Without doubt the most important satirical show of the 1990s.
The Day Today was the programme that – under writer/producer Armando Iannucci (who made this) – launched the talents of Patrick Marber, Doon Mackichan, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front and, of course, Chris Morris firmly into the public eye.
It was a sign of the times that, where series such as That Was The Week That Was and Not the Nine O’Clock News dealt with current affairs, The Day Today focused with laser-like intensity upon the current affairs media.
Each episode was presented as a very real news programme, right down to the ludicrously overblown graphics that appeared between each item (whose creators had, incidentally, just finished designing the graphics for the ITN News) and was presided over by Chris Morris in the sneeringly macho style of a youthful Jeremy Paxman.
While Morris bellowed out news headlines about thefts of the pound and its replacement by an emergency currency based on the Queen’s eggs, the rest of the show was delivered by a cast of news-programme stereotypes still instantly recognisable today.
[youtube]r3BO6GP9NMY[/youtube]
&
[youtube]1SPWgodul_E[/youtube]