Surprise Surprise
The show's title card (2015)
GenreLight entertainment
Presented byCilla Black (1984–2001, 2003)
Holly Willoughby (2012–2015)
StarringChristopher Biggins (1984)
Bob Carolgees (1985–1995)
Gordon Burns (1986–1991)
Tessa Sanderson (1990–1992)
Kian Egan (2012)
Dave Berry (2012–2015)
Marvin Humes (2013–2015)
Mark Wright (2013–2015)
Michael Underwood (2014–2015)
Peter Andre (2014–2015)
Matt Johnson (2015)
Narrated byRobin Houston (1984–2001)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series14 (Original)
4 (Revival)
No. of episodes128 (Original: inc. 9 specials)
23 (Revival: inc. 3 specials)
Production
Production locationThe London Studios
Running time60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companiesLWT (1984–2001)
ITV Studios (2012–2015)
Original release
NetworkITV
Release6 May 1984 (1984-05-06) –
26 December 2001 (2001-12-26)
Release21 October 2012 (2012-10-21) –
26 July 2015 (2015-07-26)
Related
Jim'll Fix It
Keith Lemon's LemonAid
OMG! Jedward's Dream Factory

Surprise Surprise is a British light entertainment television programme for ITV that originally ran from 6 May 1984 to 26 December 2001 with Cilla Black as the host. The show returned from 21 October 2012 to 26 July 2015 and was hosted by Holly Willoughby.[1]

Format

The show was hosted by Cilla Black, and filmed in front of a studio audience. Its premise involved surprising members of the public with long-held wishes, setting up tricks to fool members of the public, making prank calls to people and reuniting guests with long-lost loved ones. Black was assisted for eight series by Bob Carolgees, famous for his glove puppetry act Spit the Dog, while Gordon Burns and Tessa Sanderson were roving reporters. Other featured acts were "Cilla-grams," where Black would perform a song in a musical sketch relevant to the surprise a person was receiving. (Example: a soldier was celebrating his 21st birthday, so the featuring song Black sang was "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang.)

The concept of the first series had been to film surprising and often unusual moments similar to those previously seen on Game for a Laugh, but the format was not successful. However, the final item in the last episode of the first series featured a successful surprise reunion, which led executive producer Alan Boyd to change the format slightly so that all items in subsequent series involved surprises, rather than just being surprising. Although including many pre-filmed inserts, the first series and some early episodes of the second series were televised live in their entirety, but thereafter all episodes were pre-recorded.

From 1984 to 1988, the show was broadcast on Sunday evenings. From 1989 to 1992, the show moved to Fridays, before returning to the Sunday evening timeslot from 1993 to 1996. The final series of the original run in 1997 was broadcast on Friday evenings. Between 1998 and 2001, a one-off special episode was produced per year which aired on Mother's Day from 1998 until 2000, and then at Christmas for 2001.

Over the years, the show had many special guests, some of whom appeared live, including Neil Diamond. Many variety acts were also featured on the show. The Spice Girls made their live debut on an episode in 1996.

Revival

In March 2012, it was announced that Holly Willoughby would host a revamped one-off episode of Surprise Surprise for ITV, although a full series was later announced.[2] The series had six hour-long episodes, with episode 1 airing on 21 October 2012.[3] A second series followed this in 2013, a third in 2014 and a fourth in 2015.

In the show, Willoughby is joined by various locations reporters, these have included Marvin Humes, Mark Wright, Dave Berry, Peter Andre and Matt Johnson.

In one 2013 episode, Cilla Black made a surprise appearance on the show, singing a bit of the original theme as the show went to commercials (after Holly made the comment that the producers just wouldn't let her sing the song).

A previously unbroadcast episode of the show which was hosted by Black and featured appearances from Irish band Westlife and singer Gareth Gates, which was originally produced in 2003 to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary, was broadcast on ITV3 on 27 December 2015, four months after Black's death. It wasn't broadcast in 2003 due to Black's departure from ITV that year.[4]

Theme songs

Cilla Black introduced and closed each show by singing a theme song. The theme song from series one to eight was written by Kate Robbins and was often imitated by Black impersonators, beginning "The more the world is changing, the more it stays the same...". The track was included on Black's 1985 album Surprisingly Cilla, and as a single through Towerbell Records. A new song was written from series nine until the show's conclusion in 2001, and the 2003 birthday special: "Reaching out, holding hands, reliving memories... Life is full, full of surprises...And the nicest surprise in my life is you!"

Around 2022, the song enjoyed a modest resurgence on the social media app TikTok.

The revived series updated its theme for 2013. This theme uses a remixed instrumental version of the chorus from Black's original song "Surprise, Surprise".

Transmissions

Series

Original
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
16 May 198410 June 19846
214 October 19842 December 19848
319 January 19869 March 19868
418 January 198715 March 19879
510 January 19886 March 19889
66 January 19893 March 19899
716 February 199020 April 19909
822 February 199126 April 199110
93 April 199229 May 19929
1025 April 19934 July 199310
1110 April 199419 June 199411
1223 April 19952 July 199510
1331 March 19962 June 199610
144 July 19975 September 199710
Revival
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
121 October 201225 November 20126
215 September 20131 December 201310
322 October 201417 December 20147
421 June 201526 July 20156

Specials

Original
Original Air dateSpecial
23 December 1984Christmas special
22 December 1985Christmas special
28 December 1986Christmas special
27 December 1987Christmas special
22 June 1997Surprise Surprise...in Australia
22 March 1998Mother's Day special
14 March 1999Mother's Day special
2 April 2000Mother's Day special
26 December 2001Christmas special
27 December 2015Anniversary Special (from 2003)
Revival
AirdateSpecial
18 December 2013Christmas special
30 March 2014Mother's Day special
21 December 2014Christmas special
26 December 2015Christmas special

Awards

YearGroupAwardResultReferences
2014National Television AwardsMost Popular Entertainment ProgrammeNominated[5][6][7]
2015Nominated[8]

International versions

CountryTitleBroadcasterPresenterPremiereFinale
GermanySurprise! Die Bruce Darnell ShowProSiebenBruce Darnell2 December 202123 December 2021
ItalyCarràmba! Che sorpresa (1995–98; 2002)
Carràmba! Che fortuna (1998–2001; 2008–09)		Rai 1Raffaella Carrà21 December 19956 January 2009
NetherlandsSurpriseshow (1988–2008)
Surprise, Surprise (2014–15)		Nederland 1 (1988–89)
RTL 4 (1990–2001; 2008)
Talpa (2006)
SBS 6 (2014–15)		Henny Huisman (1988–2001; 2006)
Robert ten Brink (2008)
Henny Huisman, Do and Airen Mylene (2014–15)		1988
2006
2008
2014		2001
2006
2008
2015
PolandSurprise, SurprisePolsatWojciech Błach and Stefano Terrazzino12 March 2016[lower-alpha 1]2 September 2016[lower-alpha 2]
RomaniaSurprize, SurprizeTVR 1Andreea Marin and Gabriel Coveșanu19992008
SpainSorpresa ¡Sorpresa!Antena 3Isabel Gemio (1996–98; 2007)
Concha Velasco (1999)		8 May 1996January 2007
UkraineСюрприз, Сюрприз!STBMasha Efrosinina1 September 20171 December 2017
United StatesSurprise, Surprise, Surprise[9][10]CBSKathie Lee GiffordMay 14, 1999 (Special)
Surprise with Jenny McCarthyNBCJenny McCarthyNon-broadcast pilot

Notes

  1. ↑ The show debuted on 12 March but due to low viewing figures it was axed after just one episode. The remaining seven episodes returned on air on 21 July.
  2. ↑ The last episode of the series aired at around 1:30 AM.

References

  1. ↑ Colin Daniels (10 October 2012). "Holly Willoughby's 'Surprise Surprise' revamp airdate confirmed by ITV". Digital Spy.
  2. ↑ "Willoughby to host 'Surprise Surprise'". Digital Spy. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "'Surprise Surprise' return date confirmed". Digital Spy. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  4. ↑ "Surprise Surprise - previously unaired show: Split from Cilla Black has died - TV Forum".
  5. ↑ "National Television Awards 2014 nominees revealed: Voting opens". Digital Spy. 16 September 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "National Television Awards 2014 voting opens: The full longlist". Digital Spy. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "2014 Vote – The National Television Awards". Nationaltvawards.com. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "NTAs 2015: Which TV stars are nominated?". Digital Spy. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Granada, LMNO Eye 'Surprise'". 24 January 1999. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  10. ↑ "SHE'S BAAACK! AND 'SURPRISE, SURPRISE,' KATHIE LEE'S CBS REALITY SHOW IS ALL HAM AND LEGS". 13 May 1999. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
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