The programme was a teatime chat show consisting of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, and occasionally viewer competitions.
The format was originally devised by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV until December 2005, before moving to Channel 4 in 2006, where the show was produced by Olga TV.
However the show underperformed in the ratings, averaging just over 3 million viewers,[1] and ended after two series in 2011 amongst reports O'Grady was "keen to move on".
[2] Three years later, the original teatime format returned to ITV on 11 November 2013, airing at its traditional time of weekdays at 5pm.
Each episode follows O'Grady being introduced, walking to his desk with one of his pet dogs; originally Buster, a Shih Tzu and Bichon Frise cross, until his death shortly before the show originally ended in 2009, and Olga, a Cairn Terrier who regularly appeared after the series returned in 2013.
Children were also featured in segments of the show such as reviewing toys, games and films, or demonstrating skills (such as speed cup stacking).
Similarly the revived version of Crossroads occupied the slot from March 2001, however it too saw a decline in ratings particularly after major cast and production changes towards the end and was axed in mid-2003.
Furthermore, daytime versions of popular gameshows Catchphrase and Family Fortunes had also been tried out within teatime during 2002 but had also failed to succeed, leading to their subsequent original cancellations.
The tune that O'Grady played leading into the game was a truncated version of "Sing As We Go", by Gracie Fields.
[8] After four years off-air, the show returned on 11 November 2013, in the same teatime slot from 5–6pm, on its original channel ITV, with a new theme tune written and performed by McFly.
Repeats of the original ITV series were shown for some time in direct competition with new episodes on Channel 4 after O'Grady left Granada.
The new show was recorded at the BBC Television Centre instead of the original home, The London Studios, due to an apparent dispute with ITV.
Buster did not appear for the first two weeks due to a serious eye infection, so O'Grady's other pet dog Olga took his place instead.
The show returned for the seventh series (the fourth on Channel 4) on 17 September 2007, running until December of that year.
On the first episode of the new series (broadcast on 17 September 2007), Paul went over to play The Organ Game near the end of the show to find it tied up and him unable to use it.
On 22 October 2007, O'Grady announced on his show that The Organ Game would be returning; however there were only four special organ games leading up to Christmas, primarily for people who deserve the cash prize being offered (the phone line entries which used to be on the show have remained suspended).
A spokesman for the comedian confirmed the news by telling The Daily Mirror that O'Grady was "absolutely gutted".
On 18 December 2009, O'Grady presented his final show with an array of special guests; including Beverley Callard and William Roache, Honor Blackman, Natalie Cassidy, JLS, Scott Maslen, Joe McFadden, Linda Thorson, Melanie Sykes, Catherine Tate (appearing as Joannie "Nan" Taylor), Kate Thornton and The Teletubbies.
Plus, other celebrities including Kim Cattrall, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonas Brothers, Alan Menken and Enrique Iglesias.
On 18 November 2013, O'Grady was taken ill with a suspected angina attack meaning he was unable to present the live show from that day.
[14] He was replaced by singer and entertainer Michael Ball for that episode and presenter and magician Stephen Mulhern the following day.
This had been Antony Cotton, Dawn French, Kate Thornton, Sandi Toksvig and Stephen Fry.
The panto ran roughly for the whole show, with usually five minutes left at the end when O'Grady and the stars answered the questions that had been e-mailed in by the viewers.