Room 101

It's great. It always leads to some big laughs, and makes you think about which item should really go in Room 101. My only gripe is that the later seasons tend to drag things out and only have two items shown, or have a useless audience participation segment to pad out the runtime, so I'd suggest watching the earlier seasons which usually show three things instead. But obviously not the actual first season in 1994. To be honest, I've only seen Frank Skinner's version of the series from 2012 and onwards, so maybe this review isn't 100% accurate, so if you really care then maybe you should watch every single episode before that then make a review, however you probably won't since that'll be a big waste of your time.

When Stephen Fry went on 'Room 101', he lambasted the format and proposed a variant whereby guests named their favourite things. Its easy to see why it wasn't made. Negativity gets big audiences, positivity doesn't. 'Room 101' is unmissable only when the guest is brilliantly funny ( the episodes with Spike Milligan, Peter Cook and Linda Smith spring to mind ). Put someone who used to be on 'Blue Peter' or 'Eastenders' on it and you're in big trouble. Nick Hancock was the first and best presenter; Paul Merton is okay but tends not to put up much of an argument against the guest's choices. To give an example, when Michael Grade selected 'Dr.Who', Merton caved in completely, letting Grade spit his venom. Also the use of out-of context film clips is annoying in the extreme. On one occasion, the American singer Johnnie Ray was shown miming badly to one of his hits. I wonder if the studio audience's hilarity would have been as great if they'd been told beforehand he was stone deaf?

The show premise is fine. The problem is Frank Skinner ruins it by interrupting guests with his own awful and unfunny attempts at humour. He hijacks the theme, distorts the point and turns it into a lame 'joke' act which is designed to be self promoting for himself, and ignores the guest. It's cringeworthy and disrespectful to the guests.

This is a long-running comedy series that used to be shown on BBC Two and which is now shown on BBC One. Celebrity guests nominate things they hate and wish didn't exist to be consigned to Room 101. The host decides whether or not to put them there.

Under the first and second hosts - Nick Hancock and Paul Merton - there was one guest per show. Under the current host - Frank Skinner - there are three guests per show and they compete with each other over whose nominations most deserve to be dumped in Room 101.

How funny and interesting each episode is depends a lot on who the host and guests are. Merton is a much better host than Hancock or Skinner. Some guests are much more entertaining than others - some guests don't seem to fully understand the style and tone of the show.

Dutch, Israeli and Australian versions of the show have also been made.

'If you had the opportunity to consign 5 items into the oblivion known as Room 101, what would they be and why?'. That was the main theme of this BBC2 show, as celebrities- most of whom we've never heard of or seen before- choose their 5 pet hates and offer reasons as to why they despise them so much.

The first presenter, Nick Hancock eventually left the show to host the BBC1 sports quiz, 'They Think it's All Over', only to be replaced by the sarcasm and sardonic wit of 'Have I Got News For You's' Paul Merton.

The format of this show was well put and devised, the idea of selecting 5 things; be it people, places, animals, whatever, you loathe to death is more interesting, when it comes down to entertainment value than say selecting 5 things you like. Besides, in a way almost, negative things generate just as much attention, as well as criticism as that of bad press, which sells. The selection of video clips to illustrate the guests point, as well as Paul Merton's is great.

What I found interesting though is that the guests on the show, many of whom i am totally unfamiliar with myself, select some of the most bizarre and interesting things to put into Room 101.

The show celebrates mediocrity, in a way that is a send-up of the things people considered inferior in their eyes. The humour aspect is a great addition, because even though it is about the things we loathe, we can still laugh at it and make fun of it at the same time and at our own expense. I enjoy watching the likes of Paul Merton take the mick and have fun.

I think that had Room 101 been just about celebrating the good things and selecting people, places, things etc that we consider to be good, no matter how inspiring and uplifting it may be to us, then it wouldn't make interesting viewing as this show is. Likewise, in that case, that would be just too obvious and playing it 'too safe'.

Past guests who have appeared on the show included Stephen Fry, artist Tracy Emmin, Ricky Gervais and the late great Radio 1 DJ Sir John Peel and lesser known celebs such as Linda Smith and Tony Slattery to name but many.

Room 101 is a great little show and a good laugh that deserves a much bigger audience, if it had been on BBC1, although its cult status on BBC2 makes this one of the channel's most under- rated hits.