Central Weekend

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Central Weekend (also called Central Weekend Live) was a British television debate show which ran from 1987 to 2001. Known for the confrontational nature of its studio audience and topics, it was presented for many years by Nicky Campbell. It was broadcast late on a Friday night in the Central region, and debated various topics and current affairs issues - usually subjects that had been featured in the week's news.

Though Campbell was the main host, there were a number of other presenters who joined him throughout the show's time on air. These included Kaye Adams, Sue Jay, Roger Cook, Bibi Baskin, Paul Ross, John Stapleton, James Whale, Victoria Derbyshire and Claudia Winkleman.

The show was broadcast live from the Central Television studios on Broad Street, Birmingham, although it was later moved to the Nottingham studios at Lenton Lane. It became a popular highlight of the week's television in the Midlands region and enjoyed a 40% share of the viewing audience. Confrontational from the outset, debates could become quite heated and audience members sometimes had to be restrained by on-set bouncers. However, on at least one occasion, the show's floor manager was assaulted by one of the returning guests.

During a debate on women's football in March 1998, an audience member got drunk and ran amok on set, forcing the show to be taken off the air. 44-year-old Robert Davy was later jailed for 12 months over the incident. On another occasion, during the 1992 General Election campaign, a politician doused a member of a rival party with orange juice shortly after an edition of the show had finished airing.

In 2001, a complaint was made to the Independent Television Commission after it emerged that an edition of the show had featured fake guests. A debate on the effects of soap operas on the lives of individuals had featured two patients of a "soap clinic", who it later emerged, had been fakes.

Due to the programme's popularity in the Midlands, a national version was shown throughout the ITV Network for a time during the 1990s. Thursday Night Live went out in a similar late night slot on a Thursday evening, and featured much the same kind of debate as Central Weekend.