TV Offal

TV Offal is a British satirical comedy sketch/archive television series that ran on Channel 4 from 31 October 1997 to 26 June 1998. It was written and narrated by comedian and writer Victor Lewis-Smith, who shared writing duties with Paul Sparks. It ran for seven episodes (including the pilot), and is probably best known for first airing the uncensored Rainbow sketch on national television, as well as the "Gay Daleks" sketches.

The series covered generally obscure, rare or offensive excerpts of television footage from numerous media archives, usually accompanied by Lewis-Smith's biting commentary and cynical approach to what was being shown. Lewis-Smith used a variety of categories on the show to accompany a particular selection of programme footage. The show was also characterised by its musical score of campy jingles introducing the regular segments. These were produced in the 1980s style by the Dallas-based radio ID company JAM Creative Productions.

The programme was made by Associated-Rediffusion, the name of a TV company formerly serving the London area from 1955 to 1964 (and continuing as Rediffusion London until 1968). Lewis-Smith bought the name for his own production company when he discovered that it was dormant.^[1]

TV Offal has never been fully repeated, although a "best of" series entitled TV Offal Prime Cuts was aired in November 1999.