As we’re reminded that this Pandemic has hit its one year anniversary, for many of us TV has become a huge escape not to mention an important marker in our diaries.
Here accessibility reporter Dan, shares his latest TV review….
Here we are at episode 5 of Takeaway already, and it was a big one this week as Ant and Dec were reunited with Cat Deeley for their SM:TV Live sitcom Chums returning for the End of the Show Show.
I’ll explain more later.
Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway series review Episode 5
So this episode started with Ant, Dec and Cat in the corridor having a chat, too much to go into.
This week’s Star Guest Announcer was Romesh Ranganathan, he said what was coming up on the show, then the boys went down the stairs and eventually made it onto the stage, and they were so excited.
Then Ant and Dec had a chat with Romesh and asked him what’s been upto lately.
Read My Lips
Then it was time for the return of Read My Lips.
The aim of this game was Romesh trying to read what some viewers were saying, as he had headphones on. They would all be saying countries.
If he guessed one word, they’d win £250, 2 words they would win £500 and 3 words would win them a Takeaway Getaway.
Viewer one was called Justin and Romesh guessed 3 right so he won him a Takeaway Getaway.
Viewer 2 was Marie and Romesh only got 2 right, so she won £500.
Viewer 3 was called Kully and Romesh guessed three right, so he won him a Takeaway Getaway.
Viewer 4 was called Christina and again Romesh guessed three right, so she won a Takeaway Getaway.
That was all in Part one.
In Part 2, The Happiest Minute Of The Week where Ant and Dec gave more Takeaway Getaways to members of the virtual audience for many reasons e.g. telling jokes for 100 days, raising money and other reasons.
Then Stephen Mulhern explained this week’s challenge for Ant v Dec: Going for Gold. The challenge this week was called Quazketball which was a mix of quiz questions and basketball.
Ant v Dec: Going for Gold (Quazketball)
In Part three it was time for Ant v Dec: Going for Gold. Quazketball was where the boys had to shoot balls into the hoop they thought had the right answer , but they were also on a spinning wheel so that made it harder. Dec won 7 points to 4 to lead 2-1.
Undercover
In Part 4 it was time for one of the riskiest Undercover’s for a while as Ant and Dec went Undercover on Cat Deeley. I’ll include a video of this at the end of the blog, but I’ll explain as well.
Cat was promoting her book in September 2020, but little did she know that Ant and Dec were controlling everything. It began by Ant and Dec setting up a catwalk for Cat to walk into he studio , and then when she got to the entrance Ant and Dec pressed the traffic lights to turn it Red. They eventually let her go in.
Next Ant and Dec went behind the cartoon backdrop of Cat’s photo shoot and made some funny faces through the cut out holes in the backdrop.
Next , Cat had to dress up in a onesie and get ready to film her very own Cbeebies Bedtime Story.
Dec disguised himself as a director and was hidden away in another room, and Ant disguised himself as a koala bear. Ant’s cover was nearly blown as his koala head nearly came off when he was kicking the Q in front of him. Then when Ant accidentally knocked a candle off and it started a fire, that’s when Dec came down from his position and Ant and Dec revealed themselves and said: “I’m afraid its not Cbeebies, It’s Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
Win The Ads
In Part 5 it was time for Win The Ads, The chosen viewer was playing for the contents of the ad breaks from Monday’s This Morning.
Cartoon Ant and Dec did their running, and it was Dec who chose Fiona who was very excitable. Just like all the way through this series, Fiona would have 75 seconds to nswer as many questions as she could from this week’s news. She got five questions right which meant five prizes. They then asked the audience and Romesh what she should do, then they asked Fiona if she was gonna stay or play. She said she was going to play.
It was then revealed that the five prizes she had already won were:
Sofa and dining set
Cola
Kitchen Roll
Washing Up Liquid and Yoghurt
She got the make or break question correct which meant she took away all 16 prizes.
The End of The Show Show (Chums)
In the sixth and final part of this week’s show, it was time for The End of The Show Show.
This week it was all about the return of the sitcom that used to be on when Ant, Dec and Cat used to present SM:TV Live. It was called Chums. I’ll try explain it in a simple way and I’ll also include a video as well.
A bit of background to Chums when it first started during SM:TV Live is Chums was a series of sketches, parodying popular American sitcom Friends. The series saw Ant, Dec and Cat playing fictionalised versions of themselves, living together in a Newcastle-based flat.
Each episode of Chums is around five minutes long, following a narrative unique to the episode itself. The opening moments show the freeze frame, from the previous episode, as to remind viewers of what had happened “previously on Chums.” The titles (a spoof of the Friends title sequence) then roll and a new storyline will begins, often preceded with the narrator joking as to the sketch’s live audience – eg: “Chums is filmed before a… live studio audience,” followed by the sound of bees. For the final episode aired on 27th December 2003 as part of the final edition of SMTV Live airs on ITV, the narrator says “Chums is filmed for the last time ever,” followed by the studio audience groans.
Each episode features a fight behind the sofa, often between Ant and Dec, which ultimately ends in Ant losing and being sent ‘upstairs.’ This gives Dec an opportunity to attempt to kiss Cat but his attempts are always interrupted by a new celebrity neighbour’s visiting. The scene climaxes on a cliffhanger of some sort, prompting a ‘freeze frame’ where the cast freeze their positions, giving the illusion that the video itself has been paused. The narrator then adds to this drama, leaving a hook for the audience to “Find out in next week’s episode of Chums.” However, the cliffhanger would usually be resolved quite quickly (in some cases, during the recap voice over) and would end up having little bearing, if any, on the next episode.
Where this particular one-off episode began was with Ant being worried that Dec and Cat weren’t actually married, as he forgot to get the wedding certificate done, as he couldn’t be bothered.
Then every so often, a celebrity would join the house with cameo roles.
It ended with Dec and Cat getting married officially by the vicar Ant.
There were loads of famous names during this epsode: Sting, Emily Atack, Eamonn and Ruth, Simon Pegg, Steps, Stephen Mulhern, Fleur East, Joe Lycett.
Here’s a few videos of a few of the things I’ve explained:
Read My Lips – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1JMtJL0kjs
Ant v Dec: Going for Gold (Quazketball) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ZzpqUYrrw
Undercover (Cat Deeley) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJJjqoBs2uU
End of the Show Show (Chums) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23ToUJ2IwW0
Another excellent, enjoyable show of this great series. My favourite parts of this episode were:
Undercover and Quazketball as they were both funny segments. Can’t believe only two more episodes to go.
Penultimate episode review next week
