Jeremy Paxman and David Mitchell to host Channel 4’s alternative election night
David Farnor | On 22, Apr 2015
Jeremy Paxman and David Mitchell will host Channel 4’s alternative election night coverage.
The show, broadcast live on Thursday 7th May, will combine comedy and commentary with a line-up of guests that includes Aisling Bea, Adam Hills, Kayvan Novak, Romesh Ranganathan, Henning Wehn and Sara Pascoe.
Richard Osman will offer his interpretation of events, with Gary Gibbon and Cathy Newman providing hard-edged analysis on the political story. At the same time, the Channel 4 News reporting team will be on the ground in key electoral battlegrounds, reporting right through the night and bringing the latest news and results.
The show will also include special election-themed episodes of Gogglebox and The Last Leg.
Ed Havard, Head of Channel 4’s TV Events, adds: “This is an unpredictable election and we’ve got a genuinely unpredictable and exciting line up for our take on election night. It promises to be very different, and a lot of fun. Plus we’re on all night so you won’t miss a thing.”
The show marks an ongoing string of programmes designed to appeal to those who may not otherwise follow the election, with fellow Channel 4 veteran Jon Snow taking to YouTUbe to engage young voters with a series of vlogs, All 4 streaming the first ever Youth Leader’s Debate on 28th April and the BBC hosting an iPlayer-exclusive election special with Frankie Boyle.
“Elections matter. But that doesn’t mean the coverage has to be dull,” says Paxman. “I hope there’ll be room for both insight and laughter.”
David Mitchell adds: “Our aim is to keep people watching much later than they intended and we will be judged by the dip in the nation’s productivity on Friday 8th May.”
In the final weeks in the run-up to the election, Channel 4 will also broadcast two Last Leg specials, as well as Ballot Monkeys, a brand new comedy from Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered creators Andy Hamilton and Guy Perkin – a show so topical that it’s not written yet. The cast includes Ben Miller, Hugh Dennis, Sarah Hadland, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Hattie Morahan.
More 4 will also be broadcasting The Vote, a play dramatizing the final 90 minutes before the polls close at this year’s General Election, live from the Donmar stage.
To catch up with the latest election TV programmes, see our general election VOD TV guide.