The Big Breakfast
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- This article is about the British television show. For the Canadian television show of the same name, see The Big Breakfast (Canadian television show). For the Australian television show of the same name, also known as "The Big Arvo", see The Big Arvo.
Image:Lock Keeper Cottages.jpg The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002. In this time there were a total of 2482 shows produced. The only time the show missed a day was in the aftermath of 11 September 2001 attacks on 12 September 2001. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rat and Live Aid organiser, Bob Geldof.
The programme, broadcast live from a set of former lockkeepers' cottages in Bow in east London, was a colourful mixed format of news, weather, interviews, audience phone-in and features. The popularity of the show waxed and waned repeatedly over the nine-and-a-half years of its existence - its popularity being closely linked to the spontaneity and humour of the two main presenters at any given time.
History
The initial two presenters, Chris Evans (presenter from 1992 to 1994) and Gaby Roslin (1992-1996) held reign over what might be the golden era of The Big Breakfast. Evans' zany humour and touch of arrogance was new and fresh, Roslin a good foil for him. At its height, viewing figures reached two million.
Evans started his own production company and moved onto other projects in 1994. He was replaced by former Neighbours star Mark Little. Little and Roslin presented for two years before Roslin made way for Zoe Ball in 1996. Audience figures slipped a little after Evans left, and a little more after Roslin departed. However, it wasn't until Little and Ball were replaced by Rick Adams and Sharron Davies, two less accomplished hosts on the small screen later that year, that figures fell dramatically, losing its audience primarily to radio and GMTV. Producers stopped the rot quickly, finding a winning partnership in Johnny Vaughan and Denise van Outen. Audience figures jumped back to their peak. Vaughan briefly presented also with Kelly Brook (who was largely unknown at the time) in 1999; however Brook's lack of experience in the field of presenting a TV show clearly showed and audience figures quickly dropped. As a result, Brook was sacked while on holiday from the show (she only found out about losing her job from reading the newspaper while on holiday). Liza Tarbuck then co-presented for a while but was replaced when van Outen returned in 2000, and the viewing figures began to rise. The pair quit together in 2001. This turned out to be the death knell for the show as viewers did not warm to their replacements, Richard Bacon, Paul Tonkinson, Amanda Byram and Simon Fielder.
Mike McClean and Donna Air joined the show as it converted to a multi-presenter format. This format only lasted for a couple of months though, with the show reverting back to its original format for the final months, before it last aired on 29 March 2002.
A key feature for the first five years was the "On the Bed" interview. Paula Yates (then wife of Bob Geldof, whose company produced the show), and later Paul O'Grady (as Lily Savage) and Vanessa Feltz assumed the role of interviewer. One of the most infamous on-air moments was Paula Yates' open flirting during an interview with Michael Hutchence as a prelude to their affair.
Mark Lamarr, Keith Chegwin, Paul Ross and Jason Bradbury were "on your doorstep" outside broadcasters, often turning up live and unannounced at an unsuspecting viewer's house, while rooms within Lock Keeper's Cottages featured the zany aliens Zig and Zag and video games guru Ben the Boffin.
On Millennium night a mammoth eight-hour live broadcast took place from Lock Keepers' Cottages to herald in the new century. The Biggest Breakfast Ever was hosted by Johnny Vaughan and Liza Tarbuck and featured many classic moments and 'best of' features. Even eight hours of airtime was not enough. The show's producers got Channel 4 to extend its broadcast time by half an hour to fit in the premiere of the competition "Wonga" (a large-scale version of Jenga). It was a prize game that returned to the show many times in its final two years.
Lock Keepers' Cottages since The Big Breakfast
In November 2002, eight months after The Big Breakfast was axed, a fire destroyed a significant proportion of the first floor of the cottage the show was filmed in. A large part of the roof was also destroyed in the blaze. The fire is especially suspicious as there was no gas or electrical supply to the building.
Since the fire, extensive renovations have taken place to restore the house, and it is now used as a family home. The house was bought for little more than half the original asking price of £1 million, at a mere £550,000. The house was slashed in value due to the fire of November 2002.
The house has now been fully renovated, but they maintain a high perimeter fence around the house. One of the well recognised aspects of the house remains - the Sunburst wall.
The cottages are located about 200 metres from the planned site of the main Olympic Stadium, to be constructed for the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2005, the cottages became part of the Compulsory Purchase Order for the Games (http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConMediaFile.1223 - item 239), giving rise to speculation that the building may be demolished. However, some outline plans have indicated the immediate location of the cottages and gardens as being unchanged.