Thanks to the excellent Why Don’t YouTube, over on Bluesky, I was made aware of another short-lived Noel Edmonds curio.

Noel Edmonds' first new series after The Late Late Breakfast Show's enforced cancellation was Whatever Next?, as seen today in 1987, a single series light oddity in which two pairs are challenged to predict the outcomes of street dares, queries and stunts.

— Why Don't YouTube? (@whydontyoutube.bsky.social) 2024-11-30T19:00:02.086Z

Coming so soon off of the back of The Late Late Breakfast Show tragedy, Whatever Next? was perhaps a surprising inclusion in the schedules. So it’s worth having a look at how the show was being covered in the press.

Evening Herald, 19th August 1987

It’s striking how little bloviating and bluster there is, to be honest.

Scarborough Evening News – Wednesday 19 August 1987

And when it came to broadcast time, in October, it was all being presented as just another jaunty and jolly evening gameshow.

Shields Daily Gazette – Monday 19 October 1987Peterborough Evening Telegraph – Saturday 17 October 1987

This reviewer engaged with the show on its own merits.

West Lancashire Evening Gazette – Tuesday 20 October 1987

While this one makes a vague allusion to it all.

The Stage – Thursday 29 October 1987

Is the show’s title a reference to the incident? Like, Noel’s got a new show? Whatever next?