SW
Yeah, Cat and Louise were a regular pairing. I can't remember many people standing in for Cat, often it would just be Ant and Dec on their own. One of the Ant and Dec solo episodes from the summer of 1999 was the one I mentioned where they had to record a new outro cos of the unexpected F1. The best thing about that documentary is Dec reading The Sun behind the sofa while waiting for his cue.
Yeah, Ant and Dec left on December 1st (I remember that cos it was the same time as the World Cup draw) and then they carried on with Cat and guests until Christmas before the big relaunch in January, including Chums. Then in the new year you had SMTV 2099 as the big sketch, which they'd previously done in between "series" of Chums.
Funny you should mention Dane Bowers because I remember the week James Redmond left, Cat was also away because she was doing an Elton John special on ITV that night, so Dane Bowers presented alongside Tess and Brian which made it look even weirder.
PEDANTRY ALERT: Evans actually presented the show during the summer of 2000, I remember in the papers he said he used to watch it every week and asked if he could present it.
When they had the big revamp in 2003, it was very similar to The Saturday Show at the time, the two shows were virtually identical. It's probably the period where the two channels were the closest they'd ever been. I wasn't especially bothering with either of them at that point but I might have said I preferred The Saturday Show because I thought Simon Grant was a great presenter. (Actually I mentioned him in Creamguide a while back and someone wrote in to say they went to school with him and he was the loveliest bloke and they were all thrilled when he got on telly because they knew he would.) Of course by that point Dick and Dom were on CBBC, and when I started watching that, SMTV was of no interest at all.
Louise was regular stand in, taking part in the "Cat the Dog" sketches, although did she stand in for Cat as well?
Yeah, Cat and Louise were a regular pairing. I can't remember many people standing in for Cat, often it would just be Ant and Dec on their own. One of the Ant and Dec solo episodes from the summer of 1999 was the one I mentioned where they had to record a new outro cos of the unexpected F1. The best thing about that documentary is Dec reading The Sun behind the sofa while waiting for his cue.
Weren't there a few episodes of Chums after Ant & Dec had left too? But when it came to the run-up to the final episode they acted as if they'd never existed and treated the wedding as the end (even having Dane Bowers being locked in the bedroom for 2 years).
Yeah, Ant and Dec left on December 1st (I remember that cos it was the same time as the World Cup draw) and then they carried on with Cat and guests until Christmas before the big relaunch in January, including Chums. Then in the new year you had SMTV 2099 as the big sketch, which they'd previously done in between "series" of Chums.
Funny you should mention Dane Bowers because I remember the week James Redmond left, Cat was also away because she was doing an Elton John special on ITV that night, so Dane Bowers presented alongside Tess and Brian which made it look even weirder.
Louise filled in with Cat for the summer of 2001 and returned after Ant & Dec left in December. They were joined by guest presenters such as Chris Evans and Dermot O'Leary (the latter would have been a brilliant permanent presenter alongside Cat).
PEDANTRY ALERT: Evans actually presented the show during the summer of 2000, I remember in the papers he said he used to watch it every week and asked if he could present it.
When they had the big revamp in 2003, it was very similar to The Saturday Show at the time, the two shows were virtually identical. It's probably the period where the two channels were the closest they'd ever been. I wasn't especially bothering with either of them at that point but I might have said I preferred The Saturday Show because I thought Simon Grant was a great presenter. (Actually I mentioned him in Creamguide a while back and someone wrote in to say they went to school with him and he was the loveliest bloke and they were all thrilled when he got on telly because they knew he would.) Of course by that point Dick and Dom were on CBBC, and when I started watching that, SMTV was of no interest at all.