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"Bring back the Brekkie Campaign by visiting Brekkie.com
"The BIG
Breakfast, Still funny after all these years"
1992-1996
On a cold September morning in
1992, people gathered around the TV. After a few weeks of
mysterious trailers on Channel 4, something BIG was coming to get
them. As the clock reached 7.00am a bright sun rose on their TV
screen, and the tune that would soon be burned into their
memories lit up the nation.
On September 28 1992 The BIG
Breakfast was served. It started as it meant to go on, with
original host Chris Evans unsure whether they were still
rehearsing or if they were on air, not really surprising seeing
as he had only seconds before been found locked in a toilet.
They introduced themselves, and
began a tour of the house that would house the show in one form
or another for the next 10years. Decorated in bright clashing
colours and harsh hues, even on a cold miserable day, it couldn't
help but look cheerful, with bright green and yellow walls, and
blue curtains, and a bright yellow sofa, it was immediately
apparent that this wasn't your ordinary breakfast show.
There was no sofa like their ITV
rivals TVAM, or desk like BBC Breakfast News. Only a small TV on
the left of two yellow chairs in front of a set of French
windows, leading onto a patio. The kitchen was also bright
yellow, with fried eggs on the wall, the cupboards on the wall
wer e white with oranges on them. In the centre of the
deceptively large room was a table, with a group of ordinary
people sat around it, they were the 'Family Of The Week' the
first in a long line of families invited on to the show, to be
the presenter play things for 5 days.
On the other side of a door and
window in the kitchen was the hall. Decorated in dark blues and
purples, it was one of the darker rooms. With a stair case
stretching round 3 of the walls, a huge blue grandfather clock by
the red front do or, and various other decorative treats this was
one of the rooms used to interview such as the one with the kid
who could dislocate his shoulders. At the top of the stairs was a
corridor leading to the bedroom and the bathroom.
The bathroom was blue, wh at with
the main feature in a bathroom been water, this was home to Zig
and Zag, from this location they interviewed celebrities,
entertained the nation with Chris Evans, and hid from MI5 who
were no doubt looking for the UFO that had been seen over London.
The bedroom was the domain of the
late Paula Yates, the infamous on the bed interviewer that would
set the standard to all those who followed. Her bedroom was
pretty normal compared to some of the future bedrooms, with the
main feature been the la rge bed in the centre of the room, with
a headboard decorated in green and purple. This room would see
some of the most outrageous interviews on Breakfast TV, possibly
the first lesbian kiss in breakfast TV history, between Paula and
Dawn French.
This era of the show was home to
many of the great items that would be used for many years,
including Superhints, Anorak of the week, Inventors Corner, Snap
Cackle and Pop, and The Crunch. Also many of the classic games
originated in this era, such as, one lump or two and get your
knobbly nuts out.
But it couldn't last forever, and
after a few years on top, Chris Evans left the show, and walked
off down the tow path, and was never seen at Bow Locks again.
Ok, Chris had gone, but he was
replaced by some one almost as outragouse, Mark Little,
everyone's favorite neighbor had moved into everyone's favorite
house. With his natural whit and aussie sense of humour, he was
perfect for the show, and instant hit with gaby, these two formed
a partnership almost as strong as G aby and Chris. Paul Ross was
still loitering around in the background been the 2nd mail
presenter, Peter Smith was still on the news, and Cheggers was
out and about on the OB.
Apart from the addition of Mark,
the only the change to the show was cosmetic, with some areas of
the house been given a bit of a face-lift. The living room was
painted with breakfasty items on the walls and a clock was added
to the fireplace, the carpet was changed from blue to red, and
the presenter's chairs were now green. And in the kitchen, the
cupboards were changed to feature cows as opposed to the oranges
that had been found there until now.
Under the reign of Mr. Little the
show carried on much as it had before, with chants such as
"WHERE ARE YOU KEITH?" and mostly the same wacky
features and games, but things were only to be like this for a
short time....\line \line Because not long after Paula Yates left
the show, coincidentally shortly after splitting with Bob
Geldoff. Someone who can only be described as.....well, Lilly
Savage, rep laced the sexy and flirtatious presenter. Giving a
whole different slant on the infamous BB bed. She was rude,
cheeky, sarcastic and probing, just what The BB wanted.
Things carried on pretty much as
they were for about a year or two, until the un-thinkab le
happened, Gaby Roslin left the show. When the day finally
arrived, the usual best bits were shown, and as one last surprise
Peter Smith came to the house to see her off. Gaby left on a much
more cheerful note than Chris, she left the house holding Lill
y's hand, as she sang.
The final curtain dropped on the
original BB team as Gaby was pulled out of shot by a walking
stick.
On the following Monday, thing
started as usual, with Mark on his own in the living room, he was
waiting for his now co-host, Miss Zoe Ball. Zoe was then seen
somersaulting down the towpath, and in through the gate, she came
running up the patio, and ... She slipped, and fell headfirst
through the French windows, smashing the glass.
A great start, but unfortunately
it wouldn't last . When things turned sour in the house, Lilly
realized that things were going down hill and jumped ship.
Leaving a vacant space on the bed a space which was amply filled
by Vanessa Feltz. With rumours of her and Mark not getting on
behind the camera, Mark left the show in mid 1996, without
warning, or reason. He wasn't properly replaced, leaving Zoe to
host the show with Cheggers.
This was the end of Britain's BIG
Breakfast as we knew it for some time. Changes were afoot at Bow
Locks, and we weren't going to like them!
1996-1998
After nearly 4 years on air, The
BIG Breakfast was hit by the first of many major blows.
In an effort to distinguish
between the original era of the show and the new era, someone at
Channel 4 decided it was time for a change.
When 7am arrived, viewers of
Channel 4 were surprised not to be greeted with the usual theme
tune, instead they were met with the new jazzy theme, and title
sequence. They were even more surprised not to find the house as
they had left it. It had been tran s formed into an Art Deco
style villa, with white washed walls, and NO front door, a
balcony at both the front and the rear of the house. And the
original front door had been replaced with a second set of French
windows, leading onto a patio next to the front garden, which had
also been renovated, now with pine trees and expensive turf.
It wasn't just the outside of the
house that was changed dramatically, the interior had been
re-vamped as well. For the first time, the famous presenters
chairs had been skipp ed replace with a bright orange sofa, which
was sunk into the ground, and was 'affectionately' known ad the
den. Pastel colours were in, with marble effects on some walls.
The kitchen had changed completely, the wall between the hall and
the kitchen was gone, and the room was now a very light blue like
the rest of the house, and the familiar hall was gone. The
bedroom hadn't faired much better, firstly there was no bed. And
the bright colours had been replaced with marble effect walls and
floors. The Big Breakfast was really dead.
The new team were introduced on
the new balcony, Rick and Sharon, the new anchors of Britain's
favorite show. He was loud, active and at times quite funny. She
was sensible, calm and collected, almost a carbon copy of Gaby.
Along with the new presenters in
the house, there was a new man on the road. Yes Cheggers was
gone, and Richard Orford was here, his role was that of the OB
presenter and the family of the week interviewer, all rolled into
one.
While HE was on the road meeting
the public, the other new presenter was in the air, the show had
a new weather girl! S omeone called Denise Van Outen? That right,
the queen of Basildon started life as a weather girl. Going from
place to place, reporting on the weather, and traffic reports it
was basically a useless item, as they only reported on the
traffic in that city, so if you weren't there, it wasn't much
good. They didn't know it then, but Denise would later go on to
save the show from the axe.
With Denise doing the weather,
newsreader Peter Smith had a reduced role, which could be part of
the reason he left after a month our two later. He also jinxed
the new look show, by telling Rick and Shaz that they had a 'nice
house' (remember those words).
Most of the old items were
dropped, 'Don't phone its just for fun' was gone, replaced with
'A reason to be cheerful'. Only two original items survived the
axe, 'Snap, cackle and pop' and Zig and Zag, they both carried on
as usual, no presented from a round window in a pale colored
room. Every room in the house was pale, just like the show had
become. Someone had brunt the to ast and put too much milk on the
cereal.
It didn't take long for the new,
up market show to start turning back into the old style. The den
was filled in, the presenters chairs were put back, only at the
other end of the house. The walls and ceilings were r estored,
and painted in a checked pattern. Someone was trying to put
things back to how they were, but something was still missing,
Very little of the show featured
the terrible two, with news and weather at the usual times, Zig
and Zag, given half an hour to them elves, and Vanessa on the bed
for another half hour. It was obvious that this wasn't going to
hold together much longer, and as the mornings got darker, so did
the show.
With the dark mornings dens
helicopter was no longer an option, and she was grounded, and
moved into the house, as the fourth presenter, on patrol in the
phone room. The phone room was probably the biggest sign of
things to come, as it was given the den treatment, with clashing
colours and fluffy trimmings.
By Christmas 1996 Shar ron was
basically part time, sharing her job with Denise, from day to
day, your would never be too sure exactly who u would be watching
in the morning: Rick and Shaz, Rick and Den or Rick Den and Shaz.
It soon became apparent that Sharron was out classed by Denise,
and using the usual excuse of not liking the hours, Sharron quit.
In most peoples opinion Denise was
infinitely better at the job than shaz. Den would fluff lines,
sometimes deliberately and make a joke about it. She was the new
Chris Evans to t he show, she was unpredictable and eccentric,
that element had been missing since Marks sudden departure.
It wasn't long after Sharron's
departure that Rick realized he wasn't suited to the job in the
house. Despite the potential that was quite clearly th ere, he
just didn't live up to what was needed from him. So there was a
little bit of a reshuffle, Rick went out on the road and OB man
Richard Orford was given the centre seat. And long time
newsreader Peter Smith left, replace by fresh-faced newsreader
Saxon Bains, who was ultimately replaced by the legendary Phil
Gayle.
With this new set-up the show
seemed to flow a lot better than before. Competitions like 'more
tea vicar', were returned and the show was back to the way it was
at the start of 1996.
Bu t life in the Big Breakfast
house was never stable, and while Richard was away for a week,
fate dropped Johnny Vaughan into the producer's lap, that week
was truly sensational, how could they let Johnny go, had they
found Den her new partner...?
Well Richard was back the week
after, and things carried on as usual, it looked as if 'that
week' was just a one off, how wrong could we be!
e The axe was swinging over The
BIG Breakfasts head, the house was only a shadow of its former
self, the show didn't seen to be able to decide whether it was
the old, cozy, loud show from the early 90's, or the modern
trendy magazine show of 1996.
Orford was a good match for
Denise, but all the time there was something at the back of the
producer's minds, that guy that stood in for Orford a few months
back, he was GOOD! But they had been trying to get him in for
months now but he was resisting, he kept turning down the job.
Maybe they should give it one last go, that guy could save the
show.
He said yes!
So it was time for another
reshuffle in the house, Rick Adams disappeared without a trace,
Orford was kicked out of his chair in the house, and put back on
the road. And Johnny Vaughan moved in for the kill.
He was an instant success, the
sexual chemistry that was there during his week stand in was
still present. He had the ability to mock people without actually
offending them. That is something that would become very
important to his success as a presenter and an interviewer.
Johnny and Den introduced some of
the features that would become THE Big Breakfast, the ridiculous
characters in the games, the extensive paper review, the pun
down, the Friday song and many, many more.
The house also received a bit of a
make over for the dawning of this new era. Most obviously it was
painted BRIGHT yellow, the windows were still black, but the
front door was returned, and the balcony was demolished and the
stupid palm trees were chopped down. Inside the house was also
revamped, the checked walls were gone, and replaced with bright
yell o w walls with orange swirls, and deep turquoise walls
opposing each other. The presenters' chairs were moved to the
left of the French windows, which were now framed by a pair of
sky blue curtains with bright coloured circles on. Things were
starting to lo ok like they might be looking up.
The kitchen was painted bright
pink with yellow cupboards. And the hall was painted lime green,
and purple with yellow railings. And the phone room was updated
to fit the rest f the house, with a new purple and space colour
scheme.
The back garden was also altered
with the passing of the 96 revamp. The pool remained built into
the ground, but the wall that was round the back was partly
removed, leaving only half of it, that was decorated with clouds.
And the rear balcony was also removed.
It was at this point in the shows
history that the original theme tune was dropped. (The 96 theme
was an altered version.) The new theme was similar, but played by
an electric guitar, it accompanied a totally different intro
video, still with the original sun rise, but featuring various
breakfasty food stuffs flying towards the house at an alarming
speed, ending with the house bursting to release the Big
Breakfast logo.
During this era of the show there
was no third in house presenter on the bed, this role was filled
by Den as she had done during the time she shared in the house
with Sharron. The bedroom was totally revamped for Den. Gone was
the huge bed and statues, replaced with the now familiar round
bed and fluffiness. The wall behi n d the bed (that would be
redecorated to become unique to each era) was covered in large
jigsaw like white and pink panels. The bed was dressed in bright
pink covers. The predominant colour in the room was pink. Pink
walls, pink bed, and pink carpet, maybe Den likes pink?
The crew became an important part
of the show during this time, they were all most all given nick
names by Vaughny, such as 'Carpet Monster', 'Linton', and 'Sturdy
Girl' they all became part of the show, u noticed when one of
them was missing, (particularly Linton). They were given the
opportunity to participate in the show during the 'Vital
Statistics', when they were invited to guess the answer to the
question. This item lead to the invention of the 'steps of woe',
when one of the crew g ot the stat right, usually by cheating,
they were banished from the house to the steps at the bottom of
the garden, accused of undermining the stats.
Most of the crew were sent there
at some point, including Johnny Vaughan himself, who was sent out
for get ting too carried away during a paper review. Just about
the only person never to be banished was the Producer Ed (wonder
why that was) he was the one sat there not smiling wearing a
suit.
Zig and Zag were still around,
poviding the comic releaf. they were now sat infront of a large
round window at the top of the stairs. Johnny never quite seemed
to know what to do with them, he wasnt as gut with them as Chris
and Mark once were, so the produsers had to deside Johhny or the
alians. before long Zig and Zag were gone, The last reminance of
the original Big Breakfast were gone forever.
This was the format that would
represent The Big Breakfast for most of its life from now. But
changes were once again afoot in Bow.
On one summers day in 1997 the now
familiar yellow house disappeared, and was replaced with a funny
orange/brown coloured house, over the next few weeks a brick
effect would slowly appear on the outside of the house. Along
with another cosmetic change, the modern black windows were
ripped out and replaced with the traditional white wooden
windows, the front door was repainted a bright shade of red to go
with this new image, the titles were c hanged to fit in with this
new image. This inside of the house would remain essentially
unchanged for now, with the presenter's chairs now positioned
directly in front of the front French windows.
Everything stayed the same for the
best part of a year, then in September 1998 a minor revamp took
place, with the sparsely decorated house disappearing been
replaced with what for many is the most memorable interior of the
house.
The living room walls were
redecorated. The blue walls were a painted yellow, and the yellow
walls were painted magenta and covered in plates hung at
irregular intervals. The curtains were changed to a pair of very
nice multi-coloured checked curtains with bright squares on, that
matched the clashing colours of the new look room. The m o nitor
next to Johnny was changed from the astro-turf covered one to a
large boxy TV with wood effect on the front and a blue padded
surround. In the corner behind Den a large bar was installed.
Where interviews such as the football review would take place ,
the front of the bar kept changing to reflect the season, at this
time it was a gold and brown tree, reflecting autumn, in summer
it would have a bright green and blue image. The fireplace area
where many of the interviews took place was changed too. The blue
chimney breast was striped down to leave a brick built one made
in the brick of the original house. A large pink picture with
fried eggs on was hung over the new fireplace, and the arm chair
was changed to fit in with the new look, while for now the sofa
remained unchanged. Opposite this a large red sofa was placed for
the family of the week to sit on.
The kitchen now had yellow walls
and pink cupboards, with the traditional table in the centre
where the family of the week would sit during their interviews.
For a short while the bedroom was
unchanged, but there were reasons, reasons that would break the
hearts of almost every fan of the show, Denise Van Outen, the
woman what had pulled the show back from the brink was leaving.
Her last show would be a pre-recorded Christmas day episode, so
unfortunately much of the emotion of her last show was lost,
because it wasn't really her last show, it had been filmed weeks
before. But all the same it was a sad day, A VT was run of her
best bits, many of which were from her post weather girl
days.\line \line And she sang her final Friday song, in which the
final line was all hers. The usual, "and stick with us from
7 until 9" was dropped and replaced with Den saying
"this is Den saying good bye for one last time" which
was followed by a huge group hug, and the credits rolled and Den
was gone...
For now.
1999 to 2000
Denise was well and truly gone, a
replacement was needed to try and keep the show going as it had
been before. the whole of january was spent looking for the new
face of the breakfast, while the execs were looking for the face,
a whole host of guest presenteres were brought in, including Liza
Tarbuck, and most notably Jenny McCarthy.
Jen was very loude, very "in
your face", very american. she did seem to have a few
problems understanding some of the items on the show, particulaly
Eastenders, after seeing her first episode of it she was left
totaly lost, and claimed she couldnt understand what they were
saying! Johnny soon sorted her out explaining the situation with
"Grunt" and Phil Mitchal. another of Jens little things
was her pronounseation of "The Mirror", Sounding more
like "The Mirreeerrrrrrr".
Jenny was posible the best ever
guest presenter to apear of the BB, she fitted in so well, she
even striped of for real behind the screen during an edition of
X-rayted, earing herself a whole hour dedicated to her at the end
of the year during the Biggest Breakfast ever. But after a week,
she had to go home, and our homes had to get a little quieter,
loaded with an armfull of presents, including a Chelsea football
shirt from Johnny and one of Waine Hemmingways slippers in
fermalderhide, she sung that weeks friday song with a style that
is just so unique to her, and she was gone.
There was a new girl on the block.
Cue the entrance of Kelly Brook.
Kelly's time on the show wasn't very successful, with her
fluffing lines left, right and centre. Apparently she had quit
the show after Planet 24 bosses sensationally revealed that her
script had to be vetted of any long or complex words because she
couldn't pronounce them. so off she went on one of those
wonderfull holidays that lots of BB presenters never seem to want
to come home from, that was the last we saw of her, aside from a
couple of fleeting glimses during the ocational bit of BB Gold
Kelly Brook was out, a new foil
for Johnny was desperatly needed, enter Tarbuck. Liza Tarbuck.
she was a popular guest presenter from the weeks following
Denises departure, she had soem how been over looked in favour of
the more "atractive" Kelly when they were recruting
last time. but now there was little doubt that she was "the
one".
she was quickly hired over the
weekend following Kellys departure, and ready for viewing the
following Monday. As a long time friend of Johnny she fitted in
right away, instantly developing a totaly different Chemistry
with Vaughan than any of her predersesors, their relationship was
more Brother/Sister like than the flirty one seen with Denise and
to a lesser extent Kelly.
With Liza came a whole host of new
features and games. Woman in a tabards, was one of the main ones,
along with small things such as the ringed finger during the
"GET IN THERE" cry in the paper review.
A ranger on new games were
introdused during this time, such as Thatch of the day and Wonga,
while some games were carried over with new characters for liza,
such as "gaggin for it" and "cought with your
pants down"
The only main change to the living
room at this point was the suround on th monitor next to Johnnys
chair, which was changed from blue to green, and the adition of
an arial photo of the house over the fire place.
The hall was changed totaly from
its last incarnation, the lime green and lemmon yellow were gone,
replaced with a rich golden yellow colour. the carpet was a cream
and brown egg motif, and the banister was replaced with a VERY
nice wooden cutley themed banister, (I want one of those!!)
The landing upstaries was
redecorsted, the process started with Jen, under the guidance of
Richard Randle, it was painted dark red and had lots of candels
lieing around. someone must of desided they were a fire hazard as
the room was soon revamped again
The landing was to be the new home
of the spin off show, The BIGGER Breakfast, which had up till now
been presented from the opposite end of the living room to the
main show. The top of the out building was converted into a
balcony and a 3rd set of French windows were put in place to give
access to this area, and a couple of sofas were stuck in here. So
when the October half term came along the show has safe from the
regular interruptions it used to get when Johnny would mess about
outside, by jumping in and out of shot in the back garden.
Time rolled one, and before we
knew it it was once again January, the Xmas titles were dusted
down and the fairy lights plugged in, this was of course a VERY
spectial Christmas, it was the Millennium!
the run up to the big day was
filled with the usual fun and activity, including higlights such
as Johnny and the nasal cleaner, where he managed to empty the
contens of he nose onto the floor while liza was trying to do a
menu trail.
At 12:30 on January 1st 2000 a
momentus ocation took place, a 8 and a half hour long episode of
The BIG Breakfast. seeing the new Millennium in with the usualy
BB style. the house was packed with big starts, Jamie Oliver, Lee
Evans, Mo Molum and Gail Porter, to name but a few. while the BBC
was looking for the first millennium baby the BB was looking for
the Millennium pigglet. Yet some how managed to find the
millennium baby as well!
The night also saw the first EVER
totaly naked edition of Streaky Bacon! and the very first edition
of WONGA! a game of Jenga on a larger scale.
With regular cunks of BB Gold and
an entire hour dedicated to Jen McCarthy. it was a one off unique
sight, never to be repeated. i u missed it tough, its ur own
fault for getting to drunk.
The fetive period was over, and
the show returned to normal. the usual titles returned, and the
decorations were put away for another year.
after a few weeks the titles were
changed yet again. replacing the electic guitar theme and flying
food, was a garage style theme, the video featured a CGI chicken
flying around to differnt places that had things like moriss
dancing or elvis in them, things that were associated with
Johnny. they were possibly the worst titles ever, but they were
hear to stay.
In August Liza left the show. On
the 4th of August it was also the Queen Mothers 100th birthday,
so liza departure was slightly over shadowed. with only th last
few minutes of the show and the last verse of the friday song
devoted to her. she was visibly upset to be leaving the show, and
broke don just as the camera moved away from them at the end of
the show.
Liza was extremley popular with
the show's viewers, and unlike her pre-decessor, was sorely
missed.
2000-2001
Liza was gone, and another great
era of The BIG Breakfast was over.
It was now summer, the school
holidays had started, and the usual dip in viewing figures had
begun. Johnny had gone on his usual 1 month holiday over the
summer, leaving no regular Presenters in the house, even Bridget
Nzekoo the news reader had disappeared. It quite hard to say
which era this time fits into, some would say it was a totally
separate era. There were a number of guest presenters during this
time, but the main two that the most memorable were, Lisa Rodgers
and Dermot O Leary.
The house and everything about the
show remained pretty much the same, the only difference been that
there was no Friday song for the whole of August, there was
little happening in this time, the only note worthy thing been
Lisas declaration that she, " wouldn mind some kind of
ride."
The month passed slowly, Richie
Bacon was on the road, visiting various sea side resorts as he
went, causing a diplomatic incident in Morcombe, when he declared
the resort to be a not very nice place (The BB Timeline does not
support that opinion). Also, in a gift shop in one town, the OB
caught a group of OAPs committing an act of senseless vandalism.
October arrived, and so did a new
look show. The house was redecorated inside, while the exterior
was left unaltered.
The living room was seriously
revamped, the pink and yellow walls were pained a rich golden
yellow, with purple and blue circles, the carpet was re placed
with an orange one with cream egg like patches. Much of the
furniture was retained from the previous look, all but the
monitor next to the presenters chairs, the retro looking monitor
was replaced with a bright blue wide screen TV. The colourful
checked curtains were changed in favour of pink and purple
striped ones. The most noticeable change of all was the removal
of the bar from the side of the room, in its place was a new
large arch way leading to the new phone room, a less noticeable
bar was i nstalled running through this archway, decorated with a
large back lit image of a cow. The new look phone room was
probably the biggest change to the house since the house was
restored after the 96 revamp. For the first time it was opened up
so u could get to it from the living room, the room itself was
very warm looking, with lots of wooden panelling and pink walls,
the area was quickly converted into Donnas phone bunker and
decorated with lots as camouflage gear. From this point on daily
phone ins were run from here, including daily cryptic puzzles.
Aside from the changes in the
living room and phone room the kitchen was the only offer part of
the house to change at all, and the only major change in there
was that the yellow walls were re-painted lime green. The hall
and up stairss remained unaltered from the previous look.
While most of the outside was left
untouched, a new front door was installed, and out back the wall
surrounding the pool was changed from the sky with cows, to just
a plain cloudy sky, a subtle yet important change.
The new look brought a dramatic
new twist to the world, the return of Denise Van Outen. Her
return show began in a strange way. The pre-titles gag involved
Johnny waking up on the bed, as Den got out of a shower in the
corner, and after thinking about the past couple of years said
" Denise, I just had the strangest dream."
Cut to titles, they were the same
as before, with the chicken flying round and all that, after the
titles we find Richard Bacon in the centre seat, hosti ng for the
first 15 minutes, after which, the party really kicks off when,
after a short break, the camera cuts to Johnny and Denise messing
about in the garden, with a large crowd or people. The pair make
their way up a red carpet past a group of women i n tabards, past
some dwarfs, Carpet and Linton moving a large pane of glass, and
finally past the wheel of cheapness. Finally Johnny and Denise
were back together in the BIG Breakfast house. And Richard Bacon,
Donna Air, Jasmine Lowson and Simon Fielder jo ined them.
The format of the show was
slightly altered, the news was reworked. Simon Fielder now did
the weather, instead of Jasmine, he used a map that was built in
the garden, Simons Greatest moment came in October 2000, when he
failed to predict the mas sive floods that swept the UK that
month, and nearly forced the show off air, when some bright spark
decided to open the locks forcing the water from the canal to
flow across the garden, this nearly cut the power to the house,
but they managed to keep the show on air, and Richard made Simon
wade out to the steps of woe as punishment. (ironically this was
the last time anyone would be banished to the steps, and Johnny
wasnt the one to give the order.
The first day was just a typical
day at lock keepers cot tages, loud, crazy, unpredictable, but
with one major difference, Dens favourite item of the day,
organised at her own request. It involved two American guys, they
were stood in the living room totally naked, behind a waste high
screen, only the people in the house could see what was
happening. To this day no-one knows exactly what happened, but
everyone was watching at what was behind the screen, and Den used
the words "Have u seen how bendy that is??!" The
partnership had lost nothing, Johnny and Den were back on form
after a few minutes, you could be forgiven for thinking she had
never left.
Both presenters knew their time
together was short, and it only seemed like a few minutes before
we were at Christmas. The titles were changed, a remake of the
origi nal 1992 Xmas titles, with a fly in to the new house and a
new logo at the end. Christmas week arrived and the pre-records
were been shown. Richard joined the crew in the house, and the
presenters chairs were abandoned, in favour of the sofa by the
firepl ace. And the news was dropped, replaced instead with
Jasmines review of the year.
The New Year came and went without
anything major happening, and before we knew it was January 12th
2001, Johnny and Denises last EVER show.
At 7am there was a huge parade in
the garden, in front of the gathered crowds, featuring women in
tabards, bulldogs, men in women\rquote s coats, and we are
assured a fleet of spitfires dropping rose petals on the house.
The show was a spectacular
combination of everything that made the show great during the
pairs time on it. Vital Statistics, Paper Review, the Pundown,
Bull dogging, you name it. The show was hosted from just 2 rooms
in the house. The living room and the phone room. The rest of the
house was closed off for the revamp, the bu ilders had descended
on the house. Johnny compared his last week on the show to the
last days of the Third Riche and the new team were the Russians.
The last 10 minutes of the show were devoted to the teams best
bits, before they sung their final Friday S ong. The end of the
show was met with a mix of cheers and sadness, over the noise of
the fans, Johnny s final words could be heard "thank you
very much!!"
With that thecredits rolled and a
dream sequence was played. Johnny and Denise sat in an empty
house, thinking about all the good times, with sounds from the
past playing in the back ground, they stood up, and walked out of
the French windows to the back garden, where they took each
others hand and walked off into the sun set, never to return.
The week b etween Johnny and Dens
departure was pretty dull, with Richard Bacon as the main
presenter. Many thought he should have been given the job full
time, but that was to fall to another guy. Richard was joined by
a whole host of guest presenters, each more us eless than the
last, the only real highlights been Paul Daniels and Debbie Mcgee
and Richard Whitley presenting.
The whole week trailers were run
promoting " The BIG Breakfast, The Next Generation"
they had big shoes to fill, but channel 4 were determined to make
it work. At the end of the week Jasmine did the last new bulletin
of the day, and we were forced to watch the chicken fly from the
house for the last time. BIG changes were afoot at the house,
mornings were about to get very different.
2001-2002
January 22nd 2001, it was a dark
cold day, the sun hadn\rquote t come up by 7am, the Hoobs had
just finished, and the nation was bating with bated breath for
their new look BIG Breakfast.
"All new and freshly
squeezed, its your all new, BIG Breakfast"
YAY!
There was a long pause, and a shot
of someone hiding under the covers of their bed, sunlight could
be seen shining over then as the sun rose off screen, there was
no familiar sunrise. The music was totally different, it was now
an Electro pop sort of thing, but it still had the BB beat in the
background. The titles sequence involved people doing breakfasty
things, cleaning their teeth, eating breakfast, getting ready for
work, finally reaching an image of a man in a bath, sliding under
that water, only to rise back out of again as a young attractive
lady, as the new BB logo appeared at the side.
The titles faded to a scary, scary
shot. Paul Tonkinson was filling the screen, a camera held inches
form his face, he introduced himself like every presenter in the
past, he was in stood in the hall, it was plain and bland. We
were then moved to the kitchen, where we were introduced to
Amanda Byram, and finally we go to the phone room where we meet
our old friend Donna Air. The new team moved to the new look
living r oom where we saw the new team together for the first
time, the moment was slightly over shadowed by the presence of a
large green sofa behind them.
It was instantly clear that the
past few weeks had not been wasted behind the closed doors of the
house, the place was hardly recognisable. The hall way, which
before was bright yellow, with a wooden banister, was now a
bland, pale room, the cupboard under the stairs is now a fish
tank, the carpet was now red, with a darker patch in the shape of
a b. The wooden cutlery banister was replaced with pale metal
handrail, and the once colourful walls were now a very pale
orange around the door and window, and the wall with the stairs
was now half-blue and half-purple. The most noticeable difference
was the absence of the wall between the hall and kitchen, it had
been removed to give an open plan feel to the house, also gone
was the door leading to the living room, replaced with an
archway, again giving the house an open plan feel.
The kitchen was also radically
changed , the bright cheery walls were repainted in a deep
purple, and the cupboards were now a bright orange, the carpet
matched the one in the hall, and a large table was infront of the
central unit. The table was lime green, and set for a large
number of peopl e, even thought there was no one to sit round it.
This room was possible the most BB of all the new look rooms, it
was still outrageous but had a modern, stylish feel to it.
The living room, the central hive
of activity during the show was totally reworke d, the once cosy,
cluttered room was emptied out, the yellow walls were gone,
replaced with a dark shade of purple, the carpet was now made up
of irregular blue stripes, in varying shades. The French windows
that were just a big a part of the show as the p resenters were
replaced with large glass doors, that looked like French windows,
just without the bars across the glass. The brick chimney-breast
was plastered over and painted purple, like the walls.
The presenters chairs were now in
a skip at the back o f the Planet 24 studio, in their place was
the large green sofa, big enough for all 3 main presenters.
Behind the sofa was a large plasma screen, replacing the usual
monitor, there was still a coffee table in front of them, but
instead of muffins and coffee, a bowl of fruit sat on it. The
sofa that used to be found near the kitchen was now gone, the
sofa and arm chair by the fire place were still there, they too,
like the main sofa were lime green, and a plasma screen was hung
over the fire place like a pic ture frame. In the corner behind
the armchair was a bar unit, oddly enough it was a deep
red/purple like the walls, this bar stretched through an arch way
leading to the phone room.
The new phone room was green,
plain simple green. The carpet matched that in the living room,
and the bar unit was the same as in the living room as well, a
large abstract painting hung on the back wall of the room.
Between the two windows stood a tall chrome unit, with a fax
machine and printer fixed on two shelves. In the ba c k of the
room below one on the windows stood a small bright red plastic
domed table, it was the main feature in the room, where cockney
Vic could be found manning the phones most of the morning. It was
a far cry from the warm looking phone-bunker from the last
version of the show. The new phone room also had a more sinister
result, Donna Air was released from the room, to inflict her
brand of entertainment upon the public.
"We are you are brand
spanking new, never before seen Big Breakfast presenters"
said Paul as he stands beside his co-hosts looking rather smug.
"And this is your brand
spanking new, never before seen, Big Breakfast house" says
Amanda, looking slightly less awkward than Paul.
"And THEY are your same as
always desperately in need of the work, Big Breakfast crew! said
Donna looking totally at ease in the environment, clutching her
old clipboard for dear life. It was at this point we get to see
the crew, they had been missing from the show so far, all crowded
into a corner out of shot behind the new Steady-cams that were
been used in the house. Where the crew used to cheer madly at
every opportunity, now they just sat there looking round with a
vacant lost look on their faces, letting out a nervous cheer
every now and then.
After the tr ailer for the rest of
the show was out of the way, we move to find Jasmine in her all
new news room, that looked a lot like the old one, except there
was a globe in the background and the TV was gone. She presented
the news with her usual style and humour , and afterwards when we
cut back to the house, she tries talking to the new team, it
didnt go particularly well, Amanda makes a comment about Jasmine
looking small on screen, after Jasmine said those fateful words,
"I like your new house." echoing the words of former
newsreader Peter Smiths from the fateful 1996 re-launch. Things
did not look good for the show.
The first show of the new era
carried on much like it had begun, slow and plodding, barely able
to maintain the BB feel. With guests like Castaway 2000 star Ben
Fogull and Neil Rudock, the show didnt seem quite as big as
before, barely able to pull in the A-listers anymore.
Later in the show we get to go
upstairs to the new bedroom. It was predominantly blue with
splashes of purple, like the res t of the house the checked
pattern effect was present here too, particularly on the wall
behind the bed and the chairs, where the experts would be found.
The bed was the same as before, just redressed with new sheets
and a new headboard. The room always f elt a little empty to me,
and a little cold. But it was bright and outrageous, so that was
good enough for me.
The end of the show soon came, the
presenters were stood in the hall way, and walked through the
rooms of the house past all the guests as their names were read
out, until the reached the sofa, at this point, everything went
pair shaped. The team said their good-byes and waked frantically
at the camera, but something went wrong, and the credits didnt
run, it was clear that someone was telling them to fill the time,
so they slowly walked down the garden away from the house,
repeatedly saying bye, and waving, trying to think of things to
say. Thanking the decorators, the guests, the crew, never sure
when they were going to be cut off, at this rate h ey were going
to run out of garden to walk down. Finally the credits rolled,
made up of clips from the show and a number of the break bumpers,
played along with a mix of the new theme tune, ironically they
were cut off before they finished. A sign of thin gs to come
maybe?
The following weeks had few
high-lights, nothing of note happened apart from one news
bulletin in February, when Jasmine decided to give nude-news
reading a go, she striped off live on air, much to Paul delight.
This was truly the only re al highlight of the first few months
of the year. By the end of March, changes were afoot once again
at the house. After doing "Rick" (attempting to shake
hands with a blind guest) Paul was quickly dispatched, after the
show on a Thursday, he was alleged ly called into the office and
told not to come in on Friday, he disappeared without warning,
and without a trace. His place was filled with guest presenters
for the next week, including Ed Hall and Mike "
Squeaky\" McClean.
This took us up to Easter weekend,
on the Monday Richard Bacon and Donna Air presented the show
(Amanda was on holiday), and it was the first show to be produced
by Ben Rigden. After a pre titles gag (the first since the
revamp) the camera cuts to a busy CRAZY, cheering living room,
the steady cams are gone, the crew were back in shot and had
found their voice. Most importantly of all, the sofa was gone, in
its place were the long lost presenters chairs, sat to the left
of the French windows, with a small egg monitor next to them,
they looked a little out of place in the room, but things were
about to chance a lot around here, as the BB began to bounce
back.
This day saw the return of the one
of the big brekkies biggest games, WONGA! Junior Wonga to be
precise, a bit of a stupid idea really, normal Wonga is for 18+,
junior Wonga is for under 16s and under, what are the 17 year
olds meant to do?
The new presenting team were a
little wobbly at first, Richard wasnt used to working in the
house, and for a while seemed like he was trying to be Johnny
Vaughan. Donna was just Donna, and wanted all the attention, she
interrupted people, talked over them, fluffed her lines a lot, it
was clear that her head was on the cutting block. And within a
couple of weeks she was gone. It was reported that she quit after
been told she would have her own set in the house away from
everyone else. It seemed she was to be put in the new bathroom
that had been built upstairs, naturally she didn\rquote t take to
kindly to this and she left in much the same was Paul did,
suddenly and without a trace.
Over the next few weeks, once
Amanda returned from her holiday, the house slowly began to
change back into the lock keepers cottages we knew and loved. The
lights were turned back on, and the presenters chairs were put
back infront of the windows. The walls slowly changed colour over
the next few weeks, the smaller walls became bright pink, and the
other walls became yellow/gold. Shelves were put up on the wall
next to the fireplace, and the plasma screen above the fireplace
had a frame fitted to make it look like a picture. Also the
second sofa was put back opposite from the fire place, for the
recently returned family of the week to sit on. . The large
plasma screen that was behind the sofa was gone, replaced instead
with a smaller monitor, that looked a little bit like the one
used during Lizas time in the house. After many weeks of plain
windows, small plastic strips were added to the glass to make the
windows look like "proper" French windows, and finally,
golden curtains with multi-coloured circles were hung over the
windows.
This slow revival saw the return
of many of the shows greatest items, " pushy mums" ,
" the paper review" and the crazy games all made a come
back. This return to form brought back a small number of th e
shows lost fans. But many believed there was no chemistry between
Richard and Amanda, some even believed there was hostility
between the two. With the change in format, the show became more
recognisable as The BIG Breakfast, but something was still wrong
somewhere.
The summer of 2001 was like most
other summers, the number of people watching the show dropped
dramatically, this sparked fears that the show was going to be
axed. Channel 4 publicly denied they were considering replacing
the show, but it beca me clear by October that they were looking
at pilots for potential new breakfast shows. While Planet 24 had
put forward a massively reworked big breakfast, they were up
against stiff competition. Sky, MTV, and many others were also in
the running; it was going to be a close call.
The show carried on as always when
all this was going on in the back ground. And for the first time
the BB contemplated its own death, by running features like
" I can save the big breakfast" when viewers were
invited to send in id eas for features on the show that could
save it. This is where the chemistry between Amanda and Richard
was brought up again, when someone suggested more sexual
chemistry, they rushed outside out of shot, and some groaning
could be heard, when they came back inside Amandas hair was
messed up and Richards shirt was unbuttoned. But even this did
little to improve the situation.
At the start of December 2001 the
news that we had all been dreading arrived, The BIG Breakfast had
been AXED!
The show had 4 m onths before it
would be taken off air forever. During which time it got back
some of its daring limit pushing attitude. The show had nothing
to fear anymore, what was Channel 4 going to do if they did
something totally unacceptable? Take them off air?
The Xmas titles were pulled out of
storage one last time, as the Xmas period approached, the
Christmas week was one of the best ever. Almost any band to
appear on the show would split up within a few months, Steps,
Hearsay, S Club 7. But without a doubt the best part of the whole
week was seeing Hear\rquote say been interviewed, and one of them
been forced to eat a chilli filled mince pie, after which he
promptly threw up, followed by most of the other band members.
This was much to the delight of Richard, who spent most of the
show talking about it, "we ve had live vomiting on todays
show ladies and gentlemen."
After Christmas and New Year, the
show returned to its normal format. Nothing particularly
important happened during this time, with only a couple of not
able changes, the bath room that had been home to Roland Rat
during the summer was once again home to Zig and Zag, returning
to the show for the last few months, with "The Crunch"
the other major change to the show came at the start of March,
the BBs final month, BB gold became a regular feature, looking
back at the best bits of the last 10 years. March flew by and
before we knew it, it was March 29th, the last EVER BIG Breakfast
The Final Show and Beyond
"Out with a bang, it s the
very last, BIG Breakfast."
29th March 2002 the day most
Brekkie fans will never forget. The day that the British
breakfast got a whole lot smaller.
At 7am 9 and a half years after
the first show, we saw the beginning of the end, the titles
rolled for the final time, and as the various food characters ran
towards the house there was a sad sense that this was it, never
again.
The titles ended and we got the
usual reception, in the living room, with the crew and
presenters. The BB countdown clock was now down to 3 hours, the
last show was extended to fit all the extra-added goodness they
had put into it. The house was packed, with a selection of
celebrity guests, past presenters, experts, and later in the
show, the queen of current affairs, Jasmine Lowson was in the
house. Th e living room was also stuffed full of balloons and
various other party things, all in aid of celebrating The BIG
Breakfasts 10th birthday just a little bit early.
Most of the house was unused on
this day, the bedroom was set up for the Friday Song and the
kitchen was just full of people. The bar unit had been ripped out
of the living room to make way for "Superfan Corner"
featuring some of the shows biggest fans, including Tom Parker
and smeg_head. But it seemed only one of the buzzers was working
properly, as the same guy answered most of the questions. But to
be honest the questions were a bit of a let down, mostly been
"what happened on this date" sort of questions.
The show had another special
feature, involving the people that the BB had the most effect on,
in a feature called "The Big Breakfast changed/ruined my
life" . It involved people that had in some way had their
life changed by the show, I entered my own experience for this
item, but I wasnt picked. The majority if not all of the people
seen claimed that they had their lives ruined.
The show was filled with extra
helpings of BB gold, peoples finally chance to look back at the
shows past, it was an interactive feature, where there was a
choice of two clips to watch, we had to pick which one we wan
ted. We got Denise stealing from the queen and Johnny destroying
an indestructible laptop, truly classic clips.
At 7:30 a normal edition of the
news took an unexpected twist when Richard invited Jasmine to the
house to join the festivities, she asked who could possible do
the news when she was away, enter Phil Gail, the long lost BB
newsreader had returned. This left Jasmine free to go to the
house, while Phil did his thing.\line \line As always Zig and Zag
were there, with their final EVER edition of "The
Crunch" it was a rapid fire question section, where the
guest were rushed through the bathroom and asked as many
questions as possible in a certain time limit. Not the best
episode of "The Crunch" but it would have been wrong
for it to be over looked.
This took us more or less through
to 8 o clock after a slightly rushed edition of the news, it was
time for the usual paper review. Nothing special, just a normal
part of the day.
At 8:30 we were treated to a great
addition of "STARTURN!" Richard Whitely took the broom
for this momentous occasion, and made a bit of a fool of himself,
dropping all the cups after a couple of seconds, and then getting
molested by Jody Bunting on the bed that was included in the
course. As you would expect he didnt get anything in the Star-urn
so the person with the lowest prediction won.
9 o clock saw the end of an era,
the final edition of the Big Breakfast news and weather. It was
just your average news bulletin, Phil was still rushing through
it to keep it in the time limit (I never realised till then how
fast jasmine does the news). At the end of the bulletin after the
" and finally" story, there was a special end of news
jingle complete with a gong ring at the end. Phil didn\rquote t
seem to know that was coming as he started to say something, and
then stopped suddenly when he realised he was talking over the
effect. Once it was over, Richard ordered Phil to make his was to
Lock Keepers Cottages for the final hour.
The Last hour of the show saw some
of the best moments in recent BB history. At 10 past 9 Mike
McClean was out and about, delivering the BB gnome to its new
address, up till this point I for one thought the none was
seriously been relocated to a new home, but once this item was
over there was no doubt it was a stunt. Mike reveale d he was
outside Channel 4 HQ and told the audience to brace themselves.
The camera swung round to reveal the giant BB gnome perched on it
stand facing the CH4 building, but the mug and fishing rod were
gone, it their place, were a bunch of flowers, and a hand,
sporting a two finger salute to the bosses at Channel 4. The Big
Breakfast had the last laugh, as they told channel 4 exactly what
they thought of them. When the shot cut back to the house,
Richard, Amanda, Lisa and Jasmine were stood on the patio at the
front of the house looking at the giant screen in the garden,
with looks of shock on heir faces, they were truly astonished,
"well I know who wont be working for again!" said
Amanda. Personally I doubt the gnome was there for long.
Once the team got over the shock
of the gnome stunt, it was time for a special documentary about
the show. "I love The Big Breakfast" was a collection
of the best bits, mixed with interviews with key people from the
shows past, including Chris Evans, Gaby Roslin, Liza Tarbuck,
Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen.
Starting back at the beginning in
1992, the documentary covered from the very first moment of the
very first show at 7am on the 28th September 1992. It talked
about all the big events. And about all the presenter s, with
frank and in-depth chats with the people involved. They
conveniently glossed over the 1996 fiasco, without so much as a
mention, or a clip, and certainly no interview with the terrible
twosome, Rick and Sharon
After a brief break, the show
return ed carrying on with the run through of the shows past,
this part concentrated on Johnny and Denise, and later Liza, and
back to Denise again. The second golden age of the show was
documented in 15 minutes, again glossing over the post JV era of
the show. It was a very touching show, but, ended to soon, after
just half an hour, it was over and that meant only one thing, the
last few minutes of the BIG Breakfast.
After "I love the Big
Breakfast" finished, we went back to the house, the house
itself was basic ally empty, everyone, presenters, guests,
Superfan, crew, were out on the patio ready for the big finally,
with a few people hanging out of the bed room window holding huge
bunches of balloons. Before one last break, Richard read out an
e-mail that had ju st arrived to the house, from Prince Charles.
He was morning the loss of a "British institution" and
commending the people involved for their dedication to the show,
and finally saluting the show, for 10 years of bright
entertaining news in the mornings.
A fter the final break, it was
time for the guys at the house to perform the Friday Song one
last time! After the gathered crowds were hushed, Harry began the
infamous tune,
For the last 10
years we made your mornings bright,
With a blend of
features chosen to delight,
It takes quite a
lot of time,
To make something
so sublime,
And today at last
we finally got it right!
Singing wakey,
wakey, wakey rise and shine,
The big breakfast
is the only way to dine,
It s your number
one BIG Brekkie,
So get it down your
nekkie,
And stick with us
from 7 until 9.
Our show has been
consistently top drawer,
We ve had host of
Celebs come pouring through our door,
We asked questions
to provoke um,
Play games and then
wed soak them
And yet theyd all
come running back for more!
Singing wakey,
wakey, wakey rise and shine,
The big breakfast
is the only way to dine,
It s your number
one BIG Brekkie,
So get it down your
nekkie,
And stick with us
from 7 until 9.
Now the time has
come to shed some poignant tears,
As the breakfast
ends and slowly disappears,
To the show that
fills our slot,
We say GIVE IT ALL
YOUVE GOT!
BUT WE BET YOUR
NEVER GONNA LAST 10 YEARS!
Singing wakey,
wakey, wakey rise and shine,
The big breakfast
is the only way to dine,
It s your number
one BIG Brekkie,
So get it down your
nekkie,
AND THINK OF US
FROM 7 UNTILL 9
"Thats it, that really is
your lot!" Richard Bacon calmed the crowds down after the
song, they were insane, people were cheering, and streamers were
all over the place, glitter was falling from the sky, after been
blown out of the bedroom window. Once the crowd had settled, he
announced that it was time for them to all leave. Taking Amandas
hand he started a conga that led us all away from the famous Lock
Keepers Cottages for the last time. The people in the garden
slowly made their way out of the gate, the big 4 ran across the
foot bridge, lucky their microphones were turned off, as I hear
from people that they really let channel 4 know what they
thought. As they reached the other side the band reached the end
of their music as the team had a big group hug before
disappearing forever.
As the music faded the final outro
began, it was a remixed version of the 1992 theme, it was very
dramatic, and in a way sad. As the camera slowly pulled away from
th e house for the final time, there was an unavoidable feeling,
that this really was it, no more, it was over...or was it.
After the final titles finished,
we found ourselves in the garden, with slow sad music playing in
the background. There were pictures of the past presenters laid
out on the ground, as the camera pulled up a stack of Wonga
bricks fell to the floor. The camera moved towards the house,
weaving between various props from the show, the characters from
the titles were stood around the garden, one with the sandwich
board wound its neck saying "the end is now!" stood on
the patio were two mannequins, wearing the "Gagging for
it" costumes. As we approached the French windows a shimmer
of sparkles faded us into the kitchen, the furniture was covered
in bubble wrap, and sounds from the past were echoing through the
house, we passed through to the hall where the Friday song was
heard blasting through the room.
The camera moved up
the stairs, more pictures of presenters were lying around the
house, the bathroom was passed, and we went on to the bedroom, a
clothes rail was there, with clothes from the fashion items
hanging on them. The chairs and the TV were covered in white
sheets, and the bed was covered with a large white sheet, with a
bunch of flowers lying on it. The camera spun round and we were
in the Phoneroom, it too was empty, the camera pulled back into
the living room, all the furniture was covered, and the clutter
was gone. Like the rest of the monitors in the house, past title
sequences were laying on the screens, more memories could be
heard in the background. The camera slowly turned round to the
presenters chairs, Richard and Amanda\rquote s clipboards were
sat on their chairs, mirroring the dream at the end of Johnnys
last show. Another sparkly f ade took us back outside, the French
windows swung open and the camera backed away into the air, until
the whole house was in shot, after a long pause, the house
exploded, leaving a dull, plain shot of dark dirty buildings in
the background. 
A sign of the future?
After a month without a breakfast
show the BBs replacement RI:SE hit our screens, I was worried
that it wouldn\rquote t be entertaining, well I for one never
laughed as much and as hard as I did during the first episode of
RI:SE, well it didn\rquote t last long, after less that a year
the show was revamped, in a major way, and as I write this the
axe hangs over the "new" show, after the show had a
share of 0% of the viewers officially none watched it for almost
a week, it seems life no longer starts at 7.
In the weeks and months that
followed the end of the Big Breakfast, the house was left
un-used, and over time it was the victim of petty vandals, but on
the 8th September 2002, something that every fan had dreaded
happened, the BIG Breakfasy house was destroyed. in the early
hours of the morning it is beleaved that someone broke into the
house and diliberatly started a fire in the bedroom, it destroyed
the first floor and the roof, leading to major smoke and water
damage in other areas. the house has now been old to a family,
who apaently intend to convert it for residential use. the last
tangeable relics of the bb have gone.
The Big Breakfast Timeline. Copyright 2003 Dave Whitehurst
This site is 100% unofficial
The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24 and broadcast by
Channel 4 Television between September 28th 1992 and March 29th
2002
Thank you to Brekkie.com for alowing the use of the pictures
of inside the 1996 house
Last revised: April 23, 2003.