Timeline of breakfast television in the United Kingdom

Did You Know?

• The UK's first regular breakfast television programme aired on The Bristol Channel cable system on 18 May 1973.
• Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television conducted a nine-week breakfast experiment in 1977 with Good Morning Calendar and Good Morning North.
• GB News launched The Great British Breakfast on 14 June 2021.

1980s

In January 1980, the Independent Broadcasting Authority announced it would offer a national breakfast television licence in the next ITV franchise round. Later that year, on 1 December, BBC Scotland conducted a one-week experiment simulcasting BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland. The IBA awarded the national breakfast franchise to TV-am on 28 December 1980, with a planned start in 1983. TV-am purchased a former car showroom in Camden in March 1981, renovating it into the Breakfast Television Centre. The BBC trialled breakfast programming during the 1982 Commonwealth Games with Breakfast with Brisbane, a two-hour programme including news summaries. On 17 January 1983, BBC1 launched Breakfast Time at 6:30am, Britain's first national breakfast show. TV-am followed on 1 February with Daybreak and Good Morning Britain. Two weeks later, the Open University programmes moved from BBC1 to BBC2 on weekday mornings, extending the OU slot on BBC2. TV-am cut Daybreak to thirty minutes on 28 February, replacing presenters Robert Kee and Angela Rippon with Gavin Scott and Lynda Barry. BBC1 introduced a 30-minute Ceefax slot, Ceefax AM, before Breakfast Time. Amid falling ratings, Peter Jay stepped aside as TV-am's chief executive on 18 March, replaced by Jonathan Aitken. Roland Rat first appeared on TV-am on 1 April, credited with boosting the station's fortunes. Timothy Aitken succeeded his cousin Jonathan as chief executive on 12 April due to IBA rules regarding MPs.

1990s

The weekday 6am Ceefax slot returned to BBC1 on 2 January 1990. Channel Four Daily was revamped on 17 April, starting at 6:30am. TV-am's Saturday children's programme became Hey, Hey, it's Saturday! in July 1990. During the Gulf War from January to March 1991, extra breakfast news bulletins aired, including a Saturday edition of The Channel Four Daily. TV Mayhem replaced Hey, Hey, it's Saturday! in September 1991. The BBC launched a five-minute weekend breakfast news bulletin on 21 September 1991. The ITV franchise auction on 16 October 1991 saw TV-am lose the breakfast franchise to Sunrise Television, which renamed to GMTV after Sky News protested. TV-am axed TV Mayhem and replaced it with Cartoon World. In February 1992, TV-am closed its in-house news service and contracted bulletins to Sky News. Channel 4 aired the final Channel Four Daily on 25 September 1992, replaced by The Big Breakfast on 28 September. TV-am ended its final broadcast on 31 December 1992.

2000s

Channel 4 aired The Biggest Breakfast Ever on 1 January 2000, an eight-hour millennium special. BBC One broadcast the final Breakfast News on 15 September 2000, replaced by the revamped Breakfast on 2 October, simulcast on BBC One and BBC News 24. In August 2001, David Blaine appeared on GMTV and refused to speak during an interview with Eamonn Holmes. A joint venture between BSkyB and Princess Productions won the contract to replace The Big Breakfast on 20 December 2001. Sky News content became available on terrestrial television from 7 January 2002 when Channel 5 began simulcasting part of Sunrise. The Big Breakfast ended on 29 March 2002, replaced by RI:SE on 29 April. The building used for The Big Breakfast was destroyed by fire on 8 November 2002. GMTV's Diggit was relaunched as Diggin' It in January 2003. RI:SE aired its final edition on 19 December 2003 due to low ratings, and Channel 4 did not replace it with another breakfast programme. In February 2005, Diggin' It and Up on The Roof merged into Toonattik. Eamonn Holmes announced his departure from GMTV on 22 February 2005, presenting his final edition on 27 April, and later signed with Sky News to present Sunrise. BBC One aired the final Breakfast with Frost on 29 May 2005, launching Sunday AM on 11 September.

2010s

Penny Smith announced her departure from GMTV on 4 March 2010 after 17 years. Adrian Chiles quit the BBC on 19 April to join ITV. Ben Shephard announced his departure from GMTV on 21 April. GMTV announced a rebrand on 11 June, dropping the name after 17 years, and Andrew Castle announced his departure. Christine Bleakley joined ITV's new breakfast programme on 20 June. ITV named the replacement programme Daybreak on 9 July. GMTV aired its final edition on 3 September, and Daybreak launched on 6 September with Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley. The final editions of Action Stations!, The Fluffy Club, and Toonattik aired in December 2010. The World Today in its original format ended on 2 May 2011. BBC Breakfast moved to Salford Quays on 10 April 2012. Ranvir Singh and Matt Barbet were announced as Daybreak newshour presenters on 12 June 2012. Daybreak relaunched on 3 September 2012 with Aled Jones and Lorraine Kelly. Channel 4 aired the final Freshly Squeezed on 21 December 2012. Susanna Reid left BBC Breakfast on 3 March 2014 to join ITV's Daybreak, which relaunched as Good Morning Britain the following month. Kate Garraway confirmed her role on the new programme on 15 March 2014.