Room 101 (Radio series)
Encyclopedia
- This page is about the radio series Room 101; for information about the TV series of the same name, see Room 101 (TV series)Room 101 (TV series)Room 101 is a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities were invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign them to a fate worse than death in Room 101, named after the torture room in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is...
. For the room from Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
, see Room 101Room 101Room 101 is a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia....
.
Room 101 is a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
series that ran from 1992 to 1994 on BBC Radio 5
BBC Radio 5 (former)
BBC Radio 5 was a BBC radio network that carried sport, children's and educational programmes.It was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz, and lasted for three years and eight months. The success of BBC Radio 4's coverage of the Gulf War, on a service known as Scud FM,...
, before transferring to BBC television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
. Hosted by Nick Hancock, it was an alternative to the more established and formal Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
. Celebrities were invited to discuss their "least favourite people, places and pop songs" in order to have them consigned to Room 101
Room 101
Room 101 is a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia....
.
Series One 1992 (six programmes)
- Paul MertonPaul MertonPaul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
(9 January 1992) - Jenny Eclair (16 January 1992)
- Danny BakerDanny BakerDanny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Since the late 1970s, he has worked for a wide range of publications and broadcasters including NME, LWT, the BBC, and Talk Radio....
(23 January 1992) - Arthur SmithArthur Smith (comedian)Brian Arthur John Smith is an English alternative comedian and writer. He was born in Bermondsey, South London, brother to Richard Smith...
(30 January 1992) - Steve PuntSteve PuntStephen Punt is a British writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon with his girlfriend and two children.-Life and career:...
(6 February 1992) - Annie NightingaleAnnie NightingaleAnne "Annie" Nightingale MBE is an English radio broadcaster. She is most commonly known by the more informal name of Annie...
(13 February 1992)
Series Two 1992 (eight programmes)
- Ian HislopIan HislopIan David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
(14 August 1992) - Jo BrandJo BrandJosephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...
(21 August 1992) - Tony SlatteryTony SlatteryAnthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery is an English actor and comedian who has appeared on British television regularly since the mid 1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As a film actor, both comedic and serious, his credits include The...
(28 August 1992) - John Walters (4 September 1992)
- Helen LedererHelen LedererHelen Lederer is a Welsh comedienne, writer and actress who emerged as part of the alternative comedy boom at the beginning of the 1980s.-Career:...
(11 September 1992) - David BaddielDavid BaddielDavid Lionel Baddiel is an English comedian, novelist and television presenter.-Early life:Baddiel was born in New York, and moved to England when he was four months old. His father, Colin Brian Baddiel, was a Welsh research chemist with Unilever before being made redundant in the 1980s, after...
(18 September 1992) - Stephen FrostStephen FrostStephen Frost , also known as Steve Frost, is an English comedian.Frost is known for his work in the 1980s with Mark Arden as part of the double act The Oblivion Boys on Saturday Live...
(25 September 1992) - Donna McPhailDonna McPhailDonna McPhail is a British journalist, and was formerly a television presenter and stand-up comedian.McPhail is from London and was noted for her stand-up comedy in the 1990s, most prominently in her nomination for the Perrier Comedy Award in 1993....
(2 October 1992)
Series Three 1993 (eight programmes)
- Frank SkinnerFrank SkinnerFrank Skinner is a British writer, comedian and actor. He is best known for his television presenting, often alongside David Baddiel, with whom he also collaborated for the football song "Three Lions."He is a radio presenter on the Saturday morning slot on Absolute Radio.-Youth and early career...
(27 August 1993) - Trevor and SimonTrevor and SimonTrevor Neal and Simon Hickson are a British comedy duo, best known for their contributions to the BBC1 children's television series Going Live! and Live & Kicking during the late 1980s and throughout much of the 1990s...
(3 September 1993) - Caroline QuentinCaroline QuentinCaroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...
(10 September 1993) - Tony HawksTony HawksAntony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author.-Early life:Born in Brighton in 1960, Hawks was educated at Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Brighton College...
(17 September 1993) - Rory McGrathRory McGrathPatrick Rory McGrath is an English comedian and writer. He is best known for roles in Who Dares Wins, Chelmsford 123, Three Men in a Boat and its successors. He was also a regular panellist on They Think It's All Over....
(8 October 1993) - Kevin DayKevin DayKevin Day is a British stand up comedian, comedy writer and sports presenter, born in London.He came to prominence in the British alternative comedy stand up scene of the late eighties and early nineties, playing clubs like The Comedy Store...
(15 October 1993) - Maria McErlaneMaria McErlaneMaria McErlane is a British actress and presenter specialising in comedy. She has appeared in several TV series, including The Fast Show, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Thin Ice and Happiness, and "straight" roles in The Bill and Holby City but is probably best known as the narrator for Antoine de Caunes...
(22 October 1993) - Mark LamarrMark LamarrMark Lamarr is an English comedian, radio DJ and television presenter.-Early life:Lamarr was born in the Park South area of Swindon and has three elder sisters. His father is Irish...
(29 October 1993)
Series Four 1994 (four programmes)
- Nick RevellNick RevellNick Revell is a British stand-up comedian and writer for radio and television. Born John Revell, he studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and subsequently taught English at Westminster School....
(4 March 1994) - Simon DelaneySimon DelaneySimon Delaney is an Irish television and theatre director, whose works include the RTE series Bachelors Walk as one of three bachelors living together in a flat on the quays in Dublin....
(11 March 1994) - Chris England (18 March 1994)
- Andy HamiltonAndy HamiltonAndrew Neil Hamilton is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter and radio dramatist.-Early life:...
(25 March 1994)
Title
The title refers to the room in George OrwellGeorge Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
which, for each person, represents the worst fear they can imagine. Appropriately, this is supposedly named after a conference room at BBC Broadcasting House where Orwell used to sit through tedious meetings.
External links
- Radio Ha Ha entry for Room 101
- Room 101 on the BBC website