Armistice Posted Mon May 15 08:48:29 BST 2000 by Richard Bell

Any word of a new series? I was listening to a recording of one of Armando's 1994 Radio 1 shows (with Baynam/Lee/Herring/Front etc) on the way to work this morning and it reminded me that there has been a new series of TFN Armistice for ages now.

Subject: Re: Armistice [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Jon on Mon May 15 08:54:03 BST 2000:

Why was it called TFN Armistice anyway, apart from the fact it was on a Friday?

Subject: Re: Armistice [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Richard Bell on Mon May 15 09:43:56 BST 2000:

>Why was it called TFN Armistice anyway, apart from the fact it was on a Friday?

I think it was just humourous. Actually 'The Friday Night' isn't a particularly strange name for a comedy show, though 'Armistice' definately is!

Subject: Re: Armistice [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Justin on Tue May 16 20:03:12 BST 2000:

>Why was it called TFN Armistice anyway, apart from the fact it was on a Friday?

Jon - the first series of Armistice (summer 1995) was called The Saturday Night Armistice, and was sandwiched between the brilliant rock'n'roll history Dancing In The Street, and the third series of Seinfeld. It was watched by almost no-one (audience ratings barely rose above half a million), and so for the second series onwards(1996), it was transmitted on a Friday instead, meaning a new title, and a tweaking of the theme tune (Sinatra soundalike Johnny Moore resang it with the new two-syllable day straddling the three-syllable point in the song).

As for Armistice, this is probably a nod to the rumour that insiders kept referring to the show as That Was The Week That Was 2 as working titles. (A Guardian interview with Chris Morris in July 1994 refers to this, and he dismisses the whole project, although this is probably just for a laugh. Or maybe he really did hate the idea. Who knows? )
Anyway, when the original TW3 came about in 1962, (probably) Ned Sherrin, the producer, kept mentioning that the programme's brief was to act as an armistice for the week, a full stop, ready to wipe the slate clean for another week of news, or whatever.

So I get the feeling the title was palmed off by Michael Jackson at BBC2, as some kind of knowing throwback to TW3. Some of this is me putting two and two together to make five, so if I'm wrong on anything here, I wouldn't necessarily be surprised. Anyone know for sure?

Subject: Re: Armistice [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Jon on Mon May 22 17:04:35 BST 2000:

On Lee&Herring's website they list "That Was The Week That Was 2" as one of the pilot shows they wrote material for, but which was scrapped for not being good enough. And they've never liked 'Armistice'.

Subject: Re: Armistice [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Richard Bell on Tue May 23 12:56:41 BST 2000:

So I presume ther is nothing in the pipeline Armistice-wise. Does Jane Root have anything to do with it?

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