Breakfast Time (British TV programme)
Britain's first national breakfast television programme.
Breakfast Time was British television's first national breakfast programme, launching on BBC1 on 17 January 1983, fifteen days before ITV's rival service TV-am. It aired until 29 September 1989, after which it was replaced by Breakfast News. Before its debut, the only regular breakfast broadcasts on British television were Open University programmes.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Breakfast television
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Runtime
- 150 minutes (1983–1986); 120 minutes (1988–1989)
- Network
- BBC1
- First aired
- 17 January 1983
- Last aired
- 29 September 1989
- Related
- Breakfast News
Facts from the source article.
Format
The programme mixed hard news with accessible features, creating a cosy feel through the use of sofas and bright colours. Presenters typically wore casual clothes rather than formal suits, a contrast to regular news broadcasts. Frank Bough, Selina Scott and Nick Ross anchored the show, with regular contributors including astrologer Russell Grant and Diana Moran, known as the "Green Goddess" for the colour of her leotard. News was read by Debbie Rix. Each region opted out of the main programme at quarter past and quarter to the hour for short regional news bulletins; initially, viewers in London and the South East received their regional news from one of the main Breakfast Time presenters rather than a regional team, a practice that continued until autumn 1985 when BBC London Plus began providing those opt-outs. The weather slot, called Window on the Weather, was presented by Francis Wilson and had a more laid-back feel; it introduced modern projection-style graphics about two years before the BBC's main weather bulletins adopted them. Other presenters such as Michael Fish, Bill Giles and Ian McCaskill stood in during Wilson's absence. On 18 February 1985, the programme moved to a later slot of 6:50 am to 9:20 am to better compete with a revitalised TV-am in the post-9am slot, and regional opt-outs shifted to :57 and :27 minutes past the hour. On 10 November 1986, Breakfast Time was relaunched with a news desk and presenters in suits; journalists including Jeremy Paxman and Kirsty Wark joined as the programme shifted its tone toward analysis of the morning's news stories, especially politics. The new look programme started later, running from 7:00 am until any time between 8:30 am and 8:55 am.
Comparisons with TV-am
When ITV launched its own breakfast service, TV-am, just over two weeks after the BBC's, the new channel's star presenters were not enough to win the ratings war. Viewers preferred Breakfast Time. The BBC programme made history with its non-stop live coverage of the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing during the Conservative Party conference. TV-am, in contrast, was heavily criticised by the broadcasting regulator for its handling of the event. The network had only one crew at the conference, but they were recalled to London to report on a train crash in Wembley. That left presenter John Stapleton alone in Brighton, forced to file reports from a public phone box while the screen showed his face and a library photo of the hotel. Unlike TV-am, Breakfast Time aired only on weekdays; BBC1's weekend breakfast slot remained filled by Open University programmes. However, the programme did broadcast on two weekends: once for the Zeebrugge ferry disaster and again for the Hillsborough disaster.
Olympic Breakfast Time
During the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympic Games, the programme was entirely devoted to Olympic coverage except for news, weather and regional news. In 1984, the time difference meant Olympic Breakfast Time showed highlights of overnight action; Frank Bough presented, with David Icke providing "Olympic Action Summaries" at 7.05, 8.05 and 8.50. In 1988, the programme mixed live coverage with overnight highlights as the Games occurred in the middle of the afternoon local time; Steve Rider presented, with David Icke giving summaries at 6.30, 7.30 and 8.30 am. During both Games, Olympic Breakfast Time also aired on weekends, though the Sunday edition in 1984 started at 7 am. Weekend editions included hourly news summaries rather than every 30 minutes.
More in Breakfast Television in the United Kingdom
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