Top 20 GLORIOUS British TV Moments

#20: James Acaster Crashes Out

If there’s one thing James Acaster is known for, it's his ability to make a viral moment. Take for example this time when he appeared on the show Saturday Kitchen. The viewing public had to vote on which dish they preferred from what the guests had put forward. It was either Ed Gamble’s tapas three-ways or James Acaster’s panettone tiramisu. Unfortunately, the results weren’t what the latter was hoping for. The ensuing crashout became the stuff of legend.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DR6-qcsmJ5D/

#19: What Did He Mean By This?

A truly baffling moment from the world of sport came on one of the most unexpected of places - the horse racetracks. In a post-race interview, Derek 'Tommo' Thompson wanted a comment from jockey, Josephine Gordon, about her performance. That’s when the topic of Josephine Gordon’s mother comes up. It’s a brief but truly eyebrow raising exchange, and back in the studio, Matt Chapman could not hide his confusion and hit us with this belter line. Is there something you want to share with us Tommo?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz3--LKYRRg

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMUnd2Quz3l/

#18: Hello Sinead

Tracey, the undisputed queen of venom and vitriol in Coronation Street, had perhaps one of her most memorable moments in this iconic scene. It’s Sinead and Daniel’s wedding day, but Tracey’s day isn’t going quite as well so she turns up to the reception plastered.

That’s when she hits Sinead with one of the most brutal and abrupt lines in the show’s history.

Let that be a warning that you never mess with the queen of mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AanD0PiVcQY

https://www.instagram.com/p/DKtnmnds0Uz/

#17: Giant Haystacks Lays the Smackdown

If there’s one thing you do not do, it’s question the real-ness of professional wrestling to a wrestler. Let’s warp all the way back to 1980 where Jackie Fullerton learned this lesson the hard way. And when we say hard, trust us we mean it. Wrestling legend Giant Haystacks, at the height of his fame, appeared on the show to put this question to the test. And what better way to illuminate the host on how real wrestling truly is, than to hit him with one of the most common maneuvers in the sport. Needless to say, Fullerton was humbled… and probably pretty bruised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npoRzkkBXsM

#16: Textbook Amstell

Simon Amstell has made a career of winding people up, and this particularly unique ability was showcased to its fullest when he interviewed The Kooks. While attempting to discover something that might touch a nerve, he eventually landed on the topic of Luke Pritchard’s school life. For whatever reason he seemed mortified at the idea that Simon was suggesting he went to a stage school. The only problem is, he’s unable to describe why it wasn’t. He eventually concedes and suffers some terrible aura-loss. Simon, being Simon, continues to push his buttons though.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMfLhzANHN5/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bIC4V_DIrg

#15: Comments?

The horrors of live TV truly come about when you find yourself interviewing outside a football stadium. Following a rather disastrous game between Wales and Iran at the Qatar World Cup, the presenter hoped to get a comment from a supporter - only it went badly from the start.

The second interview didn’t fare much better.

Condensing this much humor into just a few seconds is something you can only find on British telly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DLQF_XaNgtz/

#14: Doctor Dare Ga?

The show ‘Banzai’ is certainly not something that would be allowed on British TV in this day and age, but at least we managed to get unhinged moments like this out of it back when it aired. Basically, viewers would bet on the answers to funny questions put forward in the show and perhaps the most ludicrous was this one starring Peter Davidson, aka the fifth Doctor. It is a truly bizarre and certainly not safe for work question and honestly, we’re surprised Davidson actually answered it. With how desperate the DW’s been with ratings these days we’re surprised they didn’t snatch this storyline.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHW41-2C55x/

#13: Daft Destroyer

Those chasers are some scary folks when you’re faced with their immense intellect. But it certainly cuts the edge off when they’ve got a good sense of humor. Take for example, Dark Destroyer’s ice breaker in this instance where he met a fellow Star Wars fan. Look the chasers are hired for their trivia knowledge, not for their Wookie impressions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrg0r6snTQE

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_f93S2oh1s/

#12: Down the Wrong Hole

Back when Dua Lipa went viral for her bizarre Diet coke and pickle concoction, the team at This Morning decided they would take a crack at it and see what all the fuss was about. Giles Brandreth looked a little concerned about the drink as it was being put together, but he didn’t back down from giving it a try. That’s when disaster struck. Giles tried to apologize profusely, but the damage was already done.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHQDElooxFk/

#11: Morri-morphosis

We could’ve used any Harry Hill moment for this list really, but let’s go with his appearance on ‘Stars In Their Eyes’. To the delight of many, Hill revealed he would be impersonating The Smiths singer, Morrissey, and boy did he deliver. Wielding a similar bunch of gladiola as Morrissey did in the Smith’s Top of the Pops performance, Hill actually did a pretty damn good job. We do wonder what Morrissey’s reaction to this performance was.

https://www.instagram.com/cjfs00s/reel/DBVN5_qCx-2/

#10: Too Early for This

If you’ve seen any of our videos covering countdown, then you know the show has never shied away from hitting rude subjects. Most of the time it’s unintentional, but you can’t say that about this words round. While the contestants made an admirable attempt at the question, when it came time to throw over to Suzie Dent and Janet Street Porter at the dictionary corner, things took a turn for the worse. Nick Hewer looked utterly mortified.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRuPv1Ogtpw/

#9: Derailed

TV Judge shows aren’t exactly known for their decorum but you really should be on your best behavior. In this particularly memorable case on Judge Rinder, one side was explaining the supposedly flavoured tablets. That’s when the other hit us with this bizarre phrase. Usually you’d just raise an eyebrow and try to move on but Judge Rinder gets really caught up on it. The longer it goes, the more awkward it gets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azd7GwqPHM4

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRnU2SViaNr/

#8: Baking Advice

Celebrity Bake Off is host to all sorts of nonsense and hilarious moments - But we’ve got to admit we didn’t see this one coming. One of the celebs competing was hardman Danny Dyer, and for this challenge he was baking his 'My Biggest Failure' Cake. That’s when the usually straight-laced Paul Hollywood decided to open up a bit and give some friendly advice. Turns out it wasn’t so friendly, and Paul took the opportunity to cause Danny some grief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugYqxwPBaEU

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPMgj-mDYqB/

#7: Dog-gle Box

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that the real stars of Gogglebox are the dogs of the Malone family. There’s simply too many hilarious moments to pick from. Take for example the classic hilarious helium mishap. The blunt but gut-bustingly funny headbutt.

And who could forget the time Tom Sr. put on a dog mask and instantly regretted it.

They’ve got incredible comedic chops and they don’t even realize how much they’ve cheered up Britain over the years!

#6: Show What?

Good Morning Britain found itself going viral for the wrong reasons back in 2018. This was because they brought in Fathers4Justice founder Matt O'Connor to discuss the treatment of fathers in the runup to fathers day. However, O’Conner felt like he was being mistreated by the staff and outcast. It was then that he decided to do this.

The atmosphere gets so painfully awkward after the stunt is over and we can only imagine it was worse when the cameras stopped rolling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3mPnklp058

#5: Really Chris?

Back when Chris Tarrant was hosting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire they would sometimes pause to call someone at home for their chance to win a stack of cash. Thankfully, this caller was successful with their answer. It’s a genuinely heartwarming moment, but it gets so awkward so quickly. That’s because Chris asks what the caller does for a living and this exchange takes place.

Did Chris mishear him? We have no idea because he doesn’t even have a shred of doubt on his face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOsjpY8P4J8

#4: Only a Small One

Being a newsreader has got to be one of the toughest jobs in telly. Even tougher still is when the autocue feeds you lines like this. In the lead up till Christmas, newsreader Peter Levy was starting up a story about Christmas trees - Only he had this to say. From that point on it’s impossible for him to return to his usual composed self. It’s alright Pete, there’s no shame in it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRZYIxFDpbE/

https://www.google.com/search?q=bbc+news+christmas+tree+little+one&oq=bbc+news+christmas+tree+little+one&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORigATIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIGCAMQIRgVMgcIBBAhGJ8F0gEINDQzMWowajmoAgawAgHxBXtKdQwC6Ukx&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

#3: Very Naughty

Why is it that no matter where Nigella Lawson pops up, there’s a naughty innuendo to be found? I mean look no further than this segment on the One Show, where she wasn’t even there in the studio but as soon as her name popped up, this happened. Alex Jones and Jay Rayner seem to stone-face it and continue the program but Ricky Gervais simply can’t pretend he didn’t hear it. While Jones tries her best to keep the decorum, Ricky’s laughter has already infected the set and it only gets worse. Nigella, this is all your fault.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSTFJ29jDuC/

https://www.google.com/search?q=ricky+gervais+one+show+nigella&oq=ricky+gervais+one+show+nigella&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCggAEEUYFhgeGDkyDQgBEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyCggCEAAYogQYiQUyCggDEAAYgAQYogQyBwgEEAAY7wXSAQg1NjM5ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

#2: Mix-Up

We were so lucky to have the comedic genius of Barry Humphries on our screens for all those years. But between all those laughs, we were excited to see what he had to say

Perhaps something a bit more subdued right? Wrong. Humphries almost immediately opened up with his congratulations to Dermot O’Leary for coming out as gay on telly. As we all know, that was actually Phil Schofield who came out and we’re sure Humphries was more than well aware of this. He plays it completely straight though and Alison Hammond is absolutely losing it in the background.

#1: For the Love of Carpets

When you talk about British comedians, Bob Mortimer’s name is bound to come up - And it's for reasons like this. On an episode of ‘Let's Play Darts for Comic Relief’, Mortimer decided to go all-in on his character gimmick of ‘Bobby Carpets’ - basically, he’d become obsessed with carpets and that’s pretty much it. Unsurprisingly, he was able to get the audience completely on his side, and it wasn’t long before they were chanting ‘We Hate Laminets’.

If anyone can get a studio audience announcing their love for carpeted flooring, it’s Mortimer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5O1WJ0vl6E

What’s your favorite British TV Moment? Let us know in those comments below.