This Week’s Poll: Breakfast Television
This week’s poll is asking you to vote for your favourite Breakfast Television programme, either current or from the past. It seems there are big changes heading our way in terms of our breakfast programmes with GMTV set to be confined to the archives from the Autumn as ITV rolls out Daybreak – a new programme fronted by Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles. Despite the success/strength of BBC Breakfast, have announced this week it’ll be shifting its own show to Salford in the near future; bringing with it no doubt some changes to the format of the show. So with so many changes heading our way we decided it was time to let you vote for which show you prefer!
TVAM: 1983 to 1993
The early days on-air for TVAM were marred somewhat by the fact they were beaten to the post by the BBC who launched Breakfast Time just two weeks before TVAM went on air. The fact that Breakfast Time was in the very format that TVAM was to launch in shocked some by was a hit with viewers. So very quickly it was decided that TVAM needed a revamp to stay on air and so out went Anna Ford and Angela Rippon and came a format that became forever associated with the broadcaster.
A mix of serious reports and interviews sat easily alongside keep fit routines, cookery and entertainment features. Former ATV faces Chris Tarrant, Anne Diamond and Nick Owen proved a hit with viewers and the ‘stuffy, stilted’ TV-am bit the dust. TV-am, criticised for its low budget, invested more in its news programming – they had been shown up as being totally un-prepared for a major incident when the IRA bombed a hotel in Brighton. They even saw off the dreaded, and often ridiculous demands of, television unions. Unlike so many broadcasters of the time, TV-am refused to give in to unions – and when staff walked out, they were sacked. The company’s stance clearly pleased viewers, who had become tired of the union games – which often saw disruption in viewing their favourite shows.
TVAM even overtook rivals Breakfast Time by the late 1980s thanks to its newer look but surprising it lost the franchise in 1993. Just as Thames Television lost its weekday franchise in the 1990s, to form part of the ITV Network, so did TVAM. The breakfast franchise was instead handed over to Sunrise Television who you probably won’t remember because Sunrise Television very quickly became GMTV.
GMTV: 1993 to 2010
The reason why Sunrise Television became the GMTV we know today is because Sky Television laid claim to the right to use Sunrise and so the new franchise was renamed GMTV instead. It seemed as though history was repeating itself because the early days of GMTV were not popular with viewers who didn’t like the replacement for TVAM. Not even presenters Carol Voderman and Linda Lusardi could tempt morning viewers to switch to them and the launch of The Big Breakfast on Channel Four beforehand seriously dented GMTV’s ratings.
So as with TVAM before it the breakfast programme was given a drastic revamp and GMTV suddenly resembled TVAM in all but name. Lorraine Kelly was given a greater role in the revamped GMTV show while new presenters included Fiona Phillips who would remain with the show for the majority of its run – being a regular presenter on the sofa alongside an ever changing line-up of fellow presenters; such as Eammon Holmes. The format has barely changed over the years but its reputation was dealt a series blow, from which it never really recovered from, in 2006. The premium phone-in scandal, which affected other programmes such as Richard & Judy and Soapstar Superstar, hit GMTV hard because it was revealed that the problems stretched back to 2003 with viewers entering competitions they had no chance of winning.
The rot began to set in as ratings declined, presenters left and ITV got their grubby hands on the remainder of GMTV’s shares – buying out Disney. It soon became obvious to all that with complete control of GMTV in their hands ITV were going to change things – more presenters left and rumours of a revamp were never far away. In the Summer of 2010 it was confirmed that GMTV was to disappear from the airwaves and be replaced by Daybreak – a new ‘serious’ programme fronted by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley who had defected from BBC’s The One Show.
The Big Breakfast: 1992 to 2002
Channel Four’s most successful breakfast programme ever and one they have desperately hard to try and succeed ever since but with little success. What was it that made The Big Breakfast so popular with viewers for a decade? It’s youthful feel? It’s sense of fun? Who knows but the mixture of silly pranks, news, weather, celebrity chat and game-show style challenges certainly propelled it to the top of the ratings in terms of breakfast time.
The ever changing line-up of presenters over the years included Gaby Roslin, Chris Evans, Mark Little, Paul Ross, Denise Van Outen, Kelly Brooke, Johnny Vegas and Zoe Ball. However, by 2001 the show had lost its shine as viewers were not keen on newer presenters brought in and by 2002 Channel Four confirmed the series was to end.
Memorable moments from the Big Breakfast included a bemused Britney Spears appearing to promote her movie Crossroads but the presenters teasing her about the infamous British soap, Crossroads – playing the theme tune from it when she walked onto the set and asking her questions about the famous characters from the soap.
RISE: 2002 to 2003
Channel Four’s hyped successor to The Big Breakfast which it hoped would prove popular with audiences. The original line up of presenters included Mark Durden-Smith, Colin Murray, Kirsty Gallacher, Edith Bowman, Chris Rogers and Liz Bonnin. However, ratings were low and so the series was revamped very quickly to make it more “fun”. The likes of Kate Lawler and Sue Perkins were drafted in to present different segments of the show.
RISE also moved more to an entertainment orientated focus as it discussed the latest celebrity gossip and featured coverage of Big Brother, Pop Idol and The Salon. During the broadcast of Big Brother in the Summer the ratings for RISE did improve but immediately dropped back down again when Big Brother finished – showing the audience were only watching for the morning round-ups of House action. RISE was eventually cancelled by Channel Four because of its poor ratings.
BBC Breakfast Time: 1983 to 1989
Launched just two weeks before TVAM, Breakfast Time became the first national breakfast show. Due to its launch before TVAM it was able to establish itself with audiences and had a “cosy” and “friendly” feel with a format that was very much what you’d expect from TVAM. In the early years Breakfast Time outperformed TVAM – however, very quickly TVAM adapted its own format to be more inline with Breakfast Time.
Breakfast Time in turn slowly became more serious and news orientated with viewers drifting away to TVAM. The show featured a mixture of segments such as astrology with Russell Grant and fitness with Diana Moran, dubbed the Green Goddess. Both of these elements are hard to associated with a BBC breakfast programme now which is why Breakfast Time was quite unexpected; it felt far more commercial which is why TVAM copied the style.
Regular presenters over the years included Nick Ross, Frank Bough, Selina Scott, Sue Cook and Jeremy Paxman.
BBC Breakfast News: 1989 to 2000
In the late 1980s the BBC decided to re-brand its morning programme to BBC Breakfast News as the corporation decided to completely shift away from the light and entertainment feel of Breakfast Time. BBC Breakfast News was a more serious and news focused programme with with regular news bulletins, indepth coverage of the major stories, world news, political news with business and weather bulletins as well. The latest from the stock markets would be regularly reported on with a correspondent at the London Stock Exchange while business news also had its own slot every hour.
Over the years anchors in the main studio included familiar name such as Nicholas Witchell, Jill Dando, Jeremy Bowen, Sophie Raworth, Fiona Bruce and Huw Edwards while Moira Stewart often read the headlines.
BBC Breakfast: 2000 – present
In 2000 the morning breakfast programme was revamped once more as the BBC decided to merge its morning output on BBC One and BBC News 24 – Breakfast simulcasts on both channels although at the weekends it will often end on BBC One earlier than normal if there is sports coverage (such as Match of the Day). If Breakfast does end earlier on BBC One it still continues on the BBC News Channel until its normal time.
As with its predecessor Breakfast is a more serious and news focused programme than its rivals with regular news bulletins, re-cap of the headlines, interviews and in-depth coverage of major stories of the day. As with other news programmes coverage will occasionally come from away from the studio, such as live coverage from an important place. In these cases one of the regular anchors will still present segments from the studio. From 8.30 the programme usually takes on a lighter tone with more entertainment style stories and interviews – its slot was also extended slightly following the demise of Kilroy, the topical debate show.
Presenters over the years have included Jeremy Bowen, Sophie Raworth (both of whom continued with the programme after its re-launch from Breakfast News), Dermot Murnaghan, Sarah Montague and Natasha Kaplinsky. Current presenters include Sian Williams, Susannah Reid, Charlie Stayt and Bill Turnbull. In July 2010 the BBC announced that Breakfast would move home to Salford.
