The Friday Show Episode One

So here it is! The first episode of 'The Friday Show' presented by Rachel and Eamonn Holmes.

Kicking off with Rachel's rendition of 'One Night Only', the show includes appearances by the Stereophonics, Nigel Harman from 'Hotel Babylon', Ben from The Apprentice and comedian Stephen K Amos.

I'm going to be honest here -- having seen Rachel singing her heart out on stage in WWRY, I kind of wondered how she would manage the considerable transition to TV presenting. The answer to that is absolutely 'no worries'. She displays a relaxed and friendly presenting style and has an onstage chemistry with Eamon that really works.

But don't just take my word for it. You can watch the entire hour-long show by clicking on this link:

THE FRIDAY SHOW EPISODE ONE

Oh and watch out for the ALW cushion!

BBC Trailer for The Friday Show

Here is the BBC trailer for The Friday Show, featuring Rachel and Eamonn Holmes. It was fairly obvious during last year's Christmas Special, but there's absolutely no doubt even from this little clip that Rachel is a natural presenter.

Hopefully the show will be posted on the BBC Iplayer each week as 'Find Me The Funny' was, and we'll be able to let you watch each show.

A big thanks to Rosie for being on the ball and spotting this trailer on the BBC site.

Click on the link below to watch the trailer:

THE FRIDAY SHOW TRAILER

The Friday Show to start this week

Press Release:

Green Inc Friday Show gets green light

Public broadcaster BBC Northern Ireland has commissioned Green Inc Productions to make a primetime entertainment show for Friday nights.

The Friday Show will air Fridays at 21.00 from October 23, and will be presented by Eamonn Holmes with Rachel Tucker. It will feature "an energetic mix of entertainment, with music performances from some of today's biggest chart acts," as well as audience games and stand-up comics.

Mike Edgar, executive producer for BBC Northern Ireland, said: "Friday night is a point in the week when everyone, no matter what age, is ready to sit down, kick back and have a laugh. Hopefully, The Friday Show will satisfy that itch, with something for everyone."

Stephen Stewart is exec producer for Green Inc Productions.

Find Me The Funny Episode Six

The final episode of 'Find me the Funny.' Click on the link below to watch:


FIND ME THE FUNNY EPISODE SIX

Update From Rachel!!!!

Hello! Whats the craic?-as they say in Belfast! I'm only here not even a week and Guy's already finding my Belfast brogue hard to understand!! Well, not in my writing I hope!

Mrs Retallack!! Can you believe it? I'm a married woman and I'm loving it! We had the day of our lives on Thursday 24th September and the honeymoon that followed was to match it! Thanks for coming down David and supporting!

Well the rain stayed off and the sun came out and we danced till dawn an we drank the bar pretty dry!-WE LOVED IT! I just didn't want it to end! People said it will go so quickly but Guy and I decided that it wouldn't so every hour or so we checked the time and sat back to watch all our friends and family come together and have a great time! So thanks to all the guests who made a massive effort for coming from all over to be with us on our special day. I think you'll agree it was well worth it!



Ah Ha! You have found out all about my "In the pipe line" quote! Yes I've just done a pilot for The Friday Show which is being filmed in Belfast. Its a new weekend show for Northern Ireland and I'm co-hosting with the very lovely Eamonn Holmes. Well the craic was 90! We had such a laugh doing it and it was very nice to see such great support in the audience, not only my friends and family but one of the bloggers, Victoria and her friend were right, slap, bang in the middle of the front row cheering me on and even 3 of my old school teachers turned up to show support!

It was my first time presenting anything or reading from an auto cue or having to interview someone-it really was all very new and exciting even a bit scary! Then on top of that having to make it look like I've been doing it for years and with one of the best TV presenters in the business, so I really was playing catch up! However there was a lovely comparison to the feeling of being in the studio for I'd Do Anything-I get to sing a the opening song each week and also I felt even though it wasn't presenting on IDA, it did give me a huge insight and head start for co-hosting and i was very thankful of that this weekend! But it seemed to go pretty smoothly and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. There were a few hic-ups but that's the whole reason for a pilot and I must say I'm so excited about getting in to the studio and doing it all over again next week! Were having some AMAZING guests on the programe along with huge bands, some very funny games and there is even £5000 up for grabs for a member of the studio audience! So here goes for the next six weeks and chat soon x

Interview With Ashley

I thought it was worth featuring this interesting WOS interview with IDA finalist Ashley Russell. As we reported earlier in the year, Ashley joined the touring production of 'We Will Rock You' and in this in-depth interview she talks about her role in the show, reminisces about her time on IDA and mentions Rachel's wedding in this section:


''Who’s your best friend from the process?
I’m very close with Rachel Tucker whose wedding I was at 2 weeks ago. She was in We Will Rock You in London. She just got married in Belfast: so Jessie Buckley, Niamh Jennings, Samantha Barks and I went over on some ridiculously early flight and had a great night. I’m very close with Jessie and very close with Jodie.

How did you cope with competitive element of the show: being friends with the other contestants whilst pitted against each other?
The only other people in the world at that time who knew how you felt were these girls. They’d also picked people who were so unbelievably different there was no comparison. You didn’t get to choose any of your songs which was a bit rubbish. I can sound amazing doing one song but if you pick one that’s not right for me, it can sound crap. So if somebody got their song, in their perfect genre every week, and you were getting the one that wasn’t, it wasn’t your fault. You just play the game. We all bought into that and all made a pact that we were a team.''

You can read the full interview by clicking on the link below.

ASHLEY RUSSELL INTERVIEW

Find Me The Funny Part 5 + Friday Night Live Pilot

Click on the link below to watch episode five:

FIND ME THE FUNNY EPISODE 5

Last Friday saw the pilot 'Friday Night Show' recording in the BBC Belfast studios.
One of our regular readers was in the audience and revealed that Rachel opened the show by singing 'One Night Only'. Definitely more of this sort of thing please.

I've been lucky enough to get tickets for 24th October so I'll be able to report first hand but in the meantime a big thank you to Victoria for updating us.

Rachel set to present 'The Friday Show' with Eamonn Holmes

We've known about this for some time but didn't want to publish until the news was officially confirmed.

Following Rachel's appearance on the judging panel of 'Find me the Funny', she is set to co-present a major weekly show on BBC Northern Ireland. 'The Friday Show' will be a chat and entertainment show, presented by Rachel and Eamonn Holmes.

Below is the official announcement as published in today's 'Sunday Life' newspaper.

They describe the show as a 'mixture of music, chat and craic.' Hopefully Rachel will be given a chance to show off THAT voice of hers as well as a few others getting a look-in.

Either way this will be a great opportunity to see Rachel in a major presenting role and we'll do our best to feature each show in it's entirety every week. We're looking forward to this new chapter in Rachel's career and wish her all the very best for the pilot show, which will be recorded this Saturday 10th October.

Thanks to Helen who was quick off the mark with a link for audience tickets to the shows. Click below:

FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE TICKETS

The photo above is the one used today by the Sunday Life. It was of course taken last January at the 'Spirit of Northern Ireland' awards at Belfast's Ramada Hotel.

SUNDAY LIFE ARTICLE

Eamonn to host entertainment TV series with Rachel Tucker

By John McGurk
Sunday, 4 October 2009

Top TV personality Eamonn Holmes is set to make a triumphant return to local screens — co-hosting a new prime-time show from Belfast. Holmes will link up with I’d Do Anything star Rachel Tucker for The Friday Night show which kicks off on BBC1 NI October 23.

The one-hour show — a mixture of music, chat and craic — marks BBC Northern Ireland’s return to the Friday night chat and entertainment showformat.

Back in the Nineties, the Beeb in Belfast made a number of top-rated weekend chat oriented series, fronted by Patrick Kielty, Gerry Anderson and John Daly.

Sunday Life understands that a pilot show for the new series, fronted by Eamonn and Rachel, will be made later this week.

There had been speculation that former UTV sofa king, Gerry Kelly, was the man set to make a sensational Friday night chat show comeback — on the BBC.

But, speaking to Sunday Life, genial Gerry, who has been presenting the Gerry Kelly show on BBC Radio Ulster since last April, dismissed the rumours.

“I haven’t spoken to the BBC about television or anything like that.

“I did speak to an independent production company earlier this year. But I didn’t take up their offer.

“I think people speculate that because I have gone to the Beeb, then something is going to happen.

“I am really enjoying the Saturday show. I genuinely enjoy it and I look forward to each Saturday,” he said.

Eamonn, who turns 50 in December, is one of the UK’s most popular telly personalities.

He is due to get hitched to long-time partner Ruth Langsford in 2010.

He fronted GMTV for 13 years and has presented hit TV shows, such as The National Lottery Jet Set and Sudo-Q.

Last summer, he returned to local screens on BBC Northern Ireland’s Tall Ships coverage.

He currently presents Sky News’ Sunrise With Eamonn Holmes and co-hosts ITV’s This Morning programme every Friday, with his fiancee, Ruth.

'Find Me The Funny' Episode 4

Click on the link below to watch:


FIND ME THE FUNNY EPISODE FOUR