SMTV Live
SMTV Live (an abbreviation of Saturday Morning Television Live, and also stylised as SM: LIVE), was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to other Saturday morning programmes for children, such as BBC's "Live & Kicking", the programme premiered on 29 August 1998 and ran for over 270 episodes across five years, before its conclusion on 27 December 2003. The programme's format focused on a collection of sketches, competitions and challenges, alongside a compilation of children's programmes and cartoons. The programme proved a major  success, contributing to furthering the careers of Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly under the partnership of Ant & Dec, as well as promoting the broadcast of Japanese anime series "Pokémon" on British television. "SMTV Live" became notable for various elements including a sketch based on "Pokémon", the phone competition of "Wonkey Donkey", and the late morning edition of "" that the presenters of the programme were involved in towards the end of the morning schedule. The programme was regularly popular with its audiences, attracting around 2.5 million viewers. Following its conclusion, Ant & Dec's former company Gallowgate Holdings Limited retained the rights  to the show. In April 2017, the duo made a proposal for a 20th anniversary special to reunite them with co-presenter Cat Deeley, but despite an announcement of it being revived during the 2017 British Academy Television Awards, ITV later stated that the proposal had been dropped. On 26 December 2020, a one-off reunion documentary aired on ITV under the title "The Story of SM:TV Live", featuring Ant, Dec and Cat reminiscing on their time on the show. The series' iconic sketch "Chums" was recreated for the fifth episode of Series 17 of "Ant & Dec's Saturday  Night Takeaway" on 20 March 2021 which reenacts and picks up the cliffhanger from the wedding episode 20 years ago which signaled the duo's retirement from SMTV Live on 1 December 2001. Format. "SMTV Live" operated on a live-television format for its timeslot on Saturday. Alongside the involvement of audience of children and celebrity guests - including bands - the programme mostly consisted of studio segments that were interwoven around regular children programming used during the show's over 2-hour timeslot. Studio segments frequently featured sketches by the presenters, competitions (including phone-ins), and other features. Programming. Children's  programming featured on "SMTV Live" consisted of two categories - cartoons and live-action programmes: Sketches. Presenters often conducted a variety of sketches on the programme during "SMTV Live"s broadcast. Most were performed by McPartlin and Donnelly, with assistance from Deeley, with many often being parodies of programmes being aired between 1998 - 2003. The most prominent sketches used on the programme included: Main features. Alongside sketches, the programme also featured a mixture of competitions - both phone-ins and studio-based - and other segments. Competition prizes differed from those offered by other Saturday morning children's programmes, by including more valuable items  on offer including holidays. Amongst these segments that were used, the most notable included: Section::::"CD:UK". After the broadcast of an episode of "SMTV Live", the episode was followed by the broadcast of "" (an abbreviation of CountDown United Kingdom). The programme took place within the same studio and with the same presenters, and operated on its own live-television format, featuring bands in the UK Singles Chart, music videos, and interviews with famous music stars. The programme continued long after "SMTV Live" concluded, finally ending in April 2006. Production. Presenters. "SMTV Live" was originally hosted by "Byker Grove" stars Ant  & Dec alongside former fashion model Cat Deeley. In 2001, Ant & Dec left the show to present Saturday night talent show "Pop Idol" and were replaced by "Hollyoaks" star James Redmond. Redmond's stint at "SMTV Live" lasted just three months however, after show bosses decided he had not settled into the role. Deeley left the show in 2002 to focus on presenting BBC talent show "Fame Academy", leaving "SMTV" with none of its original presenters. For the remainder of the programme, it was hosted by a string of other people, including Steps members Ian "H" Watkins and Claire Richards, "Big  Brother" winner Brian Dowling, Tess Daly all who presented from 2002 until all 4 eventually left by 2003. Comedian Des Clarke, New Zealand actress Shavaughn Ruakere and magician Stephen Mulhern presented the show for its final run when it was renamed SMTV:Gold in which it focused on showing highlights of the best bits of the past 5 years of the show, mainly due to declining ratings since the departure of the original presenters. Writers and producers. The first month of the show was produced by former "Top of the Pops" producer Ric Blaxill. He was replaced by Steve Pinhay , while Phil Mount was brought in as producer of "CD:UK". From 1999 until 2003, "SMTV Live" was produced by David Staite. In its first year the show was written by Richard Preddy and Gary Howe as well as Dean Wilkinson who stayed with it until the end. In September 1999, Ben Ward and Gez Foster were brought in from rival BBC show, "Live & Kicking", to work on semi-scripted features including 'Chums'. After a steady erosion of "Live & Kicking"s initial popularity, "SMTV" overtook them in the ratings in October 1999 and never looked back. Multi award-winning writer Dean  Wilkinson was with the show throughout most of its run with Blaze Television's director of programmes Conor McAnally as its executive producer. Section::::"SMTV Gold". Falling viewing figures during 2003 led to the programme's axing at the end of the year. The programme marked the end of its five-year run with a series of "SMTV Gold" specials featuring highlights from the show and cartoons, presented by Stephen Mulhern and Des Clarke with different celebrity co-hosts each week. The "Gold" series ended on 20 December 2003 with the very last "SMTV Live" programme airing on Saturday 27 December  2003, recorded at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. Cancellation and final episode. In August 2003, after two years of declining ratings following the departure of Ant & Dec, ITV announced the cancellation of "SMTV Live", to be replaced by an as-yet untitled programme featuring "games, sketches, music and acquired programming, with increased interactive elements." "CD:UK", however, would remain for the time being. Steven Andrew, ITV's controller of children's programmes, said: "After five fantastic years of SM:TV we all recognised it was time for a change. We have gone for a show that is all about fun  with a team with bags of fresh ideas. I'm confident the new show, teamed with "CD:UK", will be a compelling proposition for kids." The replacement show in question was "Ministry of Mayhem". On 27 December 2003, the grand finale which includes all the presenters singing a version of "My Way" by Frank Sinatra with the "SMTV" end credits rolling through the last chorus. And for the big finale, a special fireworks display with the words SMTV Live 1998-2003 written in it, and flashback voices from Ant Dec and Cat. The screen fades and SMTV comes to an  end after five and a half years. No copyright text was written after the credits. At one point, the Gold episodes were broadcast on Saturday afternoons because of morning coverage of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Video releases. The series spawned two video releases – the first, "Chums", was released in 2000 by the Contender Entertainment Group and featured six full "Chums" episodes and a selection of other "SMTV" comedy segments. The VHS was released on DVD four years later. A second release from Universal Pictures UK, "The Best of SMTV Live So Far", was released in 2001, featuring specially produced  links recorded shortly before Ant & Dec's departure and an extended compilation of sketches and segments. Awards. "SMTV Live" was twice voted Best Entertainment Programme at the BAFTA Children's Film and Television Awards (2000 & 2002) and won BAFTA & British Comedy awards voted for by the public. Ant & Dec won the Royal Television Society award for best presenter in 2001 for their work on the programme while Cat Deeley won the BAFTA for best children's presenter in the same year. In 2014, it was in 5th place for Channel 5's "50 Greatest Kids TV Shows". In 2001, it  finished 27th place in a Channel 4 poll for the "100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows". Reunion episode. On 4 September 2020, Ant & Dec revealed in an interview on BBC Radio 2 that they had filmed a one-off reunion episode with Deeley, in which the three of them would look back at "SMTV"s best bits. The following week, Deeley told "The Chris Moyles Show" that they went back to where the original show was filmed and producers rebuilt the old set. Later that month, Ant & Dec shared a teaser on Instagram. ITV confirmed that the reunion show would air on  26 December 2020 as "The Story of SM:TV Live".