Ruby was a late-night talk show broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom.

Ruby
Series 4 Title Card
GenreTalk show
Directed byEd Bye
Peter Orton
Southan Morris
Presented byRuby Wax
Theme music composerSimon Brint
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes48
Production
Executive producerClive Tulloh
Running time40 min
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release12 May 1997 (1997-05-12) –
9 November 2000 (2000-11-09)

The series premiered on 12 May 1997,[1] and was hosted by writer and comedian Ruby Wax. In each episode Wax holds an unscripted roundtable discussion with up to five guests. Framed as a dinner party, guests included actors, writers, stand-up comedians, musicians, journalists and other well-known figures in the entertainment industry.

A total of 48 episodes were broadcast between May 1997 and November 2000.

Production

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Wax with guests Salman Rushdie and Carrie Fisher

Each episode was recorded at BBC Television Centre. All episodes were pre-recorded, and often with no time limit. The conversation between Wax and her guests would sometimes last up to three hours, and would later be edited down to 40 minutes for broadcast. Multiple episodes could be recorded on the same day. The set was dressed as a restaurant and bar, and guests would eat, drink and smoke as if at a dinner-party. To add to the restaurant atmosphere, additional tables were populated by BBC staff including producers, secretaries, cafeteria and office workers.[2]

Notable guests and episodes

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Actress and writer Carrie Fisher appeared regularly on the series. Fisher and Wax had become close friends since first meeting on Wax's earlier series, The Full Wax. Fisher appeared in a total 7 episodes of the series.[3]

According to his 2004 autobiography, talk show host Graham Norton first met Fisher when they both appeared as guests on the same episode, and also became good friends with her.[4]

Actor and comedian Scott Thompson appeared during the series' third season, and spoke at length about witnessing the 1975 Brampton Centennial Secondary School shooting.

Actor Alan Cumming also appeared during the series' third season, and spoke at length of his experience of being stalked by obsessive fans while he was performing in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret.

Reception

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In reviewing the first three episodes, columnist Jasper Rees wrote in The Independent:

Ruby (BBC2, Mon to Wed) doesn't feel fully thought through: you get the impression it's an experimental stop-gap. But - hats off - it doesn't skimp on ambition. Uniting guests round a dining table with no particular axe to grind or product to promote, the challenge accepted by Ruby is to keep the conversational ball up in the air without the support system of topicality, and without the flabby or ill-disciplined as an equivalent show on radio could get away with.[5]

Episodes

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Series 1 (1997)

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The first series of 12 episodes was broadcast thrice-weekly, usually on Monday-Wednesday nights, in May and June 1997.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
11Leo Bassi, Raoul Heertje, Eddie Izzard, Terry Jones and Babben Larsson12 May 1997 (1997-05-12)
22Eve Arnold and John Simpson13 May 1997 (1997-05-13)
33Marianne Faithfull, Lucinda Lambton and Will Self14 May 1997 (1997-05-14)
44Carrie Fisher and Salman Rushdie19 May 1997 (1997-05-19)
55Carrie Fisher, Joanna Bowen, Helen Lederer, Kathy Lette and Bernadette Moran-Ferreira20 May 1997 (1997-05-20)
66Carrie Fisher, John Lahr and Hugh Laurie21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
77Frances Barber and Meera Syal27 May 1997 (1997-05-27)
88Frances Barber and Meera Syal28 May 1997 (1997-05-28)
99Jeremy Hardy, Jonathan Miller and Muriel Spark29 May 1997 (1997-05-29)
1010John Diamond, Carmen Callil and Helena Kennedy2 June 1997 (1997-06-02)
1111Rupert Everett, Jill Robinson, Fiona Shaw and Martin Sherman3 June 1997 (1997-06-03)
1212Alan Davies, Anna Massey and Glenys Kinnock4 June 1997 (1997-06-04)

Series 2 (1998)

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A second series of 12 episodes was broadcast thrice-weekly on Monday-Wednesday nights in July 1998.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
131Jeanne Moreau, Joanna Lumley and Boy George6 July 1998 (1998-07-06)
142Frances Barber, Michelle Collins and Gerald Ratner7 July 1998 (1998-07-07)
153Rhona Cameron, Brigitte Nielsen and Joe Simpson8 July 1998 (1998-07-08)
164Edwina Currie, Helen Lederer and Tony Slattery13 July 1998 (1998-07-13)
175Dominick Dunne and Clive James14 July 1998 (1998-07-14)
186Carrie Fisher, Dominick Dunne and Clive James15 July 1998 (1998-07-15)
197Carrie Fisher, Julian Lennon and John Diamond20 July 1998 (1998-07-20)
208Ivana Trump, Dana International and Julian Clary21 July 1998 (1998-07-21)
219Richard Wilson, PD James and Elizabeth Wurtzel22 July 1998 (1998-07-22)
2210Bruce Robinson, Joanna Bowen and Ian Ross27 July 1998 (1998-07-27)
2311Neil Simon, Anna Massey and Josephine Hart28 July 1998 (1998-07-28)
2412Bret Easton Ellis, Carrie Fisher and Elizabeth Wurtzel29 July 1998 (1998-07-29)

Series 3 (1999)

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A third series of 12 episodes was broadcast thrice-weekly on Monday-Wednesday nights in September and October 1999.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
251Terry Gilliam and Eddie Izzard13 September 1999 (1999-09-13)
262Anthony-Noel Kelly, Carrie Fisher, Graham Norton and Griff Rhys Jones14 September 1999 (1999-09-14)
273Frances Barber and Graham Norton15 September 1999 (1999-09-15)
284John Lloyd, Joanna Lumley and Sarah Miles20 September 1999 (1999-09-20)
295Billy Crystal21 September 1999 (1999-09-21)
306Robert Bly, Marion Woodman, John Simpson and Tony Slattery22 September 1999 (1999-09-22)
317Glenda Jackson, Helena Kennedy, John Diamond and Patrick Kielty27 September 1999 (1999-09-27)
328Marianne Faithfull, John Brown, Nicky Haslam and Anita Pallenberg28 September 1999 (1999-09-28)
339Scott Thompson, Rhona Cameron and Robert McLiam Wilson29 September 1999 (1999-09-29)
3410Malcolm McDowell and Edward Hibbert4 October 1999 (1999-10-04)
3511Malcolm McDowell, Edward Hibbert, Lindsay Duncan, Scott Thompson and Karen Moline5 October 1999 (1999-10-05)
3612Olympia Dukakis, Martin Sherman and Alan Cumming6 October 1999 (1999-10-06)

Series 4 (2000)

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A fourth and final series of 12 episodes was broadcast on Monday-Thursday nights in October and November 2000.

No.
overall
No. in
series
GuestsOriginal air date
371Roseanne Barr23 October 2000 (2000-10-23)
382Jerry Hall, Graham Norton and Georgina Beyer24 October 2000 (2000-10-24)
393Siân Phillips, Amanda Donohoe and David Sedaris25 October 2000 (2000-10-25)
404Lucie Arnaz, Alexis Arquette and Suzanne Bertish26 October 2000 (2000-10-26)
415Jackie Collins, Rich Hall and Helen Lederer30 October 2000 (2000-10-30)
426Roseanne Barr, David Baddiel and Lynda La Plante31 October 2000 (2000-10-31)
437John Diamond, Matthew Manning, Beechy Colclough and Jonathan Harvey1 November 2000 (2000-11-01)
448Jay McInerney, Kate O'Toole, and David Sedaris2 November 2000 (2000-11-02)
459Ewan McGregor and Eddie Izzard6 November 2000 (2000-11-06)
4610Michael Gambon, James Fleet and Kevin McNally7 November 2000 (2000-11-07)
4711Anthea Turner, Will Carling, Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott8 November 2000 (2000-11-08)
4812Robert Winston, Phil Hammond and Muriel Gray9 November 2000 (2000-11-09)

References

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  1. ^ "Ruby (1997)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  2. ^ "60 Seconds Extra: Ruby Wax". Metro UK. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Carrie and Me". Huffington Post. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  4. ^ Norton, Graham (8 December 2011). Graham Norton: So Me. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 9781444717778. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Dinner for two (or more) chez Wax". The Independent. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
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