The Big Breakfast

Is that the same Mr Zip who lost his keys and phone on Britain's Got Talent?

Yes it certainly is!

Not on December 12th, they hadn't, but Sharron was indeed absent at Christmas, she was ill on Christmas Eve so Denise presented, then they did the Christmas pre-records, but when they came back live on January 2nd she was still ill and didn't come back until the following Monday (which is when they jettisoned all the rubbish stuff they introduced in the revamp). Sharron was always off, of course.

One odd thing about Richard Orford's role in the 1996 revamp is that on Monday to Thursday he was with the Family of the Week, because the big change with the revamp is that they were now in their own house, but both the family and Orford would come to the house on Friday and Orford would more or less co-present the show on Friday, not just being with the family but doing other features as well. I remember he did I Wish I Hadn't Got Married In The Seventies where viewers were invited to send in their awful wedding photos, which was probably the only feature I liked in the revamp. So for some reason you had three hosts on a Friday. Maybe the producers had already decided Rick and Sharron weren't up to it, given how quickly Denise was promoted to the house.

It's the one idea I kind of liked from the 1996 revamp, even though it did mean the end of Down your Doorstep for a while. Not sure how long it lasted - I certainly think in January they were back to the family in the house, but wouldn't be surprised if it was ditched earlier.

I guess the Family of the Week was the one thing there pretty much from beginning to end, though with a few breaks. Wasn't such a prominent feature in the JV era but it was there on and off (replaced with "Housemates of the Week" for a while, and returned with the Addams Family style theme when the 2001 revamp was undone.

And back to 1996/97 but wonder if Richard would have got the job full time if Johnny Vaughan hadn't agreed to it (IIRC it was at the third time of asking).

Thanks for that. Doesn't look great does it? The house really did look ropey for quite some time. I'm guessing that odd looking panel above the French doors is where the front balcony used to be attached to?

Also weren't the front French doors one of the only things to change externally in the 2001 revamp? Looking at the final episode on YouTube there's a very odd look indeed with the classic white look on the inside and a weird metallic colour on the outside, almost like corrugated iron. When you look closely it does look like the familiar brickwork/white window elements were essentially painted/stuck onto the 1996 house.

They used sunshields on the doors in 2001 hence why you don't see the pattern on the outside of the doors on the exterior. I guess they had light problems after re-painting the living room.

It lasted all the way to December, I think, the return of Family of the Weeek in the house and Down Your Doorstep were two of the main changes in January, alongside the news going back to every twenty minutes (from on the half hour), Vanessa getting a bed instead of a chaise longue and, of course, the chairs in front of the French windows. Don't think they altered anything before Christmas apart from getting Denise in the house.

As for whether Orford would have taken over full time, I'm guessing if Vaughan wouldn't do it, it probably would have been axed, it was in such a state and that was a final throw of the dice.

Given recent revelations I do wonder if there was a lot more to those chaise longue being introduced than we ever imagined.

The lighting introduced in 2001 wasn't as bright as the previous, so I'd imagine they used the sun shield to give it a helping hand.

Three people who i've spoken to this week have instantly remembered The Big Breakfast when it came up in conversation. One person i spoke to used to go there every morning to try and see Paula Yates, Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin at the picket fences. The other person remembers Johnny and Denise and the other person remembered the house when i showed them my 3D House re-creation that i've posted on here.

I think they should have run with the 2001 format for longer, but with different presenters. Of course it didn't help that the crew made it so blatantly obvious that they hated the changes.

Even by March the programme became a good mix, quirky features and games returned with the modern stylings that January brought in. I wonder how Richard would have been if they'd have kept the sofa set up.