An example of how competitive UK television was at this time can be gleaned by the fact that this eighth series had high average viewing figures of 10.25 million, but only averaged at 25th place in the charts.
This opening edition had the lowest ratings of the run (albeit not the lowest chart placing), ranking at 23rd place with 8.5 million tuning in.
This opening edition had the lowest ratings of the run (albeit not the lowest chart placing), ranking at 23rd place with 8.5 million tuning in.
Dave Spikey was quoted in the Birmingham Mail about how embarrassed he was with his appearance on this edition.
Speaking in January 2012, Dave recalled:
"That's not such a happy memory [...] We'd only ever done three shows and never had a paid gig. New Faces came to see someone else on the bill and offered us a place on the show. We jumped at it but we were very naive and took bad advice. We were persuaded to do some material we hadn't performed before. We pretended we were a double act from Vladivostok on an exchange scheme with Little and Large. We did the whole thing in Russian accents and did a Cossack dance after every punchline.
My mate was going to come on with a kettle on his head, saying 'You told me to put the kettle on'. But then we thought it would be funnier if we said it like 'Put the cattle on', so he came on with a massive pantomime cow round his shoulders. I cringe now when I think about it."
Speaking in January 2012, Dave recalled:
"That's not such a happy memory [...] We'd only ever done three shows and never had a paid gig. New Faces came to see someone else on the bill and offered us a place on the show. We jumped at it but we were very naive and took bad advice. We were persuaded to do some material we hadn't performed before. We pretended we were a double act from Vladivostok on an exchange scheme with Little and Large. We did the whole thing in Russian accents and did a Cossack dance after every punchline.
My mate was going to come on with a kettle on his head, saying 'You told me to put the kettle on'. But then we thought it would be funnier if we said it like 'Put the cattle on', so he came on with a massive pantomime cow round his shoulders. I cringe now when I think about it."