Satirist Dom Joly’s iconic hidden camera show, Trigger Happy TV, has been making people laugh for 25 years – but some of the most memorable scenes nearly went horribly wrong
It’s been 25 years since Trigger Happy TV burst onto our screens, transforming the hidden camera format with its surreal universe of characters and unforgettable pranks.
Shot in London, the programme ran for two seasons on Channel 4, targeting unsuspecting members of the public in a series of surprising and sometimes chaotic ways. From human snails on zebra crossings, to full on furry battles in the background of political campaigns, satirist Dom Joly had whole host of tricks up his sleeve to catch people off guard.
But when you’re surprising random folk in random places, there is always a risk that things don’t go according to plan.
Now to celebrate a quarter-century of chaos, Joly is bringing his most iconic characters and sketches to the stage for an anniversary tour.
And as he does, we at the Daily Star have taken the opportunity to look back at the times when things didn’t quite work out how the show-makers had hoped.
Fears Father Christmas could kill a man
In one sketch a chimney sweep got the shock of his life when Father Christmas drops down the chimney. However that nearly turned into a real-life horror show when they thought the bloke they were pranking could wind up having a heart attack. Recalling the notorious prank, Joly explained that the joke involved strange items being stuck up the chimney, including a burglar and Father Christmas. But the team had to pause for thought when they realised the chimney sweep was quite old.
Joly confessed: “We did have a little think, and thought, ‘Well, what if he has a heart attack or something when Father Christmas comes down? And what do we do?’ And I’m ashamed to say, we made an executive decision to go for it.” Fortunately, the prank went smoothly without any mishaps. “He survived, and he became a local celeb,” Joly quipped.
Stunt unsettles Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone, the then Mayor of London, was left unsettled after falling victim to one of Joly’s pranks in 2000. It wasn’t necessarily a case of things going wrong for the show, but more for him.
After being targeted by one of the comedian’s stunts Mr Livingstone admitted to being horrified and emotionally scarred. Joly, dressed in a gorilla costume, followed Mr Livingstone during the mayoral election campaign, waving a placard reading “Vote monkey, get monkey”. At one point, a scuffle broke out, and Joly was seen beating a man with his placard. Mr Livingstone was finally asked about the incident on a radio phone-in on BBC London 94.9FM. He told presenters that it was never clear until the show was broadcast that the fight was staged.
He said: “I found it extremely disturbing. It left me disturbed for the whole day. The people who watched this person being beaten up weren’t certain whether it was a set-up.
“When he cut the programme, he tailored it in a way that looked as if I hadn’t done anything, whereas in fact I had refused to be interviewed. I was really quite shaken… through to the rest of the day.”
The Giant Snail nearly has its collar felt
The giant snail going over the zebra crossing is of the iconic pranks of the show. Joly, dressed as a snail, would stand waiting for the traffic to stop, then when it did, he would climb onto his belly and slowly make his way across the road. However, when they got carried away they upset the wrong people. Co-creator, Sam Cadman, explained in The Guardian: “We went to Chelsea, I found a hidden spot I could film from and we just went for it. We got it on the first take, but we found it so hilarious that we did it again and again. Then this policeman got out of a car, walked up to Dom, who froze, and said: ‘I don’t care what you’re doing but stop it right now and f*** off.’
Upsetting Gordon Ramsey
The show’s creators admitted to getting a negative reaction at certain times, with one such stunt being played out on a celebrity chef. Cadman said: “Occasionally we upset people, like Gordon Ramsay. We were interviewing him and had a friend of ours start taking photographs midway through the interview. Dom went: ‘Mr Ramsay doesn’t like having his photo taken,’ smashed the camera and chased him off. Ramsay was not impressed.”
Falling foul of MI5
One prank during the series saw Joly, dressed as a stereotypical spy, sit next to an unsuspecting person on a bench and trying to handover some secret documents. However, an error in judgement when it came to choosing the location saw things taking a scary turn.
Speaking to Times Radio, Joly said they’d picked a place on the Embankment, set up, then he wondered over to a man sitting on a bench: “I looked at him, he looked at me, and I slid a brief case over to him and said (in an accent) ‘do you have the dossier?'” He added after a brief moment of confusion the man bolted, leaving Joly confused. So he and Cadman decided to wait for another person.
However, while they waited, two plain clothed men approached, grabbed him and pinned him to the ground. He added: “Sam disappeared. And, of course, I realised we were at the back of the Ministry of Defence. All these people thought they were being turned. So I was saying, ‘please, I’m filming a TV show, the guy’s in the bushes. And, of course, Sam had legged it.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
