The Big Breakfast

Well not exactly at 9am. I've seen a few occasions especially during the Chris and Gaby era where they were still thanking guests and wrapping up small little items with the clock saying 9:00 or even 9:01.

People on Facebook make up ****. Fact.

Apart from The Bigger Breakfast they'd very rarely mention what was coming up next as they never really had time - was usually a quick thanks to the guests and a brief mention of what's on tomorrow before a hasty goodbye. If you were lucky you got the full credits, general it was the short credits and often just the Planet 24 endcap.

There was a short period I would guess being either 1996 or 1997 where they moved Schools programmes to 9.00am until 11.30am, I think it may have been as they were showing Here's One That I made Earlier at 11.30am, I think around this point is when Light Lunch was at it's peak. Although I think arrangement didn't last more than a term.

Sorry but this is what he told me:
"It was when Johnny Vaughan and Denise van Outen presented the Big Breakfast! I remember, while she was doing the 'out cards' and thanking the guests, she would say something like, 'next up on Channel 4, programmes for schools! It gave me a buzz and I was surprised by it! This was during the 'circles' era". He does have this particular recording.

I distinctly remember Johnny & Denise saying "next up on 4, Bewitched".

Yeah. I remember that. Never schools though.

It's easy to forget how much The Big Breakfast ruled Channel 4 in those early days due to the amount of money and exposure it was bringing in. When the programme got renewed for the first time Planet negotiated a rolling contract which would see C4 having to give a whole year's notice to axe the programme and numerous other demands which made it financially difficult to scrap the show.

Just shows how with the right product there is money to be made in supposedly unfavourable slot - even today. I suspect even back then thanks to the failure of C4 Daily and the initial failure, and then the huge success, of TV-am they'd have been plenty saying there wasn't money to be made at breakfast time either.

I do wonder if anybody would venture into the alternative breakfast programme market again.

I remember a special charity show from 1995 i think where they didn't meet their target so they had to ask a professor who was doing a live lecture to start 15 minutes late and Channel 4 allowed them to run until 9.15 so they could meet their target.

Yes, that's quite a famous story. A producer interrupted Michael Grade's acupuncture session to get permission for the extension.

Tell me more. An Ask Jeeves for 'Michael Grade acupuncture big brother' turns up nothing.