The 22:30-midnight slot on Friday/Saturday evenings on British TV was reserved in the 90s for what was popularly called 'after the pub TV'. It's doubful that anyone who'd been out at the pub that evening would already be back home to watch any TV, but for those that stayed in home, especially those too young for the pub, it was the slot where TV got rowdy. Ideally watched with a group of friends over with a few drinks and smokes.
Shows broadcast during this slot were The Word (reviled, but worth watching for the music), The Girly Show (like The Word, but without any music), and Eurotrash - even more lowbrow, but loved equally by fans and critics. Eurotrash premise was to present the subjects by telling the viewers 'just look at those decadent shameless foreigners!' whilst French presenters Antoine de Caunes and Jean Paul Gaultier mocked the British viewers back for their weather, their food, their early closing times, and that they were watching mainly for the naked people, about the only chance they'd get to see any on terrestrial TV.
And there was indeed nudity, loads of it, but it was more hilarious than erotic, thanks to the voice translations, read out in regional English. Cue the German naturists or the Italian sex actress dubbed with a broad Lancashire or Brummie accent. But there was also the really weird stuff, the penguin man, Lolo Ferrari, the Romeo Cleaners, Eddy Wally, the latex twins and countless others that left a long imprint on the memory. There was also the chance to glimpse the fabulous continental cities that prompted me to buy an Interrail ticket once I was a little older.
Friday evenings in the 90s could be a stay-in night due to the unmissable comedy on TV - Father Ted, The Fast Show, Alan Partridge, and whilst Eurotrash tends not to appear on the same list of the aforementioned programmes, it was just as reliable for big laughs.
Review of Eurotrash
