Saturday Live

Overview

Saturday Live was a British television comedy and music show broadcast by Channel 4 from 1985 to 1987, and in 1988 as Friday Night Live. Influenced by the American show Saturday Night Live, it was produced by Paul Jackson. The series made stars of Ben Elton, Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, and featured appearances by Patrick Marber, Morwenna Banks, Chris Barrie, Emo Philips, Craig Ferguson, Craig Charles and many others. The show featured comic duo Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall in their act The Dangerous Brothers. All episodes were transmitted live, although some material was pre-recorded. Recordings of shows were edited into compilation repeats, retitled Saturday Almost Live. The show was succeeded by Friday Night Live, a shorter and slightly more tightly-formatted show with Elton as the permanent host, which ran for a single series in 1988. The show's titles consisted of reforming clay animations, highly comparable to early MTV idents.

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Paul Jackson

creator

Cast

Ben Elton

,Host

Total episodes: 40

Harry Enfield

Total episodes: 30

Stephen Fry

Total episodes: 30

Hugh Laurie

Total episodes: 30

Rik Mayall

Total episodes: 30

Adrian Edmondson

Total episodes: 30

Meat Loaf

Total episodes: 1

Ben Elton

,Host

Total episodes: 40

Harry Enfield

Total episodes: 30

Stephen Fry

Total episodes: 30

Hugh Laurie

Total episodes: 30

Rik Mayall

Total episodes: 30

Adrian Edmondson

Total episodes: 30

Meat Loaf

Total episodes: 1

Extra

Release Date

January 25, 1986

Last air Date

April 29, 1988

Status

Ended

Original Language

English

Networks

Available On

Currently it's not available for streaming.

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seasons

Friday Night Live

Aired on: 1988 | 10 Episodes

The third series, Friday Night Live, renamed to reflect its scheduling move to the titular day, is the last of the programme's original iteration. Shorter and slightly more tightly formatted show, it retained Ben Elton as permanent host.