Saturday Night Takeaway 2018

Sure, but to the untrained eye and when you see the place after watching it for so long on screen it does look very small. I actually like that about TV studios - the space itself feels smaller and more intimate, but certain parts to it look bigger. I'm not referring to Ant and Dec here by the way!

I've always presumed it was cheaper than TLS2 was, and they didn't need as much space once SM:TV was gone which is why they moved there. As I said though, the 4 months SM:TV was still running at Riverside seemed incredibly cramped and awkward- having to go into a different studio for music performances, then outside for eat my goal.

I was surprised SMTV came from Studio 2 because it seems excessive for the set they used. I don't think they were particularly imaginative with the space and probably never struggled to fit anything in, unlike Going Live which would have had to have been incredibly creative.

Didn't they need the room for cduk?

I thought Studio 2 was perfect for SM:TV. Studio 3 would have felt like it did at Riverside but worse! The space came inton its own during CD:UK - always loved how they had two quite different shows editorally and lighting, shot wise in the same space back to back live. Must have been brilliant to work on. And unique until the BBC, with no shame at all, copied it wholesale with the ghastly Top of the Pops Saturday.

Getting very off topic here but I wonder how SM:TV would have turned out had they been successful in securing Dick & Dom to front it....

I hadn't heard about that! Was this in 1998 when the show was beginning or in 2001 post-Ant and Dec?

It's always funny looking back to how short that period actually was when SM:TV was at the top. When you're that age, time seems to go slower than it does when you're older.

When you think about it, it's a surprise that GMTV didn't kick off about a morning show using the name SMTV.

It was actually near the end of SM:TV when Tess Daly and Brian Dowling were leaving. The BBC took it seriously enough to replace The Saturday Show, which had overtaken SM:TV in the ratings, with the untested Dick & Dom. I suspect that if SM:TV had managed to secure them, ITV would have given it another chance as if nothing else it would have been a big coup and two fingers to the BBC at the time. "BBC bosses are pinning their hopes on McCourt and Wood - Dick and Dom in da Bungalow was a surprise choice to replace BBC1's Saturday Show, which had successfully overtaken SM:TV in the ratings.

But the BBC is understood to have moved to secure McCourt and Wood for BBC1 after they were approached by SM:TV's executive producer, Conor McAnally." https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/sep/22/overnights1

To what avail? The first letter is different, therefore not an infringement. I see absolutely no reason why being called "GMTV" should stop something/anything else from being called "<insert single letter other than a G here> MTV", or for GMTV to take issue with it.

The different Channel 3 regional franchisees currently are only one letter different from each other (ITV/STV/UTV), and it causes no issue.

Both were morning brands with childrens offerings and in competition with each other for advertising revenue. SMTV started directly after GMTV's kids shows. There was enough there for GMTV to object. They probably wouldn't have won any legal action, but had they kicked off pre-launch I think it could have resulted in a name change.

Who knows, maybe something was said, considering it was announced as SMTV before launch and then became SM:tv LIVE.