Eurotrash (TV series)
Eurotrash is a 30-minute magazine-format programme in English, presented by Antoine de Caunes and Jean-Paul Gaultier and produced by Rapido Television. It was shown in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on Channel 4 from 24 September 1993 and was a late-night comical review of unusual topics mainly from Western and Central Europe; though, despite the title, also around the world.
It ran for 16 series until 2004, making it one of the UK's longest running late-night entertainment shows. The show averaged around a 20 percent audience share, pulling in around 2–3 million viewers each week, making it the most popular entertainment show on the channel. Channel 4's slot average for Eurotrash's broadcast time was around 900,000 viewers, making the show an important hit for the channel at the time.
History
The show was conceived in Paris for London-based Rapido Television by producer and director Peter Stuart, son of American film director Mel Stuart. The first Eurotrash series were presented by Antoine de Caunes and Jean-Paul Gaultier, with narrative voiceovers by British comic actress Maria McErlane. Gaultier left at the end of series 6 and de Caunes then co-presented with a range of guest presenters for the remainder of the run. 2016 saw Gaultier's return as co-host for the one-off special.A number of features and stars survived from series one, including Pipi and Popo, two cardboard giraffes made from toilet paper tubes, and the Belgian singer Eddy Wally. Victoria Silvstedt was a semi-regular during 2003, often appearing in the studio with de Caunes to present the Naked Germans of the Week feature. Graham Norton featured as a roving reporter in series 9, Carla Bruni also appeared. Melinda Messenger appeared in the last series as a "roving reporter", always wearing a Union Jack minidress and big red boots.
In 2009, digital channel Living TV began airing a series of compilation episodes under the title Eurotrash: The Sexy Bits. These included new voiceovers from original narrator Maria McErlane.
A one-off special aired on 17 June 2016 to coincide with the UK's referendum on European Union membership.
All 16 series were released on DVD in 2022 by Network Distributing Limited in a 20-disc box set.
Content
Despite being a big budget show the programme was surreal and had a deliberate low budget feel. Bright colourful pop-art studio backgrounds used to be built full size, but in later years chromakey was used with model shots, adding to the comical 'trashy' feel. Studio material was shot in Paris. Topics covered included rabbit show jumping, singing dogs, 'nude cleaning services', magicians, porn stars such as Lolo Ferrari and Europe's very worst bands and singers.Narrative commentary was voiced by Maria McErlane. Davina McCall provided English voice translations in series 1. In later years Kate Robbins provided voice-over translation for the strange continental "stars", which she performed in exaggerated Yorkshire and other British regional accents and similar quirky anglicised effects. Johnny Daukes, former singer and writer with the indie band FIN in the 1990s, provided male voices in a similar fashion throughout the series.
One episode had an obituary of Lolo Ferrari that was produced and broadcast with a straight voiceover as a mark of respect, that stood out from the usual comic tone of the programme.
Episodes
UK series
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
| 1 | 24 September 1993 | 29 October 1993 | 6 |
| 2 | 28 April 1994 | 13 May 1994 | 6 |
| 3 | 14 October 1994 | 18 November 1994 | 6 |
| 4 | 12 May 1995 | 16 June 1995 | 6 |
| 5 | 17 November 1995 | 29 December 1995 | 7 |
| 6 | 12 April 1996 | 17 May 1996 | 6 |
| 7 | 13 September 1996 | 18 October 1996 | 6 |
| 8 | 9 May 1997 | 27 June 1997 | 8 |
| 9 | 9 January 1998 | 20 February 1998 | 8 |
| 10 | 25 September 1998 | 18 December 1998 | 8 |
| 11 | 8 January 1999 | 1999 | 9 |
| 12 | 24 September 1999 | 24 May 2000 | 17 |
| 13 | 7 July 2000 | 7 September 2000 | 10 |
| 14 | 29 March 2001 | 7 June 2001 | 10 |
| 15 | 8 August 2002 | December 2002 | 9 |
| 16 | 12 August 2004 | December 2004 | 12 |
Specials
| Title | Air date |
| Christmas Special | 24 December 1994 |
| Christmas Special | 22 December 1995 |
| Christmas Special | 24 December 1997 |
| Christmas Special | December 1999 |
| A Song for Eurotrash | 12 May 1998 |
| Euroballs '98 | 16 June 1998 |
| Eurotrash - New Year Special | 31 December 1998 |
| Eurotrash's Big Bang | 31 December 1999 |
| Eurotrash - Olympic Special | 22 September 2000 |
| Euroballs 2000 | 2000 |
| Unzipped | 19 November 2001 |
| Eurotrash EU Referendum Special | 17 June 2016 |
''A Song for Eurotrash''
A Song for Eurotrash was a spin-off of Eurotrash broadcast for the first time on 12 May 1998. It was accompanied by an album with the same title containing mostly covers of successful songs to mark the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 being held in the UK, plus a title track "A Song for Eurotrash" written for the programme:; Track listing:
- Brigitte Bardot – "Saint Tropez"
- Kenickie – "Save Your Kisses for Me"
- Dubstar feat. Sacha Distel – "Poupée de cire, poupée de son"
- Edwyn Collins – "Ding-a-dong"
- Saint Etienne – "La, la, la"
- Dean Martin – "Volare"
- Terry Hall and Sinéad O'Connor – "All Kinds of Everything"
- Shane MacGowan and The Popes – "What's Another Year"
- Éva Henger – "Ooh Yeah"
- Fox Force 5 – "A-Ba-Ni-Bi"
- Annie Christian – "Congratulations"
- Bananarama – "Waterloo"
- 808 State – Variations on "Te Deum"
- Kate Robbins – "A Song for Eurotrash"