| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Company: | London Weekend Television |
| Creator: | Barry Humphries |
| Presenter: | Dame Edna Everage |
| Starring: | Barry Humphries Emily Perry The Laurie Holloway Orchestra |
| Narrated: | Robin Houston |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | ITV |
| Location: | LWT Studios London |
| Num Episodes: | 14 (inc. 2 specials) |
The Dame Edna Experience is a British television comedy talk-show hosted by Dame Edna Everage. It ran for twelve regular episodes on ITV, plus two Christmas specials.[1] This show was also aired in re-runs with Dutch subtitles in the Netherlands.
The first seven aired for the first time in 1987, the next seven in 1989. It was directed by Ian Hamilton and Alasdair MacMillan and produced by London Weekend Television. Regulars on the program, besides Dame Edna, were her "bridesmaid" Madge Allsop (played by Emily Perry) and Robin Houston who was the announcer, with orchestra conducted and arranged by Laurie Holloway.
Each program featured several celebrity guests,[2] usually three, but some programs included up to eight guests. There would also be other invited "guests" (such as Kurt Waldheim and Imelda Marcos), who, once introduced at stage right, would fall victim to a trap door or something similar and fail to make it to their chair.
The entire series was released on DVD (for Region 1) by BBC Video in June 2004, and can now also be purchased as a complete set including the 1987 Christmas special and the three An Audience with Dame Edna specials, plus other material.[1]
The series was released for Region 2 by Network DVD in the UK in 2007, as a four-disc set. It includes the 1987 Christmas special and the one-off 1990 Christmas special A Night on Mount Edna with guests Mel Gibson, Charlton Heston, Gina Lollobrigida and Julio Iglesias.
For reasons unknown, neither the Region 1 or the Region 2 releases include the 1989 Christmas special "The Dame Edna Satellite Experience" that ended the second series and featured Ursula Andress, Yehudi Menuhin, and Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Several potential guests were "aborted" throughout the series. Kurt Waldheim, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Larry Hagman and Barry Humphries were announced as guests, but Dame Edna decided to abort the interviews as they entered the set. Hagman and Gabor were permitted to appear after apologising to Dame Edna (off camera), whereas Waldheim and Humphries were not. Charlton Heston fell down the staircase accidentally, preventing his initial interview. Both Jeffrey Archer and Cliff Richard were ejected midway through their interviews; Cliff only as a demonstration and warning to future guests and Archer because Dame Edna was bored with him.
Both Imelda Marcos and Princess Michael of Kent were introduced as guests, but fell foul of Dame Edna's security system and were ejected from the studio.