Room 101. Frank Skinner. Copyright: Hat Trick Productions
Room 101

Room 101 (2012)

  • TV panel show / chat show
  • BBC One
  • 2012 - 2018
  • 56 episodes (7 series)

Frank Skinner hosts Room 101, where celebrities compete in a series of themed rounds to get their most hated item banished forever.

  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 7,226

Press clippings Page 5

BBC orders another series of Room 101

The BBC has ordered Series 14 of Room 101. Frank Skinner will once again act as the host.

British Comedy Guide, 22nd August 2013

Frank Skinner's role as judge and jury seems inconsequential in tonight's final show of the series - its all about the verbal sparring that breaks out between the guests.

Comedian Jon Richardson is in the firing line, declared dull by Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood for wanting to dump dancing into Room 101, who then gets up actress Sheila Hancock's nose by admitting he buys scented candles - one of her pet hates.

It just leaves Skinner to bring the curtain down with a Macarena.

Carol Carter and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro, 22nd February 2013

There's a lot of sniping between the guests in this edition and it's this, rather than their arguments for putting scented candles, house guests, wedding speeches and the like into Room 101, that produces the most laughs. It's perhaps inevitable that when Jon Richardson says he never dances, describing it as "arrogant walking", Craig Revel Horwood responds waspishly that Jon is "probably one of the dullest people I've ever sat next to". However, following that up by making joke-telling one of his pet hates is a bit strong. Even Sheila Hancock joins in the teasing, albeit inadvertently, until she gets threatened with being consigned to oblivion herself.

Jane Rackham, Radio Times, 22nd February 2013

Actress Sheila Hancock, Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood and comedian Jon Richardson are the final celebrities bidding for their bĂȘtes noires to be consigned to oblivion tonight. A sassy Hancock proves good value on subjects such as her aversion to fireworks and scented candles, although Revel Horwood lives up to his mean persona by insulting Richardson throughout, and even puts forward joke-telling as one of his pet hates, which creates a bit of an atmosphere. Although unfunny guests do tend to dampen the fun, host Frank Skinner's impromptu joshing largely makes up for the deficit of laughs.

Vicki Power, The Telegraph, 21st February 2013

Is Room 101 three times better now there are three celebrities involved? The anecdotes have certainly suffered from a lack of breathing room, but at least that means there's a bit less credence given to predictable, fusty middle-England gripes, such as BBC Breakfast's Bill Turnbull banging on about youths wearing their jeans below their arses. Then again, Jo Brand is supposed to provide the comedic cutting edge tonight, but uses the opportunity to tell us that she doesn't like high heels. Who knew?

Ben Arnold, The Guardian, 15th February 2013

Taking a break from hunting killers under the scorching sun in Death In Paradise, actor/comedian Ben Miller lets off steam in Frank Skinner's lair.

What gets the persuasive Miller hot under the collar are shoelaces, homeopathy - which, to his scientific mind, is quite simply rubbish - and pedestrians who don't know how to behave on a pavement.

Splash! judge Jo Brand's high-heeled shoes and BBC 1's Breakfast host Bill Turnbull's low-slung jeans haven't got a prayer.

Carol Carter and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro, 15th February 2013

Ben Miller may have studied for a doctorate in quantum physics at Cambridge, but the man can't tie his own shoelaces. Or rather, he can't tie a bow, so he's devised his own way of tying them - and consequently makes a bid to have laces themselves condemned for ever to Room 101. It seems drastic, but that's the nature of the show, and at least Miller's gripes are idiosyncratic, whereas Bill Turnbull gets cheers from the audience for such regulation bugbears as low-slung jeans and people who hog the middle lane on motorways.

Jo Brand, meanwhile, has it in for high-heeled shoes, which gives the production the excuse to show us a clip of a very bizarre race.

David Butcher, Radio Times, 15th February 2013

George Orwell has provided TV producers with plenty of concepts; but we can only hazard a guess at what he would have thought of them. In this panel show, based on the idea of a room in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four where prisoners are subjected to their worst fears, guests must discuss their pet peeves with host Frank Skinner and compete for his approval to banish them to Room 101. Tonight's guests are BBC presenter Bill Turnbull, who hates low slung jeans and people who hog the middle lane on the motorway, comedian Ben Miller who can't abide homoeopathy, and comedian Jo Brand, who thinks personalised number plates and high-heeled shoes should make the cut.

Lara Prendergast, The Telegraph, 14th February 2013

I know some viewers are still unsure about Room 101's new three-guest format, but it's steadily becoming my favourite TV panel show. And it was great to see Cilla Black on there the other week after such a long absence from primetime TV.

This week's star, though, was Alex Jones, who railed against people who enjoy repeat viewings of movies because, 'Watching the same thing over and again is a waste of your life.' Good job The One Show viewers don't think like that.

Ian Hyland, Daily Mail, 9th February 2013

Glamping is an unlikely TV theme tonight, cast in two very different roles. Over on Great Night Out, it's a positive holiday option, but here in Frank Skinner's domain, it's being proposed for disposal in Room 101 by actor/comedian Jack Whitehall. It's what bugs him most about the great outdoors, while for The One Show's Alex Jones, it's seagulls. But the controversial choice for presenter Clive Anderson is Bambi's extended family - until meeting special guest Arthur changes his mind.

Carol Carter and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro, 8th February 2013

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