Eurotrash

Forgotten TV & Film · 1993–2004

Eurotrash was a British-made late-night television magazine produced by Rapido Television for Channel 4. It mixed provocative reports, celebrity interviews, unusual performers and eccentric subcultures with irreverent studio comedy for a British audience. Antoine de Caunes and Jean-Paul Gaultier became its best-known presenting partnership, while Maria McErlane provided its principal English-language narration.

Its original run is generally dated from 1993 to 2004. Channel 4 brought de Caunes and Gaultier back for a one-off edition in 2016, produced by Twenty Twenty in association with Rapido Television.

Why It Mattered

Its fast pace, fluorescent studio, playful English and conspicuously regional dubbing made it a distinctive fixture of British post-pub television. The programme crossed boundaries of taste while giving eccentric European people and subjects unusual exposure on British television. Its carnivalesque comedy remains memorable, although parts of its sexual material, stereotypes and treatment of contributors may now appear voyeuristic or exploitative.

Origins and First Transmission

Peter Stuart devised the programme for Rapido Television after its earlier music programme Rapido ended.
A pilot had been filmed by April 1993.
The first documented UK transmission was on Channel 4 at 11.05 pm on Friday 24 September 1993.

Voices and Visual Identity

Maria McErlane became the principal English-language narrator.
Foreign contributors were comically dubbed using conspicuously British voices and broad regional accents.
Recurring visual cues included the fluorescent studio and cardboard giraffes commonly remembered as Pipi and Popo.

Series, Revival and Release

The programme accumulated 16 series during an original run generally dated from 1993 to 2004, alongside specials.
The one-off revival was broadcast on 17 June 2016, six days before the UK referendum on European Union membership.
Network released a DVD collection on 26 September 2022, marketed as covering all 16 series, although its archival completeness has not been established.

Associated With

Rapido Television - production company; Channel 4 - broadcaster; Peter Stuart - deviser and producer-director; Antoine de Caunes - presenter; Jean-Paul Gaultier - presenter; Maria McErlane - English-language narrator