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Des O'Connor

Des O'Connor

Acting

Biography

Desmond Bernard O'Connor, CBE was an English comedian, singer and television presenter. He was a long-time TV chat-show host, and presenter of long-running Channel 4 game show Countdown for two years.

Known For

Going Live!
8.0

Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher. The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester and Parallel 9 taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking. In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her then boyfriend, Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.

Going Live!

1987Series
Live From Her Majesty's
6.5

Live from Her Majesty's was a Sunday night live variety show which was produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network and ran from 1982 to 1988. It was broadcast live from Her Majesty's Theatre in London and was very much in the tradition of earlier variety spectacles such as Sunday Night at the London Palladium. The series was presented by Jimmy Tarbuck, produced by the then Head of Light Entertainment at LWT David Bell and directed by Alasdair Macmillan. In its day, the programme attracted a large audience and regularly featured in the TV top ten. A further series of six shows followed in 1986 from London's Piccadilly Theatre, airing simply as Live From the Piccadilly. 1987 witnessed yet another change of venue with a further three series airing as Live From the Palladium until the programme's eventual cancellation in 1988. During the 15 April 1984 show, comedian Tommy Cooper died after suffering a massive heart attack with the audience thinking that it was a joke.

Live From Her Majesty's

1983Series
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7.0

The Des O'Connor Show is a British variety and chat show hosted by Des O'Connor. ITV broadcast the programme from 1963 until 1973. Associated Television produced the programme, and which was recorded in black-and-white for the first six series. When the seventh series of the show aired in colour in 1970, its popularity spread internationally. ITV licensed the programme to the National Broadcasting Company in the United States, where it aired during prime time, and continued for one more series. Some entertainment celebrities of the time, such as Patrick Newell and Dom DeLuise, made multiple guest appearances on the show. In the United States, NBC retitled the programme to Kraft Music Hall Presents the Des O'Connor Show, after their own popular variety show Kraft Music Hall, which also ended in 1971.

The Des O'Connor Show

1963Series
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6.7

Al Murray's Happy Hour was a chat show presented by comedian Al Murray and produced by Avalon TV. The first series aired in early 2007. It is broadcast on the British terrestrial TV network, ITV, and the first series was broadcast on Saturday nights at 10pm. The second series aired on Fridays at 10pm. A third series returned to ITV on 12 September 2008, in the same 10pm Friday night slot. However, UTV in Northern Ireland did not show the third series in the 10pm Friday night slot with the other ITV regions. They now show it the following Thursday at around 11.40pm, due to UTV regional programming on Friday nights. Murray presents the programme in his Pub Landlord persona: a stereotypically nationalistic, chauvinistic character. The show contains stand-up, guest interviews and live music. The show ends with Murray performing a Queen song with the musical guest.

Al Murray's Happy Hour

2007Series