Screened directly opposite Episode #12.1 (1985) on BBC1, which was an enormous success for the BBC, attracting 18.48 million viewers, and being the second most-watched programme in the country, just behind that week's collected ratings for EastEnders (1985).
With such incredibly strong competition, Des's ratings fell to 7.6 million, ranking at 82nd place in the charts.
With such incredibly strong competition, Des's ratings fell to 7.6 million, ranking at 82nd place in the charts.
The same evening as this episode aired, the Wogan chat show ran a Dynasty special; embarrassingly for the team, Joan Collins opted to appear on Des's show instead of in Christmas With The Carringtons (1985).
Des's introduction to the show sees an unusually high number of "bitches" from the family friendly entertainer, as he talks about Joan Collins being in a film with the name, plus the "gender" of Freddie Starr's fake dog, seen earlier in the series. Although Des saying "bitch" three times at the start of the show may be something of a shock, this edition did go out in a post-watershed, 9:30pm timeslot due to ITV's Christmas Day programming.
Although Des's interviews with Joan Collins and Dudley Moore have some illusion of spontaneity, his chats with Alan King and Willie Tyler are very obviously based around Des's "questions" being no more than feeds for their acts. Similarly, Des's joking around with orchestra director Colin Keyes is clearly pre-rehearsed.