Featuring an array of performers from all over the world and representing an eclectic range of genres, this long-running BBC series is one of the last great music showcases on UK television. Originating in 1992 as a spin-off from the early-Nineties weekday evening arts programme The Late Show, Later... has since outlasted its parent show by nearly three decades and made its presenter, former Squeeze keyboard player Jools Holland, the face of British music TV (a role to which he first aspired on Channel4's 80s series The Tube) — particularly as it has been the only regular mainstream programme of its type left since the demise of the even longer-running (1964-2006) chart pop show Top of the Pops.
Typically about half a dozen artists appear per episode, arranged in a circular fashion around the television studio, with focus leaping around from one to the next over the course of the hour or so. Short interviews with a key performer are sometimes held between songs, with each artist generally getting 2 or 3 performances during an episode depending on how big an act they are. As a rule, two batches of episodes (generally of around 6-8 each) are put out per year. The programme marked its 50th episode in 1996, 100th in 2000, 200th in 2008 and 250th in 2010, and in 2017 held a special 25th-anniversary show at London's Royal Albert Hall as well as airing a retrospective A-Z of Later... with Jools Holland: From Adele to ZZ Top in celebration of the landmark. It passed its 300th edition in 2013 and 400th in 2020.
Initially recorded on a Tuesday and shown on Friday the same week, 2008 saw the introduction of an additional half-hour version of the programme, Later... Live, broadcast live on Tuesday nights followed by the full-length pre-recorded edition on Friday. The live format was dropped some years later, with the shorter edition going out instead on Thursdays for a spell. Having been recorded for most of its lifespan at the BBC's Television Centre in West London, the show was forced to emanate in a pared-back format from Holland's own studio during the Covid pandemic, reducing to 45 minutes in the process. From late 2021 it settled in a new Saturday evening slot, and in 2022 gained a new permanent venue in the restored theatre at Alexandra Palace (the venerable recreation, entertainment and broadcast site in North London that was the home of the BBC's first regular public television service in the 1930s) for its 60th series.
Aside from the substantial range of artists and styles covered in the programme's 30+ years, which can span any number of genres within a single edition, Later... is noted for several unique features:
- The 'opening jam' of each episode, which introduces the night's guests while all are playing a short collective jam accompanied by Holland on piano.
- The artists are arranged 'in the round' in the studio, with Jools placed broadly centrally and the cameras panning from one part of the room to another over the course of the show as they take turns performing. Part of the fun and interest of the setup, apart from the wild shifts of genre and style from one song to the next, is that you can catch sight of different acts watching (and appreciating) each other's performances.
- Holland's chats with guests (usually the most famous visitors present on the particular evening), which often take place at his piano. He will also sometimes divert on his way around the studio to speak with non-performing faces in the audience.
- Holland will back certain artists on the piano while they perform, more often than not deploying a variation of his signature boogie-woogie style.
- Special Later Presents... episodes which feature a longer performance by one group. These are fairly rare; the only artists featured so far are Alice in Chains (1992), Paul Weller (1996), Metallica (1992), M People (1998), R.E.M. (1998), The Verve (1998), Oasis (2000), Radiohead (2001 & 2007) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (2007). The format seemed to have petered out in the 21st century, but was revived for an episode dedicated solely to the Arctic Monkeys in 2022.
Since 1994 BBC Two has anchored its New Year's Eve programming with Jools' Annual Hootenanny, a two-hour show broadcast either side of midnight with a Hogmanay party atmosphere, celebrity guests and big countdown to 12 o'clock, return and/or first-time visits from some of the successful musical acts of the year, and often featuring solo artists accompanied by Jools' Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. A Spring Hootenanny took place once in 2003, but it didn't really catch on.
Tropes:
- Artifact Title: As noted above, the title was originally a reference to the programme following on from The Late Show, which ceased broadcast in... 1995.
- Ironically, perhaps, the creation of Later... helped hasten the demise of its parent show, as siphoning away all the musical talent to the spin-off series left the original something of an irrelevance. Having sailed past its 30th anniversary in 2022, Later... has now run for over a quarter of a century longer than The Late Show (which aired for just 6 years) ever did.
- My Nayme Is: The host's real first name is Julian, which would more conventionally be shortened to "Jules".
- Once per Episode: Not in regards to the main show, but the Hootenanny nearly always ends with the song Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)
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Spiritual Successor: To many of the long-since-defunct music shows from The '60s to The '80s, including The Tube (which Jools presented) and the legendary Old Grey Whistle Test. - The Talk Show with Host Name
