{{Use British English|date=June 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox television | image = The Joy of Text.png | alt = The words "THE JOY OF TEXT" written in a dot matrix format on a lime green background. | caption = | alt_name = | genre = Entertainment<br/>Variety<br/>Documentary | creator = | developer = | writer = | director = Peter Orton | creative_director = | presenter = Ulrika Jonsson<br/>Terry Alderton | starring = | judges = | voices = | narrator = | theme_music_composer = | open_theme = | end_theme = | composer = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = | num_episodes = | list_episodes = | executive_producer = Jeremy Mills<br/>Jerry Foulkes | producer = Lisa Clark<br/>Nick Murphy | editor = | location = | cinematography = | camera = Multi-camera | runtime = | company = Lion | channel = BBC One | first_aired = {{Start date|2001|6|9|df=y}} | last_aired = | related = }}
'''''The Joy of Text''''' was a themed night of television programmes centred on text messaging, shown on BBC One.<ref name=Hyland/> It was broadcast on 9 June 2001, and featured three TV programmes: ''The Joy of Text: Live'', ''Text Maniacs'' and ''X Text''. The first programme, ''The Joy of Text: Live'', was a 40-minute entertainment variety show hosted by Ulrika Jonsson and Terry Alderton, featuring celebrity guests and text-related games. This was followed by ''Text Maniacs'', a documentary looking at surprising examples of text messaging use. ''X Text'', the final programme, looked at the seedier side of texting.
''The Joy of Text'' received negative reviews from media commentators, who criticised the night for its poor script and lack of entertaining content. Fewer than 3 million viewers tuned into the series. Viewers sent in a record 500,000 text messages during the show, some of which were compiled to form a tie-in book, also titled ''The Joy of Text''.
==Programmes== After being commissioned by BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey, ''The Joy of Text'' theme night was broadcast on 9 June 2001.<ref name=Deans/> It officially began at 7:25 p.m., with a brief five-minute introduction from TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson and comedian Terry Alderton.<ref name=BFI>{{Cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/713233?view=synopsis|title=The Joy of Text|publisher=British Film Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029213001/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/713233?view=synopsis|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=dead|accessdate=27 June 2012}}</ref> Jonsson and Alderton introduced the rest of the night's programmes, and invited viewers to text their favourite jokes into the show.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/joyoftext/|title=The.Joy.Of.Text.|date=June 2001|publisher=BBC|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010610084230/http://www.bbc.co.uk/joyoftext/|archive-date=10 June 2001|url-status=dead|accessdate=27 June 2012}}</ref> This was followed at 8:15 p.m. by ''The Joy of Text: Live'', a live, interactive entertainment programme. It was also hosted by Jonsson and Alderton, and ran for 40 minutes.<ref name=Hyland/> After beginning with archive footage of mobile phone use during the 1980s, ''The Joy of Text: Live'' featured segments such as a man proposing by text to his girlfriend (who responded with "Yes I love you"), celebrity guest text messaging with pop group Hear'Say, and a text message race, where three members of the audience were challenged to text a friend asking them the name of Tony Blair's youngest child (Leo) – the winner was the first contestant to receive the correct answer back.<ref>{{Cite episode|series=The Joy of Text: Live|credits=Presenters: Ulrika Jonsson and Terry Alderton|network=BBC|station=BBC One|location=London|date=9 June 2001}}</ref>
''The Joy of Text: Live'' was followed at 8:55 p.m. by ''Text Maniacs'', a documentary about use of text messaging, produced by Lion Television.<ref name=BFI/><ref name="Lion Television"/> ''Text Maniacs'' featured human interest stories, such as a story about a young woman whose life was saved when she texted her boyfriend to tell him that the boat that she and her friends were on had drifted out to sea. The programme also included interviews with a teenage girl who sent an average of 1,000 texts a month costing {{GBP|300|link=yes}}, and a runaway who used text to stay in contact with his family.<ref name=Hyland/><ref name="Lion Television">{{Cite web|url=http://www.liontv.com/London/Productions/The-Joy-of-Text|title=The Joy of Text|publisher=Lion Television|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521143859/http://www.liontv.com/London/Productions/The-Joy-of-Text|archive-date=21 May 2012|url-status=live|accessdate=27 June 2012}}</ref> The final programme of the evening, ''X Text'', was a 15-minute adult-oriented show about the ruder side of texting, and was broadcast at 11:30 p.m.<ref name=BFI/>
==Reception==
===Critical reception=== ''The Joy of Text'' was critically panned by reviewers. Writing for ''The Sunday Mirror'', TV columnist Ian Hyland criticised ''The Joy of Text: Live'' for its poorly written script and confusing content.<ref name=Hyland>{{Cite news|title=TV Week: Text the New Sex? No Joy|first=Ian|last=Hyland|author-link=Ian Hyland|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TV+WEEK%3A+TEXT+THE+NEW+SEX%3F+NO+JOY.-a075419543|newspaper=The Sunday Mirror|publisher=Trinity Mirror|location=London|date=10 June 2001}}</ref> On his series ''How TV Ruined Your Life'', writer Charlie Brooker retrospectively described the night as "an entire evening of text message non-fun".<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Progress|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00z7p20|series=How TV Ruined Your Life|credits=Presenter: Charlie Brooker|network=BBC|station=BBC Two|date=1 March 2011|series-no=1|number=5|minutes=19:37|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315124422/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00z7p20|archive-date=15 March 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Alderton himself was also critical of the series, calling it "one of the worst pieces of TV in history".<ref name=Gould>{{Cite news|title=My TV nightmare; London's Burning star tells how lottery flop left career in tatters|first=Phil|last=Gould|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/My+TV+nightmare%3b+LONDON%27S+BURNING+STAR+TELLS+HOW+LOTTERY+FLOP+LEFT...-a089138554|newspaper=Wales on Sunday|publisher=Trinity Mirror|location=Cardiff|date=14 July 2002|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195018/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/My+TV+nightmare%3b+LONDON%27S+BURNING+STAR+TELLS+HOW+LOTTERY+FLOP+LEFT...-a089138554|archive-date=29 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> He explained that, as a result of Jonsson's baby suddenly falling ill, neither he nor Jonsson had had any time for rehearsals.<ref name=Gould/> In their annual report, the BBC had described ''The Joy of Text'' as "a novel Saturday night experience which did not altogether succeed".<ref>{{Cite news|title=BBC Annual Report: This Year's Lapses Programmes That Missed the Mark|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1706364.html|newspaper=The Independent|publisher=Independent News & Media|location=London|issn=0951-9467|oclc=185201487|date=18 July 2002|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105233249/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1706364.html|archive-date=5 November 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
===Ratings=== Early overnight figures suggested that ''The Joy of Text: Live'' had generated 2.9 million viewers and a 15% audience share,<ref name=Deans>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jun/11/overnights|title=No joy for Heggessey's first theme night|first=Jason|last=Deans|date=26 June 2001|newspaper=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media|location=London|issn=0261-3077|oclc=60623878|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312124348/http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2001/jun/11/overnights|archive-date=12 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and that the following programme, ''Text Maniacs'', had gained an audience of 2.8 million and a share of 14%.<ref name=Wilkes>{{Cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a3066/text-theme-night-fails-for-bbc1.html|title=Text theme night fails for BBC1|first=Neil|last=Wilkes|date=12 June 2001|publisher=Digital Spy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430114547/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a3066/text-theme-night-fails-for-bbc1.html|archive-date=30 April 2016|url-status=live|accessdate=26 June 2012}}</ref> These ratings were described by Jason Deans, a journalist for ''The Guardian'', as a "disaster".<ref name=Deans/> The most-watched programme in the same timeslot was an episode of ITV's talent show ''Stars in Their Eyes'', which had attracted 7.4 million viewers.<ref name=Wilkes/>
==Book== During promotion of ''The Joy of Text'', the BBC stated their intention to break a new record for the fastest-written book ever, using texts sent in by viewers on the night.<ref name="BBC News 1">{{Cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1378184.stm|title=BBC aims for txt record|date=8 June 2001|publisher=BBC News|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203081856/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1378184.stm|archive-date=3 December 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> The BBC ultimately received more than 500,000 texts over the course of the evening,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/joyoftext/smsnight/|title=THEJOYOFTEXT. TEXT NIGHT|date=June 2001|publisher=BBC|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020190815/http://www.bbc.co.uk/joyoftext/smsnight/|archive-date=20 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> breaking a record and becoming the biggest ever mass text exercise.<ref name="BBC News 2">{{Cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1381031.stm|title=BBC 'breaks txt record'|date=10 June 2001|publisher=BBC News|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317094947/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1381031.stm|archive-date=17 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> A selection of the received text messages were compiled into an accompanying tie-in book, also titled ''The Joy of Text''. The book was edited by Doug Young, who had previously edited the compilation book ''100 Recipes in No Time at All''.<ref name="BBC News 2"/> ''The Joy of Text'' was published by Transworld Publishers, and was released on 1 July 2001.<ref>{{Cite book|editor1-first=Doug|editor1-last=Young|title=The Joy of Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WDIiAAAACAAJ|edition=1st|date=1 July 2001|publisher=Transworld|location=Ealing|isbn=9780552149365|oclc=59532576|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514141308/https://books.google.com/books?id=WDIiAAAACAAJ|archive-date=14 May 2018}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|BBC}} *2001 in British television *''The Joy of Sex'' – a 1972 book that lends its name to this programme
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|1=https://web.archive.org/web/20010610084230/http://www.bbc.co.uk/joyoftext/}}. Archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20010610084230/http://www.bbc.co.uk/joyoftext/ the original] on 10 June 2001 *''[http://www.locatetv.com/tv/joy-of-text/1817248 The Joy of Text]'' at LocateTV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joy of Text, The}} Category:BBC television documentaries Category:English-language British television shows Category:2001 British television series debuts Category:2001 British television series endings