VM
Blimey, a TV Forum thread from the 2002 revamp is still online: https://tvforum.uk/tvhome/new-look-smtv-live-cduk-33486/
JA
Which was meant to be in the final episode, got filmed, had clips shown in the trailer, but for some reason got cut out at the last minute and replaced with an episode of SpongeBob (but a couple of references to it still remained in the aired episode).
There was the god awful Eminemmerdale later on.
Which was meant to be in the final episode, got filmed, had clips shown in the trailer, but for some reason got cut out at the last minute and replaced with an episode of SpongeBob (but a couple of references to it still remained in the aired episode).
SW
Yeah, although Tess and Brian weren't billed in the TV guides so it was a bit of a surprise. And of course only Cat and James did CDUK.
So did James, Tess and Brian all start the same day then?
Yeah, although Tess and Brian weren't billed in the TV guides so it was a bit of a surprise. And of course only Cat and James did CDUK.
SW
Indeed I did, bloody ages ago now. But I'm sure that was the case - as mentioned, it seemed a bit of a surprise that they were going to continue with Live and Kicking because it had been running for six years which, until then, had been the norm for these shows. But at that point they had the magazine and they were licencing the brand for CDs and stuff, so presumably it was felt they should continue it - and as I say there, they'd already successfully relaunched the series once so they must have thought they could do it again.
But as it turns out, Steve Wilson and Emma Ledden were just endlessly compared to Zoe and Jamie and found wanting. They seemed really low profile at the time and nobody really knew who they were, but Jamie hadn't really been that famous when he joined, and someone I know worked for CBBC at the time and I remember the suggestion was that Zoe and Jamie had been appealing too much to adults and it was becoming a bit hard to manage. We'd just had the Richard Bacon incident and Zoe and Jamie were always in the papers, and I think they was a general thought that it was getting a bit out of hand and they needed to return to aiming at kids and nothing but. Which was a perfectly laudable idea, but sadly Steve and Emma were boring, and so was the show itself - they didn't have a comedy act for the first few months, for example, but they were still booking "grown up" guests like Phil Collins and Sting, so it was a bit of a weird mix.
But despite the success of SMTV, the Beeb weren't behind all that long on Saturday mornings. By early 2003 I think they were pretty much neck and neck, and certainly I think around that time the Cotton/Grant Saturday Show was pretty indistinguishable from the current SMTV. I thought Simon Grant was a great presenter, I've said this before but someone once wrote into TV Cream to say they went to school with Simon Grant and they were delighted he got on the telly cos he was the loveliest bloke and they all knew he was going to be great. Course, he works behind the scenes now but he was very funny on the Broom Cupboard anniversary special the other year.
By that point SMTV was pretty much identical, and like many shows it suffered from a revolving door of presenters, as I say H and Claire just stopped presenting and then turned up as guests as if they'd never been there before, and then Des and Shavaughn just appeared one week. I thought Des was quite a good presenter, as it goes. I didn't think Shavaughn was.
But as our own Steve Williams wrote on Off The Telly back in 2001, "it was decided to continue with the programme, perhaps in the thought that the brand was more important than the presenters, and perhaps because it was felt that the new presenters would be able to refresh the series, much as Zoe and Jamie had".
Indeed I did, bloody ages ago now. But I'm sure that was the case - as mentioned, it seemed a bit of a surprise that they were going to continue with Live and Kicking because it had been running for six years which, until then, had been the norm for these shows. But at that point they had the magazine and they were licencing the brand for CDs and stuff, so presumably it was felt they should continue it - and as I say there, they'd already successfully relaunched the series once so they must have thought they could do it again.
But as it turns out, Steve Wilson and Emma Ledden were just endlessly compared to Zoe and Jamie and found wanting. They seemed really low profile at the time and nobody really knew who they were, but Jamie hadn't really been that famous when he joined, and someone I know worked for CBBC at the time and I remember the suggestion was that Zoe and Jamie had been appealing too much to adults and it was becoming a bit hard to manage. We'd just had the Richard Bacon incident and Zoe and Jamie were always in the papers, and I think they was a general thought that it was getting a bit out of hand and they needed to return to aiming at kids and nothing but. Which was a perfectly laudable idea, but sadly Steve and Emma were boring, and so was the show itself - they didn't have a comedy act for the first few months, for example, but they were still booking "grown up" guests like Phil Collins and Sting, so it was a bit of a weird mix.
But despite the success of SMTV, the Beeb weren't behind all that long on Saturday mornings. By early 2003 I think they were pretty much neck and neck, and certainly I think around that time the Cotton/Grant Saturday Show was pretty indistinguishable from the current SMTV. I thought Simon Grant was a great presenter, I've said this before but someone once wrote into TV Cream to say they went to school with Simon Grant and they were delighted he got on the telly cos he was the loveliest bloke and they all knew he was going to be great. Course, he works behind the scenes now but he was very funny on the Broom Cupboard anniversary special the other year.
By that point SMTV was pretty much identical, and like many shows it suffered from a revolving door of presenters, as I say H and Claire just stopped presenting and then turned up as guests as if they'd never been there before, and then Des and Shavaughn just appeared one week. I thought Des was quite a good presenter, as it goes. I didn't think Shavaughn was.
BR
Ministry of Mayhem wasn't a bad replacement as well until budget cuts begin to bite and it became the inferior Saturday Showdown.
Perhaps holding on to Cat was the inevitable issue with SM:TV post Ant and Dec. A clean break with a brand new trio might have had more of a chance, and might have seen them look beyond Brian Dowling and H and Claire.
Perhaps holding on to Cat was the inevitable issue with SM:TV post Ant and Dec. A clean break with a brand new trio might have had more of a chance, and might have seen them look beyond Brian Dowling and H and Claire.
JA
Well, MoM was quite poor at first, particularly as they seemed to be taking an edu-tainment approach with features like the spelling bee and that awful Tutenstein cartoon.
Improved massively with the July 2004 relaunch. Michael Underwood's departure was strange though, wasn't mentioned until 5 minutes before the end of his final show, so we had no idea it was happening. Saturday Showdown was awful too.
Improved massively with the July 2004 relaunch. Michael Underwood's departure was strange though, wasn't mentioned until 5 minutes before the end of his final show, so we had no idea it was happening. Saturday Showdown was awful too.
JA
Shavaugn just vanished with no mention as well. Then she came back for the final episode with no mention that she'd ever been away, which was also strange.
H and Claire and James Redmond were barely aknowledged in SM:TV Gold either, but they got a couple of Casually sketches in there, and the finally showed a H and Claire sketch on the final SM:TV Gold. Though they also largely ignored the first year of SM:TV too, bar showing a couple of cock-up clips and part of a "It's not flaming good enough" Watchdog parody sketch, and I remember them showing a clip of Westlife performing in 1998 when they were still called "Westside".
By that point SMTV was pretty much identical, and like many shows it suffered from a revolving door of presenters, as I say H and Claire just stopped presenting and then turned up as guests as if they'd never been there before, and then Des and Shavaughn just appeared one week. I thought Des was quite a good presenter, as it goes. I didn't think Shavaughn was.
Shavaugn just vanished with no mention as well. Then she came back for the final episode with no mention that she'd ever been away, which was also strange.
H and Claire and James Redmond were barely aknowledged in SM:TV Gold either, but they got a couple of Casually sketches in there, and the finally showed a H and Claire sketch on the final SM:TV Gold. Though they also largely ignored the first year of SM:TV too, bar showing a couple of cock-up clips and part of a "It's not flaming good enough" Watchdog parody sketch, and I remember them showing a clip of Westlife performing in 1998 when they were still called "Westside".
SW
Indeed, and compared to Dick and Dom on the other side it looked pathetic - endlessly throwing around buckets of muck on the Beeb compared to the carefully supervised and boring attempts at chaos on ITV. It was pretty much the exact opposite of the two channels' familiar approaches - the Beeb was anarchic and ITV was ponderous and slow.
I know at the time, much like the revamped Live and Kicking, they said they were specifically aiming at a child audience and weren't especially bothered with attracting adults. I remember reading at the time that Chris Bellinger, former editor of Superstore, Going Live and Live and Kicking, of course, was involved with Ministry of Mayhem, but I don't know what he did on it - there were never any credits - and it certainly never seemed to have much in common with those shows. As I've said before, in terms of the characters and the set-up it was pretty much a straight revival of What's Up Doc.
Well, MoM was quite poor at first, particularly as they seemed to be taking an edu-tainment approach with features like the spelling bee and that awful Tutenstein cartoon.
Indeed, and compared to Dick and Dom on the other side it looked pathetic - endlessly throwing around buckets of muck on the Beeb compared to the carefully supervised and boring attempts at chaos on ITV. It was pretty much the exact opposite of the two channels' familiar approaches - the Beeb was anarchic and ITV was ponderous and slow.
I know at the time, much like the revamped Live and Kicking, they said they were specifically aiming at a child audience and weren't especially bothered with attracting adults. I remember reading at the time that Chris Bellinger, former editor of Superstore, Going Live and Live and Kicking, of course, was involved with Ministry of Mayhem, but I don't know what he did on it - there were never any credits - and it certainly never seemed to have much in common with those shows. As I've said before, in terms of the characters and the set-up it was pretty much a straight revival of What's Up Doc.
:-(
A former member
It was in Jan 2005 the series really took off, It was a year OF proper mayhem with even more the Doc, Ram ray and Mr Lee, I love mr lee and ring my tone. The series was surreal by this point.
Mind you first two series of dick and dom were well over the top and had a game called make Dom sick? that was killed off by the time BBC ONE came a knocking. I still remember that time the kid got over excited and neither could control him and he was put in the cage... also
Was rick waller really A git ?
Mind you first two series of dick and dom were well over the top and had a game called make Dom sick? that was killed off by the time BBC ONE came a knocking. I still remember that time the kid got over excited and neither could control him and he was put in the cage... also
Was rick waller really A git ?
JA
Sadly Vincent Wong, who played Mr Lee, died a couple of years back.
Oh, and it was "Make Dick sick", not make Dom sick. Though they did have "Make Dom vom" some weeks
Oh, and it was "Make Dick sick", not make Dom sick. Though they did have "Make Dom vom" some weeks