The Big Breakfast (UK TV series)

***The Big Breakfast*** is a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from September 28, 1992 until March 29, 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rats singer and Band Aid/Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof.

The programme was distinctive for broadcasting live from a former lock keepers' cottages commonly referred to as "The Big Breakfast House", or more simply, "The House", located on Fish Island, in Bow in east London.

The show was a mix of news, weather, interviews, audience phone-ins and general features, with a light tone which was in competition with the more serious GMTV and even more serious BBC Breakfast programmes.

#### Presenters

The first two presenters were Chris Evans (from 1992 to 1994) and Gaby Roslin (1992 to 1996). At its height in 1993, viewing figures reached around two million per edition, and it was the highest rated UK breakfast television programme. Along with Evans and Roslin, Bob Geldof presented a short-lived political interview slot. His wife Paula Yates interviewed people conducted whilst lying on a bed, and the puppet characters Zig and Zag created morning mayhem in the bathroom with Evans in a slot called 'The Crunch'.

As part of his contract with The Big Breakfast, Evans was committed to developing a new show for Channel 4. Don't Forget Your Toothbrush began in early 1994, and Evans cut his involvement with The Big Breakfast to three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday. Former Neighbours actor Mark Little replaced Evans on Mondays and Fridays. When Evans left the show later that year, Little continued on Thursdays and Fridays while Paul Ross took over Mondays to Wednesdays. Richard Orford replaced Ross around Easter 1995 but was quickly dropped and exchanged with Down Your Doorstep presenter Keith Chegwin. In July 1995, the show reverted to using just one male presenter throughout the week, Mark Little. Chegwin would cover for Little when he was on tour as a comedian or on holiday.

Roslin continued full-time until she made way for Zoë Ball in 1996. Audience figures dropped a little after Evans left, and a little further after Roslin departed. Mark Little left the programme in July 1996, following press reports that he and Zoë Ball had fallen out. Little was replaced by Keith Chegwin, who himself exited the programme in August 1996, just ahead of a massive relaunch. In an attempt to stem the sliding viewing figures, the Big Breakfast house was refurbished at a cost of £2 million. New presenters Rick Adams and Sharron Davies were brought in but viewing figures fell dramatically. Davies left the programme in early 1997, to be replaced by Denise van Outen. Van Outen had initially been brought in as part of the September 1996 relaunch as a traffic and travel presenter, before being given a role based at the house as the phone room presenter and holiday relief for Davies. In June 1997, Johnny Vaughan covered for Adams for a fortnight alongside Van Outen, the pair forging a successful on screen partnership. Adams left the programme shortly afterwards and, in September 1997, the Vaughan and Van Outen partnership was made permanent. Audience figures stabilised and the duo fronted the programme together until Van Outen's departure on January 1, 1999. (A New Year's Day pre-record). Kelly Brook was installed as Vaughan's new co-presenter despite an internet campaign for the role to be awarded to Liza Tarbuck, who had successfully covered for Van Outen in the summer of 1998. However, Brook struggled in the role and left the programme in early summer 1999. Liza Tarbuck, having again covered the co-presenter role alongside Vaughan prior to Brook's departure, was made permanent at the end of August 1999.

#### The Bigger Breakfast

From May 26, 1997 and during most nationally recognised UK school holiday periods, The Big Breakfast would run beyond its typical 9am finish to provide continuity into and out of unrelated shows aimed primarily towards children. This would last throughout the morning, usually until around midday. Although typically presented to the viewer as simply a programme on Channel 4, most of ***The Bigger Breakfast*** is perhaps better classified as an informal style of in-vision continuity.

The first run of The Bigger Breakfast during the summer of 1997 was titled as such all the way from its 7am start, presented throughout by Richard Orford and Denise Van Outen. Future editions would see slight separations made from the 7am-9am content, by way of this portion of the show being branded and scheduled as The Big Breakfast, with all content after 9am taking on the expanded Bigger Breakfast name. After a while, a further distinction was made by using a different set of presenters from that of The Big Breakfast. Presenters of The Bigger Breakfast included Josie D'Arby, Ben Shephard, Melanie Sykes and Dermot O'Leary.

Programming was primarily composed of reruns of Channel 4 shows and US imports. The line-up changed frequently. The series featured on the Bigger Breakfast over the years included:

* Babylon 5
* Batman
* Bewitched
* California Dreams
* The Crystal Maze
* Inspector Gadget
* The Monkees
* Saved by the Bell

#### Games and features

***Pun Down*** took a look at the best (or worst) puns in the headlines of that day's papers, and was especially popular in the Johnny Vaughan era. On Fridays this became the "Pun of the Week" when an award was made for the best pun from the week's newspapers.

***On the Bed*** was a key feature for the first five years. Paula Yates (the then wife of Bob Geldof, whose company produced the show), and later Paul O'Grady (as Lily Savage) and Vanessa Feltz assumed the role of interviewer. One of the most infamous on-air moments was Paula Yates' open flirting during an interview with Michael Hutchence as a prelude to their affair.

***More Tea, Vicar*** was a repeating feature in the Vaughan and van Outen era, in which an erratically filmed, speeded-up video clip of a line of tea cups was shown to a call-in viewer. Vaughan, dressed as an Anglican vicar, and van Outen, dressed as a nun replete with false teeth and an inferiority complex, then explained the rules. The caller guessed the number of tea cups shown in the video lead in, with Vaughan responding "More tea, vicar" if the number is too low; "Less tea, vicar" if too high. If the contestant guessed the correct number within the time limit, a prize was awarded.

***From Me Shed, Son*** featured the inventor of the wind-up radio, Trevor Baylis, who would join Johnny Vaughan in the shed to discuss innovative new products. Vaughan tended to make fun of Baylis for being older.

Other favourites included *One Lump or Two?*, where contestants lay on a lilo in a huge teacup looking for, and threw out as many "sugar cubes" as they could, and *Egg on your Face*, where contestants on a telephone guess the identities of celebrities hidden behind "fried eggs".