Live at the Apollo (TV series)

Live at the Apollo (formerly titled Jack Dee Live at the Apollo) is a British stand-up comedy programme performed from the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in west London. Despite the title, the programmes are recorded, not live.

Live at the Apollo
Genre	Live comedy
Presented by	Jack Dee (2004–2007, 2013) Guest hosts (2007–)
Narrated by	Patrick Allen (2004–2005) Peter Dickson (2007–)
Opening theme	BBC: "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	15
No. of episodes	97
Production
Executive producers	Addison Cresswell, Andrew Beint and Joe Norris
Producers	Alex Hardcastle, Anthony Caveney
Running time	30–45 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC One (2004–2015) BBC Two (2015–)
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	6 September 2004 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
External links
Website

Jack Dee hosted the first two series and the opening show of the third series, performing a short segment before introducing a guest comedian. Until 2015, all episodes were broadcast on BBC One. The show moved to BBC Two in November 2015. The programme was renamed for its third series which was filmed over three evenings in October 2007. The format was changed to suit with one of the night's performers assuming hosting duties.[1]

A fourth series began transmission on 28 November 2008. It showcased a variety of the newer stand-up comedians and was rescheduled from Monday nights to Friday nights to replace Friday Night with Jonathan Ross after Ross's suspension in the wake of the Sachsgate row.[2] After hosting the first episode, Michael McIntyre got his own show of a similar format; Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow was broadcast for a series of six episodes in 2009.[3]

A fifth series aired in late 2009 and early 2010,[4] the recordings of which took place in October 2009. This series was initially broadcast as edited 30-minute episodes, but the full length (45-minute) versions were then shown in May, June and July 2010.

A sixth series of Live at the Apollo began airing in late November 2010, with new episodes being recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo during September and October 2010. The episodes are 30 minutes in length but may be extended once they reach the repeat channels such as Dave and Comedy Central.

Episode list

Viewing figures from BARB and British Comedy Guide.[5][6]

Series	Episodes	Originally aired
		Series premiere	Series finale
1	6	6 September 2004	11 October 2004
2	6	12 September 2005	17 October 2005
3	6	12 November 2007	17 December 2007
4	6	28 November 2008	16 January 2009
5	6	4 December 2009	1 January 2010
6	6	25 November 2010	1 January 2011
7	8	4 November 2011	21 January 2012
8	6	17 November 2012	4 January 2013
9	6	22 November 2013	15 January 2014
10	6	19 November 2014	2 January 2015
11	7	9 November 2015	20 December 2015
12	7	8 November 2016	20 December 2016
13	7	30 November 2017	4 January 2018
14	7	15 November 2018	22 December 2018
15	7	5 November 2019	17 December 2019
Specials	4	2 June 2018	28 December 2020

Series 1 (2004)

No.	Host	Comedian	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
1x01	Jack Dee	Joan Rivers	6 September 2004	N/A
1x02		Ardal O'Hanlon	13 September 2004	N/A
1x03		Jo Brand	20 September 2004	N/A
1x04		Ross Noble	27 September 2004	N/A
1x05		Omid Djalili	4 October 2004	N/A
1x06		No guest	11 October 2004	N/A

Series 2 (2005)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
2x01	Jack Dee	Lee Mack	12 September 2005	N/A
2x02		Dara Ó Briain	19 September 2005	N/A
2x03		No guest	26 September 2005	N/A
2x04		Rob Brydon (in character as Keith Barret)	3 October 2005	N/A
2x05		Marcus Brigstocke and Rich Hall	10 October 2005	N/A
2x06		Julian Clary	17 October 2005	N/A

Series 3 (2007)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
3x01	Jack Dee	Jason Manford and Russell Howard	12 November 2007	N/A
3x02	Jimmy Carr	Alan Carr	19 November 2007	N/A
3x03	Jo Brand	Michael McIntyre	26 November 2007	N/A
3x04	Lee Mack	Sean Lock	3 December 2007	N/A
3x05	Joan Rivers	Patrick Kielty	10 December 2007	N/A
3x06	Dara Ó Briain	Stephen K. Amos and Frankie Boyle	17 December 2007	N/A

Series 4 (2008–2009)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
4x01	Michael McIntyre	Rich Hall and Rhod Gilbert	28 November 2008	N/A
4x02	Al Murray (in character as The Pub Landlord)	Shappi Khorsandi and Russell Kane	5 December 2008	N/A
4x03	Sean Lock	Jason Manford	12 December 2008	N/A
4x04	Dara Ó Briain	Frankie Boyle	19 December 2008	N/A
4x05	Lenny Henry	Andy Parsons and Ed Byrne	9 January 2009	N/A
4x06	Russell Howard	Jo Brand	17 January 2009	N/A

Series 5 (2009–2010)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
5x01	Jason Manford	Michael McIntyre	4 December 2009	4.20
5x02	Rob Brydon	Sarah Millican and Jason Byrne	11 December 2009	4.82
5x03	Al Murray (in character as The Pub Landlord)	Chris Addison and Tim Vine	18 December 2009	4.66
5x04	Rhod Gilbert	John Bishop	19 December 2009	6.29
5x05	Ed Byrne	Adam Hills and Gina Yashere	24 December 2009	4.07[7]
5x06	Alistair McGowan	Kevin Bridges and Reginald D. Hunter	1 January 2010	3.77[8]

Series 6 (2010–2011)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
6x01	Sean Lock	John Bishop	25 November 2010	3.81[9]
6x02	Lee Mack	Rich Hall and Danny Bhoy	2 December 2010	3.86[10]
6x03	Dara Ó Briain	Greg Davies and Stewart Francis	9 December 2010	4.67
6x04	Kevin Bridges	Shappi Khorsandi and Jack Whitehall	17 December 2010	4.89
6x05	Stephen K. Amos	Jon Richardson and Micky Flanagan	28 December 2010	N/A
6x06	Lenny Henry	Mike Wilmot and Tommy Tiernan	1 January 2011	4.26[11]

Series 7 (2011–2012)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
7x01	Micky Flanagan	Seann Walsh and Jason Byrne	4 November 2011	3.02[12]
7x02	Sean Lock	Ed Byrne and Lee Nelson	11 November 2011	3.21[13]
7x03	Alan Carr	Andi Osho and Patrick Kielty	25 November 2011	2.68[14]
7x04	Andy Parsons	Andrew Lawrence and Milton Jones	2 December 2011	3.22[15]
7x05	Rich Hall	Mark Watson and Andrew Maxwell	9 December 2011	3.38[16]
7x06	Sarah Millican	Steve Hughes and Russell Kane	16 December 2011	3.63[17]
7x07	Jason Manford	Jimeoin and Tom Stade	14 January 2012	3.64[18]
7x08	Jack Whitehall	Josh Widdicombe and Shappi Khorsandi	21 January 2012	3.02[19]

Series 8 (2012–2013)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
8x01	Dara Ó Briain	Nina Conti and Danny Bhoy	17 November 2012	2.42[20]
8x02	Rhod Gilbert	Kerry Godliman and Jon Richardson	24 November 2012	2.60[21]
8x03	Kevin Bridges	Phill Jupitus and Sara Pascoe	1 December 2012	2.43[22]
8x04	Lee Nelson	Stewart Francis and Paul Chowdhry	14 December 2012	2.56[23]
8x05	Omid Djalili	Julian Clary and Reginald D. Hunter	21 December 2012	3.61[24]
8x06	Greg Davies	Hal Cruttenden and Simon Evans	4 January 2013	2.76[25]

Series 9 (2013–2014)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
9x01	Eddie Izzard	Josh Widdicombe and Trevor Noah	22 November 2013	2.74[26]
9x02	Jack Dee	Seann Walsh and Milton Jones	29 November 2013	2.58[27]
9x03	Sean Lock	Romesh Ranganathan and Marcus Brigstocke	13 December 2013	3.16[28]
9x04	Adam Hills	Andi Osho and Terry Alderton	20 December 2013	2.45[29]
9x05	Jack Whitehall	Katherine Ryan and Rich Hall	8 January 2014	2.23[30]
9x06	Nina Conti	Jimeoin and Rob Beckett	15 January 2014	2.15[31]

Series 10 (2014–2015)

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
10x01	Sarah Millican	Joe Lycett and Russell Kane	19 November 2014	N/A
10x02	Jason Manford	Chris Ramsey and Doc Brown	26 November 2014	N/A
10x03	Frankie Boyle	Simon Evans and Aisling Bea	10 December 2014	N/A
10x04	Jon Richardson	Sara Pascoe and Nathan Caton	17 December 2014	N/A
10x05	Hal Cruttenden	Justin Moorhouse and Tom Stade	27 December 2014	2.48[32]
10x06	Danny Bhoy	Miles Jupp and Lee Nelson	2 January 2015	1.71

Series 11 (2015)

The eleventh series of Live at the Apollo was broadcast on BBC Two for the first time, beginning on 9 November 2015.[33]

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
11x01	Alan Carr	Francesca Martinez and Nish Kumar	9 November 2015	1.07[34]
11x02	Dara Ó Briain	Zoe Lyons and Paul Chowdhry	16 November 2015	N/A
11x03	Noel Fielding	Dane Baptiste and Al Porter	23 November 2015	N/A
11x04	Romesh Ranganathan	Jason Byrne and Stewart Francis	30 November 2015	1.08
11x05	Katherine Ryan	Henning Wehn and James Acaster	7 December 2015	N/A
11x06	Russell Kane	Roisin Conaty and Nick Helm	14 December 2015	1.17[35]
11x07	Nina Conti	Tanyalee Davis, Hal Cruttenden and Josh Widdicombe	20 December 2015	0.99[36]

Series 12 (2016)

The twelfth series of Live at the Apollo was broadcast on BBC Two from 8 November 2016.

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
12x01	Sarah Millican	Tom Allen and Arj Barker	8 November 2016	1.13[37]
12x02	Josh Widdicombe	Celia Pacquola and Nathan Caton	15 November 2016	N/A
12x03	Gina Yashere	Ellie Taylor and Sam Simmons	22 November 2016	N/A
12x04	Adam Hills	Michelle Wolf and Jamali Maddix	29 November 2016	0.75[38]
12x05	Frankie Boyle	Holly Walsh and Jack Carroll	6 December 2016	1.07[39]
12x06	Joe Lycett	Ivo Graham and Phil Wang	13 December 2016	N/A
12x07	Romesh Ranganathan	Seann Walsh, Kerry Godliman and Spencer Jones	20 December 2016	1.78

Series 13 (2017–2018)

The thirteenth series of Live at the Apollo was broadcast on BBC Two from 30 November 2017.

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
13x01	Sara Pascoe	Gary Delaney and Larry Dean	30 November 2017
13x02	Nish Kumar	David O'Doherty and Luisa Omielan	7 December 2017
13x03	Rob Beckett	Jen Brister and Darren Harriott	14 December 2017
13x04	Katherine Ryan	Marlon Davis, John Robins and Joel Dommett	29 December 2017
13x05	Henning Wehn	Lucy Porter and Guz Khan	31 December 2017
13x06	Dane Baptiste	Desiree Burch and Chris McCausland	4 January 2018
13x07	Ed Byrne	Angela Barnes and Geoff Norcott	11 January 2018

Series 14 (2018)

The fourteenth series of Live at the Apollo was broadcast on BBC Two from 15 November 2018.

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
14x01	Ellie Taylor	Tez Ilyas and Fin Taylor	15 November 2018
14x02	Dara Ó Briain	Felicity Ward and Mo Gilligan	22 November 2018
14x03	Gina Yashere	Lost Voice Guy and Ed Gamble	29 November 2018
14x04	Phil Wang	Brennan Reece and Rachel Parris	6 December 2018
14x05	Kerry Godliman	Suzi Ruffell and Loyiso Gola	13 December 2018
14x06	Jamali Maddix	Sindhu Vee and Fern Brady	20 December 2018
14x07	Sarah Millican	Ahir Shah, Laura Lexx and Gary Delaney	31 December 2018

Series 15 (2019)

The fifteenth series of Live at the Apollo was broadcast on BBC Two from 5 November 2019.

No.	Host	Comedian(s)	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
15x01	Tom Allen	Rosie Jones and Kae Kurd	5 November 2019
15x02	Sindhu Vee	Alex Edelman and Lou Sanders	12 November 2019
15x03	Guz Khan	Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Rhys James	19 November 2019
15x04	Darren Harriott	Jessica Fostekew and Stephen Bailey	26 November 2019
15x05	Ardal O'Hanlon	Mawaan Rizwan and Sara Barron	3 December 2019
15x06	Desiree Burch	Paul McCaffrey and Jonny Pelham	10 December 2019
15x07	Sara Pascoe	Chris McCausland and Flo and Joan	17 December 2019

Specials

Assorted special episodes have been broadcast by the BBC.

No.	Title	First broadcast	Viewers (millions)
Sx01	All Girls (part 1)	2 June 2018
Sx02	All Girls (part 2)	16 June 2018
Sx03	Pride (part 1)	25 June 2019
Sx04	Pride (part 2)	26 August 2019
Sx05	The One About… Relationships	20 August 2020
Sx06	The One About… Sex	27 August 2020
Sx07	The One About… Kids	3 September 2020
Sx08	The One About… Transport	10 September 2020
Sx09	The One About… Shopping	17 September 2020
Sx10	The One About… Celebrity	24 September 2020
Sx11	Access All Areas	18 November 2020
Sx12	Secrets of the Apollo	28 December 2020

Guest appearances

The following have appeared as a guest on the show multiple times up to and including the broadcast episodes of series 15:

Most appearances in total 14 appearances Jack Dee 7 appearances Dara Ó Briain 5 appearances Rich Hall Sean Lock Jason Manford Sarah Millican 4 appearances Frankie Boyle Ed Byrne Russell Kane Sara Pascoe Josh Widdicombe 3 appearances Danny Bhoy Jo Brand Kevin Bridges Jason Byrne Alan Carr Nina Conti Hal Cruttenden Stewart Francis Rhod Gilbert Kerry Godliman Shappi Khorsandi Lee Mack Michael McIntyre Lee Nelson Romesh Ranganathan Jon Richardson Katherine Ryan Seann Walsh Jack Whitehall Gina Yashere 2 appearances Tom Allen Stephen K. Amos Dane Baptiste Rob Beckett John Bishop Marcus Brigstocke Rob Brydon Desiree Burch Nathan Caton Paul Chowdhry Julian Clary Greg Davies Gary Delaney Omid Djalili Simon Evans Micky Flanagan Darren Harriott Lenny Henry Adam Hills Russell Howard Reginald D. Hunter Jimeoin Milton Jones Guz Khan Patrick Kielty Nish Kumar Joe Lycett Jamali Maddix Al Murray Ardal O'Hanlon Andi Osho Andy Parsons Joan Rivers Tom Stade Ellie Taylor Sindhu Vee Phil Wang Henning Wehn

Hosts 14 appearances as host Jack Dee (includes 12 appearances as regular host, plus 2 appearances as guest host) 6 appearances as host Dara Ó Briain 4 appearances as host Sean Lock Sarah Millican 3 appearances as host Jason Manford 2 appearances as host Frankie Boyle Kevin Bridges Ed Byrne Alan Carr Nina Conti Rhod Gilbert Lenny Henry Adam Hills Lee Mack Al Murray Sara Pascoe Romesh Ranganathan Katherine Ryan Jack Whitehall Gina Yashere

DVD releases

Alan Carr's performance from Series 3 episode 2 appears as an extra on his stand-up DVD. Dara O'Briain's appearance on Live at the Apollo appears on his stand-up DVD as an extra.

Theme music

The theme tune used on the BBC broadcasts (Jet – "Are You Gonna Be My Girl") has been replaced with another instrumental piece for the digital repeats. The instrumental track is called 'Monster Funk' and is from the KPM Production Music Library. It had previously been used for the end titles of 'Live at the Apollo' but is used on the opening and closing titles for digital repeats and DVD issues.

References

1. "Another Apollo mission". Chortle.co.uk. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
2. Colin Paterson (11 November 2008). "Apollo comic show to replace Ross". BBC. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
3. "New comedy tops bill on BBC One this summer with Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow". BBC. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
4. "BBC One Autumn 2009". BBC. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
5. "Weekly top 30 programmes - BARB". www.barb.co.uk.
6. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo - BBC2 Stand-Up - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
7. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 5, Episode 5 - Ed Byrne, Adam Hills and Gina Yashere - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
8. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 5, Episode 6 - Alistair McGowan, Reginald D Hunter and Kevin Bridges - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
9. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 6, Episode 1 - Sean Lock and John Bishop - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
10. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 6, Episode 2 - Lee Mack, Rich Hall, Danny Bhoy - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
11. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 6, Episode 6 - Lenny Henry, Mike Wilmot, Tommy Tiernan - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
12. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 1 - Micky Flanagan, Seann Walsh, Jason Byrne - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
13. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 2 - Sean Lock, Ed Byrne, Lee Nelson - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
14. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 3 - Alan Carr, Andi Osho, Patrick Kielty - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
15. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 4 - Andy Parsons, Andrew Lawrence, Milton Jones - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
16. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 5 - Rich Hall, Andrew Maxwell, Mark Watson - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
17. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 6 - Sarah Millican, Steve Hughes, Russell Kane - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
18. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 7 - Jason Manford, Jimeoin, Tom Stade - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
19. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 7, Episode 8 - Jack Whitehall, Josh Widdicombe, Shappi Khorsandi - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
20. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 8, Episode 1 - Dara O'Briain, Nina Conti, Danny Bhoy - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
21. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 8, Episode 2 - Rhod Gilbert, Kerry Godliman, Jon Richardson - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
22. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 8, Episode 3 - Kevin Bridges, Sara Pascoe, Phill Jupitus - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
23. "The Ratings Thread (Part 43) - Page 121".
24. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 8, Episode 5 - Omid Djalili, Reginald D Hunter, Julian Clary - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
25. "The Ratings Thread (Part 44) - Page 139".
26. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 9, Episode 1 - Eddie Izzard, Josh Widdicombe, Trevor Noah - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
27. "The Ratings Thread (Part 55) - Page 141".
28. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 9, Episode 3 - Sean Lock, Romesh Ranganathan, Marcus Brigstocke - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
29. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 9, Episode 4 - Adam Hills, Andi Osho, Terry Alderton - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
30. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 9, Episode 5 - Jack Whitehall, Katherine Ryan, Rich Hall - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
31. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 9, Episode 6 - Nina Conti, Rob Beckett, Jimeoin - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
32. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 10, Episode 5 - Hal Cruttenden, Justin Moorhouse, Tom Stade - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
33. Eames, Tom (21 October 2015). "Live at the Apollo moves to BBC Two, promises to be "naughtier and noisier"". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
34. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 11, Episode 1 - Alan Carr, Francesca Martinez, Nish Kumar - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
35. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 11, Episode 6 - Russell Kane, Roisin Conaty, Nick Helm - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
36. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 11 - Noel at the Apollo - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
37. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 12, Episode 1 - Sarah Millican, Tom Allen, Arj Barker - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
38. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 12, Episode 4 - Adam Hills, Jamali Maddox, Michelle Wolf - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
39. Guide, British Comedy. "Live at the Apollo Series 12, Episode 5 - Frankie Boyle, Jack Carroll, Holly Walsh - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.

External links

• Live at the Apollo at BBC Programmes
• Live at the Apollo at IMDb
• Live at the Apollo at British Comedy Guide