Commercial Breakdown

For the song by The Sunshine Underground, see Raise the Alarm.

Commercial Breakdown is a BBC/Celador light entertainment television programme which shows humorous television advertisements from around the world.

History

The show was first broadcast as 'Carrott's Commercial Breakdown' on 29 December 1989, fronted by the show's namesake Jasper Carrott. Carrott continued to present the show for the following three specials before passing the format on to other comedians, the first being Patrick Kielty under the new title ...After The Break but it then returned to its original title to be hosted by Rory McGrath followed by Jo Brand. Since then, further series have been hosted by Ruby Wax, Jim Davidson, Jon Culshaw and the most recent (final) series was presented by Jimmy Carr.

British adverts were initially not allowed because of the BBC's Royal Charter (advertising is completely forbidden on the BBC), however presently, provided the adverts are not currently being broadcast, they are allowed. Many of the adverts were international which means they were not selling items on the British market.

Other broadcasts

The series has also been broadcast in Europe, including Germany.

Australian version

An Australian version of the show premiered in September 2007, hosted by Dermott Brereton. Another series premiered in April 2009, and was hosted by Darren McMullen.

Airdates

Presenter	Number of episodes	Transmission date(s)
Jasper Carrott 1	1	29 December 1989
Jasper Carrott 2	1	27 December 1991
Jasper Carrott 3	1	28 December 1993
Jasper Carrott 4	1	5 March 1996
Patrick Kielty	6	17 September - 5 November 1996
Rory McGrath	7	2 September - 18 November 1997
Jo Brand	8	25 November 1999 – 27 January 2000
Ruby Wax	8	7 January - 25 February 2002
Jim Davidson	10	9 January - 12 March 2004
Jon Culshaw	8	6 January – 24 February 2006
Jimmy Carr	8	15 June - 3 August 2008