Rip-off

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YSTV has a long, proud history of producing unadulterated rip-offs and parodies of other channels' programming. Here's a list of some of them, starting with the obvious steals:

YSTV were approached in late 2003 to produce a rip-off of The Office called The Union, transferring Slough to Heslington, but this was never made.

Although not direct rip-offs the following owe a lot to other shows:

  • Jim'll Sodomise You - parody of Jim'll Fix It (alledgedly)
  • The Hand Job - charades game like Give Us A Clue
  • YSTV-am - inspired by The Big Breakfast and a name derived from TV-am
  • Lazy Lunch - Name comes from C4's Late/Light Lunch but this show had no cookery whatsoever
  • This Afternoon - named as a parody of This Morning, was a similar magazine show
  • Campus Today - again featuring This Morning-style set-up and theme tune
  • Games Disaster - take-off of Games Master's name but only the first series was much like the C4 show
  • Off The Cuff - setup very reminiscent of the Children's BBC broom cupboard
  • This Is YOUR: Manifesto - theme tune, title and red book are from This Is Your Life
  • Children In Need - not really a rip-off but inspired by BBC telethon of the same name
  • Good Morning Campus - Twice over, the name derives from Good Morning Britain but show had a number of breakfast show elements

LipSync deserves an honourable mention for all the rounds it has ripped-off from other panel shows over the years! Limited Edition has also played fast-and-loose with features from mainstream TV, including TopGear's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car being honoured with Star in a Remote Control Car.

Finally, YSTV were ripped-off in a way when around a year after Stereotypes was made, a very similar programme called "He Says, She Says" was broadcast on BBC2 - and the title of which was a working title for Stereotypes!


YSTV Productions
Series • Events Coverage • One-offs