Beadle's About

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Beadle's About was a British television programme hosted by Jeremy Beadle, where members of the public became victims of practical jokes behind hidden cameras. It was produced by LWT for ITV, and ran from 1987 to 1996.

An example of one of the practical jokes would involve a person's car or van secretly being swapped for an identical one, and then having a disaster befall on it, such as it exploding, falling into the sea, or being dropped from a great height, as the owner of the vehicle looked on in horror. After a few minutes Beadle would appear in disguise, before taking it off and pointing a stick microphone at the person. As the public were familiar with Beadle from the earlier show Game for a Laugh, they would then immediately realise they had been had, often with the words "I don't believe it!".

Other stunts involved trainee workers having to cope with problems while the manager was away, such as in a bed shop where an overweight family would break all the beds by sitting on them, or a launderette where all the washing machines would malfunction, flooding the building.

At its peak, the show attracted approximately 15 million viewers, making it one of ITV's most popular Saturday night programmes during that period. In 1993, a man was arrested for trying to pull the beard off a policeman, thinking it was Jeremy Beadle in disguise. [link]

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