The Big Breakfast

''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4. Originally presented by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, the show was latterly presented by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu.

The programme was distinctive for broadcasting live from a real house (which had been lock-keepers' cottages), commonly referred to as "The Big Breakfast House", or more simply, "The House", located on Fish Island, in Bow in east London. The original house on Fish Island in Bow has since been sold.

The show was a mix of news, weather, interviews, audience phone-ins and general features, with a light tone which was in competition with the maturer GMTV and BBC Breakfast programmes.

History

''The Big Breakfast'' was launched on 28 September 1992 to replace ''The Channel Four Daily'', which was Channel 4's unsuccessful first foray into the breakfast television market. The ''Daily'', launched at huge expense, had focussed on current affairs and news bulletins alongside bitesized magazine shows, a quiz show segment and a daily cartoon slot. This format had failed to attract enough viewers, so Channel 4 opted to change direction and work towards a lighter style concentrating mainly on entertainment and humour with news bulletins restricted to brief summaries every 20 minutes.

The first two presenters were Chris Evans (from 1992 to 1994) and Gaby Roslin (1992 to 1996). At its height in 1993, viewing figures reached around two million per edition, and it was the highest rated UK breakfast television programme. Along with Evans and Roslin, Bob Geldof presented a short-lived political interview slot. His wife Paula Yates interviewed people whilst lying on a bed, and the puppet characters Zig and Zag created morning mayhem in the bathroom with Evans in a slot called 'The Crunch'.

As part of his contract with ''The Big Breakfast'', Evans was committed to developing a new show for Channel 4. ''Don't Forget Your Toothbrush'' began in early 1994, and Evans cut his involvement with ''The Big Breakfast'' to three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday. Former ''Neighbours'' actor Mark Little replaced Evans on Mondays and Fridays. When Evans left the show later that year, Little continued Thursdays, and Fridays while Paul Ross took over Mondays to Wednesdays. Richard Orford replaced Ross around Easter 1995 but was quickly dropped and exchanged with ''Down Your Doorstep'' presenter Keith Chegwin. In July 1995, the show reverted to using just one male presenter (Mark Little) throughout the week. Chegwin would cover for Little when he was on tour as a comedian or on holiday.

Roslin continued full-time until she made way for Zoe Ball in 1996. Audience figures dropped a little after Evans left, and a little further after Roslin departed. Mark Little left the programme in July 1996, following press reports that he and Ball had fallen out. Little was replaced by Keith Chegwin, who himself exited the programme in August 1996, just ahead of a relaunch. To stem the sliding viewing figures, the Big Breakfast house was refurbished at a cost of £2 million. New presenters Rick Adams and Sharron Davies were brought in but viewing figures fell dramatically. Davies left the programme in early 1997, to be replaced by Denise van Outen. Van Outen had initially been brought in as part of the September 1996 relaunch as a weather presenter, before being given a role based at the house as the phone room presenter and holiday relief for Davies. In June 1997, Johnny Vaughan covered for Adams for a fortnight alongside Van Outen, the pair forging a successful on-screen partnership. Adams left the programme shortly afterwards and, in September 1997, the Vaughan and Van Outen partnership was made permanent. Audience figures stabilised and the duo fronted the programme together until Van Outen's departure on 1 January 1999. (A New Year's Day pre-record). Kelly Brook was installed as Vaughan's new co-presenter despite an internet campaign for the role to be awarded to Liza Tarbuck, who had successfully covered for Van Outen in the summer of 1998. However, Brook struggled in the role and left the programme in early summer 1999. Liza Tarbuck, having again covered the co-presenter role alongside Vaughan prior to Brook's departure, was made permanent at the end of August 1999. She left the following summer and, following Vaughan's annual one-month summer break, Denise van Outen returned to co-host in September 2000 for Vaughan's final four months on the programme. Vaughan and Van Outen's final ''Big Breakfast'' was on 12 January 2001.

Demise

The programme relaunched with a new logo and updated theme on Monday 22 January 2001. The house had also been redecorated in more muted colours, echoing the ill-fated 1996 revamp. The programme moved to a line up of three main presenters, Paul Tonkinson, Amanda Byram and Donna Air. However, Tonkinson was dropped from the programme at the end of March 2001 and Air left not long after. Richard Bacon and Byram remained as main presenters, the programme having reverted to two main presenters once more. The living room, which had been repainted a dark red as part of the revamp, was changed to a bright yellow and pink design, while the main presenter chairs were also reinstalled in front of the living room's French windows. They replaced the bright green sofa which had also been brought in as part of the revamp. The new logo was replaced with one more closely resembling the traditional ''Big Breakfast'' logo, albeit utilising a slightly different font. Mike McClean was given a role on the programme, as Down Your Doorstep presenter and cover for Bacon, most regularly on Fridays when Bacon would reprise his former Down Your Doorstep role alongside Johnny Vegas.

In December 2001, it was announced that ''The Big Breakfast'' was to be axed the following March. In the programme's final months, former cover presenter Lisa Rogers was given a role as an extra presenter while Zig and Zag returned for the final six weeks in their former slot, The Crunch, for which a new bathroom set was installed in the house. The final ''Big Breakfast'' aired on 29 March 2002 and included a retrospective that included contributions from Evans, Roslin, Vaughan and Van Outen. Both Evans and Vaughan declared the cancelling of the show a bad idea, but the show ended with a tribute from the Prince of Wales before the last ever Friday song.

When the show finished, the house reverted to a private residence, now known as The Cottage. After renovation following a fire, it has also been used for a few television shows, including the one-off special edition of The Big Breakfast which aired in 2021.

Innovations

Mark Lamarr, Keith Chegwin, Paul Ross, Richard Orford, Richard Bacon and Mike McClean were "down your doorstep" outside broadcasters, often turning up live and unannounced at an unsuspecting viewer's house, while rooms within the Lock Keeper's Houses featured the puppets Zig and Zag and video games guru Ben the Boffin.

The show's style, with hand-held cameras moving around all of the set, meant that many of the crew members could be seen on screen. This led to them getting nicknames, such as 'Sturdy Girl', who was 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''.

Presenters

Current

Former

Co-presenters

Current

Former

Newsreaders

Current

Former

Spin-offs and related programming

''The Big Breakfast'' and ''The Bigger Breakfast''

Between 1992 and 2000, during most nationally recognised UK school holiday periods, ''The Big Breakfast'' would run beyond its typical 9am finish to provide continuity into and out of unrelated shows aimed primarily towards children. This would last throughout the morning, usually until around midday. Although typically presented to the viewer as simply a programme on Channel 4, most of ''The Bigger Breakfast'' is perhaps better classified as an informal style of in-vision continuity.

The strand also acted as an umbrella brand for the programming which it linked to, by use of ''Big Breakfast'' style break-bumpers and Digital On-Screen Graphics. The expanded format always featured the regular content of The Big Breakfast from 7am to 9am. The first run of ''The Bigger Breakfast'' during the summer of 1997 was titled as such all the way from its 7am start, presented throughout by Richard Orford and Denise Van Outen. Future editions would see slight separations made from the 7am to 9am content, by way of this portion of the show being branded and scheduled as'' The Big Breakfast'', with all content after 9am taking on the expanded Bigger Breakfast name. After a while, a further distinction was made by using a different set of presenters from that of ''The Big Breakfast''. Presenters of ''The Bigger Breakfast'' included Josie D'Arby, Ben Shephard, Melanie Sykes and Dermot O'Leary.

Programming was primarily composed of reruns of Channel 4 shows and US imports. The line-up changed frequently. The list below is of some of series featured on ''The Big Breakfast and the Bigger Breakfast'' over the years:

*''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog''
*''Babylon 5''
*''Batman''
*''Bewitched''
*''Biker Mice from Mars'' (1995)
*''Boy Meets World''
*''Bug Juice''
*''California Dreams''
*''CatDog''
*''City Guys''
*''The Crystal Maze''
*''Dennis''
*'' Eerie Indiana''
*''Fantastic Four''
*''Inspector Gadget''
*''Hang Time''
*''Johnny Bravo''
*''Madison''
*''Moesha''
*''The Monkees''
*''Planet Pop''
*''Pugwall's Summer''
*''Renford Rejects''
*''Sam & Max''
*''Saved by the Bell''
*'' Sister Sister''
*''The Secret World of Alex Mack''

''The Bigger Breakfast'' was discontinued after Christmas holidays in 2000. The block of programming provided within ''The Bigger Breakfast'' was retained, with Channel 4's youth strand T4 taking over the continuity role.

''Snap''

Snap Cackle Pop, a regular and recurring feature throughout the history of ''The Big Breakfast'', was briefly retitled as simply Snap, in 1997. As well as continuing as a short, daily entertainment news feature within ''The Big Breakfast'', ''Snap'' also became a show in its own right. Airing once weekly at 6.00pm on Channel 4, the half hour show was a light hearted round-up of recent news stories concerning popular entertainment in the UK.

Presented by Denise Van Outen, the show was intentionally recognisable as being closely related to ''The Big Breakfast'', from which it originated and continued to be part of. ''Snap'' contained a number of elements synonymous with ''The Big Breakfast'', such as using the very same boudoir set and on-the-bed interviewing of guests. However, care was generally taken not to alienate viewers who were not so familiar with ''The Big Breakfast''.

The Big Breakfast End of the Year Show 1992

Three months after first appearing, Chris Evans, Gaby Roslin and Paula Yates hosted a live edition of the show, seeing in the new year of 1993. Zsa Zsa Gabor featured as a special guest.

The Biggest Breakfast Ever

On 1 January 2000, ''The Big Breakfast'' aired an extended New Year's Day edition entitled ''The Biggest Breakfast Ever'', celebrating the arrival of the year 2000. Written by John Mann and Ged Parsons and broadcasting from 12:30 a.m. to just past 9:00 a.m., the special featured various retrospective features and the competition "Owe? No You Don't!"—where contestants competed in classic ''Big Breakfast'' games (concluding with the new game "Wonga") for a chance to have their debts paid off.

Talking Bowlocks

In January 2021, members of ''The Big Breakfast'' production team launched a podcast in which they discussed their experiences working on the series.

Mo & AJ's Cartoon Carnival

2022 relaunch

On 26 May 2022 it was confirmed that the series would return part time for four Saturdays in a two and a half hour slot from 13 August 2022, with Gilligan and Odudu again returning to host from a new house revealed to be in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Denise van Outen returned as a guest to "hand over the reins" of the show to the two new presenters.

Features

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''.

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
...