Room for one more?
MARION MCMULLEN looks at how TV favourite Room 101 launched 30 years ago
Comedian Bob Monkhouse wanted the French to be locked away
COMEDIAN and quiz show host Bob Monkhouse appeared on the first TV episode of Room 101 and nominated the French to be locked away forever.
The comedy panel show made its debut on BBC2 30 years ago, on July 4, 1994.
It was based on the BBC radio show first presented by Nick Hancock in 1992 and he fronted the first two series of the television show.
The title of the programme came from the name given to the torture room in writer George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 and celebrities on the TV show were invited to argue for their pet hates to be banished to Room 101.
Along with the French, Bob named Cilla Black, Elvis Presley and lip-moving ventriloquists as deserving of a place on the banished list. He even suggested Britain should use the Channel Tunnel as a giant sewer every time the French were annoying.
When she appeared on the show herself, music and TV icon Cilla nominated unwrapped food, mobile camera phones, weather forecasters and people who said “Do you know who I am?”
Paul Merton took over as host in 1999 and presented 64 episodes over the next 10 years. Room 101 was revamped when Frank Skinner hosted from 2012 and welcomed three guests each episode to make their case for their pet hates.
Those who have taken part over the years have included Ricky Gervais, Ulrika Jonsson, Stephen Fry, Boris Johnson and Ben Miller. Spike Milligan nominated muzak, football, soap operas and his own house.
There was a backlash in 2001 when the Weakest Link presenter Anne Robinson asked for the Welsh to be put in Room 101 saying they were “annoying” and that she was envious of their constant happiness. Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins also upset the residents of Leighton Buzzard by nominating the town.