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20 unusual facts about Channel 4


Alan Carr

In 2010, Carr took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.

Beat the Kids

The show is a parody of Ask The Family, though the name is a reference to Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor's own Channel 4 game show, Beat the Nation.

Bill Goldfinch

The programme was shown in 2000 Channel 4 in the UK as part of a 3-part (150 minute total) "Escape from Colditz" documentary.

Blame It on the Girls

He performed the song on So You Think You Can Dance on 30 January, as well as on Alan Carr: Chatty Man on the 11th, and on The Album Chart Show on Channel 4 on the 12th.

Broadcasting Act

The Broadcasting Act 1980, that among other things allowed for the creation of Channel 4

Burslem School of Art

In 1985, the school was featured in Pottery Ladies, a series of TV documentaries made for Channel 4 with the support of the Arts Council of Great Britain.

Cajun Dance Party

West Heath Yard was also a music industry spoof which aired for a short while on Channel 4 in 1999, The album consisted of nine tracks, with singles from the album including "Colourful Life", "The Race", and "Amylase".

Edgar Wallace Mysteries

In Britain it was seen on ITV, Channel 4 and Bravo at various times from the late Sixties through to the Nineties.

Esprit d'amour

In 1990 the film was featured as part of Channel 4's Chinese Ghost Story season introduced by Johnathan Ross, being played alongside similar movies in the genre such as Encounters of the Spooky Kind, Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Mr. Vampire, Spiritual Love and Rouge.

Eye Spy

Eye Spy (TV programme), a British TV programme broadcast in July 2013 on Channel 4, where a hidden camera captures people's reactions to pretend discrimination events happening around them.

Goodwood Racecourse

From 1968 to 1970 the course's late summer meeting was shown on ITV, and from the early 2000s some races from the course occasionally appeared on Channel 4, but otherwise the course had been covered exclusively by the BBC for 50 years from 1956 (when it first appeared on television) to 2006.

Lonnie Pitchford

North Carolina Public TV; A Dibb Direction production for Channel 4.

Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun

In 2004, Britain's Real Monarch, a documentary broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom repeated the claim that Abney-Hastings, as the senior descendant of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, is the rightful King of England.

Moonshake

During his Moonshake years, David Callahan enjoyed brief cameos with contemporaries Stereolab (performing "French Disko" with them on Channel 4's The Word in 1993) and the Stereolab spin-off project Turn On.

Morrissey Fox

Development of the original 'Blonde' ale began in January 2008 and was documented in the Channel 4 programme Neil Morrissey's Risky Business.

Raleigh Gilbert

His TV work declined further when the number of meetings covered by commercial television declined considerably from January 1986 onwards, but he was still heard quite often on ITV and later Channel 4 through the late 1980s and early 1990s, often commentating on the earlier stages of major races at Newmarket where two commentators were deemed necessary.

Renee Williams

She was also the subject of a British television program called "Half Ton Mum" broadcast on Channel 4 after her death as part of the BodyShock series.

Slavery in Sudan

The issue was the subject of a Channel 4 dramatised documentary, I Am Slave in August 2010, in which none of these religious conflicts were highlighted.

The Mousehole Cat

In 1994, Grasshopper Enterprises created an animated version of the tale as part of Channel 4's Beastly Xmas in 1995, narrated by Sian Phillips.

Who Killed Thomas Becket?

Who Killed Thomas Becket? is a 2004 Channel 4 documentary concerning the murder of Thomas Becket, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to his death in 1170.


1985 Handsworth riots

Filmmaker and artist Pogus Caesar extensively photographed the second Handsworth riot, it was also witnessed by Bronx graffiti artists Brim and Goldie, who documented the devastation in the Channel 4 documentary Bombing.

3 Minute Wonder

3 Minute Wonder is a short Channel 4 television slot that broadcasts first time directors' three-minute TV programmes in the middle of the channel's weekday primetime schedule.

Ade Adepitan

Adepitan was appointed as one of the main presenters on Channel 4 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games and co-presents That Paralympic Show with Rick Edwards.

All In The Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry

All In The Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry is a 2012 documentary television series on United Kingdom station Channel 4, starring Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry.

An Act of Valour

The cast of An Act of Valour mainly consists of members of the Caravanserai Productions and Acting Studio, but also of experienced actors like Gerard Monaco, and most notably Marcus D'Amico, best known for his portrayal of Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver in the Channel 4 adaptation of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City.

Ashley Slanina-Davies

Ashley Slanina-Davies (born 18 December 1989) is an English actress born in Standish, near Wigan, who is notable for playing the role of Amy Barnes on Channel 4's teen soap, Hollyoaks.

Battle of Orgreave

The event took place on 17 June 2001 and was filmed by film director Mike Figgis for a Channel 4 documentary.

Bill Goldfinch

Six years later a full-sized replica of the Colditz glider was commissioned by Channel 4 and was built by Southdown Aviation Ltd at Lasham Airfield.

Bryony Afferson

As a musician, she came to public attention playing guitarist Charlie in Totally Frank on Channel 4 which led to the band Frank releasing the Devil's Got Your Gold album.

Channel 4 Banned season

The Channel 4 Banned season was a series of television documentaries on the UK's Channel 4 in 2004-2005, examining the history of explicit and controversial material on British television, and its infiltration of the mainstream.

Ciaran Joyce

Other credits include All about us: The Beacons for Channel 4, Digital Vision's Oscar, and Prolific Films' Summer Scars playing 'Bingo'.

Cremation of Care

The Grove and Jones' investigation were covered by Jon Ronson in Channel 4's four-part documentary Secret Rulers of the World.

Dave Kendall

Since the cancellation of 120 Minutes, he's worked on the internet, creating programs such as The Daily Dish, as a DJ, spinning records at clubs in New York and London, and on Television, at TechTV/G4, Sky, Channel 4, Travel Channel and Animal Planet.

David Bull

David Richard Bull (born 9 May 1969) is an English doctor, author, and host and commentator on a variety of British and US television programmes, such as Sugar Dome,the BBC's Watchdog, Watchdog Healthcheck,Newsround, Living TV's Most Haunted Live!, Channel 4's Richard & Judy, Tomorrow's World, and Sky's The Breathing Life Awards.

Dirk Obbink

In March 2010 Obbink appeared in Channel 4's series Alexandria: The Greatest City, presented by Bettany Hughes.

Do You Feel What I Feel?

The group once again performed the song on 25 November on The Graham Norton Show, and on their special for Channel 4's The Album Chart Show on 27 November.

Five Minutes to a Fortune

Five Minutes to a Fortune was a British game show, which aired on Channel 4 from 6 April 2013 to 5 May 2013 and was hosted by Davina McCall.

Greg Mulholland

In 2007, he was nominated for best campaigning politician in the Channel 4 Political Awards for helping to secure the release of Mirza Tahir Hussain from prison in Pakistan.

Helen Geake

Dr Helen Geake (born Helen Louise Nerde) is one of the key members of Channel 4's popular and long-running archaeology series Time Team, presented by Tony Robinson, along with Mick Aston and Phil Harding.

Heywood Community High School

Elliott Tittensor, an actor best known for his role of Carl Gallagher in the Channel 4 show Shameless, is a former student of Heywood Community High School.

Jane Margaret Rogers

In 2010, Jane Margaret Rogers appeared in an episode of Channel 4's television documentary Country House Rescue.

John Francome

He was a trainer for 18 months before becoming a TV presenter for Channel 4's horse racing broadcasts.

John Masouri

In addition, he has contributed to several radio and television documentaries commissioned by the BBC (The Story Of Jamaican Music, and Blood And Fire), Channel 4, and the BBC World Service.

Ken Hames

Following a debut on Battle Stripes for Sky TV in 2000, Hames designed and presented Channel 4's Desert Darlings, and in October 2002, filmed the follow on in Namibia with couples who attempted to cross the Namib Desert.

Luke Toyne

His live event hosting includes public entertainment, corporate networking, media workshops and marketing campaigns including 'Robots Live' - the roadshow tour of Robot Wars, Carphone Warehouse, Virgin and Derren Brown's dating experiment for Trick or Treat on Channel 4.

Michael Checkland

It has been claimed that the exodus to Channel 4 in the early 1990s of dramatists like Dennis Potter and Alan Bleasdale, who had both been responsible for series which caused outrage among Conservatives during the Milne era, had much to do with the relative lack of risk-taking at the BBC under Checkland and his successor John Birt, who was deputy director-general throughout Checkland's reign.

Nick Middleton

Going to Extremes is a television programme for Channel 4 about extreme lifestyles, in which Middleton experiences life in the hostile conditions other

Old Man of Stoer

In the Channel 4 television programme Hidden Talent, 45 year-old Maggie Reenan climbed the stack after 18 days of intensive training, after her natural aptitude for climbing was discovered.

Open Mind Productions

They have produced some 500 programmes for children and educational TV, including The Number Crew,Rat-A-Tat-Tat and Maths Mansion for Channel 4 and Little Ninjas Karate for Playhouse Disney Numberjacks for BBC2.

Paula Yates

She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube.

Richborough Power Station

The power station can be seen in several scenes of the 2008 film Son of Rambow, and was the location for the 2003 Channel 4 television series Full Metal Challenge.

Right to Reply

Right to Reply (sometimes called R2R) was a British television series shown on Channel 4 from 1982 until 2001, which allowed viewers to voice their complaints or concerns about TV programmes.

Rob Beckett

In 2011, Beckett made a guest appearance as Mike in the Channel 4 TV series Fresh Meat.

Ruth Bratt

Bratt has made notable appearances on several TV shows including FAQ U on Channel 4 (2005) and Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive on BBC Three (2006).

Sally Jones

She has presented a string of other TV and radio programmes, including several series of "On the Line", the BBC TV sports politics show, the daytime show "The Garden Party", real tennis documentaries for Channel 4, coverage of women's British Open golf (St Mellion, Cornwall), international tennis, women's rugby and NBA basketball (BBC TV), "Transworld Sport" (Channel 4) and international gymnastics (ITV).

Tamzin Malleson

She originally played Alison Dangerfield in Series 3 and 4 of the BBC drama Dangerfield, before going on to play one of the starring roles (Penny Neville) in the Channel 4 comedy, Teachers, for three of the programme's four series, and she starred in one of ITV's Poirot adaptations, "Evil Under The Sun."

Tears in rain soliloquy

In the Channel 4 documentary On the Edge of Blade Runner, Hauer, director Ridley Scott, and screenwriter David Peoples asserted that Hauer wrote the "Tears in Rain" speech.

The Blunkett Tapes

The diaries were also the subject of two episodes of the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary in October 2006, and were read on BBC Radio 4 as book of the week in October 2006.

The Book People

They used to host the online bookshops for Channel 4’s TV Book Club and CITV’s Bookaboo and currently host the Big Book Babble programme in conjunction with Scholastic.

The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star

The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star is a British comedy series, which aired on Channel 4 in 1998.

There's No One Quite Like Grandma

More recently, the song was used within the one-off Channel 4 comedy by Peter Kay called Britain's Got the Pop Factor..., which had Sally Lindsay, who was in the original choir of the song, in a cameo role.

Tristan Gemmill

In 2005, on ITV, Gemmill starred in Distant Shores, as Duncan, alongside Samantha Bond and Peter Davison, while in 2007, Gemmill he appeared as Dr David York in the Channel 4 drama Cape Wrath.

Waheed Khan

He eventually directed and produced documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 of a public service nature on a variety of subjects.

Young Fathers

During this time they released another single, "Automatic," appearing on Channel 4's Big Brother's Big Mouth in 2009 and performing at T in the Park, Creamfields, Wakestock, Belladrum and Sónar amongst other festivals, as well as main support on tours with Esser and Simian Mobile Disco.