Jeremy Paxman and David Mitchell host C4's Alternative Election Night

20 April 2015

 

Jeremy Paxman, David Mitchell, Richard Osman, Cathy Newman, Gary Gibbon, Aisling Bea, Adam Hills, Kayvan Novak, Romesh Ranganathan, Henning Wehn, Roisin Conaty and Sara Pascoe will be just some of the names coming together for Channel 4’s Election Night – an all-night feast of comedy and comment on the night of what is predicted to be the tightest Election in decades.

Jeremy Paxman and David Mitchell will preside over the evening and will be joined by a host of guests in the studio and around the country with their take on the unfolding story.  Richard Osman will be on hand to provide his interpretation of events, with Gary Gibbon and Cathy Newman providing hard-edged commentary on the political story. The Channel 4 News reporting team will be on the ground in key electoral battlegrounds, reporting right through the night and bringing the latest news and results.

The show will also include special election-themed episodes of Gogglebox and The Last Leg.

Jeremy Paxman said: “Elections matter. But that doesn’t mean the coverage has to be dull. I hope there’ll be room for both insight and laughter.”

David Mitchell added: "Our aim is to keep people watching much later than they intended and we will be judged by the dip in the nation's productivity on Friday 8th May."

Ed Havard, Head of Channel 4’s TV Events, said: "This is an unpredictable election and we’ve got a genuinely unpredictable and exciting line up for our take on election night. It promises to be very different, and a lot of fun. Plus we're on all night so you won't miss a thing."  

In the final weeks in the run up to the Election there will be two Last Leg Election specials, as well as Ballot Monkeys, a brand new comedy from Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered creators Andy Hamilton and Guy Perkin – a show is so topical it’s not written yet. The cast includes Ben Miller, Hugh Dennis, Sarah Hadland, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Hattie Morahan. More 4 will also be broadcasting The Vote, a play dramatizing the final 90 minutes before the polls close at this year’s General Election, live from the Donmar stage.

The Alternative Election Night is the culmination of programming on Channel 4 exploring some of the most significant and often contentious issues in the run up to the election. Cameron & Miliband Live: The Battle for Number 10 attracted a peak audience of 3 million viewers with Jeremy Paxman interviewing David Cameron and Ed Miliband. Other programming includes The Cost of Living, a three part documentary series exploring pressures faced by the NHS, Immigration Street, a thought provoking documentary examining one of the most fiercely debated and diverse issues in Britain today and Coalition, a feature length drama charting the politically frenzied days in the lead up to the formation of the current government.

Zeppotron, part of Endemol Shine Group will produce the show alongside ITN Productions. The Executive Producers from Zeppotron are Ruth Phillips and Andrew Westwell and the Series Producers are Alison Marlow and Russell Balkind. Chris Shaw and Ian Rumsey are Executive Producers for ITN.