Wake yourself up in a good way with 'The Wright Stuff' (The Wright Stuff)

Member Name: bluerose81

Product:	The Wright Stuff
Date:	01/09/09 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lively, informative and entertaining

Disadvantages: None really

'The Wright Stuff' is a live chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright and currently airing on Channel 5 from 9.15 am to 10.45 am. The point of the show is to discuss topical issues with the celebrities on the panel and let members of the public, both in the studio audience and by means of a phone-in, air their own opinions on the subject. Kirsty Duffy is the current eye candy who takes the phone calls. Prior to presenting 'The Wright Stuff', which was first broadcast in 2000, Matthew Wright worked as a tabloid journalist for the Sun and the Daily Mirror.

The show will start with an introduction of the three celebrity panellists, which will include one guest who will usually have some kind of topical connection or something to plug, and two regular panellists who frequently return to the show. Christopher Biggins, Gail Porter and Anne Diamond are regular panellists for example. Matthew runs through the topics of the day, and then the panellists start going through the daily papers to pick out interesting, shocking or amusing stories. Then they begin the first topic of the day.

The subjects for discussion might be How Long Can You Love a Loser? Pay MPs Nothing?, or Swine Flu: Are You Panicking Yet?, to name a few recent ones. Matthew will give an introduction to the topic, providing some facts and statistics, and often the most serious topic is discussed first and given the longest time slot. Sometimes the subject is a lighthearted one and the discussion will be brief. He takes phone calls from viewers, and a man (currently Eric Johnson) holding a microphone will sit amongst the studio audience so they can give their opinions.

We say goodbye to the panellists before the final segment where Matthew will sit with some specialist, maybe giving advice on health problems, or financial problems for example. Miriam Stoppard is one of the numerous guest advisors who appears regularly. Again, viewers are encouraged to phone-in with their concerns.

Matthew Wright makes a pretty good presenter because he has a sense of humour and he 'keeps it real' as he is very opinionated and can't contain himself sometimes. He is notorious for frequently losing patience with callers and cutting them off abruptly because he deems their opinions too silly. He can't help but show his emotions on his face and even though I don't always agree with him, I can't help liking him.

Being a live show, it can have some classic moments. Like when Matthew accidently named the tv presenter, John Leslie, as Ulrika Jonsson's alleged rapist, naming him for the first time in public, or when a man in the studio audience made a pass at him, asking Matthew out of the blue "Do you fancy a b**?". Matthew obviously thought he must have just misheard him so he asked him what he meant, which prompted him to elaborate further. It turned out that the man in the audience was doing that as a kind of 'dare' for the benefit of Channel 4's 'Balls of Steel' aired months later.

All in all, it is a good show; lively, informative and quite entertaining too, especially when the very funny Christopher Biggins is on the panel. I recommend you check it out on your next day off!

Also repeated at 11.30 am on Fiver.

Summary: It's live! Anything can happen!