The 100 Greatest TV Ads

The 100 Greatest TV Ads is a British TV entertainment programme that first aired on 29 April 2000 on Channel 4. It is part of the channel's 100 Greatest strand of programmes, and was presented by Graham Norton (except for a repeat on E4 in 2008 which was presented by Nick Grimshaw and Miquita Oliver).

Summary The programme counted down the 100 greatest ever television adverts shown on British television since the launch of commercial broadcasting in 1955. A public poll was conducted on both the Channel 4 website and The Sunday Times newspaper to determine the outcome of the result.

In addition to the programme showing the top 100 adverts, it also featured contributions from special guests and those who worked behind the scenes on the adverts. There were also two feature contributions in the programme, one from Peter Kay looking at some of the most obscure adverts in history, and the other showcased some classic international adverts with Gail Porter.

Top 100

Number Brand/Company/Product Advert Year 1 Jaffa Cakes Total Eclipse 1999 2 Smash Martians 1973 3 Tango Orange Man 1991 4 Heat Electric Creature Comforts 1991 5 Boddingtons Melanie Sykes 1997 6 Levi's Laundrette 1985 7 R. White's Lemonade Secret Lemonade Drinker 1973 8 Hamlet Happiness Is... 1966-91 9 Walkers Crisps Gary Lineker 1993 onwards 10 Impulse Chance Encounter 1998 11 Cinzano Collins & Rossiter 1978 12 Renault Clio Papa and Nicole 1991-98 13 Yellow Pages J. R. Hartley 1983 14 British Telecom Ology 1988 15 Nike Park Life 1997 16 Coca-Cola Teach The World To Sing 1971 17 Carling Black Label Dambusters 1989 18 Glade Shake n' Vac Dancing Woman 1979 19 Andrex Puppy 1972 onwards 20 Real Fires Furry Friends 1988 21 Ferrero Rocher Ambassador's Party 1995 22 Oxo The Oxo Family 1958-99 23 Wall's Cornetto Just One Cornetto 1980 24 PG Tips Chimps 1956 onwards 25 Castlemaine XXXX Sherry 1986 26 Cadbury Flake Flake Girls 1959 onwards 27 Nestlé Milkybar The Milkybar Kid 1961 onwards 28 Hovis The Bike Ride 1974 29 Heineken Water In Majorca 1985 30 Kit Kat Pandas 1989 31 Nescafé Gold Blend Couple 1987-93 32 Duracell Bunny 1981 onwards 33 John Smith's Dog Tricks 1981 34 Pepsi Swedish Girl 1974 35 Martini Any Time, Any Place 1971 36 Cadbury Fruit & Nut Fruit & Nutcase 1977 onwards 37 Fry's Turkish Delight Eastern Promise 1957 onwards 38 Apple 1984 1984 39 Foster's Lager Ballet 1984 40 Tetley Tetley Tea Folk 1973 onwards 41 Campari Luton Airport 1977 42 Volkswagen Golf Changes 1988 43 Old Spice Surfer ("mark of a man") 1977 44 Esso Tiger 1964 onwards 45 One2One Ian2Martin 1997 46 Unigate Humphrey 1975 47 Mates Chemist Shop 1987 48 Cadbury Milk Tray Avalanche 1974 49 Heinz Baked Beans Beanz Meanz Heinz 1967 onwards 50 Stella Artois Flowers 1991 51 Dulux Dulux Dog 1964 onwards 52 Homepride Flour Men 1967 53 Sugar Puffs Honey Monster 1976 onwards 54 Holsten Pils Griff Rhys Jones 1983 55 Whiskas Eight Out Of Ten Cats 1975 onwards 56 Fiat Strada Handbuilt By Robots 1979 57 After Eight Dinner Party 1963 onwards 58 Hoffmeister Follow The Bear 1983 59 Audi Vorsprung Durch Technik 1984 onwards 60 Kellogg's Rice Krispies Snap, Crackle & Pop 1955 onwards 61 Maxell Ears Are Alight 1989 62 British Airways Face 1989 63 Yorkie Coast To Coast 1976 64 Schweppes Shh...You Know Who 1963 65 Birds Eye Fish Fingers Captain Birdseye 1968 onwards 66 Toshiba Hello Tosh 1984 67 Sony Armchair 1995 68 British Gas If You See Sid 1986 69 Dunlop Tyres Tested For The Unexpected 1993 70 Cresta Singing Polar Bear 1972 71 The Guardian Points of View 1986 72 Fairy Hands That Do Dishes 1964 onwards 73 Murray Mints Too Good To Hurry Mints 1955 74 Lego Kipper 1980 75 Mars Work, Rest & Play 1978 onwards 76 InterCity Relax 1988 77 Egg Marketing Board Go to Work On An Egg 1966 78 Olympus Wedding Photographer 1977 79 Remington Victor Kiam 1978 80 Birds Eye Beefburgers Ben & Mary 1974 81 Fruit Gums Fruit Gums Mum 1956 82 Shell We're Going Shell 1963 83 Cointreau Christian & Katherine 1974 onwards 84 Brut Henry Cooper 1976 85 Courage Best Gertcha 1979 86 Nimble Balloon 1973 87 Strand You're Never Alone With 1959 88 Double Diamond Works Wonders 1968 89 Chunky Clement Freud & Henry 1967 90 Barclaycard Alan Whicker 1984 91 Benson & Hedges Istanbul 1974 92 Gibbs SR Tingling Fresh 1955 93 Timex Tick-a-Tick Timex 1964 94 Parker Pens Finishing School 1975 95 Charlie Charlie Girl 1975 96 Sainsbury's Celebrity Recipes 1992 97 Clarks Foot Drawing 1976 98 Meccano Boy In A Man's World 1967 99 Pedigree Chum Top Breeders 1974 100 Stork SB Taste The Difference 1978

Great Ads of the 21st Century Since its original broadcast, the programme has been repeated numerous times on both Channel 4 and E4. On several reruns — in 2003, 2004 and 2008 — additional inserts were added that showed some adverts that were not part of the original vote in 2000. These were, in order of appearance:

Reebok - Belly's Gonna Get You John West Foods - Bear Fight (only included in the 2003 re-run) Adidas - David Beckham & Jonny Wilkinson (only included in the 2004 re-run) Metz - Judderman Bacardi Breezer - Tomcat John Smith's - Diving Monster.co.uk - Beware Of The Voices (only included in the 2003 re-run) Lynx Pulse - Make Luv (only included in the 2004 re-run) Microsoft Xbox - Life Is Short, Play More Bachelors Super Noodles - Face Off (only included in the 2008 re-run) Citroen - Transformer Dance (only included in the 2008 re-run) Skoda Fabia - Cake Car (only included in the 2008 re-run) Honda - Cog (only included in the 2008 re-run) Cadbury's Dairy Milk - Gorilla (only included in the 2008 re-run) 118 118 - Rocky (only included in the 2008 re-run) Sony Bravia - Paint (only included in the 2008 re-run)

See also 100 Greatest (TV series)

References