After Dark

1 9 8 7 – 2 0 0 3 (UK)

This late-night discussion show from Channel 4 was broadcast live in the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning.

Groups of guests – usually around half a dozen, some famous, some not – sat on sofas in a darkened TV studio and pursued a single topic for two or three hours, unencumbered by normal restrictions on broadcast time (the show had no scheduled end time).

The programme’s dimly lit set also included a bar.

Subjects under discussion incorporated morality, the law, race relations, prisons, Israel, terrorism, pornography, animal rights, Northern Ireland, the environment, sex offenders, the death penalty, South Africa, alternative medicine, football, drugs, abortion, the Iraq War and Klaus Barbie.

Hosts included Ian Kennedy, Tony Wilson, John Underwood, Anthony Clare, Helena Kennedy, Trevor Hyett and Matthew Parris – all chosen for their ability to encourage the flow of conversation.

The show is best remembered for a January 1991 broadcast when actor and renowned wild man Oliver Reed was invited to be on an eight-strong panel to discuss, ‘Do men have to be violent?’

On the night in question, Reed was in good spirits, having just won a substantial libel settlement (and costs) from The Sun, which had accused him of beating up his wife, Josephine.

Reed made regular visits to the on-set bar as the earnest discussion got underway, and odd comments from him could be heard off camera (including “I’ve had more fights in pubs than you’ve had hot dinners, girl” and “A woman’s role in society depends on whether she wants to get shafted”).

The station began receiving outraged telephone calls, and Channel 4’s chief executive, Michael Grade, rang the studio demanding to know why the show was being allowed to continue.

The director then pulled the plug on the After Dark broadcast, and a black-and-white documentary – The Importance of British Coal Mining in the Fifties – was shown instead.

Twenty minutes later, however, the director ordered the live discussion to recommence.

By that time, Reed was generally abusing guests, staggering to and from the loo, and finally plonking himself down next to the American feminist, Kate Millett (pictured).

To her horror and a cry of, “Do I have to put up with this? It’s obnoxious and offensive”.

Reed kissed her sloppily on the cheek before getting up and leaving the studio. He later claimed he had just been play-acting what was expected of him, and had not actually been drunk.

Host
Ian Kennedy (1987 – 2003)
Tony Wilson (1987 – 2003)
John Underwood (1987 – 2003)
Anthony Clare (1987 – 1991)
Helena Kennedy  (1987 – 2003)
Trevor Hyett (1988 – 1991)
Matthew Parris (1989 – 1991)