X-Nico

18 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.

An Unfinished Journey

Also included is an essay called The Illusion of the Third World originally commissioned by Channel 4 Television.

Anthony Powell Society

The Society emerged from the Anthony Powell Resources website begun in 1994 by Dr Keith Marshall and its associated email discussion list arising from the interest in Powell stimulated by the dramatization of A Dance to the Music of Time on UK Channel 4 TV in autumn 1997 and following his death.

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

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.

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.

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.

Kevin Bridges

In 2010, he 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.

Lonnie Pitchford

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

Raleigh Gilbert

His final broadcast on Channel 4 was in January 1996 - at the end of his involvement with the channel he was only used as a betting and results reader.

Saving Africa's Witch Children

The film was part of Channel 4's Dispatches Series and won numerous awards, including a BAFTA and an International Emmy for Best Current Affairs.

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 ITV Seven

ITV's midweek racing coverage had already been on Channel 4 since 22 March 1984; from 5 October 1985 the Saturday afternoon coverage also moved to the fourth channel, permanently becoming Channel 4 Racing, although it was reduced in scope considerably at the start of 1986, and would not become as extensive as it was in the ITV era until the late 1990s.

Whitefriars Shopping Centre

The "Big Dig" archaeological excavation was carried out on the site by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust in conjunction with Channel 4's Time Team from 2000–2003, unearthing mostly Roman and Mediaeval finds.

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.


A Jihad for Love

A Jihad for Love is produced by Halal Films, in association with the Sundance Documentary Fund, Channel 4 Television (UK), ZDF (Germany), Arte (France-Germany), Logo (US) and SBS (Australia).

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Darren Bender

Darren Bender became known in the UK TV industry for launching several long-running new film-maker's initiatives (Coming Up & The Other Side) at broadcaster Channel 4.

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.

Finn Brothers

This song was also used on the final session of the last day of the 2005 England vs. Australia Ashes cricket series on Channel 4 Television, at the end of the last day of cricket being shown on British terrestrial television.

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.

Jago Cooper

Involved in popularising archaeology through television, he co-presented the 2009 Channel 4 documentary Man on Earth with Tony Robinson and Joy Singarayer.

James Rusbridger

In May 1989 Rusbridger made an extended appearance on the Channel 4 discussion programme After Dark, alongside Tony Benn, Lord Dacre, Miles Copeland and others.

John Fielding

The 2008 Channel 4 television series City of Vice is based on the crime investigation work of the Fielding brothers.

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.

Lighter

In August 2011 Stephen Fry chose the lighter as the greatest gadget in his Channel 4 programme Stephen Fry's 100 Greatest Gadgets, one of the 100 Greatest strand, describing it as "fire with a flick of the fingers".

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.

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.

Miss Naked Beauty

Miss Naked Beauty is a short-lived, six-episode reality television show produced by Maverick Television, aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.

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.

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.

Penny Mallory

Mallory is also a television presenter; she co-anchored Channel 4's motoring programme Driven alongside Mike Brewer and Jason Plato and Accident Black Spot.

Popworld Promotes

Popworld Promotes is a competition run by Channel 4's Popworld television programme, searching for potentially talented unsigned bands in the UK.

Radioville

It is responsible for much of Britain's blue-chip company radio advertising, including among its clients The Carphone Warehouse, Harrods, BBC, Nationwide Building Society, Nestlé, Churches Advertising Network, Channel 4, DRDB, Autoglass and Time Out.

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.

Ruth Dudley Edwards

Her non-fiction books include An Atlas of Irish History, James Connolly, Victor Gollancz: A Biography (winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize), The Pursuit of Reason: The Economist 1843–1993, The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal Institutions (shortlisted for Channel 4/The House Politico's Book of the Year) and Newspapermen: Hugh Cudlipp, Cecil King and the glory days of Fleet Street.

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).

Saltley Gate Peace Group

In January 2007, the group publicly supported the city's Green Lane Mosque against accusations of extremism, made in the Channel 4 documentary Undercover Mosque.

So Easy

The sampled lyrics are: "Blue on blue, heartache on heartache/Blue on blue, Now that we are through." "So Easy" was used for a time on British television adverts for T-Mobile, as well as the displays between programs on Channel 4.

Surrey Heath

Surrey Heath was voted the 6th best place to live in Channel 4's 2007 Location, Location, Location 'best and worst' survey.

Talk down aircraft landing

In 2010 British hypnotist and illusionist Derren Brown presented a programme on Channel 4 television entitled "Derren Brown: Hero at 30,000 Feet".

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 Chimes, Uxbridge

The Chimes was used to film scenes for the Channel 4 television comedy The Inbetweeners, offering itself as a shooting location on just three days' notice after another shopping centre withdrew.

The Last Leg

The Last Leg (known during its first series as The Last Leg with Adam Hills and its end of year special as The Last Leg of the Year) is a UK TV show that originally ran alongside the 2012 Summer Paralympics every night following the main coverage on Channel 4.

The Law of the Playground

The Law of the Playground is a British television series broadcast on Channel 4 produced by Zeppotron in which various British comedians and celebrities recollect the past times of childhood at school.

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.

Tobie Puttock

The creation of the restaurant and training scheme formed the basis of a 2002 TV series on Channel 4, Jamie's Kitchen.

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.

Willie Harcourt-Cooze

Relocating to a rented property in Devon, England, after several years of assembling suitable equipment, and the resumption of cocoa farming, he began production in 2007 in Uffculme, Devon, filmed by Channel 4.

Won't Go Home Without You

Robert Christgau gave a positive review on the album as well as the song, saying "The devilishly memorable "Won't Go Home Without You" combines confidence with affection rather than macho." Channel 4 called the song "the musical equivalent of a dog's fart at the dinner table" and gave it just one star out of a possible ten.

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.