It’s good but it’s not right...
Catchphrase ‘may struggle’ without its studio audience post lockdown
STEPHEN Mulhern is likely to feel “lonely” when Catchphrase starts filming without a studio audience, according to the show’s producer.
Adeel Amini admits the series – the first of ITV’s big entertainment formats to return after the easing of lockdown – may struggle without a crowd.
He said: “You just realise what the audience bring. Obviously warm up – that is now a thing of the past. I am curious to see how it goes myself, to be honest, as Catchphrase does rely a lot on the audience being there.”
He added: “You might think they have not got a lot to do, but you have Stephen there, three contestants and it can be quite lonely in that studio.”
Mr Amini, who also works on Who
Wants to be a Millionaire? and 8 Out of 10 Cats, said the crew have been told to laugh and cheer at Mulhern’s jokes.
He said: “It gives them something to work with in the edit, but runs the risk it can sound like a children’s TV thing, where you can just hear everyone.
“On Catchphrase, when the contestants don’t get the answer right, we throw it out to the audience
“So I will just be there, shouting in the background.”
Mr Amini added he couldn’t wait to get back to filming in front of a packed crowd, saying: “A lot of us are in TV as we love that buzz of being in the studio and being next to people. We like all the stuff that goes with it.”
Catchphrase, shot in Maidstone, in Kent, will start filming a run of 10 new episodes on July 6.