10 O'Clock Live

October 2025 October 2025 10 O'Clock Live titlescreen.jpg Current affairs Comedy Satire Charlie Brooker Jimmy Carr Lauren Laverne David Mitchell "Bernie" by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Series 1: 65 minutes (inc. adverts) Series 2-3: 55 minutes (inc. adverts) Channel 4 2011 01 20 yes 2013 06 12 yes 3 33 United Kingdom English Pinewood Studios Zeppotron Channel 4's Alternative Election Night 10 O'Clock Live is a British comedy/news television programme that ran from 2011 to 2013, presented by Charlie Brooker, Jimmy Carr, Lauren Laverne and David Mitchell.http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live 10 O'Clock Live 20 January 2011 20 January 2011 6 January 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110106162931/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live dead The programme was commissioned following the success of Channel 4's Alternative Election Night, fronted by the same four presenters, in May 2010.http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/10_oclock_live 10 O'Clock Live - C4 Satire - British Comedy Guide British Comedy Guide 20 January 2011 20 January 2011 The first series appeared in 2011,Ward Rachel 20 January 2011 10 O'Clock Live, Channel 4, preview https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8271235/10-OClock-Live-Channel-4-preview.html The Daily Telegraph dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120225204525/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8271235/10-OClock-Live-Channel-4-preview.html 25 February 2012 26 February 2011 with two subsequent series broadcast in 2012 and 2013.Foster Patrick 1 November 2011 10 O'Clock Live to return to Channel 4 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/01/10-oclock-live-channel-4 The Guardian 4 November 2011Channel 4 announces regular new programming http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/channel-4-announces-major-new-programming Channel 4 19 March 2013 19 March 2013 In October 2014 it was confirmed that the show would not be continuing.10 O'Clock Live... is dead http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2014/10/16/21123/10_oclock_live..._is_dead Chortle 16 October 2014 The song "Bernie" by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was used for the show's theme. Interactivity The show had official Facebook and Twitter pages to enable viewer interactivity whilst live on air. Polls were run via the Facebook page and comments received via both pages and read out by the presenters.10 O'Clock Live info Channel 4, 22 January 2011 Format First series The show was introduced by the four hosts positioned, seated or standing, around an island table. In an order that changed with each show, they would each introduce themselves by name, with the last host to speak also introducing the show ("It's 10 o'clock, we're live on Channel 4, this is 10 O'Clock Live..."). The hosts would then sit down at another table and open the show on an introductory discussion and set-up to the planned topics for the week's show. This was always followed by Jimmy Carr explaining the news of the week in the form of one-liner jokes, then by Charlie Brooker examining the way in which an event, story or media-figure has been covered in the news, focusing his satire on the way the event was covered to the public. He did the same again later on, normally on a different subject (for example, if he covered a political story earlier on, he will examine coverage of a celebrity later). David Mitchell always had three sections: a panel-discussion with guests (such as journalists, activists, and MPs) discussing an issue; an interview with a more well-known or higher-ranking political figure, which he aimed to conduct as seriously as possible, but was able to satirise what the interviewee says unlike more serious political interviewers; and a "Listen to Mitchell" section, in the style of his panel-show rants and David Mitchell's Soapbox podcast series. Carr also had two more sections to himself in the style of one-liner stand-up, but usually while satirically playing a character or figure from the news, (such as George Osborne during the week of the 2011 United Kingdom budget). Lauren Laverne tended to introduce pre-recorded sketches and material, and chair the discussions amongst the four hosts. Second and third series The shows from the second and third series had a slightly shorter running time than those in the first. As such, a few items were subsequently dropped: the self-introduction of each host by name (after the credits the camera cut straight to the table where the four were seated for the initial discussion, always chaired by Laverne); David Mitchell's one-to-one political interviews were removed, while his "Listen to Mitchell" segment only appeared in one episode; Charlie Brooker's sardonic takes on news stories were reduced from two to one; Lauren Laverne's pre-recorded sketches were replaced with "Lauren Laverne's Occasional Guide to...", in which she delivered a satirical "guide" to various current events, such as the 2012 Republican presidential primaries or the UK government's expenditure for the Cultural Olympiad. Episodes and guests Series 1 # Guests Original airdate1 × 01Richard Sharp, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, David Willetts MP, Zoe Gannon, Bjørn Lomborghttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-1 Guests: episode 1 Channel4.com 20 January 2011 8 March 20122011 01 20 yes1 × 02Alastair Campbell, Tim Harford, Afua Hirsch, Professor Anthony Glees, Rizwaan Sabirhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-2 Guests: episode 2 Channel4.com 25 January 2011 8 March 20122011 01 27 yes1 × 03Harry Cole, Dr. Lucie Green, Hannah Lownsbrough, Sir Christopher Bland, Caroline Lucas MPhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-3 Guests: episode 3 Channel4.com 2 February 2011 8 March 20122011 02 03 yes1 × 04Simon Hughes MP, Shaun Bailey, Phillip Blond, Johann Harihttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-4 Guests: episode 4 Channel4.com 10 February 2011 8 March 20122011 02 10 yes1 × 05Stephen Dubner, Tamsin Omond, Milo Yiannopoulos, Sally Bercow, Steven Norrishttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-5 Guests: episode 5 Channel4.com 16 February 2011 8 March 20122011 02 17 yes1 × 06Bob Crow, Yasmin Khan, Alex Singleton, Dominic Raabhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-6 Guests: episode 6 Channel4.com 24 February 2011 8 March 20122011 02 24 yes1 × 07Dan Poulter, Robert Winston, Deborah Mattinson, Medhi Hasan, Shaun Baileyhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-7 Guests: episode 7 Channel4.com 3 March 2011 8 March 20122011 03 03 yes1 × 08Andy Burnham MP, Shane Greer, Tansy Hoskins, Rory Stewart MPhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-8 Guests: episode 8 Channel4.com 9 March 2011 8 March 20122011 03 10 yes1 × 09Nigel Farage MEP, Mark Littlewood, James Lowman, Bee Wilsonhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-9 Guests: episode 9 Channel4.com 17 March 2011 8 March 20122011 03 17 yes1 × 10Grant Shapps MP, Yasmin Khan, Maajid Nawaz, Carne Rosshttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-10 Guests: episodes 10 Channel4.com 23 March 2011 8 March 20122011 03 24 yes1 × 11Ken Livingstone, Noreena Hertz, Daniel Finkelstein, Laurie Pennyhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/episode-11-guests Guests: episodes 11 Channel4.com 31 March 2011 8 March 20122011 03 31 yes1 × 12John Prescott, Johann Hari, Shane Greer of Total Politics, Jo Rice of Spear Youth charityhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-12 Guests: episodes 12 Channel4.com 7 April 2011 8 March 20122011 04 07 yes1 × 13Richard Sharp, James Max, Max Keiser, Tessa Jowell MPhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-13 Guests: episodes 13 Channel4.com 14 April 2011 8 March 20122011 04 14 yes1 × 14Owen Jones, Peter Oborne, Natalie Haynes, Clive Anderson, Charlotte Harrishttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-14 Guests: episodes 14 Channel4.com 21 April 2011 8 March 20122011 04 21 yes1 × 15Sarah Teather MP, Jonathan Powell, Salma Yaqoob, Jesse Armstronghttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/articles/guests-episode-15 Guests: episodes 15 Channel4.com 28 April 2011 8 March 20122011 04 28 yes Series 2 # Guests Original airdate2 × 01Alastair Campbell and Clarke CarlisleSeries 2 Episode 1 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-1 10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 10 February 20122012 02 08 yes2 × 02George Galloway and Hugo RifkindSeries 2 Episode 2 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-2 10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 16 February 20122012 02 15 yes2 × 03Julia Hartley-Brewer, Owen Jones and Matt CardleSeries 2 Episode 3 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-3 10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 24 February 20122012 02 22 yes2 × 04Toby Young and Mehdi HasanSeries 2 Episode 4 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-4 10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 1 March 20122012 02 29 yes2 × 05Boy GeorgeSeries 2 Episode 5 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-5 10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 7 March 2012 and Milo Yiannopouloshttps://twitter.com/10oClockLive/status/177446173588733952 10 O'Clock Live on Twitter2012 03 07 yes2 × 06David StarkeySeries 2 Episode 6 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-6 10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 14 March 2012 and Natalie Hayneshttps://twitter.com/10oClockLive/status/179970403517743104 10 O'Clock Live on Twitter2012 03 14 yes2 × 07George Pitcher and Evan HarrisTweet (8:56 PM - 21 Mar 12) https://twitter.com/10oClockLive/status/182571413985697792 10 O'Clock Live Twitter account Twitter 23 March 2012 Good evening! Joining @RealDMitchell at the round table tonight: Reverend George Pitcher and @DrEvanHarris #10oclocklive2012 03 21 yes2 × 08Amy Lamé, Dr Dawn Harper and Morgan Spurlockhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-2/episode-8 10 O'Clock Live - Series 2 - Episode 8 - 10 O'Clock Live Channel 4 28 March 2012 1 May 20122012 03 28 yes2 × 09George Galloway, Emily Thornberry, Dominic Raab and Tom BrakeTweet (2:32 PM - 4 Apr 12) https://twitter.com/10oClockLive/status/187532991021588481 10 O'Clock Live Twitter account Twitter 11 April 2012 For our penultimate episode, @RealDMitchell will be joined by @georgegalloway @EmilyThornberry @thomasbrake and Dominic Raab #10oclocklive2012 04 04 yes2 × 10Julia Hartley-Brewer, Spencer Matthews and Billy BraggTweet (5:42 PM - 11 Apr 12) https://twitter.com/10oClockLive/status/190117719406948354 10 O'Clock Live Twitter account Twitter 11 April 2012 It's the last episode of the series & we're going out with a bang! Tonight's show features @billybragg @SpencerGeorgeM and @JuliaHB12012 04 11 yes Series 3 # Guests Original airdate3 × 01Katie Hopkins, Owen Jones, Theo Paphitishttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-1 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 1 Channel 4 24 April 20132013 04 24 yes3 × 02Angelos Epithemiou, Janet Street-Porter, Peter Stringfellow, Shiv Malikhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-2 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 2 Channel 4 5 May 20132013 05 01 yes3 × 03John Sergeant, George Galloway, Deborah Mattinson, Kayvan Novakhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-3 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 3 Channel 4 8 May 20132013 05 08 yes3 × 04Henning Wehn, Ken Livingstone, Toby Younghttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-4 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 4 Channel 4 15 May 20132013 05 15 yes3 × 05Amy Lame, Milo Yiannopoulos, Ivan Massowhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-5 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 5 Channel 4 1 June 20132013 05 22 yes3 × 06Christine Hamilton, Laurie Penny, Angela Epsteinhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-6 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 6 Channel 4 1 June 20132013 05 29 yes3 × 07Rich Hall, Zac Goldsmith, Diane Abbotthttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-7 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 7 Channel 4 1 June 20132013 06 05 yes3 × 08Richard Bacon, David Baddiel, Rupinder Bainshttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/10-oclock-live/episode-guide/series-3/episode-8 10 O'Clock Live - Series 3 - Episode 8 Channel 4 13 June 20132013 06 12 yes Viewing figures BARB as reported by The Guardian, recorded overnight viewing figures demonstrating that the show "launched with 1.373 million viewers and a 7.8% audience share, with about another 100,000 watching an hour later on Channel 4 +1", running against BBC One's popular and well established weekly political debate programme, Question Time which had ratings slightly better than the week before. Channel 4 claimed that the show nevertheless drew a higher share of the 16–34 demographic. The Guardian'''s reporter also remarked that Newsnight, BBC Two's flagship nightly current affairs programme, suffered its lowest audience of the past year. The BBC programmes overlap the 22:00–23:05 timeslot filled by 10 O'Clock Live.https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jan/21/question-time-10-oclock-live TV ratings: Question Time trumps 10 O'Clock Live Deans Jason 21 January 2011 The Guardian 6 February 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110214233218/http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/21/question-time-10-oclock-live 14 February 2011 live In the second week, ratings were down to 1.084 million viewers, representing a 6% audience share.https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jan/28/ten-oclock-live-ratings Viewers fail to set their watches for Ten O'Clock Live Deans Jason 28 January 2011 The Guardian 26 March 2011 Overnights for the show on 7 April had figures at 610,000 (3.6%) with a further 110,000 (1.2%) one hour later on the timeshifted Channel 4+1.http://television-ratings.info/televisionratings/2011/04/uk-overnight-daily-tv-barb-ratings-thursday-april-7-2011/ UK Overnight Daily TV BARB Ratings – Thursday, April 7, 2011 8 April 2011 9 April 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20120225204545/http://television-ratings.info/televisionratings/2011/04/uk-overnight-daily-tv-barb-ratings-thursday-april-7-2011/ 25 February 2012 dead Reception In Metro on 11 February 2011, Christopher Hooton wrote that the show had become "a much-improved animal with several stand-out funny moments", but also claimed it had become "as overtly partisan as Fox News".http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/855238-10-o-clock-live-is-becoming-a-party-political-broadcast 10 O'Clock Live is becoming a party political broadcast Hooton Christopher 11 February 2011 9 April 2001 A number of commentators noted that the first series of show was consistently biased towards a left-wing stance on political issues.https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/jan/20/10-o-clock-live-review 10 O'Clock Live – review 20 January 2011 16 April 2011 The Guardian Mark Lawson The four regulars also all seem united in a liberal agenda.http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/855238-10-o-clock-live-is-becoming-a-party-political-broadcast 10 O'Clock Live is becoming a party political broadcast 11 February 2011 16 April 2011 Metro.co.uk Christopher Hooton Often spouting unequivocally liberal views the team of presenters have completely pinned their colours to the mast. Now I'm no Tory but it would be nice to see a little less blatant bias in the show, but with half the presenting team writing regularly for the Guardian this looks a little unlikely. In The Daily Telegraph Robert Colvile strongly criticised the quality of the humour in the programme, describing it as an "insular, disjointed, murderously unfunny smug-a-thon",https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/9344472/The-downfall-of-a-moralising-moron-is-truly-a-thing-of-beauty.html Colvile, Robert The downfall of a moralising moron is truly a thing of beauty The Daily Telegraph 31 May 2011 21 June 2012 while in the same newspaper James Delingpole saw an overt liberal left bias in the programme.http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100080307/10-oclock-live-is-shedding-viewers-oh-dear/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110321013105/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100080307/10-oclock-live-is-shedding-viewers-oh-dear/ dead 21 March 2011 10 O'Clock Live is shedding viewers. Oh dear 18 March 2011 16 April 2011 The Daily Telegraph James Delingpole The problem lies with its relentlessly left-liberal politics. [...] Not everyone reads the Guardian or the Independent, you know. (In fact, hardly anyone.)http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100125918/minchin-and-the-nauseating-moral-cowardice-of-the-liberal-left-trenderati/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120107153453/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100125918/minchin-and-the-nauseating-moral-cowardice-of-the-liberal-left-trenderati/ dead 7 January 2012 23 December 2011 Minchin and the nauseating moral cowardice of the liberal-left trenderati James Delingpole James Delingpole The Daily Telegraph 6 February 2012 Others have criticised the apolitical nature of the programme's comedy. Reviewing the opening episode of the second series on The Huffington Post'', Richard Berry argued that the programme failed to live up to its billing as satire, commenting "More often than not, in 10 O'Clock Live politics and current affairs are referenced merely as a backdrop for toilet humour."http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/richard-berry/10-oclock-live-satire-in-short-supply_b_1266029.html Berry, Richard 10 O'Clock Live: Satire is Still in Short Supply The Huffington Post 11 February 2012 1 June 2013 References 30em External links programmes/10-oclock-live 10 O'Clock Live tv 10_oclock_live 1811399 Category:2011 British television series debuts Category:2011 English-language television series debuts Category:2013 British television series endings Category:2013 English-language television series endings Category:2010s British satirical television series Category:Channel 4 comedy Category:English-language British television shows Category:Television series by Banijay Category:Television series by Zeppotron Category:British live television series