On ITV3 this evening which I completely missed because it was unadvertised, was the 20th anniversary special of Surprise Surprise recorded in 2003 which has never been broadcast until now and was the last episode of Surprise Surprise that Cilla recorded. This was towards the end of her career with ITV as this was around the same time that she infamously quit Blind Date on the special live episode.
It is very of its time but a nice watch and is available to view on ITV Hub if you missed it.
On ITV3 this evening which I completely missed because it was unadvertised, was the 20th anniversary special of Surprise Surprise recorded in 2003 which has never been broadcast until now and was the last episode of Surprise Surprise that Cilla recorded. This was towards the end of her career with ITV as this was around the same time that she infamously quit Blind Date on the special live episode.
It is very of its time but a nice watch and is available to view on ITV Hub if you missed it.
Any idea why LWT/Granada/ITV Network never broadcast it? Can't find any explanation anywhere.
On ITV3 this evening which I completely missed because it was unadvertised, was the 20th anniversary special of Surprise Surprise recorded in 2003 which has never been broadcast until now and was the last episode of Surprise Surprise that Cilla recorded.
As to why it was never broadcast, it's almost certainly due to the Blind Date resignation, or rather the way she went about it. But that being said, that happened at the beginning of 2003 and the Surprise Surprise special episode would have been recorded later in the year. After spectacularly burning your bridges on a live show, something good must have happened to get it recorded in the first place, surely, unless it was a contractual obligation?
:-(
A former member
I spotted it in the tv guides, but never clicked about its importants.
On ITV3 this evening which I completely missed because it was unadvertised, was the 20th anniversary special of Surprise Surprise recorded in 2003 which has never been broadcast until now and was the last episode of Surprise Surprise that Cilla recorded.
As to why it was never broadcast, it's almost certainly due to the Blind Date resignation, or rather the way she went about it. But that being said, that happened at the beginning of 2003 and the Surprise Surprise special episode would have been recorded later in the year. After spectacularly burning your bridges on a live show, something good must have happened to get it recorded in the first place, surely, unless it was a contractual obligation?
Interesting to see just how these shows have changed over the last ten years. The guests they had on for their surprises barely said anything, Cilla explaining their own life for them, then they'd be reunited and she'd just walk off and do the next link! No reaction from the reunited or anything, that was it. Strange that they wouldn't want to get more out of the the moments given that this is what the show was all about. You wouldn't get that these days and the show was poorer without it IMO.
Otherwise it was quite a fun watch and all the more interesting knowing it was on the shelf for over a decade.
Interesting to see just how these shows have changed over the last ten years. The guests they had on for their surprises barely said anything, Cilla explaining their own life for them, then they'd be reunited and she'd just walk off and do the next link!
The thing is is that back then they built it up with the story then the reunion moment spoke for itself... you didn't need anything else. These days the expectation is to visualise the sob story with a VT with depressing music and visual effects and then to get everyone to verbalise exactly how happy/sad they are. I wish more lessons would be learnt as to how these types of shows used to be like and how actions can speak louder than words.
One thing I did find quite amusing was the very floral studio which I even think would appear quite dated in 2003. I also sense an ounce of boredom on Cilla's part in this show especially considering her rough treatment from ITV at the time. The 'Cilla spark' could be seen in the clips of the past shows and all I could see in this special was Cilla just reading the autocue and not really getting wrapped with the premise of the show.
There was always talk on TV Forum over the many years I've been on here of this unbroadcast special and how it's a shame it was never broadcast. So it's quite nice to see that it has now finally broadcast and was it was like.
There was always talk on TV Forum over the many years I've been on here of this unbroadcast special and how it's a shame it was never broadcast. So it's quite nice to see that it has now finally broadcast and was it was like.
There has been a few threads about what shows were never broadcast, we could never get to the bottom of it.
This is the first time in quite a while (possibly ever) where ITV3 has properly channeled Granada Plus... besides the un-fondly remembered ITV sitcoms of the 70s and 80s. I've brought it up on Virgin Media (no horrendous Hub interface to battle through) and it does seem to show how inferior the new version is, which seems a lot more forced and unnatural.
Last edited by Larry the Loafer on 28 December 2015 2:51pm
Interesting to see just how these shows have changed over the last ten years. The guests they had on for their surprises barely said anything, Cilla explaining their own life for them, then they'd be reunited and she'd just walk off and do the next link!
The thing is is that back then they built it up with the story then the reunion moment spoke for itself... you didn't need anything else. These days the expectation is to visualise the sob story with a VT with depressing music and visual effects and then to get everyone to verbalise exactly how happy/sad they are. I wish more lessons would be learnt as to how these types of shows used to be like and how actions can speak louder than words.
One thing I did find quite amusing was the very floral studio which I even think would appear quite dated in 2003. I also sense an ounce of boredom on Cilla's part in this show especially considering her rough treatment from ITV at the time. The 'Cilla spark' could be seen in the clips of the past shows and all I could see in this special was Cilla just reading the autocue and not really getting wrapped with the premise of the show.
Didn't the regular series end quite some time before this special?