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E4 (TV)
Encyclopedia
E4 is a channel on British digital television, launched as a pay-TV companion to Channel 4
on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15–35 age group. Programming includes US imports such as The O.C.
, Smallville
, Veronica Mars
, The Cleveland Show
, Glee
, The Sopranos
, Everwood
, What About Brian?, Desperate Housewives
, How I Met Your Mother
, 90210
, Gilmore Girls
, One Tree Hill
, Scrubs
, The Big Bang Theory and British shows such as Shameless, Hollyoaks
, Skins
, The Inbetweeners
and Misfits
. Some of the imports, e.g. Desperate Housewives
and Ugly Betty
are screened on E4 up to one week ahead of their Channel 4 broadcasts. Its most successful broadcast to date was on 11 October 2010 when an episode of The Inbetweeners
pulled in over 3.7 million viewers. E4 uses the voiceover of Peter Dickson to advertise its programmes.
it was available as a bonus subscription channel. It became part of the Top Up TV
subscription scheme until 27 May 2005, when the channel became available on Freeview, with the potential to increase advertising revenue by attracting a larger audience.
E4 was also available as part of the basic Sky satellite subscription channel package, due to a long term contract with BSkyB
it only became free-to-air
in 2008. This change happened on 6 May 2008 and the channel joined Freesat
alongside with More4
.
In May 2005 E4 introduced "First Look", showing episodes of popular programmes such as Come Dine With Me
, Hollyoaks
and drama series such as Lost
and Invasion
in advance of transmission on Channel 4.
In October 2005 More4
was launched to complement Channel 4's digital channels. ER
and The West Wing
subsequently moved from E4 to More4.
E4 launched a Republic of Ireland
service in June 2002 which has become the second most popular non-terrestrial channel in Ireland with 1.1% of the audience; Sky1 is the most popular.
Since 2006 E4 has sponsored the E4 UdderBELLY
venue (part of Underbelly) at the Edinburgh Fringe
and Brighton Festival
. The venue took the form of a giant upside cow in the purple colour of E4's logo.
In July 2007 it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio
, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on DAB radio
. The station was planned for launch in July 2008 and aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel, however this launch date was later delayed. In October 2008 Channel 4 announced it was abandoning its plans for digital radio, and thus scrapping the E4 Radio proposal.
On 14 December 2009, a high-definition
simulcast
of E4 launched on Sky+ HD channel 215. Unlike the standard definition channels from Channel 4, which are free to air, and the free-to-view
Channel 4 HD, E4 HD is only available to viewers with Sky's HD Pack subscription. On 1 April 2010, E4 HD was added to Virgin Media
.
up to 15 May 2011. The number of viewers does not include repeats or airings on E4+1.
Prior to the launch of E4 Music, E4 was off-air during daytime for much of the year, only going on air in daytime for rolling coverage of reality shows such as Big Brother
. The introduction of E4 Music led to E4 broadcasting 24/7 all year round. Initially, E4 Music would take a summer break to allow Big Brother coverage to replace it, but in later years Big Brother coverage was reduced, allowing a cut-down E4 Music to run during the summer.
In 2008, the launch of 4Music
as a channel led to questions being asked about the future of E4 Music. However, E4 retained its commitment to music content, stating that E4 Music had been commissioned to run until at least the start of Big Brother in 2009.
At 10am on Thursday 4 June 2009, the day before the launch of the 2009 Big Brother series, E4 Music ceased broadcasting.
reality show was being transmitted E4 devoted much of its schedule to live coverage from inside the Big Brother house; interactive features that gave access to additional camera angles have also been transmitted. The channel also had Big Brother voting options, "Big Brother" spin off shows such as Big Brother Live, Big Brother's Little Brother, Big Brother's Big Mouth, Big Brother's Diary Room Uncut and Big Brother highlights repeats. Big Brother coverage was among the highest-rating programming on the channel, and came at a time when most of the year's American imports have ended.
campaigns, initially narrated by the ‘voice of E4’, Patrick Allen
. Since Allen's death in 2006, the similar voice of Peter Dickson has been used. Trailers often make use of dry humour and phrases which, at first, do not appear to make any sense. Past examples include:
Programme trailers sometimes have the narrator repeating things that characters have said, such as, in a trailer for Ugly Betty
that includes one character asking Betty "Why are you crying in the bathroom?", the narrator immediately asks "Why is Betty crying in the bathroom?!". And on another occasion he says "Oh No! Kerry Katona
must be double booked." commenting on a cameo by Victoria Beckham
. Sometimes the narrator appears to interact with the characters of the programme, especially notable in recent trailers for Miss Match
and What About Brian
.
Films are usually gently ridiculed in their promotion, such as with the voice of E4 telling viewers they "probably will" guess the ending of She's All That
, naming actress Kim Cattrall
as "That slaggy one from Sex and the City
" when advertising Big Trouble in Little China
, and re-dubbing a scene from Entrapment
where the two characters are running along a rooftop before being caught in a helicopters' search light with "Catherine Zeta-Jones
! This is the old man police!". There is also quite heavy use of British
words which have generally fallen out of circulation, such as ‘ruddy’ and ‘gaff’.
E4's continuity sends up the channel's Friends-reliant schedule - while in the past, announcements would generally be the same for example "Now it's time to relax with Friends", more recently the announcers have been more inventive with phrases such as "....after an episode of Friends we've shown so many times the tape's gone a bit wobbly" before a Series 1 episode which indeed had a distorted soundtrack. There have only been a handful of days since the creation of E4 when Friends hasn't been shown. It was announced on 10 February 2010 that E4 and Channel 4 would stop airing the programme in autumn 2011.
On one occasion when a playout-error caused part of an episode of Desperate Housewives to be repeated, continuity announcer Dominic O'Shea said, "I know we repeat ourselves a lot on E4 but that was of course a technical fault. Hopefully we'll have it fixed by the time it's repeated on Sunday,"http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showpost.php?p=8153306&postcount=28 playing on the fact that many of E4's imported American drama programmes are shown at least twice for each episode.
Following the US premiere of Glee
the first episode was aired as a sneak peek on 15 December 2009, one month before the actual premiere. Due to the launch of the second series of 90210
and the UK premiere of Glee both premiered with a "double bill" effect, the first two episodes of the second series of 90210
("To New Beginnings" and "To Sext or Not to Sext") was screened on 5 January 2010, with the first two episodes of Glee ("Pilot
" - which was already screened on 15 December 2009 as a sneak-peek and "Showmance
") on 11 January 2010. The Cleveland Show and Accidentally on Purpose also premiered like this.
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15–35 age group. Programming includes US imports such as The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
, Smallville
Smallville (TV series)
Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...
, Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during television network UPN's final two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Veronica Mars was produced by Warner Bros...
, The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is an American animated television series that premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox in the United States...
, Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
, The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
, Everwood
Everwood
Everwood is an American drama television series that initially aired in the United States on The WB. The series is set in the fictional small town of Everwood, Colorado, and was filmed in Ogden, South Salt Lake, and Draper, Utah, except the series pilot which was filmed in Canmore, Alberta,...
, What About Brian?, Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
, 90210
90210 (TV series)
90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...
, Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
, One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill (TV series)
One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
, Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
, The Big Bang Theory and British shows such as Shameless, Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
, Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
, The Inbetweeners
The Inbetweeners
The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was...
and Misfits
Misfits (TV series)
Misfits is a British science fiction comedy-drama television series about a group of young offenders forced to work in a community service programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and was...
. Some of the imports, e.g. Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
and Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
are screened on E4 up to one week ahead of their Channel 4 broadcasts. Its most successful broadcast to date was on 11 October 2010 when an episode of The Inbetweeners
The Inbetweeners
The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was...
pulled in over 3.7 million viewers. E4 uses the voiceover of Peter Dickson to advertise its programmes.
History
On 16 December 2004 Channel 4 announced that the subscription channel would return to digital terrestrial television. From its launch until the closure of ITV DigitalITV Digital
ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster, which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network as ONdigital in 1998 and briefly re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001, before the service ceased in May 2002. Its main shareholders...
it was available as a bonus subscription channel. It became part of the Top Up TV
Top Up TV
Top Up TV is a pay television service in the UK launched in March 2004, operating on the digital terrestrial platform. The aim of the service is to "Top Up" Freeview customers by providing additional channels and services....
subscription scheme until 27 May 2005, when the channel became available on Freeview, with the potential to increase advertising revenue by attracting a larger audience.
E4 was also available as part of the basic Sky satellite subscription channel package, due to a long term contract with BSkyB
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
it only became free-to-air
Free-to-air
Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
in 2008. This change happened on 6 May 2008 and the channel joined Freesat
Freesat
Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008...
alongside with More4
More4
More4 is a digital television channel, run by British broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky, UK IPTV broadcaster TalkTalk TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of Ireland cable networks...
.
In May 2005 E4 introduced "First Look", showing episodes of popular programmes such as Come Dine With Me
Come Dine With Me
Come Dine With Me is a popular Channel 4 television programme shown in the United Kingdom, produced by Granada Television and first broadcast in January 2005. The show has either four or five amateur chefs competing against each other hosting a dinner party for the other contestants...
, Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
and drama series such as Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
and Invasion
Invasion (TV series)
Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...
in advance of transmission on Channel 4.
More4
More4 is a digital television channel, run by British broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky, UK IPTV broadcaster TalkTalk TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of Ireland cable networks...
was launched to complement Channel 4's digital channels. ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
and The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
subsequently moved from E4 to More4.
E4 launched a Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
service in June 2002 which has become the second most popular non-terrestrial channel in Ireland with 1.1% of the audience; Sky1 is the most popular.
Since 2006 E4 has sponsored the E4 UdderBELLY
UdderBELLY
The udderBELLY is an upside-down giant purple cow tent owned by the event venue and management company Underbelly, and sponsored by E4.The udderBELLY can be used for a variety of different purposes as it can be adapted to contain a stage and all-seater 322 seat venue, or alternatively can be...
venue (part of Underbelly) at the Edinburgh Fringe
Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
and Brighton Festival
Brighton Festival
The Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...
. The venue took the form of a giant upside cow in the purple colour of E4's logo.
In July 2007 it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio
E4 Radio
In July 2007 it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on DAB radio. The station was to be launched in spring 2009 on the Digital one mulitplex and would have been aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel E4.In...
, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on DAB radio
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
. The station was planned for launch in July 2008 and aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel, however this launch date was later delayed. In October 2008 Channel 4 announced it was abandoning its plans for digital radio, and thus scrapping the E4 Radio proposal.
On 14 December 2009, a high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
of E4 launched on Sky+ HD channel 215. Unlike the standard definition channels from Channel 4, which are free to air, and the free-to-view
Free-to-view
Free-to-view is a term used for free of charge and encrypted audio and/or video contents transmission that do not require any form of continual subscription...
Channel 4 HD, E4 HD is only available to viewers with Sky's HD Pack subscription. On 1 April 2010, E4 HD was added to Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
.
Most watched programmes
The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on E4, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARBBarb
Barb may refer to:* A backward-facing point on a fish hook or similar implement, rendering extraction from the victim's flesh more difficult* Wind barbs for each station on a map of reported weather conditions...
up to 15 May 2011. The number of viewers does not include repeats or airings on E4+1.
| Rank | Show | Episode | Number of viewers | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was... |
3.05 - Will is Home Alone | 3.72 million | 11 October 2010 |
| 2 | The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was... |
3.06 - The Camping Trip | 3.70 million | 18 October 2010 |
| 3 | The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was... |
3.04 - The Trip to Warwick | 3.62 million | 4 October 2010 |
| 4 | The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was... |
3.03 - Will's Dilemma | 3.57 million | 27 September 2010 |
| 5 | The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was... |
3.01 - The Fashion Show | 3.46 million | 13 September 2010 |
| 6 | The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will , and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The Inbetweeners Movie was... |
3.02 - The Gig and the Girlfriend | 3.34 million | 20 September 2010 |
| 7 | Glee Glee (TV series) Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues... |
2.02 - Britney / Brittany | 2.63 million | 17 January 2011 |
| 8 | Glee Glee (TV series) Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues... |
2.01 - Audition | 2.49 million | 10 January 2011 |
| 9 | Friends | 9.02 - The One Where Emma Cries | 2.46 million | 9 January 2003 |
| 10 | Friends | 9.01 - The One Where No One Proposes | 2.38 million | 9 January 2003 |
E4 Music
In August 2005, following the close of that year's Big Brother, E4 introduced the E4 Music programming block. The slot initially ran through much of the morning/daytime schedule, though was later reduced to mornings only, with the amount of scripted comedy and drama screened in daytime increased.Prior to the launch of E4 Music, E4 was off-air during daytime for much of the year, only going on air in daytime for rolling coverage of reality shows such as Big Brother
Big Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
. The introduction of E4 Music led to E4 broadcasting 24/7 all year round. Initially, E4 Music would take a summer break to allow Big Brother coverage to replace it, but in later years Big Brother coverage was reduced, allowing a cut-down E4 Music to run during the summer.
In 2008, the launch of 4Music
4Music
4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland - its web component can be found at with its own and pages. It is the only channel within the Box Television Network to be branded under Channel 4 and...
as a channel led to questions being asked about the future of E4 Music. However, E4 retained its commitment to music content, stating that E4 Music had been commissioned to run until at least the start of Big Brother in 2009.
At 10am on Thursday 4 June 2009, the day before the launch of the 2009 Big Brother series, E4 Music ceased broadcasting.
Big Brother coverage
Whenever the Big BrotherBig Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
reality show was being transmitted E4 devoted much of its schedule to live coverage from inside the Big Brother house; interactive features that gave access to additional camera angles have also been transmitted. The channel also had Big Brother voting options, "Big Brother" spin off shows such as Big Brother Live, Big Brother's Little Brother, Big Brother's Big Mouth, Big Brother's Diary Room Uncut and Big Brother highlights repeats. Big Brother coverage was among the highest-rating programming on the channel, and came at a time when most of the year's American imports have ended.
Promotions
E4 has become somewhat notorious for its strange promotionPromotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
campaigns, initially narrated by the ‘voice of E4’, Patrick Allen
Patrick Allen
John Keith Patrick Allen was a British film, television and voice actor.-Life and career:Allen was born in Nyasaland , where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada during World War II where he remained to finish his education at McGill...
. Since Allen's death in 2006, the similar voice of Peter Dickson has been used. Trailers often make use of dry humour and phrases which, at first, do not appear to make any sense. Past examples include:
- “Big shiny films in your dinky little home!”
- "Coming To You, Straight into Your Telly Box"
- “Second chance Sunday — not just a bunch of repeats, honest”
Programme trailers sometimes have the narrator repeating things that characters have said, such as, in a trailer for Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
that includes one character asking Betty "Why are you crying in the bathroom?", the narrator immediately asks "Why is Betty crying in the bathroom?!". And on another occasion he says "Oh No! Kerry Katona
Kerry Katona
Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona is an English media personality and singer best known for her television work, predominantly in light entertainment and reality shows. She has also been a pop singer with girl group Atomic Kitten, a magazine columnist, an actress, and the author of ghostwritten books...
must be double booked." commenting on a cameo by Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
. Sometimes the narrator appears to interact with the characters of the programme, especially notable in recent trailers for Miss Match
Miss Match
Miss Match is a 2003 American television series created by Jeff Rake and Darren Star and produced by Twentieth Century Fox, Darren Star Productions and Imagine Entertainment. It aired in the U.S. on NBC, Australia on Network Seven, Arena and FOX8, and in the UK on Living, Channel 4 and is currently...
and What About Brian
What About Brian
What About Brian is an American comedy-drama television series created by Dana Stevens and co-produced by J.J. Abrams' company Bad Robot Productions. The series premiered on April 16, 2006, on ABC, as a midseason replacement and concluded on March 26, 2007...
.
Films are usually gently ridiculed in their promotion, such as with the voice of E4 telling viewers they "probably will" guess the ending of She's All That
She's All That
She's All That is a 1999 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Iscove, and is a modern adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion...
, naming actress Kim Cattrall
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall is an English actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's...
as "That slaggy one from Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
" when advertising Big Trouble in Little China
Big Trouble in Little China
Big Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American martial arts comedy film directed by John Carpenter. It stars Kurt Russell as truck driver Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi rescue Wang's green-eyed fiancee from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown...
, and re-dubbing a scene from Entrapment
Entrapment
In criminal law, entrapment is conduct by a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense that the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit. In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal liability...
where the two characters are running along a rooftop before being caught in a helicopters' search light with "Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
! This is the old man police!". There is also quite heavy use of British
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
words which have generally fallen out of circulation, such as ‘ruddy’ and ‘gaff’.
E4's continuity sends up the channel's Friends-reliant schedule - while in the past, announcements would generally be the same for example "Now it's time to relax with Friends", more recently the announcers have been more inventive with phrases such as "....after an episode of Friends we've shown so many times the tape's gone a bit wobbly" before a Series 1 episode which indeed had a distorted soundtrack. There have only been a handful of days since the creation of E4 when Friends hasn't been shown. It was announced on 10 February 2010 that E4 and Channel 4 would stop airing the programme in autumn 2011.
On one occasion when a playout-error caused part of an episode of Desperate Housewives to be repeated, continuity announcer Dominic O'Shea said, "I know we repeat ourselves a lot on E4 but that was of course a technical fault. Hopefully we'll have it fixed by the time it's repeated on Sunday,"http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showpost.php?p=8153306&postcount=28 playing on the fact that many of E4's imported American drama programmes are shown at least twice for each episode.
Following the US premiere of Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
the first episode was aired as a sneak peek on 15 December 2009, one month before the actual premiere. Due to the launch of the second series of 90210
90210 (TV series)
90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...
and the UK premiere of Glee both premiered with a "double bill" effect, the first two episodes of the second series of 90210
90210 (season 2)
The second season of 90210, an American television series, premiered in the U.S. on September 8, 2009 and ended on May 18, 2010. The season picks up at the end of summer after the events of last season's dramatic prom party...
("To New Beginnings" and "To Sext or Not to Sext") was screened on 5 January 2010, with the first two episodes of Glee ("Pilot
Pilot (Glee)
"Pilot" is the pilot episode of the television series Glee, which premiered on the Fox network on May 19, 2009. An extended director's cut version aired on September 2, 2009. The show focuses on a high school show choir, also known as a glee club, set within the fictional William McKinley High...
" - which was already screened on 15 December 2009 as a sneak-peek and "Showmance
Showmance
"Showmance" is the second episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on September 9, 2009. It was written by series co-creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan and directed by Murphy. The episode sees the glee club attempt to recruit new...
") on 11 January 2010. The Cleveland Show and Accidentally on Purpose also premiered like this.