Flashback to 1999: End of an era as Noel shut the doors on his big house party
It was the end of an era as a Saturday night television staple bowed out after eight series.
At its peak, Noel’s House Party, which ran from November 23, 1991 until March 20, 1999, was regularly watched by 18 million viewers.
The show, presented by Noel Edmonds, was set within a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom and picked up many awards including a BAFTA and a Bronze Rose of Montreux.
Among the segments popular with viewers was the infamous Gotchas that saw Noel and the production team orchestrate ambitious pranks on unsuspecting stars. London’s Burning star Sean Blowers was blazing mad when the radio play he was appearing in as Dr Frankenstein turned into a nightmare.
He was caught out by his old friend Noel for an hilarious Gotcha award in 1995. “He looked a real plonker and I think it is one of the best Gotchas we have done,” Noel said at the time.
Sean, who plays sub officer Hallam in the TV firefighting drama, tried to be as professional as possible when things started going hopelessly wrong. “It seemed to be going fine but they said it was an interactive programme with all sorts of technical things which meant nothing to me,’’ he said. “They asked me to wear a headset with four microphones and I looked ludicrous.
“There was a window I had to stare into but as it was a recording studio I didn’t think any more of it. That’s where the camera was hidden. I got in the studio and they were all wearing 19th century German Gothic costumes which I thought was a bit odd for a radio play, but they said it was to help the actors get into character.”
Noel said: “I did a lot of work with Sean and he is very professional, but he made one bad mistake. He said we would never get him with a Gotcha and that was like a red rag to a bull.’’
Other victims included Louise Redknapp, Barbara Windsor, Carol Vorderman, Kriss Akabusi, Lionel Blair, Richard Whiteley, Eddie Large, Samantha Janus and Yvette Fielding.
Joker Noel donned flares and flowing hair to spring a hilarious surprise on rock veterans Status Quo. Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi never suspected the ancient fan as they took part in a mock BBC tribute to their 30 years in the music business.
Viewers saw them failing to twig the truth as questions from the 300 “fan club members” in the audience become increasingly bizarre. One asked if they would kiss his 90 year old mum – and they agreed. Another fan, really an actor, sang a cringe-making song he wrote for them.
The unsuspecting stars then heard Noel claim in a strong Birmingham accent to be their greatest fan with a huge collection of memorabilia.
He persuaded them to sign cardboard cut-outs of themselves before his true identity was revealed.
Noel himself was even on the receiving end of a Gotcha award when Bradley Walsh and hypnotist Paul McKenna caught out the Noel’s House Party star with a prank of their own.
Noel believed that a real life bus conductor had been hypnotised by McKenna to respond to simple commands that Noel would give but the bus conductor seemed to be out of control.
During the programme it was revealed to Noel that the conductor was Bradley Walsh under heavy make-up.
The show also had many celebrity guests posing as residents of Crinkley Bottom, including Frank Thornton and Vicki Michelle.
In 1998, Michael Crawford, who played Frank Spencer in the television series Some Mothers Do ‘ave ‘em, was reunited with Michelle Dotrice, who played his long-suffering wife Betty in the series, on the show.
Noel’s House Party also gave birth to the pink character Mr Blobby who went on to have a Christmas number one in 1993.
Other popular segments included Wait Till I Get You Home which saw parents watch pre-recorded clips of their children being interviewed by Noel, and try to guess the children’s answers.
There was also the Grab a Grand phone-in competition where a viewer chose from three currencies aiming to select the greatest value of money and a celebrity would climb into a perspex box containing a fan and a large quantity of banknotes selected by the call-in contestant.
The celebrity had to grab as many of the notes as possible as they were blown around by the fan.
A feature of later series was the Number Cruncher game.
A phone box containing a gunge tank and a TV screen was placed somewhere in Britain.
The code to get into the phone box was broadcast live on air, and the first viewer to reach the phone box got to play a game.
Once inside, they had 45 seconds to rearrange a code on the screen to win a prize and get out again.
If they ran out of time, they were covered in gunge.
Towards the end of the show’s run, viewing figures had fallen to around eight million and it was announced the show would be taken of the air.
The party ended with Edmonds making a moving speech at the end of the final edition: “For BBC Television, the entertainment department, for me and possibly you, it really is the end of an era. I hope your memory will be very kind to us”.
