Terry Wogan wrote briefly about Friday Night in his 2006 autobiography "Mustn't Grumble", noting that it had been created with the knowledge that Wogan (1982) was being cancelled:
"Indeed, the press, who, as ever, had a keen eye for a man down, saw another chance to resume the kicking. The BBC apparently was paying not one, but two executives an enormous amount of money to find a programme, any old programme, for 'Worn-out Wogan'. Somehow, I doubt it, but we did end up with Friday Night with Wogan, which had an interesting format that included Danny Baker and Frank Skinner, and might have succeeded if anybody had cared, but as far as some people were concerned, I was a busted flush, and after a season or two the show was suddenly not there any more."
"Indeed, the press, who, as ever, had a keen eye for a man down, saw another chance to resume the kicking. The BBC apparently was paying not one, but two executives an enormous amount of money to find a programme, any old programme, for 'Worn-out Wogan'. Somehow, I doubt it, but we did end up with Friday Night with Wogan, which had an interesting format that included Danny Baker and Frank Skinner, and might have succeeded if anybody had cared, but as far as some people were concerned, I was a busted flush, and after a season or two the show was suddenly not there any more."
In his self-titled 2001 autobiography, frequent co-host Frank Skinner alleged that, while Terry Wogan was incredibly supportive, he was a little bored with the show himself:
"He'd already interviewed most of the guests two or three times before on his early evening chat show, and he'd lost a bit of interest. However, when Terry spoke about radio, his face lit up, and all the cynicism disappeared. Clearly that was his first love."
"He'd already interviewed most of the guests two or three times before on his early evening chat show, and he'd lost a bit of interest. However, when Terry spoke about radio, his face lit up, and all the cynicism disappeared. Clearly that was his first love."
The series had a complaint upheld against it by the BSC. The Newcastle Journal (18th December 1992) reported:
"Terry Wogan's chatshow has fallen foul of the Broadcasting Standards Council for an episode involving Vinnie Jones' notorious football video on professional fouls. A viewer complained to the BSC after Wogan's Friday Night pretended to play the video commentary alongside pictures of police handling demonstrators, a nuclear explosion and riots. She objected to "gratuitous scenes of violence" in the BBC1 show. The BSC upheld the complaint about the October show and said: "This style of humour has its place but it believes the choice of clips in this instance was inappropriate.""
"Terry Wogan's chatshow has fallen foul of the Broadcasting Standards Council for an episode involving Vinnie Jones' notorious football video on professional fouls. A viewer complained to the BSC after Wogan's Friday Night pretended to play the video commentary alongside pictures of police handling demonstrators, a nuclear explosion and riots. She objected to "gratuitous scenes of violence" in the BBC1 show. The BSC upheld the complaint about the October show and said: "This style of humour has its place but it believes the choice of clips in this instance was inappropriate.""