The Big Breakfast
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- This article is about the British television show. For the Canadian television show of the same name, see The Big Breakfast (Canadian television show). For the Australian television show of the same name, also known as "The Big Arvo", see The Big Arvo.
The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002. In this time there were a total of 2482 shows produced. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001 attacks, The Big Breakfast was not shown from the September 12 – 14, 2001. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rat and Live Aid organiser, Bob Geldof.
The programme, broadcast live from a set of former lockkeepers' cottages in Bow in east London, was a colourful mixed format of news, weather, interviews, audience phone-in and features. The popularity of the show waxed and waned repeatedly over the nine-and-a-half years of its existence - its popularity being closely linked to the spontaneity and humour of the two main presenters at any given time.
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[edit] History
The initial two presenters, Chris Evans (presenter from 1992 to 1994) and Gaby Roslin (1992-1996) held reign over what might be the golden era of The Big Breakfast. Evans' zany humour and touch of arrogance was new and fresh, Roslin a good foil for him. At its height, viewing figures reached two million.
Evans started his own production company and moved onto other projects in 1994. He was replaced by former Neighbours star Mark Little. Little and Roslin presented for two years before Roslin made way for Zoe Ball in 1996. Audience figures slipped a little after Evans left, and a little more after Roslin departed. However, it wasn't until Little and Ball were replaced by Rick Adams and Sharron Davies, two less accomplished hosts on the small screen later that year, that figures fell dramatically, losing its audience primarily to radio and GMTV. Producers stopped the rot quickly, finding a winning partnership in Johnny Vaughan (who spent 1023.82 hours in front of the cameras) and Denise van Outen. Audience figures jumped back to their peak. Vaughan briefly presented also with Kelly Brook (who was largely unknown at the time) in 1999; however Brook's lack of experience in the field of presenting a TV show clearly showed and audience figures quickly dropped. As a result, Brook was sacked while on holiday from the show (she only found out about losing her job from reading the newspaper while on holiday)[citation needed]. Liza Tarbuck then co-presented for a while but when she decided to leave after eighteen months, Van Outen returned. Viewing figures rose until the pair quit together in 2001. This turned out to be the death knell for the show as viewers did not warm to their replacements, Richard Bacon, Paul Tonkinson, Amanda Byram and Simon Fielder.
Mike McClean and Donna Air joined the show as it converted to a multi-presenter format. This format only lasted for a couple of months though, with the show reverting back to its original format for the final months, with Bacon and Byram as the main presenters before it last aired on 29 March 2002. The last programme included a twenty minute retrospective that included contributions from Evans, Roslin, Vaughan and Van Outen. Both Evans and Vaughan declared the cancelling of the show was a bad idea.
Mark Lamarr, Keith Chegwin, Paul Ross, Jason Bradbury and Richard Bacon were "down your doorstep" outside broadcasters, often turning up live and unannounced at an unsuspecting viewer's house, while rooms within Lock Keeper's Cottages featured the zany aliens Zig and Zag and video games guru Ben the Boffin.
On the night of December 31st 1999 a mammoth eight-hour live broadcast took place from Lock Keepers' Cottages to herald in the new century. The Biggest Breakfast Ever was hosted by Johnny Vaughan and Liza Tarbuck and featured many classic moments and 'best of' features. Even eight hours of airtime was not enough. The show's producers got Channel 4 to extend its broadcast time by half an hour to fit in the premiere of the competition "Wonga" (a large-scale version of Jenga). It was a prize game that returned to the show many times in its final two years.
Owing to the nature of the filming, much of the crew could be seen on screen. This led to them getting nicknames, such as 'Sturdy Girl', (regularly asked to shake her head so that her hair would be hurled around whilst music played and the camera zoomed in and out). 'The Carpet Monster' was revealed in the Doctor Who Special to have been an extra, playing a deadly clown, in the Seventh Doctor story The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
A The Big Breakfast board game was released.
RI:SE eventually replaced The Big Breakfast as Channel 4's morning programme, following its axing in 2002, although there was some time between The Big Breakfast ending and RI:SE beginning. RI:SE went on to take increasingly low ratings, and despite undergoing a revamp, was shortly axed. Channel 4 has since not had a studio-based morning programme per se, although a Dermot O'Leary fronted show, Morning Glory, was given a short run in early 2006 but not picked up.
[edit] Games and features
[edit] Pun Down
A look at the best puns in the headlines of that day's newspapers, especially popular in the Johnny Vaughan era. On Fridays this became the 'Pun of the Week' when the best pun from the whole weeks newspapers was revealed.
[edit] Question About the Clip
Before most advertisement breaks a clip from an upcoming TV show or movie would be shown, a question being asked by one of the hosts about it; the answer would be revealed after the advert break, along with details of the show or film. This feature would result in the production team chorusing "Don't phone, it's just for fun!" which was a Chris Evans creation, initially used on his radio shows before he shot to fame on The Big Breakfast.
[edit] Question of the Day
A phone-in feature encouraging viewers to provide humorous answers throughout the morning to a pertinent (or occasionally inane) question. At one point it was accompanied by a fanfare, apparently played on the trumpet by "little Ted" beneath the camera (in fact a member of the team waving a toy trumpet in shot). One morning's question was "What should the BBC do to improve EastEnders?", and one viewer suggested adding Barbara Windsor to the cast; this actually occurred shortly afterwards.
[edit] Super Hints
"Your indispensable guide to a better life!", this feature appeared during the early years of the show; in it celebrities would give various simple but useful hints for such issues as cleaning or keeping food fresh.
[edit] Streaky Bacon
'Streaky Bacon' became a regular feature, in which Richard Bacon would get a member of the public out of their house to 'streak' along their street wearing nothing but bacon-covered underwear in order to win a large supply of bacon from their local butcher's.
[edit] Vital Statistics
'Vital Statistics' was another common feature, particularly in the Johnny Vaughan era. These would often relate to a news story, a guest or a topic they had discussed, such as Doctor Who on their Doctor Who Special.
[edit] On the Bed
A key feature for the first five years was the "On the Bed" interview. Paula Yates (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.
[edit] More Tea, Vicar
A repeating feature in the Johnny Vaughan, Denise Van Outen era, in which an erratically filmed, fast-mo video clip of a line of tea cups is 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 explain the rules. The caller guesses 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 guesses the correct number within the time limit, a prize is forthcoming. Van Outen was particularly good in this as the ugly nun who would occasionally speak up only to be shouted down as an abomination by the goodly vicar Vaughan, complete with flashing lights and thunder effects called down from above.
The lyrics to "More Tea, Vicar" were as follows:
- More tea, vicar
- More tea, vicar
- More tea, vicar
- Guess how many cups
[edit] From Me Shed, Son
Inventor Trevor Bayliss would join Johnny Vaughan in the shed to discuss innovative new products.
[edit] Others
- One Lump or Two?
- Sunny Side Up
- Telly Rellies
- Get Your Kit On
- Show Us Your Behind
- Court With Your Pants Down
- You Pet
- What's in My Pants
- What's Your Job, Bob?
- Yanks for the Memories
- Bring Home The Bacon
- Get Your Nobbly Nuts Out
- Egg On Your Face
- Young Fogey
- Pushy Mum
- Wonga
[edit] Lock Keepers' Cottages since The Big Breakfast
In November 2002, eight months after The Big Breakfast was axed, a fire destroyed a significant proportion of the first floor of the cottage the show was filmed in. A large part of the roof was also destroyed in the blaze. The fire is especially suspicious as there was no gas or electrical supply to the building.
Since the fire, extensive renovations have taken place to restore the house, and it is now used as a family home. The house was bought for little more than half the original asking price of £1 million, at a mere £550,000. The house was slashed in value due to the fire of November 2002.
The house has now been fully renovated, but they maintain a high perimeter fence around the house. One of the well recognised aspects of the house remains - the Sunburst wall.
The cottages are located about 200 metres from the planned site of the main Olympic Stadium, to be constructed for the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2005, the cottages became part of the Compulsory Purchase Order for the Games (http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConMediaFile.1223 - item 239), giving rise to speculation that the building may be demolished. However, some outline plans have indicated the immediate location of the cottages and gardens as being unchanged.
