'O.T.T.' ( 'Over The Top' ) has gone down in television history for all the wrong reasons. A.T.V. had recently become Central Television, and this was one of its first offerings - a disaster that nearly ended the career of producer/star Chris Tarrant. It started out as the very funny and anarchic Saturday morning children's show 'Tiswas'. Noting its popularity among teenagers, Tarrant then decided to make a special late-night version, and this was the tragic result. The gang - Lenny Henry, John Gorman, Bob Carolgees, and Tarrant himself - stayed, but lovely Sally James had the good sense to jump ship. In came Helen Atkinson-Wood of 'Radio Active' and Alexei Sayle. Each week an animated nude woman flew through the opening credits and commenced the show by ( and this summed up the general level of humour ) opening her legs. 'O.T.T'. had the general appearance of a drunken rugby fans' night out in Cardiff.
The sketches were witless, crude and appalling. I remember one with Carolgees in bed with Helen. They'd just had sex, and she said to him: "There you are, you see. You're not impotent.". At which point, he winked at the camera and muttered: "Works every time!". Now that is not only tasteless but demeaning to women. And not funny either.
Lenny Henry later said: "Because we were on late, there was a feeling of 'great, now we can show our bums!'. But what do you do after you've done that?". Indeed. The nadir was the appearance of a group of nude men doing a dance with balloons covering their private bits. Funny perhaps if you're at a stag night perhaps but not on television. Page 3 girls bared their breasts on air at every opportunity.
The reaction was largely negative. 'Only Too Terrible' was the verdict of 'Daily Star' television critic Ken Eastaugh. 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' producer John Lloyd ( himself no stranger to controversy ) said: "'O.T.T.' is crap, crap, crap, and you can quote me on that! What next? The adult version of 'Play Away'?".
To be fair, it had its fans, such as Victoria Wood and Mavis Nicholson, both of whom spoke in his defence on B.B.C.-2's 'Did You See?'. But they were in the minority.
Alexei did a monologue similar to his later 'Young Ones' routines, but felt uncomfortable with his co-stars' moronic humour and quit.
'O.T.T.' died after one series. Few mourned its passing. Tarrant has said he does not want it put out on D.V.D. He is wise - who wants to be seen in a flop? When the 'Tiswas' cast reunited a few years ago, the 'O.T.T'. experience was not mentioned. It has been airbrushed out of existence. Tarrant amazingly returned to I.T.V. a year later in the virtually identical ( and equally unpopular ) 'Saturday Stayback'.
The sketches were witless, crude and appalling. I remember one with Carolgees in bed with Helen. They'd just had sex, and she said to him: "There you are, you see. You're not impotent.". At which point, he winked at the camera and muttered: "Works every time!". Now that is not only tasteless but demeaning to women. And not funny either.
Lenny Henry later said: "Because we were on late, there was a feeling of 'great, now we can show our bums!'. But what do you do after you've done that?". Indeed. The nadir was the appearance of a group of nude men doing a dance with balloons covering their private bits. Funny perhaps if you're at a stag night perhaps but not on television. Page 3 girls bared their breasts on air at every opportunity.
The reaction was largely negative. 'Only Too Terrible' was the verdict of 'Daily Star' television critic Ken Eastaugh. 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' producer John Lloyd ( himself no stranger to controversy ) said: "'O.T.T.' is crap, crap, crap, and you can quote me on that! What next? The adult version of 'Play Away'?".
To be fair, it had its fans, such as Victoria Wood and Mavis Nicholson, both of whom spoke in his defence on B.B.C.-2's 'Did You See?'. But they were in the minority.
Alexei did a monologue similar to his later 'Young Ones' routines, but felt uncomfortable with his co-stars' moronic humour and quit.
'O.T.T.' died after one series. Few mourned its passing. Tarrant has said he does not want it put out on D.V.D. He is wise - who wants to be seen in a flop? When the 'Tiswas' cast reunited a few years ago, the 'O.T.T'. experience was not mentioned. It has been airbrushed out of existence. Tarrant amazingly returned to I.T.V. a year later in the virtually identical ( and equally unpopular ) 'Saturday Stayback'.