TFI Friday Could Return For Entire Series If Anniversary Special Does Well

An entire series of TFI Friday could be on the cards.

If a 20th anniversary version of the popular 1990s Channel 4 music and talk show is a hit, Chris Evans may be lured back for more.

The birthday show will feature Jeremy Clarkson, Blur and Liam Gallagher.

It will be the first time TFI has appeared on our screens for 15 years.

TFI came to a stop after Evans quit and a run of guest presenter replacements such as Elton John failed to muster up the same mayhem that originally made it popular.

Evans retrospectively described himself in the TFI days as a “complete maniac” and a “boozed-up serial insomniac” who displayed “all the pathetically predictable symptoms of showbiz paranoia”.

Channel 4 executive Tom Beck, who commissioned the anniversary show, said that many attempts to replicate TFI have been unsuccessful.

He said that if the one-off show goes down well, “who knows what can happen after that?”

Andrew Newman, chief executive of independent producer Objective Productions and a former executive at Channel 4, said: “A lot of TV shows say the weekend starts here but in TFI’s case, it was actually true.

“It had a sense of restrained chaos – it didn’t normally fall apart but it threatened to at every moment.

“You forget how other TV was quite stuffy in comparison. Chris, first on the Big Breakfast and then on TFI, was instrumental in ushering in what now has become the mainstream.”

Evans is reported to have recently said that a comeback series would “instantly be the UK’s biggest live music show again. Cool.”