''606'' (pronounced six-oh-six) is a weekend early evening football

phone-in In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio ( ...

programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the British football season. It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. The programme gets its name from the approximate time the show starts on a Saturday evening – six minutes past six – following '' Sports Report''. It currently airs until 20:00 on Saturdays and 19:30 on Sundays, and has been produced by Shooting Shark Productions Limited since 2015: it was formerly made by Campbell Davison Media from 2003, then Somethin' Else Productions from 2009. As well as listeners phoning in, a selection of texts and e-mails to the studio are read out. The programme was inspired by long-running BBC Local radio football phone-ins such as the

BBC Radio Sheffield BBC Radio Sheffield is the BBC's local radio station serving South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital television and via BBC Sounds from studios on Shoreham Street in Sheffield. According to RAJAR, the statio ...

programme "Praise or Grumble". 6-0-6's current theme tune is an arrangement of " Psycho" from

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

History

The original host was

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fami ...

in the 1991–1992 season. Baker also hosted the show in the 1996–97 and 2008–09 seasons.

David Mellor David John Mellor (born 12 March 1949) is a British broadcaster, barrister, and former politician. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1990–92) and ...

then presented 6-0-6 from 1992–2001 and was for a long time the regular Wednesday evening presenter. Other previous hosts have included: *

Richard Littlejohn Richard Littlejohn (born 18 January 1954) is an English author, broadcaster and journalist. He writes a twice-weekly column for the ''Daily Mail'' about British affairs as observed from reading the news at home in Florida. Littlejohn has been a ...

(1997–2002) *

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both ''The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for foo ...

(2001–2006) * Jonathan Pearce (2002–2003) *

Tim Lovejoy Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings on the ...

(2007–2009) *

DJ Spoony DJ Spoony (born Johnathan Joseph; 25 June 1970) is a British DJ and radio presenter. He is a member of the UK garage production trio, the Dreem Teem. Early career Dj Spoony was born in Hackney, East London to British West Indian parents. His ...

and

Gabriele Marcotti Gabriele Marcotti (born 28 July 1973) is an Italian sports journalist, sports author, and radio-television presenter. Born in Italy and now based in London, he was raised in the United States (Chicago and New York), Poland, Germany and Japan. He ...

(2007–09) * Alan Green (2000–2013) * Mark Chapman (2009, 2010–2013) *

Darren Fletcher Darren Barr Fletcher (born 1 February 1984) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player who is currently the technical director of Manchester United, where he spent the majority of his playing career. He mostly played as a centr ...

(2010–2016) *

Kelly Cates Kelly Cates (née Dalglish) is a Scottish presenter, currently working for Sky Sports, Radio 5 Live, and ESPN. Early life Born in Glasgow, Kelly is the eldest of four children of former Celtic and Liverpool player and manager Sir Kenny Dalgl ...

(2013–2018) *

Jason Mohammad Jason Mohammad (born 17 September 1973) is a Welsh radio and television presenter currently working for the BBC. He is the current host of ''Final Score'' on BBC One on Saturday afternoons. Personal life Mohammad was born and brought up in Ca ...

(2016–2019) * Alistair Bruce-Ball (2018–2020) *

Sam Quek Samantha Ann Quek, MBE (born 18 October 1988) is an English former field hockey player, and television personality. She played as a defender for both the England and Great Britain teams, wearing squad number 13, and won gold as part of the Brit ...

(2019–2020) * Emma Jones (2019–2020) *

Robbie Savage Robert William Savage (born 18 October 1974) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, now a football pundit and director of football at club Macclesfield. During his career he played predominantly as a midfielder, ...

(2010–present) *

Chris Sutton Christopher Roy Sutton (born 10 March 1973) is an English former professional football player and manager. He later became a pundit and commentator for BT Sport, regularly working on their coverage of Scottish football. He is now also a pundi ...

(2018-present)

returned to 6-0-6 to present six

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

specials, and proved such a big hit with the listeners that he was invited back to present regularly on Tuesdays. Under Baker in the 1990s the show favoured bizarre and obscure but amusing topics, often avoiding the matches played and headline football news. On occasions other sports would be included. It also included music in its first years. However, from Mellor onwards, the show became established as a more mainstream phone-in, mainly focusing on Premier League teams. Between 2007 and 2009 the programme was hosted by

and

. From the 2009–2010 season Alan Green presented on Saturdays, as he typically commentated on an evening match before presenting the Saturday show. Tim Lovejoy joined to present on Wednesdays while Danny Baker continued to present on Tuesdays from 10–11pm. After TalkSport took the rights to Saturday evening

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

matches from the 2010–11 season, the Saturday edition returned again to 6:06pm. The hosts became Mark Chapman and Robbie Savage, in his final season as a professional footballer. Savage won the Rising Star in radio

Sony Radio Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

for his plain speaking. Sunday's show was hosted by Alan Green. The Tuesday and Wednesday shows were dropped, only appearing on international nights. In 2011–12, as Savage was taking part in '' Strictly Come Dancing'', he was replaced on Saturdays by Jason Roberts. Savage instead joined Green on Sunday. In 2012–13, Savage returned to the Saturday evening program, alongside either Darren Fletcher or Mark Chapman. Green again hosts Sunday on his own. From the 2013–14 season, there were two teams hosting between the two nights.

and

hosted on Saturdays while

and former footballer

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

hosted on Sundays. From the 2016–17 season, the Saturday team changed, with

joining Savage, due to Fletcher's BT Sport commentary commitments. Cates and Wright continued to host on a Sunday. From the 2018–19 season, the Saturday show was hosted by Jason Mohammad with Robbie Savage and the Sunday show saw Alistair Bruce-Ball and

take over from Cates and Wright. From the 2019–20 season, Alistair Bruce-Ball and Chris Sutton moved to the Saturday evening show with

and Emma Jones alternating each week to present the Sunday evening show alongside Robbie Savage. From the 2020–2021 season, Robbie Savage transitioned to the presenter role for both the Saturday and Sunday shows, alongside Chris Sutton.

Programme features

The 2009–10 season saw the launch of the 606 Soapbox outside grounds. Fans can drop into the Soapbox and speak live to presenters Spoony and Gabriele Marcotti in the 5 Live studios. Every three weeks the Soapbox visits a league football ground in various locations around the country. Sunday's ''606'' also has a weekly celebrity fan, reporting on the game they have been to that day. Celebrity fans so far have included

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perha ...

(

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Alan Davies Alan Roger Davies (; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is best known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only per ...

( Arsenal),

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, '' The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke an ...

(

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

Norman Jay Norman Jay MBE (born Norman Bernard Joseph on 6 November 1957) is a British club, radio and sound system DJ. He first came to prominence playing unlicensed "warehouse" parties in the early 1980s, and through his involvement with the then-pira ...

( Spurs),

Trevor Nelson Trevor Ricardo Nelson, MBE (born 7 January 1964) is an English DJ and presenter. Early life Born in the London Borough of Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, Nelson attended Central Foundation Boys' Grammar School (now known as Central ...

(

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

), Tony Jeffries (

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

) and

James and Oliver Phelps James Andrew Eric Phelps and Oliver Martyn John Phelps (born 25 February 1986) are English actors and identical twin brothers. They are known for playing Fred and George Weasley in the ''Harry Potter (film series), Harry Potter'' film seri ...

aka Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter films (

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

). When Alistair Bruce-Ball and

started presenting, they introduced a game called "Sutton Death" in which both take it in turns to give answers to a certain category each week, in a given a time (usually around 15–20 seconds). Other features on their show included, "ABB" in which both Bruce-Ball and Sutton share what has "Amused", "Bugged" and "Baffled" them during the week, and, "The Simulation Game" in which they play a clip of the song "

Free Fallin' "Free Fallin'" is the opening track from American musician Tom Petty's debut solo album, ''Full Moon Fever'' (1989). The song was written by Petty and his writing partner for the album, Jeff Lynne, and features Lynne on backing vocals and bass g ...

" by

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

and also play the commentary from the times during the week when players have been caught diving. Since

took over as presenter, features include "six times six", giving six callers, six seconds to state their name, the team they support and their point, as well as "Gone in 60 Suttons"

6-0-6 online forum

In addition to the phone-in programme, there was also an online version of 6-0-6 in the form of an Internet message board, although in June 2006 the site was forced to temporarily close due to the large amount of web traffic and forum threads. Football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, snooker, motorsport and several other sports had message boards embedded into 606. On 24 January 2011, it was announced the 6-0-6 forum would close at the end of the 2010–11 football season, due to cuts in the BBC's online budget of 25% . The forum finally closed on 31 May 2011. 6-0-6 also has an active

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

group, for fans to chat, and view behind the scenes pictures of the show. Listeners can follow 60
@bbc606
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Spin-offs

Other sports occasionally get the 6-0-6 treatment. These include Tennis, where the show became ''6 Love 6'' presented by

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

, Cricket's ''6-Duck-6'' presented by former England captain

Michael Vaughan Michael Paul Vaughan (born 29 October 1974) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who played all forms of the game. He served as England captain for the test team from 2003 to 2008, the one-day international team from 2003 ...

and

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

's Slicks–0–6, which

Murray Walker Graeme Murray Walker (10 October 1923 – 13 March 2021) was an English motorsport commentator and journalist. He provided television commentary of live Formula One coverage for the BBC between 1976 and 1996, and for ITV between 1997 and 2001 ...

presented.

References

External links

* {{BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live programmes BBC Radio 5 (former) Football mass media in the United Kingdom British sports radio programmes