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Jam (TV series)

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Jam

 

The front cover of the DVD release of Jam.GenreAmbient comedyRunning timeapprox. 20 minutesCreator(s)Chris MorrisStarringChris Morris
Mark Heap
Kevin Eldon
Amelia Bullmore
David Cann
Julia DavisCountry of originUKOriginal network/channelChannel 4Original runMarch 2000–April 2000No. of episodes6Jam is a British comedy television series created by Chris Morris. It was based on the earlier BBC Radio 1 show, Blue Jam, and consisted of a series of unsettling sketches unfolding over an ambient soundtrack.
Many of the sketches re-used the original radio soundtracks with the actors lip-synching their lines, an unusual technique which added to the programme's unsettling atmosphere.
The show was broadcast on Channel 4 during March and April 2000.
The cast included Amelia Bullmore, David Cann, Julia Davis, Kevin Eldon and Mark Heap. It was written by Chris Morris and Peter Baynham, with Jane Bussman, David Quantick, Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews and the cast. Chris Morris also stars in some sketches, although not as many as his co-stars.
The series consisted of six twenty-minute episodes, and, unusually for a TV show on a commercial channel, had no advert break in the middle. Some reports claim this was because no company would want their products associated with the show although others say Morris insisted on there being no advertisement break as it would ruin the show - presumably through disruption of the willing suspension of disbelief. The closing credits were also missing, replaced by a brief link to a website [1]. When the DVD of the series was released, the website changed and offered a link to a long sound file containing the thumping sound of heavy artillery, which it is suggested is played while watching the programme to simulate surround sound.
Jam is sometimes referred to as being "controversial", but in spite of containing scenes many would find quite disturbing (and prompting at least one article in the Daily Mail), it nonetheless did not receive the same outraged headlines as the Brass Eye episode on paedophilia Chris Morris produced the following year. This was probably because Jam was aired quite late and had no promotional trailers and so many people were unaware of it.
Jaaaaam was a late-night remix of Jam. Its audiovisual distortions of the original series introduced the musical remix concept to British television.