Des O'Connor Tonight is a British variety chat show hosted by comedian and singer Des O'Connor

Des O'Connor

Des O'Connor, CBE is an English comedian and singer. A former talkshow host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years...

. It was originally broadcast on the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 from 1977 until 1982, where it then moved to ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 in 1983 starting on 1 November and ran until 24 December 2002 after it was axed by ITV after 25 years on air.

Des O'Conner Now!

In 1984 Des did a series of chat shows live from the Royalty Theatre London, which contain 9 episodes.

Fokker joke

Stan Boardman talked about Fokker

Fokker

Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....

but made it sound like he was using the swear word: it resulted in the end of live broadcasts of the Des O'connor show,until the 1990s

Transmission guide

• BBC
• Series 1: 6 editions 17 October 1977 -21 November 1977
• Series 2: 8 editions 18 September 1978 - 6 November 1978
• Series 3: 6 editions 14 January 1980 - 18 February 1980
• Series 4: 8 editions 27 October 1980 - 15 December 1980
• Series 5: 8 editions 29 September 1981 - 16 November 1981
• Series 6: 8 editions 1 November 1982 - 20 December 1982

• Series 7: 10 editions 1 November 1983 - 3 January 1984
• Series 8: 15 editions 11 September 1984 - 25 December 1984
• Series 9: 12 editions from 8 October 1985 - 31 December 1985
• Series 10:12 editions 14 October 1986 - 30 December 1986
• Series 11: 9 editions from 21 October 1987 - 16 December 1987
• Series 12: 10 editions from 26 October 1988 - 28 December 1988
• Series 13:10 editions 25 October 1989 - 27 December 1989
• Series 14: 9 editions 31 October 1990 - 9 January 1991
• Series 15: 11 editions 16 October 1991 - 15 January 1992
• Series 16: 10 editions 7 October 1992 - 30 December 1992
• Series 17: 12 editions 17 November 1993 - 9 February 1994
• Series 18: 10 editions 30 November 1994 - 8 February 1995
• Series 19: 8 editions 13 December 1995 - 7 February 1996
• Series 20: 9 editions 11 December 1996 - 12 February 1997
• Series 21: 10 editions 3 December 1997 - 8 April 1998
• Series 22: 10 editions 11 September 1998 - 23 December 1998
• Series 23: 10 editions 2 July 1999 - 3 September 1999
• Special: 5 August 1998
• Christmas Special: 27 December 1999
• Christmas Special: 24 December 2001
• New Year Special: 31 December 2001
• Christmas Special: 24 December 2002

External links

• http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/29749: BBC 77 - 82
• http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/6870: ITV 83 - 2002