmen and socialising with the trendiest bands. Now I sell houses to them, it’s funny how things work out. I was never comfortable with the fame thing, it was never anything I really wanted and plus, my father’s delighted.»

4. Katie Puckrik

American presenter Katie moved to the UK in the early 1980s, though that didn’t stop her from auditioning to play Phoebe in Friends, as she detailed in her autobiography. After two years of co-hosting The Word in the early ’90s she went on to front BBC Two’s The Sunday Show with Donna McPhail, as well as appearing on various BBC radio shows including Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley’s Graveyard Shift.

She later went on to create and present ITV’s short-lived Pyjama Party, a format she also briefly brought to the US. Katie currently runs a fragrance-themed YouTube series and blog titled ‘Katie Puckrik Smells’, while also writing columns for The Guardian and hosting stand-in slots on 6 Music.

5. Huffty

Real name Andrea Huftika Reah, this Geordie skinhead was known for her amazingly awkward interviews and shouting «lesbian power» over the closing credits.

However, aside from an appearance on The Harry Hill Show in the late 1990s, The Word was her only TV gig. In his autobiography My Word, Terry Christian said that the Catholic girl from Whitley Bay was «a nice girl and not suited to the cut and thrust of television».

However, she did make a comeback of sorts in a brief appearance on BBC Three’s Geordie Finishing School for Girls, despite zero mention of her background in The Word. Watch it below:

6. Amanda de Cadenet

The daughter of racing driver Alain de Cadenet, Amanda began hosting The Word at the age of 14, and she followed this up with The Big Breakfast (clearly the natural path for Word hosts). She married Duran Duran’s John Taylor aged 16 in 1991 (they divorced six years later, and she later married Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi – in doing so, pulling off a gender-swapped variant on the usual TV presenter-swaps-spouse-for-younger-model thing.)

Amanda had a brief film career, including a small role in Four Rooms, and she has since shifted her career to photography. She has worked for various magazines, released the book Rare Birds and taken photos of the likes of Keanu Reeves, Olivia Wilde and others.

In 2011, she hosted Lifetime’s talk show The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, with Demi Moore as producer. She spoke to various big names including Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow and even bloomin’ Hillary Clinton. She followed this up with a weekly late night talk show in 2014. Quite the upgrade from speaking to Pato Banton about his new single.

7. Alan Connor

Just like everyone else, Alan went on to appear regularly on The Big Breakfast after his time on The Word, and later had a stint as a BBC News correspondent and featured on The Daily Politics.

He has since become a regular columnist for The Guardian, and has worked as a writer for Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe, The Jonathan Ross Show and even wrote the script for Sky’s A Young Doctor’s Notebook starring Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm.

Best of all, he is currently the question editor for BBC Two’s cult quiz Only Connect. He has also written a couple of geeky books including Two Girls, One on Each Knee: A History of Cryptic Crosswords.

8. Jasmine Dotiwala

After a few years on The Word, Jasmine worked as a presenter for MTV News, and soon become senior producer for various shows including Making the Video and Cribs. She followed this up by becoming the head of MTV Base, interviewing the likes of Eminem and Jay Z.

She eventually returned to Channel 4, and took control of various music specials including a 20-year anniversary special about… The Word!

After a stint with ITV, she moved to the BBC in 2011 to work in the Children’s Development team before moving across to the BBC Music department, developing new youth music content. She continues to produce and direct various projects, including working on the MTV Awards in 2014, as well as writing columns and blogs for the Daily Mail, Huffington Post and elsewhere.

Fans of the Channel 4 game show where contestants go head-to-head with a series of word-based and number crunching tasks are wondering where is Countdown filmed?

The long-standing game show recently announced it’s permanent host Colin Murray (opens in new tab) as replacement for Anne Robinson (opens in new tab), and with fans tuning in daily to see who is victorious, they’re keen to find out all about it’s filming location.

As we look at all you need to know about the gameshow…

Countdown is currently filmed at a purpose-built studios at Dock 10, Greater Manchester in MediaCityUK. The show has been filmed here since 2013 and prior to this, the show was filmed at Manchester-based Granada studios from 2009-2013. When the show first started out the show was produced by Yorkshire Television and was recorded at The Leeds Studios for 27 years.

Who is the new Countdown host?

Colin Murray is the new Countdown host, he took over permanently from Anne Robinson in January 2023. Colin had been holding the fort temporarily for six months until bosses decided on who to appoint as the permanent host. he recently shared news that the show had received its highest audience in a decade. He tweeted, «A quick thank you for the nice comments and to everyone who has tuned into over past 6 months. December was highest audience in over a decade. That’s why I get to do this iconic show I love full time now. And to be a part of an amazing team. That simple! Thanks!»

How many Countdown episodes are filmed in a day?

There are five Countdown episodes filmed in a day, according to Susie Dent. The Countdown star revealed Rachel’s dad Christopher still records every episode of the show so he has all of the ones his daughter has appeared on. Susie also revealed that they film multiple shows a day, she said, “We film five shows a day, so it’s a hectic schedule. Rachel has to change her whole outfit for every show, whereas I only have to change my top half as people don’t ever really see my legs, but I do have them! It’s a cliché to say, as people talk about TV families, but I do think ‘Countdown’ is one of the best. It’s something I’d really miss.”

How far in advance do they film Countdown?

They film Countdown three months in advance, according to Luke Johnson-Davies champion of Series 82 of Countdown. In an interview with Palatinate (opens in new tab), he said, «It makes you realise that not all is as it seems when you watch the show. They film five episodes a day but you have to change outfits and they are all filmed three months in advance.»

He also revealed the former host Nick Hewer gave an anecdote about a day which is three months later at the start of every episode. He added, «When we filmed the finals it was October but we were pretending it was Christmas, I accidentally wore a Halloween t-shirt, forgetting that it was Christmas momentarily.”

How do you become a contestant on Countdown?

You can become a contestant on Countdown by applying online (opens in new tab), filling in the contestant application form (PDF) (opens in new tab) and emailing it to them at countdown@channel4.com with a recent picture of yourself. 

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Video of the week:

Selina is a Senior Entertainment Writer with more than 15 years of experience in newspapers and magazines. She currently looks after all things Entertainment for Goodto.com, Woman&Home, and My Imperfect Life. Before joining Future Publishing, Selina graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a degree in Journalism. She is fully NCTJ and NCE qualified and has 100wpm shorthand. When she’s not interviewing celebrities you can find her exploring new countryside walking routes, catching up with friends over good food, or making memories. 

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