After trialling a comeback with the recent 20th anniversary special, Channel 4 is bringing back TFI Friday for a full series, which will once again be hosted by Chris Evans. Eight episodes have been ordered for the full series, which will launch on Channel 4 this Autumn.
The 90 minute special drew a peak audience of 4.2 million viewers, comfortably beating all its terrestrial competitors in the slot. Even before the strong ratings performance, Channel 4 execs were said to be keen to bring back the Friday night format as a returning series. “Chris is the best of the best of live broadcasters and I never doubted for a moment that this TFI would live up to expectations. Confirming a series was a no brainer”, said C4’s Jay Hunt.
C4’s move to pick up a full series of TFI Friday caps off what has been a good month for host Chris Evans. It was announced just last week that he would be succeeding Jeremy Clarkson as the host of Top Gear and he is also continuing to host the Radio 2 Breakfast Show. The new series of TFI Friday was commissioned by Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor Tom Beck. The executive producers are Will Macdonald, Clare Barton and Suzi Aplin.
“Oh my goodness, are we really going to get to do this again? Looks like it – and leading into Christmas too”, said Chris Evans. “I might actually spontaneously explode on live television due to over excited-ness. Does that still count as unpredictable cos I’ve said it now?”
