''Club X'' is a short-lived 1989

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

arts and music magazine programme that is often cited as an example of TV Hell.

Details

The production and presentation team was largely taken from the earlier Channel 4 success

Network 7 ''Network 7'' was a short-lived but influential youth music and current affairs programme screened on Channel 4 over two series in 1987 and 1988. The series was created by Jane Hewland and Janet Street-Porter, who was also editor of the first se ...

and had the same editor

Charlie Parsons Charles Andrew Parsons is a British television producer known as the creator of the ''Survivor'' franchise. He also created ''The Big Breakfast'' and '' The Word''. Education Parsons was educated at Tonbridge School, a boarding independent scho ...

. At the time Club X was commissioned Channel 4's new Chief Executive

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...

was attempting to make the channel's cultural programming more accessible, a process regarded by some as

dumbing down Dumbing down is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content in education, literature, cinema, news, video games, and culture. Originating in 1933, the term "dumbing down" was movie-business slang, used by screenplay writers, meanin ...

. The Club X format was intended to blend items on relatively high-brow arts with the kind of quirky stories and items that had been features of Network 7, such as feminist pornography. Club X was broadcast live over 23 weeks from 26 April to 27 September 1989 in a Wednesday night 90-minute slot scheduled directly against BBC2's new arts magazine

The Late Show The Late Show may refer to: Film * ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film * ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl Music * ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis album), a 1961 live album by jazz saxophonists Eddie "Loc ...

, another production by Network 7 graduates. There was an edited repeat the following Sunday. Fortunately the show's presenters led by

Murray Boland Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American bicycle manufacturer * Murray Motor Car Company, an American car manufacturer * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust ...

and Martina Attille had live experience yet struggled bravely with the often spurious chaotic direction. The other presenters included drag artist Regina Fong and Fou Fou L Hunter. Hunter died mid-series (11 August 1989). In a reference to the then current

Acid House Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

scene the programme's set was modelled on the nightclub

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

though the constant background music made it impossible for the presenters to hear cues and studio interviews were often inaudible while members of the audience occasionally interfered with the set ups. Each week was themed around an avant-garde art movement, Dada, Surrealism etc.

Buygones

Club X was the first television work of

Victor Lewis-Smith Victor Lewis-Smith (12 May 1957 – 10 December 2022) was a British film, television and radio producer, a television and restaurant critic, a satirist and newspaper columnist. He was executive producer of the ITV1 Annual National Food & Drink ...

whose stand-alone segment Buygones featured humorous takes on withdrawn consumer items such as the Aztec Bar and OMO washing powder.

Cancellation

An edited version of the Wednesday broadcast was shown at 14:00 the following Sunday. Although the edited version tidied up the presentation and removed the more graphic elements, the content remained the same and an off-colour remark about the dead comedian

Eric Morecambe John Eric Bartholomew (14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984), known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's de ...

drew complaints. A second series was not commissioned; as Channel 4 had, unusually, produced the series in-house, the channel bore the full cost. This made it one of the most expensive failures in the company's history. Some elements such as 'Buygones' were recycled as stand-alone programmes or greatest hits compilations. Charlie Parsons went on to set up a production company with Waheed Ali, which then merged with Planet Pictures, which subsequently produced several shows including The Big Breakfast and "The Word".

References

* * *{{cite news, url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer-club-x/123145786/, work=

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

, date= April 23, 1989, title=Creative emotion Channel 4 original programming 1989 British television series debuts 1989 British television series endings