The current Covid-19 crisis and its consequent lockdown have forced all the TV live programmes to film without their usual crowd - and there have been decidedly mixed results so far. The BBC elaborated an article that shows the different effects of the restriction measures in the UK programmes and their adaptation to the new context.
"A studio audience brings a lot of energy and pace, and they're also markers for how we should be feeling at home," says Frances Taylor, commissioning editor for comedy and entertainment at "The Radio Times". "Without them, a lot of programmes have a very different atmosphere."
Which, she adds, isn't necessarily a bad thing. "'Question Time' probably is serving better without an audience, because it feels less gladiatorial, less combative. So it's a calmer arena without the booing and clapping, it feels like a more measured programme. And for the factual political programmes, that's arguably an improvement."
On the other hand, Question Time's new format sees the socially-distanced panel take questions from viewers at home, rather than its studio audience. The fact the panellist can then deliver their answer without heckling arguably removes some element of scrutiny - the audience's reaction often has the effect of holding an individual to account, as the speaker is forced to respond to it.
Channel 4's new lunchtime programme "The Steph Show", fronted by Steph McGovern, has been largely praised by viewers and critics, even though it had been initially intended to feature a studio audience. Instead, it launched during lockdown from McGovern's own living room, with automatically controlled cameras. "This is not what we had planned," McGovern said in the opening episode. "It could be a bit rough around the edges but that's how I've been described for most of my career."
WHAT HAPPEN WITH COMEDY SHOWS
When the success of a programme depends on good jokes, the lack of an audience to laugh at them suddenly makes witty one-liners lose their zing. Helen Lewis, who recently appeared on the first audience-free episode of "Have I Got News For You", said. "Comedy without an audience is, by definition, less funny," she said. "Laughter is heightened when it's a collective experience. We laugh more in a club or an arena than we do watching the same comedian's Netflix special from our sofa."
Similarly, "The Graham Norton Show" on BBC One is able to survive without its audience because it isn't exclusively a comedy show - it can function as a straightforward interview programme if it has to, with its celebrity guests in their own homes. It does, however, arguably lose some of its life and energy without a crowd - and it puts more pressure on the host.
"Graham Norton, in its normal format, thrives on that sparky punchiness of the dynamic between the guests, and there's a laughter and energy with that that comes from the audience," Taylor says. "The new show is a lot calmer, a lot quieter. Entertainment programmes these days are generally quick quick quick, edits, noises, and actually, it's forced programmes like that to be innovative and different. I'm actually enjoying some elements of the new Graham Norton Show, but you've just got to see it as a different sort of programme."
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