Whatever Next, Noel Edmonds?

Thanks to the excellent Why Don’t YouTube, over on Bluesky, I was made aware of another short-lived Noel Edmonds curio.

Noel Edmonds' first new series after The Late Late Breakfast Show's enforced cancellation was Whatever Next?, as seen today in 1987, a single series light oddity in which two pairs are challenged to predict the outcomes of street dares, queries and stunts.

Why Don't YouTube? (@whydontyoutube.bsky.social) 2024-11-30T19:00:02.086Z

Coming so soon off of the back of The Late Late Breakfast Show tragedy, Whatever Next? was perhaps a surprising inclusion in the schedules. So it’s worth having a look at how the show was being covered in the press.

Evening Herald, 19th August 1987

It’s striking how little bloviating and bluster there is, to be honest.

Scarborough Evening News – Wednesday 19 August 1987

And when it came to broadcast time, in October, it was all being presented as just another jaunty and jolly evening gameshow.

Shields Daily Gazette – Monday 19 October 1987
Peterborough Evening Telegraph – Saturday 17 October 1987

This reviewer engaged with the show on its own merits.

West Lancashire Evening Gazette – Tuesday 20 October 1987

While this one makes a vague allusion to it all.

The Stage – Thursday 29 October 1987

Is the show’s title a reference to the incident? Like, Noel’s got a new show? Whatever next?

Buy My Books
  • Proctology: A Bottom Examination
    Proctology: A Bottom Examination

    For a long time now I’ve been wanting to write an old-fashioned programme guide. One you can hold in your hand and thumb through, make notes on, spill coffee on. So I did. Proctology: A Bottom Examination is my deep dive into Bottom, the hit BBC Two sitcom starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. That’s…

Follow
Most Read
  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

From The Archive

Sign up for my FREE newsletter