Frankie Boyle returns to Channel 4
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Frankie Boyle is set to return to Channel 4 after his series Tramadol Nights caused numerous complaints!
Stand up comedian Frankie Boyle, 39, will return to Channel 4 after his six programme series Tramadol Nights sparked outrage with many issues.
Controversy surrounding the show had begun before the series had even begun. The name of Tramadol Nights replaced Boyle’s original show title idea of Deal With This, Retards: with the possibility that it would put “people and advertisers off” although even with the change of series title, advertisers such as L’Oreal and Nescafe apparently pulled the plug mid-series after not wanting their brand to be associated with the comedian’s particular style of humour.
Frankie Boyle has been under fire from both Ofcom and Channel 4 for many reasons. The series saw Boyle using race-related words, joked about dead soldiers and even used the disappearance of Madeleine McCann for humorous purposes.
However, the most publicised outrage of the series is the joke about Katie Price’s son Harvey. Jordan, who was appalled by Boyle’s choice of humour, involved her lawyers and made a programme to defend her son from the cruel remarks.
Boyle joked: “Jordan and Peter Andre are still fighting each other over custody of Harvey - eventually one of them will lose and have to keep him” along with other offensive material about the 8 year old disabled son of Jordan.
However, amidst all the previous uproar surrounding the comedian and his many jibes at others, Channel 4 have announced that he will return to the channel for a new talk show.
In the pilot of the new show, Boyle will talk to others about recent news stories. Shane Allen, Head of Comedy at Channel 4, spoke in a recent interview: "It's him in a studio. It's capturing him riffing off the audience a bit, with some people challenging what he says. We are just working out how we can best capture that. If Frankie has an opinion about a story, we'd have someone on who maybe had a connection to the story or was an expert."
Should the show proceed to a full commission, Allen said the broadcaster would "film it the night before and cut out all the horrific bits". He added, as a joke: "It's very much like Parkinson or Wogan, but with paedo jokes."
By Rebecca Crutchley