O.T.T.

Encyclopedia : O : OT : OTT : O.T.T.

O.T.T. was a late-night adult version of the anarchic ATV children's show Tiswas. It was broadcast at 11.00pm on Saturday nights for one series in 1982. O.T.T. was created and presented by Chris Tarrant, and also starred ex-Tiswasians John Gorman, Lenny Henry and Bob Carolgees. Helen Atkinson-Wood was the female sidekick replacement for Sally James, who stayed behind to present the concurrent and final series of Tiswas alone.

The programme's origins can be traced to Independent Broadcasting Authority worries about the increasingly risqué content of Tiswas. To find an outlet for the show's increasingly adult humour, Tarrant joined up with Gorman, Henry and James in a live tour of nightclubs and colleges called The Four Bucketeers. The success of this tour (plus album, single and Top of the Pops appearance) made them realise that an appreciative adult audience existed. On March 28, 1981, Tarrant, Carolgees, Gorman and Henry left Tiswas for good to start work on O.T.T..

In keeping with its edgier remit, the new programme gave Alexei Sayle, one of the new breed of alternative comedians, his first regular television exposure. Other acts included The Greatest Show On Legs (whose members include the legendary late comedian Malcolm Hardee). Their 'balloon dance', involving naked men dancing whilst swapping balloons to cover their genitalia, caused a national outcry at the time. In a link to the old show, there was Count Custard, an adult version of Tiswas's Phantom Flan Flinger, played by Benny Mills who was the main performer who played the Phantom Flan Flinger.

In January 1982 Chris Tarrant told Kenneth Kennaugh: "We know it has enormous potential appeal for adults. Quite what that appeal was remained remarkably ill defined." The same article stated that Lenny Henry "doesn't know what he will be doing in tonight's O.T.T.. But one thing is sure. When the show ends he'll be standing under a hot shower - 'just to recover' ... Henry loves the uncontrolled humour where even he never knows what is going to happen next. Tiswas was marvellous to work on. It was a new style of lunatic humour, and we got away with murder. When I first started Tiswas, my nerves used to go before each show simply because it was live. But now, in OTT I just get on with it.'"

The show debuted on only the second day of broadcasting of the newly established Central Television (who had taken over the Midlands franchise lost by Tiswas makers ATV). It came under fire from the press and public for what it deemed to be lowbrow, shambolic and obscene television. A man sticking a rat down his tights, topless dancers and Bob Godfrey animations about on man's obsession with a blow up doll didn't help.

Alexei Sayle left towards the end of the run, citing disappointment with the low-brow old school comedy that was present during the show. His replacement being the controversial Manchester comedian Bernard Manning. Musical guests included The Human League, Gillan, Motörhead, Fun Boy Three and Roy Wood, who recorded and released a single 'O.T.T', though it was not used as the theme music.

The show was cancelled at the end of its first run. A sequel Saturday Stayback appeared a year later, with much the same cast, but the humour much more toned down. This gave the first TV break to the likes of impressionist Phil Cool and comedian Tony Slattery.

The name OTT

An abbreviation of the phrase "over the top". The origins of the name being chosen are not totally clear. Some say it was a chance remark by Michael Palin when guesting on Tiswas. But Rick Wakeman told [an interview with Tiswas Online] that he was a member of:

"an elite showbiz club, called 'Over The Top' in the late seventies. I became chairman and the president was a record plugger called Allan James, who also used to supply some of the music acts for Tiswas. We would all meet up in restaurants. There were about 20 of us in all, and whilst the evening meal would start quite normally, it usually ended in ejection or sometimes arrest as things became very similar to that of the Tiswas programme. We called ourselves the Over the Top Club and that indeed was where the name and idea for the spin-off TV series of the same name came from, hosted by Chris Tarrant. Membership was elite and we were banned eventually from at least nine restaurants to my knowledge."

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.