Noel Edmonds was a familiar face for many during the 1980s and 1990s as he hosted a range of Saturday night TV shows. His career also extended into the 00s when he presented a brand new Channel 4 game show in 2005, titled Deal or No Deal, which became a huge hit.
But despite being the popular face of TV shows including 'Swap Shop', ‘Noel’s Saturday Roadshow’, ‘Tele Addicts’ and ‘Noel’s House Party’ there was one programme the TV personality hosted in the 1980s which was cancelled suddenly after a tragic accident occurred.
Tragedy struck Noel's Saturday night programme 'The Late Late Breakfast Show', which ran from 1982 to 1986. It saw contestants being given the chance to take part in terrifying stunts in a section called 'Give it a Whirl'.
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But sadly in 1986, a 24-year-old contestant called Michael Lush fell to his death after attempting one of the stunts during rehearsals for the live Saturday night show. "Hang em' High" involved a bungee jump from an exploding box raised more than 100 feet in the air by a crane.
Tragically the clip had become loose, and Michael - who was a self-employed hod carrier - fell from 120 feet and sadly died as a result of his multiple injuries.
The investigation into the catastrophic incident later revealed that the clip wouldn’t have been strong enough to carry a bag of sugar and that once Michael was inside the box, there was no way for him to contact anyone. It also found that the production team in charge of the stunt had failed to hire a stuntman to oversee the bungee jump.
Following the tragedy, Noel resigned from The Late Late Breakfast Show and said at the time he did not “have the heart to carry on”. The show was cancelled just three days after Michael’s death.
Noel did make a comeback and returned to the BBC just two years later in 1988 to host the entertainment show, ‘Noel’s Saturday’s Roadshow’. It ran for three seasons until December 1990 and saw celebrity interviews, audience phone-ins and bands performing live in the studio.
Filmed each week from Edmonds' mansion in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, 'Noel's House Party' then ran from 1990 to 1999 and saw celebrities being set up in a series of 'Gotcha' situations. It was also where Mr Blobby first found fame - becoming a household name, the giant pink inflatable character even had a song in the charts in 1993 and to this day still features in pantomimes across the country.
In 2005, Noel fronted the popular teatime game show Deal or No Deal on Channel 4 which became a successful game show airing for more than 10 years. But Noel's latest TV show in 2017 didn't receive the same response, Channel 4's Cheap Cheap Cheap, was axed after just one series. In 2018, he joined the cast of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here but in a surprise exit, became the first celeb to be voted off.
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