Later... with Jools Holland



Later... with Jools Holland (previously known as ...Later with Jools Holland) is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jools Holland. A spin-off of The Late Show, it has been running in short series since 1992 and is a part of BBC Two's late-night line-up, usually at around 11 pm to 12 midnight. The day of transmission has varied, but currently it is usually recorded on a Tuesday for Friday broadcast and features a mixture of both established and new musical artists, from solo performers to bands and larger ensembles.

The show is considered an institution, having notched up millions of fans around the world. It is currently broadcast in America on MTV Live (formerly known as Palladia); previously it has been shown on Ovation, BBC America, Fuse, and Dave. The Ovation and Fuse broadcasts leave out several performances (and usually one or two performers entirely) to air commercials within a one-hour timeslot. It is also shown in Australia on the UKTV channel and ABC2, in Canada on HIFI and AUX TV, in Germany on ZDFkultur, in Spain on Canal+ Xtra, in Croatia on HRT 2 and in Belgium, France, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates on iConcerts HD.

The 200th programme was broadcast on 1 February 2008. The 250th edition was broadcast in September 2010.

Programme format
Later... draws from a diverse palette of both popular and world music, and each show features around five bands with a variety of styles performing for each other and a small studio audience. Jools Holland introduces the show and interviews one or more of the performers. A unique feature is the short jam session that begins each show, involving all of his invited guests, along with Holland on piano. This beginning jam session also best shows the unusual layout of the set – all the bands are arrayed in a circle with the audience filling in the gaps between them. Holland often also accompanies his guests' performances, with mixed results – Mark E. Smith of The Fall insisted that he would only appear on the show if Holland would promise not to play piano over any of his songs. On 1 April 2008, a new format was debuted, featuring a 30-minute, fully live show broadcast on a Tuesday, Later Live... with Jools Holland, followed by the original hour-long pre-recorded show, Later... with Jools Holland, broadcast on a Friday. The Friday show features the performances recorded on a Tuesday as well as others recorded during the session for the live show. The HD broadcasts use Dolby Digital 5.1, which adds to the overall ambience of the studio environment.

After the 2012 closure of BBC Television Centre, production from April 2013 moved to The Maidstone Studios, close to Holland's home in Cooling, Kent.

Special editions
Occasional special editions of the show showcase a major artist under the Later... banner, titled Later presents.... Artists featured in these shows have included Alice in Chains in 1992, Paul Weller and Metallica in 1996, R.E.M. and The Verve in 1998, Oasis in 2000, Radiohead in 2001 and 2007, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2007. The bands in question play for the duration of the hour-long show. Despite the different name, the show is still introduced by Jools Holland and takes place in a similarly set-up studio.

The special episode featuring M People in 1998 was later released on video and DVD under the title One Night in Heaven. Also, a selection of the songs from the programme have been released on the limited edition of The Best of M People album and as a b-side to the single "Dreaming".

Special editions broadcast on New Year's Eve each year are referred to as Jools Holland's Hootenanny and are advance-recorded. In 2003 a 'Spring Hootenanny' was broadcast, which proved to be a one-off.

Repeated excerpts from the show were broadcast under the title A Little Later as fill-in programmes on BBC HD.

Criticism
In 2008, the head rock and pop critic of The Guardian, Alexis Petridis, claimed the programme featured a "distinct lack of spontaneity" and was failing to showcase enough dance music, pop, hip-hop, experimental music or present R&B artists. He also argued "all the artists it breaks are essentially the same: MOR singer-songwriters".

In 2010, Joe Elliott, lead singer of rock band Def Leppard, criticised the programme for excluding the band from appearing on it, claiming "Jools Holland won't have us on his show because we're not cool enough." Executive producer Mark Cooper responded to this comment in 2013, claiming: "The aim is to put together the best mix from various genres. We’re not thinking, 'Oh no, we’ve never had Def Leppard on, we owe them one'." Cooper acknowledged that the series had "not had much metal" but denied accusations that it was "snobby" about pop acts.

Accolades
In 2000, the series was ranked at number 81 in the British Film Institute's list of the "BFI TV 100", listing the top 100 British television programmes of the 20th century.

Discography
Numerous albums containing performances from the show have been released over the course of the show's run.
 * 1996 ...Later Volume One: Brit Beat
 * 1996 ...Later with Jools Holland Volume Two: Slow Beats
 * 2008 Later... with Jools Holland The First 15 Years
 * 2008 Later... with Jools Holland Live
 * 2009 Later... with Jools Holland Live 2

Music DVDs have also been released, listed below:
 * 2003 Later... with Jools Holland Hootenanny
 * 2003 Later... with Jools Holland Giants
 * 2003 Later... with Jools Holland Louder
 * 2005 Later... with Jools Holland Even Louder
 * 2005 Later with Jools Holland: World
 * 2006 Later... with Jools Holland Mellow
 * 2006 Best of Later... with Jools Holland
 * 2008 Later... with Jools Holland The First 15 Years
 * Two DVDs subtitled Cool Britannia