Saturday Live

The story

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.

The seasons

Season 1 Series 1 1986 · 10 episodes Season details＋

Jan. 25, 1986

A synopsis is not available yet.

Season 2 Series 2 1987 · 10 episodes Season details＋

Feb. 7, 1987

A synopsis is not available yet.

Season 3 Friday Night Live 1988 · 10 episodes Season details＋

Feb. 19, 1988

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.

Special episodes

Specials 1985 · 27 episodes Season details＋

Jan. 12, 1985

A synopsis is not available yet.

Cast

H Harry Enfield B Ben EltonHost S Stephen Fry H Hugh Laurie R Rik MayallRichard Dangerous A Adrian Edmondson M Meat Loaf