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How on Earth did we survive before breakfast television? All we saw, pre-January 1983 when it came to anything on TV that wasn't the testcard; the IBA transmitter information; Monday's Newcomers (premiere showings of that week's TV commercials for the benefit of the advertising industry, nevertheless), or Pages from Ceefax or 4-Tel, was international news coverage; General Elections; Royal Weddings; and early starts at Christmas and New Year. And of course, the classic Open University 25 minute programmes which were nearly a decade old back then - methinks something on Trigonometry with someone in a Double Two International shirt and kipper tie circa 1974 (and not a pink shirt like Bruce Gyngell either). I suppose that all these broadcasts were actually testing the water for any future regular television programme such as Breakfast Time that was to come in the almost futuristic 1980s as it was seen then. And then it came on a dark Monday morning in January 1983...
"This is BBC 1 - in a moment's time, it will be Breakfast Time", said the continuity announcer at approximately 6.29 am GMT on Monday 17th January 1983 (the same day that the South West also got BBC local radio for the first time). A new programme started: we see daybreak over Central London and Tower Bridge, over the River Thames. All of a sudden, a snowflake-pattern (which was to remain all year round) formed, and the bottom half of the snowflake the words "Breakfast Time" in golden-yellow letters came into view on screen. Cue a TV studio, an elderly gentleman (who looked the same 20 years later) looking at his watch; his "young enough to be his daughter" female co-presenter seconded from Grampian Television; an "easy-going" youngish bloke doing the weather, and a woman reading the news in the corner. The "elderly gentleman" happened to be Frank Bough, welcoming us to this brand new show with which was supposed to accommodate breakfast tables around Great Britain as we pour the Frosties in the bowl, sipping Nescafe, spreading marmalade on the browned toast, and browsing over the Daily Mail's editorial. Not to mention, shouts of "Billy, get your shoes on or you'll be late for school". Bough, formerly of Saturday afternoon's Grandstand decided to be part of this new phenomenon of regular live television before 9.00 in the morning, and it started on the equivalent Blue Monday of 1983.
"Time is of the essence", Bough said, introducing us to a blue circle at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, revealing an analogue clock so that we wouldn't be late for what we were going to do that day. Selina Scott was his female counterpart, looking very unsure in those early days. They (and any guests) frequented a red L-shaped sofa that even ELS wouldn't have sold in a discount sale - the same sofa that was auctioned for Children in Need in the late 1980s but will hopefully make a return for its 40th anniversary reunion in 2023. Francis Wilson, a very popular choice to female viewers, did the weather, and Debbie Rix (later to be a Game for a Laugh presenter a couple of years later) read the news. And Russell Grant did the horoscopes just like he did for every other TV station and syndicated newspaper back then. And Diana Moran aka the Green Goddess, and in full green leotard, encouraged us to exercise more. Harry Secombe (soon to help smaller ITV companies increase their network portfolio in Highway) was one of the guests in that very first edition. They even mentioned that the United States had breakfast television for decades - 1952, I believe.
And so, Breakfast Television had arrived: the original Breakfast Time had Nick Ross deputising for either Bough or Scott if one of them was away - in Scott's case, going to a fashion show. The programme remained the same until around the autumn of 1986 when they realised that TV-am was a lot better at doing more populist features and that the BBC was better at doing more broadsheet journalism just as most people were getting up after a few hours' sleep. It turned itself into a news programme, and Frank Bough wearing a suit. And when BBC Breakfast News arrived in around 1989, that was the end of that era, and we had Jeremy Paxman, Sally Magnusson and the late Jill Dando behind the newsdesk. Interestingly, Breakfast Time was off at weekends and TV-am was on air seven days a week, whereas it was the other way round over 30 years later. By 2003 all we had of Frank Bough was a national newspaper spotting him walking down his local High Street with a Sainsbury's carrier bag, looking identical to 20 years previously. "I've retired", he said.
Over on ITV, they had to wait two more weeks. TV-am won the franchise in December 1980 after seeing out seven rivals including ITN - their rivals using very basic generic and almost boring names such as Daytime Television, Morning Television, and ironically, identical to TV-am's successor, Good Morning Television. At 6.00 am GMT on Tuesday 1st February 1983, a "proud to be British" montage from the air of 917 pigeons in Trafalgar Square; the Royal Navy, and members of the public spelling out "Good Morning Britain" a la the 1989 British Airways advert - nothing could be more Thatcherite. "Hello, Good Morning and Welcome", a navy pinstriped David Frost welcomed one and all to this "new national network", and transposing "evening" for "morning" in his generic catchphrase. The other members of this Famous Five included Anna Ford, the first female ITN newscaster: Angela Rippon (almost the same thing on the BBC): Michael Parkinson (who did a stint in Australia doing work experience breakfast television there shortly before TV-am went on the air), and Robert Kee, who was more associated with Panorama and ITN's First Report. After a brief introduction, we go to the first commercial break - and only one of them was transmitted: a Managing Director called Ian Melrose promoting Wall's sausages. And we went back to the studio. Pye also got an advertising slot in a later commercial break, plugging their Cube TV Clock Radio. The Secret World of Melanie Parker, anyone? I prefer the Popeye cartoon after the birthday greetings slot...
Commander David Philpott did the weather; Nick Owen (who was so popular that he was soon to become a GMB presenter on the sofa itself) did the sport in the days when Barry Hearne-era snooker players such as Tony Meo got a lot of prominence; and Food and Drink's Michael Barry (or Buckt) did the cooking twice a week in the kitchen. TV-am firstly assumed that Breakfast Time would be lightweight, and so Daybreak, TV-am's news programme at 6.00 am (and also the name of one of their rival company's bids), should be a bit more heavyweight than Mike Tyson in a boxing ring. It did, and the number of viewers went down and down as a result, and I personally think that it was because Breakfast Time launches first - if had been the other way round, things might have been a bit more different. There wasn't even a Green Goddess to do keep-fit with at first. Primary school teacher done-good "Mad" Lizzie Webb took that job a few months later - in fact, I think that TV-am didn't probably settle down until the "Anne and Nick" era of 1984-1985; Gordon Honeycombe reading the News and Wincey Willis doing the Weather with the rotating weather map board, built into the magnolia "brick-design" wall. And TV-am's clock was more transparent compared to Breakfast Time's as well. And Nick Owen left as early as August 1986 - I thought that he had been around a lot later than that.
Greg Dyke joined TV-am and brought in Roland Rat (until the BBC poached him in 1985 - the Rat that is, not Dyke), as well as bring the station down-market to include Bingo numbers and was famous for almost bringing the station back from the dead. And then Bruce Gyngell replaced Jonathan Aitken as Top Dog and the rest was almost history. Its first five years. Ford and Rippon were sacked; Parkinson eventually left in early 1984, and Frost defected to Sunday mornings. And the beige sofa which had thousands of derriere "autographs" on it such as Margaret Thatcher, was replaced with a peach one in 1985 and was given away in a competition. And then we reached the era where Gyles Brandreth and Jimmy Greaves seemed to sit on the sofa more than the presenters did, not to mention tasteless knitted jumpers. Russell Grant also showed up here, also sporting one of those jumpers.
I always think of 1980s breakfast television when I think of the October 1987 Storm - being blown to school on that day I do remember, and TV-am had lost power on 16th October (thankfully, not as a result of the LEB cutting them off due to non-payment of a bill this time). Cue Richard Keys in front of a usually London region-only skyline at Thames Television on Euston Road NW1. The strikes from back then didn't help either, unless you were a fan of Batman, Flipper or Happy Days that is - the workers eventually got the sack in February 1988 for being part of a Trade Union. And then we had Timmy Mallett, and that foam based weapon he carried with him all over the place - a perfect excuse for defending oneself against intruders.
Channel 4 joined the party with the Channel 4 Daily in 1988 which was what I assumed would have been what ITN's breakfast television service had it won over TV-am in 1980, and that was replaced by The Big Breakfast in 1992. That was replaced by RI:SE in 2002 and was then replaced by repeats of American sitcoms two years later. And Channel 5 has Milkshake! - Peppa Pig or Noddy? You decide...
Thank goodness for The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4...
"This is BBC 1 - in a moment's time, it will be Breakfast Time", said the continuity announcer at approximately 6.29 am GMT on Monday 17th January 1983 (the same day that the South West also got BBC local radio for the first time). A new programme started: we see daybreak over Central London and Tower Bridge, over the River Thames. All of a sudden, a snowflake-pattern (which was to remain all year round) formed, and the bottom half of the snowflake the words "Breakfast Time" in golden-yellow letters came into view on screen. Cue a TV studio, an elderly gentleman (who looked the same 20 years later) looking at his watch; his "young enough to be his daughter" female co-presenter seconded from Grampian Television; an "easy-going" youngish bloke doing the weather, and a woman reading the news in the corner. The "elderly gentleman" happened to be Frank Bough, welcoming us to this brand new show with which was supposed to accommodate breakfast tables around Great Britain as we pour the Frosties in the bowl, sipping Nescafe, spreading marmalade on the browned toast, and browsing over the Daily Mail's editorial. Not to mention, shouts of "Billy, get your shoes on or you'll be late for school". Bough, formerly of Saturday afternoon's Grandstand decided to be part of this new phenomenon of regular live television before 9.00 in the morning, and it started on the equivalent Blue Monday of 1983.
"Time is of the essence", Bough said, introducing us to a blue circle at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, revealing an analogue clock so that we wouldn't be late for what we were going to do that day. Selina Scott was his female counterpart, looking very unsure in those early days. They (and any guests) frequented a red L-shaped sofa that even ELS wouldn't have sold in a discount sale - the same sofa that was auctioned for Children in Need in the late 1980s but will hopefully make a return for its 40th anniversary reunion in 2023. Francis Wilson, a very popular choice to female viewers, did the weather, and Debbie Rix (later to be a Game for a Laugh presenter a couple of years later) read the news. And Russell Grant did the horoscopes just like he did for every other TV station and syndicated newspaper back then. And Diana Moran aka the Green Goddess, and in full green leotard, encouraged us to exercise more. Harry Secombe (soon to help smaller ITV companies increase their network portfolio in Highway) was one of the guests in that very first edition. They even mentioned that the United States had breakfast television for decades - 1952, I believe.
And so, Breakfast Television had arrived: the original Breakfast Time had Nick Ross deputising for either Bough or Scott if one of them was away - in Scott's case, going to a fashion show. The programme remained the same until around the autumn of 1986 when they realised that TV-am was a lot better at doing more populist features and that the BBC was better at doing more broadsheet journalism just as most people were getting up after a few hours' sleep. It turned itself into a news programme, and Frank Bough wearing a suit. And when BBC Breakfast News arrived in around 1989, that was the end of that era, and we had Jeremy Paxman, Sally Magnusson and the late Jill Dando behind the newsdesk. Interestingly, Breakfast Time was off at weekends and TV-am was on air seven days a week, whereas it was the other way round over 30 years later. By 2003 all we had of Frank Bough was a national newspaper spotting him walking down his local High Street with a Sainsbury's carrier bag, looking identical to 20 years previously. "I've retired", he said.
Over on ITV, they had to wait two more weeks. TV-am won the franchise in December 1980 after seeing out seven rivals including ITN - their rivals using very basic generic and almost boring names such as Daytime Television, Morning Television, and ironically, identical to TV-am's successor, Good Morning Television. At 6.00 am GMT on Tuesday 1st February 1983, a "proud to be British" montage from the air of 917 pigeons in Trafalgar Square; the Royal Navy, and members of the public spelling out "Good Morning Britain" a la the 1989 British Airways advert - nothing could be more Thatcherite. "Hello, Good Morning and Welcome", a navy pinstriped David Frost welcomed one and all to this "new national network", and transposing "evening" for "morning" in his generic catchphrase. The other members of this Famous Five included Anna Ford, the first female ITN newscaster: Angela Rippon (almost the same thing on the BBC): Michael Parkinson (who did a stint in Australia doing work experience breakfast television there shortly before TV-am went on the air), and Robert Kee, who was more associated with Panorama and ITN's First Report. After a brief introduction, we go to the first commercial break - and only one of them was transmitted: a Managing Director called Ian Melrose promoting Wall's sausages. And we went back to the studio. Pye also got an advertising slot in a later commercial break, plugging their Cube TV Clock Radio. The Secret World of Melanie Parker, anyone? I prefer the Popeye cartoon after the birthday greetings slot...
Commander David Philpott did the weather; Nick Owen (who was so popular that he was soon to become a GMB presenter on the sofa itself) did the sport in the days when Barry Hearne-era snooker players such as Tony Meo got a lot of prominence; and Food and Drink's Michael Barry (or Buckt) did the cooking twice a week in the kitchen. TV-am firstly assumed that Breakfast Time would be lightweight, and so Daybreak, TV-am's news programme at 6.00 am (and also the name of one of their rival company's bids), should be a bit more heavyweight than Mike Tyson in a boxing ring. It did, and the number of viewers went down and down as a result, and I personally think that it was because Breakfast Time launches first - if had been the other way round, things might have been a bit more different. There wasn't even a Green Goddess to do keep-fit with at first. Primary school teacher done-good "Mad" Lizzie Webb took that job a few months later - in fact, I think that TV-am didn't probably settle down until the "Anne and Nick" era of 1984-1985; Gordon Honeycombe reading the News and Wincey Willis doing the Weather with the rotating weather map board, built into the magnolia "brick-design" wall. And TV-am's clock was more transparent compared to Breakfast Time's as well. And Nick Owen left as early as August 1986 - I thought that he had been around a lot later than that.
Greg Dyke joined TV-am and brought in Roland Rat (until the BBC poached him in 1985 - the Rat that is, not Dyke), as well as bring the station down-market to include Bingo numbers and was famous for almost bringing the station back from the dead. And then Bruce Gyngell replaced Jonathan Aitken as Top Dog and the rest was almost history. Its first five years. Ford and Rippon were sacked; Parkinson eventually left in early 1984, and Frost defected to Sunday mornings. And the beige sofa which had thousands of derriere "autographs" on it such as Margaret Thatcher, was replaced with a peach one in 1985 and was given away in a competition. And then we reached the era where Gyles Brandreth and Jimmy Greaves seemed to sit on the sofa more than the presenters did, not to mention tasteless knitted jumpers. Russell Grant also showed up here, also sporting one of those jumpers.
I always think of 1980s breakfast television when I think of the October 1987 Storm - being blown to school on that day I do remember, and TV-am had lost power on 16th October (thankfully, not as a result of the LEB cutting them off due to non-payment of a bill this time). Cue Richard Keys in front of a usually London region-only skyline at Thames Television on Euston Road NW1. The strikes from back then didn't help either, unless you were a fan of Batman, Flipper or Happy Days that is - the workers eventually got the sack in February 1988 for being part of a Trade Union. And then we had Timmy Mallett, and that foam based weapon he carried with him all over the place - a perfect excuse for defending oneself against intruders.
Channel 4 joined the party with the Channel 4 Daily in 1988 which was what I assumed would have been what ITN's breakfast television service had it won over TV-am in 1980, and that was replaced by The Big Breakfast in 1992. That was replaced by RI:SE in 2002 and was then replaced by repeats of American sitcoms two years later. And Channel 5 has Milkshake! - Peppa Pig or Noddy? You decide...
Thank goodness for The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4...
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