0:00:02 > 0:00:06Over 30 years ago, a battle began for the final frontier of British television.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08Hello, good morning and welcome.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11It was a battle fought by titans of broadcasting...
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Breakfast Time. Britain's first ever regular early-morning television programme.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19..supported by a loyal band of foot soldiers.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21SHE LAUGHS Hello.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25This epic contest for the hearts and minds of the bleary-eyed
0:00:25 > 0:00:29British public was a war between two very different institutions.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32The BBC was fiercely competitive.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36It was a shambles. Absolute financial shambles.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Between 1983 and 1991, our TV screens
0:00:39 > 0:00:44witnessed a war of the sofas that saw technological innovation...
0:00:44 > 0:00:45Here is our clock.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48That's the time and there it will stay.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50- ..sexual chemistry... - Can you hear me?
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Can't wait to see you in a survival suit.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55..woollen sweaters...
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I could have made a million selling jumpers.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00- ..astrology... - Hello and how are you?
0:01:00 > 0:01:02- ..and a sarcastic rodent.- Yeah!
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Weapons deployed in an uncompromising conflict.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Auntie was behaving badly.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09People would come in my office and cry.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11I've never seen anything like it.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14This is the story of the battle for Britain's breakfast.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17# When two tribes go to war
0:01:17 > 0:01:21# A point is all you can score
0:01:22 > 0:01:25# When two tribes go to war
0:01:25 > 0:01:28# A point is all you can score
0:01:28 > 0:01:31# Working for the black gas... #
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Into today's world of rolling news, endless channel choice
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and 24-hour-a-day broadcasting,
0:01:44 > 0:01:46it's hard to imagine a time where before lunch
0:01:46 > 0:01:49the only visual offerings were the test card...
0:01:49 > 0:01:52- HIGH PITCHED BEEP - ..and physics.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55This is the only point for which we've shown both the routes.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57What about the other ones?
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Britain before breakfast television was a civilised place.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03People had breakfast at breakfast time and read a newspaper.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06There was a feeling if you wanted news in the morning
0:02:06 > 0:02:10you should turn on Radio 4 and listen to the Today programme.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Television in the morning was outrageous.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15It was just decadence beyond belief.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18But breakfast in Britain was about to become
0:02:18 > 0:02:21a very different place when in 1980,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23the Independent Broadcasting Authority
0:02:23 > 0:02:25offered up the franchise of a new station
0:02:25 > 0:02:28that would broadcast on ITV -
0:02:28 > 0:02:31a tantalising challenge that attracted David Frost...
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Thank you very much indeed. Hello, good evening and welcome.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39..who immediately recruited an elite unit of broadcasting behemoths.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42King of the chat show Michael Parkinson...
0:02:42 > 0:02:45After 11 years I've decided to get a proper job.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47..ITN's Anna Ford...
0:02:47 > 0:02:49It's the highest security lab in this country
0:02:49 > 0:02:51working on genetic manipulation.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54..the BBC's first ever news anchorwoman Angela Rippon...
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Oil producing and exporting nations have begun a series of meetings
0:02:58 > 0:03:00to decide the price of oil in 1978.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04- ..and grizzled news veteran Robert Kee.- Good evening.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Completing the line-up as chairman
0:03:06 > 0:03:09was former ambassador to Washington Peter Jay.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13Their brave new venture was to be known as TV-am.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22There's no doubt about who's walked off with the biggest prize.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25TV-am have got the breakfast television contract
0:03:25 > 0:03:28and they were all set to go on the air next January
0:03:28 > 0:03:32but a cautious IBA has told them to wait until sometime in 1983.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35It's, I think, the happiest day of my life
0:03:35 > 0:03:36I can recall professionally, you know,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38because this group came together,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40excited by the challenge
0:03:40 > 0:03:41of breakfast television
0:03:41 > 0:03:44and to have the opportunity of doing it as well,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46we hope we don't let the side down.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50But the celebrations of this glitzy new enterprise
0:03:50 > 0:03:52awoke a sleeping giant.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55The BBC was fiercely competitive.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58The BBC believed that it had the right to broadcast
0:03:58 > 0:04:02to the British people and these upstarts in commercial television.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05You know, if they got a toehold in the door well, fine,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07but this is our terrain.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11The BBC huffed and puffed until ITV said they were going to do it
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and announced a start date and then the BBC was very much in the market.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18There was no question that the BBC screens could be dark
0:04:18 > 0:04:21when the ITV screens were lit up in the morning.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Of course, the moment when we announced we were going on air
0:04:24 > 0:04:26the BBC said, "We will do it two weeks earlier."
0:04:26 > 0:04:28I'd always known the BBC would do that
0:04:28 > 0:04:31and if I'd been the BBC that's what I would have done.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34The instruction was, get on the air first.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37They weren't supposed to start before TV-am.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39They snuck in.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Auntie was behaving badly. That was a really big surprise.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47With the battle date set for early 1983,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50both sides established breakfast base camps.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Egg Cup House was a fantastic statement
0:04:57 > 0:05:02of the fact that TV-am was going to do things differently.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05It was a beautiful space in which to work
0:05:05 > 0:05:09because it was on a canal, it had a tremendous amount of natural light.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12It was a big space, you know.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Inside it felt like an aircraft hangar.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20So, that kind of open plan was very inspirational and very energising.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Lime Grove was a pretty grim building.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28And we were in one of the grimmest rooms in that building.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Our production office was a grotty, dark, windowless little room
0:05:31 > 0:05:34behind the Lime Grove canteen
0:05:34 > 0:05:37with the permanent smell of stale chips and Irish stew.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39But there was nothing stale
0:05:39 > 0:05:42about the brave and bright new world of TV-am.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Central to the entire enterprise were the famous five
0:05:45 > 0:05:47who were not just the public face,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50they were also shareholders of the company.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54- Good morning.- Good morning. - Good morning.- Good morning.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Good morning, Britain.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00We'll be live on the "ITV-1" button from February 1.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02With all these very famous personalities,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05there was a huge media appetite to come and interview them,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08come and talk to them about what breakfast television would be like.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Frosty was being interviewed everywhere,
0:06:10 > 0:06:15talking about sexual chemistry. This lit a light under the tabloids.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I think everybody thought, "How interesting.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23"TV-am has the serious newsy people. What will the BBC do?"
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Simple. The enlisted the safest hands in British broadcasting.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30I was approaching my 50th birthday.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33When I got wind of Ronald Neil starting this breakfast show,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35I must say I badgered him for a month or two saying,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39"Look, if you don't give me a job on this new programme I'll never speak to you again."
0:06:39 > 0:06:42About three or four months before we actually launched,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45I got a handwritten note from him which said,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48"My dear Frank. Last time we had dinner.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52"Can we now have lunch to talk about breakfast?"
0:06:52 > 0:06:54And I've kept that little bit of paper.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57I was delighted. Whoop-de-do! And I was on.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02He had a huge amount of experience in presenting long, live programmes.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And I thought that experience was going to be crucial.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Joining Brigadier Bough were ITN reporter Selina Scott...
0:07:09 > 0:07:12My name's Selina Scott and this, quite literally,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15is the most northern point of Britain.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17..and young newshound Nick Ross.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21This programme is about creating baby girls and baby boys to order.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Winter 1983, and as a bleary-eyed British public
0:07:27 > 0:07:32went about their morning business, in the bunkers of Egg Cup Towers
0:07:32 > 0:07:36and Lime Grove, both production teams finalise their strategies
0:07:36 > 0:07:38for the impending visual onslaught.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41With the BBC going over the top first,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44their rehearsals seemed to be going smoothly.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46OK? Yeah.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49- NICK ROSS:- Frank Bough was hugely reassuring.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52I'd never done anything like this before.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Frank had done a lot of sports programming.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56And I remember about 30 seconds before we went on air
0:07:56 > 0:08:00on the first day, you could hear the chatter upstairs.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02There was nervousness. The crew were nervous.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04We were nervous on the sofa and Frank went...
0:08:04 > 0:08:07"Calm down, everyone.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09"It's going to be great."
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Well, I wasn't nervous.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14I had long since in my career stopped being nervous
0:08:14 > 0:08:16about being live on television.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17Run VT.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21- 'This is BBC One. In a few moments, it'll be Breakfast Time.' - Five, four, three, two, one, zero.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23We're on the air, everyone.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25We're on the air. Good luck.
0:08:25 > 0:08:32And so, on the morning of 17th January 1983, BBC Breakfast Time
0:08:32 > 0:08:36gently stormed the final frontier of British broadcasting.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54It's 6:30, Monday January 17th, 1983.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57You are watching the first edition of BBC Television's Breakfast Time,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Britain's first ever regular early-morning television programme.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02A very good morning to you all.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04It was a brand-new world that we were going into.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08We didn't know whether it would work on air, whether it would fall apart,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and we didn't know whether the audience would like it or hate it.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14It was very exciting. It really was. Because we'd been working at it for months.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17And now I'd like you to meet the other faces
0:09:17 > 0:09:20whom we hope will become regulars over your breakfast table.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23An intrigued British public turned on in the millions,
0:09:23 > 0:09:27witnessing the expected fare of news and sport...
0:09:27 > 0:09:29I've never had it so early in my life, all this sport.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32There's no answer to that, Frank, actually, is there?
0:09:32 > 0:09:34There was an unexpectedly casual approach to weather.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Francis Wilson will be taking regular looks
0:09:36 > 0:09:39through his Window On The Weather. Hello, good morning.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41- Good morning. - What's the view like this morning?
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Well, it's rather gloomy, rather monotonous.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47I decided we wanted our own weatherman because the Met Office
0:09:47 > 0:09:51weather people were slightly grey, I thought.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53We'll go on to the weather now. Francis.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Sun up, sky is blue, not a cloud to spoil the view...
0:09:56 > 0:09:57If only that were true.
0:09:58 > 0:10:04But such meteorological innovations were as nothing when, at 6:50am,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08an unsuspecting public got their first glimpse of the Green Goddess.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11One, two.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13One, two.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15One, two.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Anybody else like to join us?
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Anybody standing around there? Come on in and join us!
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Anybody over here? Come on, sir. Come and join us.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27With Frank at the helm and Selina exuding a dreamy
0:10:27 > 0:10:30early-morning charm, the British public expressed their approval.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32I've actually just got one I want to say,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34from Trevor Dixon from Penge,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37or Penge-sur-mer in that part of the world.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40He says, "A brilliant show but it's an unexpected choice of presenters."
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Good. I tell you what, we would like to hear from you
0:10:42 > 0:10:44if you think it's a complete waste of time as well.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Do ring us up. Take your time.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49As the show got into its stride, so the novelty continued.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Mr Russell Grant will be with us as the resident astrologer,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55meeting our guests and reading their signs.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58This was innovation.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03This was, you know, Auntie lifting up her skirts
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and showing us a little bit of petticoat.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Or, in my case, a bit of an old mohair jumper.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11The thing is, for all Virgos watching and yourself,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14the next year is a very, very important year
0:11:14 > 0:11:16but I want you to take it easy.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20And so, as Britain acclimatised to such hearty breakfast fare,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23a jubilant and relieved cast celebrated a smooth,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26hitch-free first transmission.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Oh, my giddy aunt!
0:11:28 > 0:11:30THEY LAUGH
0:11:30 > 0:11:32The programme took over.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35It just seemed to go really well and spontaneously,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38when the red lights went off at the end of the first show,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40we were all cheering.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44We just knew we'd got this. We knew it had worked.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48I watched Breakfast Time when it went on air and I thought, "Wow!
0:11:48 > 0:11:51"That's really nice programming." They got it dead right.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55It was a very ITV sort of programme on the BBC.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57You've been watching the first edition
0:11:57 > 0:11:59of BBC Television's Breakfast Time.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01I hope you'll join us again from time to time.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03God bless and good morning to you.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05We came off the air and we'd survived.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08There was quite a large party and quite a lot of sherry was taken.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11For the last few months we've been thinking only of today, January 17th.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14We have to now think of tomorrow and Wednesday and next week
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and Easter and the summer and the winter and it goes on and on and on.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20The BBC's opening salvo proved to be a hit
0:12:20 > 0:12:23with a broad range of the Great British public.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Can I ask you what you think of the idea of breakfast television?
0:12:26 > 0:12:27Marvellous. You can have a drink
0:12:27 > 0:12:31and watch the television and go back to bed when it's finished.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34- I thought it was good. - What did you like about it?
0:12:34 > 0:12:40Well, it tells you sports, tells you the latest news, weather.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43So you can bring an umbrella out or what.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47But also keeping a close eye on proceedings were the TV-am big guns,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50knowing that in just two weeks' time,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52they would enter the fray.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Breakfast Time got off to a very good start and quite clearly,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00the BBC was regarded as a strong if not overly strong competitor
0:13:00 > 0:13:05to this new, commercial child which TV-am was.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09But I think TV-am, in the first instance,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12had such a very, very strong team leading it
0:13:12 > 0:13:15that there was a great deal of confidence.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18We all knew that however good our programme was,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21we were going to be trounced by TV-am.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23I remember a journalist coming up to me and saying,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27"Look, you're a very steady, reliable broadcaster but look at them!
0:13:27 > 0:13:30"They've got David Frost, they've got Michael Parkinson,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33"they've got Anna Ford, they've got Rippon, they've got Kee.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37"They're going to bury you. Let's face it. They will bury you."
0:13:38 > 0:13:39For two whole weeks,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Breakfast Time had sole occupancy of the battlefield,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46where they had not only honed and refined their machine,
0:13:46 > 0:13:48they had also acquired an audience.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57While the public had shown there was an appetite for breakfast telly,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01the famous five got ready to open fire.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04It's good fun getting up this time of day, isn't it?
0:14:04 > 0:14:07- AS DAVID FROST:- Hello, good morning and welcome!
0:14:08 > 0:14:11And so, after two years of preparation,
0:14:11 > 0:14:13they were at last unleashed upon the world.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15OK, gentlemen.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18- Now, this time...- 20 seconds.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Sh, sh, sh. OK, guys.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29In contrast to the BBC's modest opening, TV-am went big.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31An opening befitting the famous five.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Hello, good morning and welcome to TV-am.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50New studios, a new news service and a new national network.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52We'd just like to say thanks very much for joining us
0:14:52 > 0:14:55this morning on what's obviously a very, very important day for us
0:14:55 > 0:14:58and we do hope that you are going to stay tuned to us
0:14:58 > 0:15:01not just for this morning's programmes but every morning,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04every day of the week at least for the next eight years.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Good morning, Britain.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Where the BBC presented an unashamedly magazine-driven format,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14TV-am kicked off with a hard news agenda,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16opening with the programme Daybreak.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Hello. Good morning if you've just joined us.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22It's just after 6:00am on Tuesday, 1st February and this is Daybreak.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27I turned on at 6am to watch TV-am and there was Robert Kee
0:15:27 > 0:15:31as though he was presenting Panorama! At six in the morning!
0:15:31 > 0:15:34The Soviet Union has not reacted yet to President Reagan's offer
0:15:34 > 0:15:38to meet the Soviet leader, Mr Andropov, to sign an agreement
0:15:38 > 0:15:41banning all medium-range land-based nuclear weapons.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44However, after the unrelenting first hour of hard news,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48at 7am the fun began with magazine show Good Morning Britain.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Good morning. Good morning.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Welcome to Good Morning Britain for the very first time.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58First up, though, some more news.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00It's just after seven o'clock here, of course.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02It's just after ten o'clock in Moscow.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05There's still no reaction from the Soviet Union
0:16:05 > 0:16:08to President Reagan's offer to meet the Soviet leader, Mr Andropov.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Then the weather with ex-Navy Commander Philpott.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15We're going to bring order to the weather today, David. Thank you.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17In spite of which, it is going to be extremely windy over most of
0:16:17 > 0:16:21the country and the wintry showers in the north are going to move southwards.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23The show seemed to be all right,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26although I certainly felt that it had been a bit heavy at times.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Did you think, in that earlier story,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31that there is any hope in that Reagan initiative or more of the same?
0:16:31 > 0:16:34I think it's frightfully difficult to work out.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37I'll never forget that long interview - I think with Norman Tebbit.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42Yes, after an hour of hard news, at 7:12am, to brighten up the day,
0:16:42 > 0:16:43a short film about unemployment
0:16:43 > 0:16:45followed by a 12-minute-long interview
0:16:45 > 0:16:47with the man in charge of it.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51There was no point, for example, going on in British Steel,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54where it was taking 15 man hours per tonne of steel.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56It's under ten now.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59However, it wasn't all news. There were celebrity guests...
0:16:59 > 0:17:01It's a great pleasure to have you here, sharing this one.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05It's nice to be here on this relatively historic occasion.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08- HE LAUGHS - ..heart-warming animal stories...
0:17:08 > 0:17:12There's a very nice, mad story in the Mirror this morning,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14about a family watching their pet budgerigar levering open
0:17:14 > 0:17:17the bars of his cage with his beak and squeezing through.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Unfortunately, he died the next day.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Obviously, the effort from the daring escape affected his heart.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24- Isn't that sad? - ..and a live-action comic strip.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Just imagine, ours is the only village in the country
0:17:28 > 0:17:30where under a royal dispensation from Edward VII,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33public executions are still officially allowed.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37From the very beginning, there was this tremendous mix of genres
0:17:37 > 0:17:41within the framework. So, for example, Through The Keyhole
0:17:41 > 0:17:45was one of the first elements to be broadcast on TV-am.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48This doesn't belong to a wimp at all, this room.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52It's very much a room that someone who read James Bond
0:17:52 > 0:17:55and took him seriously in the '60s would have.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58So, there was always an intention to mix things up
0:17:58 > 0:18:02yet to have a sort of serious and fairly robust approach
0:18:02 > 0:18:04to news and current affairs.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08And that seemed to work on day one.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11We'd just like to thank you for joining us this morning
0:18:11 > 0:18:15and if it's all right with you, we'd like to come again tomorrow.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17- Good morning.- Good morning.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Show over, the famous five cracked open the bubbles.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31To our viewers. To our viewers.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33On the day of the launch,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36this is a bit like a Formula One victory parade, as it were.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40There's a lot of excitement, there's a lot of self-congratulation,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45there's a log of pretty girls and lights and champagne
0:18:45 > 0:18:47and everybody is celebrating.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49That's terrific. You've finally got on air.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53This is the day we've been working to for two or three years
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and things seem to be working.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59A view echoed by Grub Street's finest the next morning.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02With both sides having launched their assaults,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05the press declared the victor.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08I remember being very surprised at the press reception
0:19:08 > 0:19:10of the first TV-am programme.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Because I thought it was rubbish.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15I mean, I was so relieved when I saw it.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17I thought, "They've just got this wrong."
0:19:17 > 0:19:20But actually, the press gave them a pretty good write-up
0:19:20 > 0:19:23and I thought, "Well, OK, fine. I've misjudged this."
0:19:23 > 0:19:26I think one of the most surprising things about the launch
0:19:26 > 0:19:28of breakfast television in this country was that the two stations
0:19:28 > 0:19:31seemed to be doing exactly the opposite to what you expected.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35You expect from the BBC a very serious, heavy programme
0:19:35 > 0:19:37full of analysis et cetera, et cetera,
0:19:37 > 0:19:41and you got fluffy jumpers, a stargazer and keep-fit classes.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44And you expected from TV-am exactly that
0:19:44 > 0:19:47and what you got was this rather ponderous, arrogant sort of -
0:19:47 > 0:19:50and, I have to say, rather boring at times - programme.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53I think people thought, "First day. Of course it's going to be serious.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56"Second day they'll do that for the reviewers
0:19:56 > 0:19:58"and then they'll become something else."
0:19:58 > 0:20:01When they didn't, that surprised us all
0:20:01 > 0:20:04and certainly surprised the tabloids,
0:20:04 > 0:20:09who thought it was going to be jokey and sexy and like us.
0:20:09 > 0:20:10And it wasn't.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Where once there had been nothing,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15viewers of all ages were now confronted with a stark choice.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18To wake up to the frothy Breakfast Time...
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Question. How do you get a pint of milk through a letter box?
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Clearly not in a bottle or indeed one of these plastic containers,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27which is, of course, the other way of containing milk these days.
0:20:27 > 0:20:34But if you do that, that, that and that and spread it,
0:20:34 > 0:20:39then quite clearly, that would go through a letter box.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42..or to pledge allegiance to the occasionally ponderous TV-am.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46It was evidence of what a proletarian society Russia was
0:20:46 > 0:20:48because he was the...
0:20:48 > 0:20:51For him to become the boss of the party because he was the only
0:20:51 > 0:20:55former KGB man who didn't go to Oxford or Cambridge.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00- A sort of good thing. Anna.- Thank you, David. You're so well educated.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Television is about the content.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05You know, average presenters can make...
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Can be fine if the content is good.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Very good presenters die if the content is rubbish and in this case,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14the content was rubbish.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17I don't know. The idea of donating your body to medical science...
0:21:17 > 0:21:19- Have you thought of that? - I don't know.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22We had that line when we were doing that promotion
0:21:22 > 0:21:26about Norman Tebbit had donated his body to medical science
0:21:26 > 0:21:29but that medical science was contesting the will.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Perhaps they might do the same in my case. I don't know.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36The real problem started when the BARB ratings came in.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41By the end of the second week, it became clear that Breakfast Time
0:21:41 > 0:21:43was wiping the floor with us for audience.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47As the weeks and days went by and the famous five tried to struggle on,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49our ratings went up and up and up and theirs went down and down
0:21:49 > 0:21:52and down and that was a very, very happy time for Breakfast Time.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55One of the things I've enjoyed this week is the fashion spot
0:21:55 > 0:21:57- and speaking to people outside, they too.- I love fashion.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00- I thought it's brightened up our whole programme, Frank.- It has.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04What happened in the first weeks of battle
0:22:04 > 0:22:07can only be described as a morning massacre.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Breakfast Time's dawn raids had seen them
0:22:10 > 0:22:13completely overwhelm the forces of TV-am,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17forcing the fledgling company into a hasty, disorganised retreat.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Very soon there was an element of fear and trepidation
0:22:24 > 0:22:26within the building that ratings were bad
0:22:26 > 0:22:28and therefore advertisers weren't exactly flocking in.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31And therefore the money wasn't flocking in and there was a problem.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Advertising revenue had been projected to be
0:22:34 > 0:22:40at least 18 million, 20 million, and it was actually 3 million.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42The viewing audience had been projected to be
0:22:42 > 0:22:46something like 6 million. It was 300,000.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Clearly, you know, for the shareholders
0:22:48 > 0:22:50who had put a lot of money up,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53to see ratings at that level was a worry.
0:22:53 > 0:23:00The presenters were grossly overpaid by themselves, of course,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03and costs were allowed to run away with themselves,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05partly through managerial inexperience.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Peter Jay had many fine qualities
0:23:08 > 0:23:11but being an executive was not one of them.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13That took some time to dawn.
0:23:13 > 0:23:19Up until the moment we went on air, there was great unity,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24optimism and cohesion in the group.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29And indeed, a few days before we went on air, the board,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32on a motion proposed by Jonathan Aitken,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35congratulated me on these achievements
0:23:35 > 0:23:39and bringing the thing to this point of fruition.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Things changed after we went on air because the programmes were very bad.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46The board of TV-am, the company behind ITV's breakfast programmes,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49meet this morning amid pressure for changes at the top.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Some of the big shareholders are said to want the chairman
0:23:52 > 0:23:56and chief executive, Peter Jay, to give up one of these positions.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00"TV-am chief Jay is facing the axe."
0:24:00 > 0:24:03That's on the front page of the Sun.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05But no crowing from you.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07I haven't said a word!
0:24:07 > 0:24:11At a meeting in the City of London, instigated by two key investors -
0:24:11 > 0:24:14cousins Jonathan and Timothy Aitken -
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Peter Jay was being asked
0:24:16 > 0:24:20to surrender his position and name Jonathan as his successor.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22One of the stories in this morning's papers
0:24:22 > 0:24:25is of course about intrigue at TV-am.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27High dramas going on in the boardroom this morning.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31We gather, apparently, that our chairman Peter Jay is going to be asked to resign.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33We want to send him a message from everybody here this morning
0:24:33 > 0:24:36simply saying, Peter, if you're watching, don't resign.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39We like you very much and would much rather you stayed.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Despite presenter support,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43in reality Jay was in a no-win situation.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47He could stay and see investors pull the plug on the company
0:24:47 > 0:24:50or leave and allow it a chance of survival.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54I thought, "If Jonathan wants it that much - to be the top guy -
0:24:54 > 0:24:58"that he is prepared to threaten the ruin of the company
0:24:58 > 0:25:01"and all that we have worked to do,
0:25:01 > 0:25:07"then it would be wholly irresponsible and wrong for me
0:25:07 > 0:25:10"to fight him over this because what would we have
0:25:10 > 0:25:13"but a sort of a playground squabble
0:25:13 > 0:25:16"between two guys who wanted to be top chap?"
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I hadn't the slightest wish to be top chap.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22I didn't want to run a television company.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26I was an emergency stand-in because I was the only person
0:25:26 > 0:25:32on the board who had any previous television company experience.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Before news of any decision had filtered through,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Anna Ford and Angela Rippon took to the ramparts
0:25:38 > 0:25:41to express their support for Peter Jay.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Little did they know they were marking their card
0:25:43 > 0:25:45with the new regime.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48We think the board is panicking and Peter is being made a scapegoat.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Peter has done magnificently with this company.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53He's held it together under difficult times.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55You referred to treachery earlier this morning in the interview.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57- Yes, I did.- Treachery by whom?
0:25:57 > 0:26:00I can't say, I'm afraid, but I can say there have been
0:26:00 > 0:26:03acts of enormous treachery behind the scenes.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06It sounds as if this is the end of TV-am.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09- Don't be silly!- It's the beginning! - THEY LAUGH
0:26:09 > 0:26:12- Rubbish!- Bye-bye!
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Bye-bye!
0:26:14 > 0:26:17I think Peter's departure was a shock because he was such
0:26:17 > 0:26:22a significant figure, such a major and important figure.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25But we soon got used to the revolving door.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Having ousted Peter Jay,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32the Aitkens' plan was to relaunch the channel.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Their first move was to shunt the honeymooning David Frost
0:26:35 > 0:26:38from the sofa, giving a battlefield promotion
0:26:38 > 0:26:40for sports reporter Nick Owen.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43But that was only the beginning of the changes,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47as within a month, Jonathan's cousin Timothy was to take the reins.
0:26:47 > 0:26:53I knew that Timothy, my cousin, was a rougher diamond than I was
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and was likely to cut more sharply
0:26:56 > 0:27:00and brutally than I ever would have done but he did the job.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02We've got about 30 seconds left so we can both say goodbye
0:27:02 > 0:27:05and all those people who've rung in all week and said,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07"When are you going to get rid of Angela Rippon?"
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Your dream has come true because I'm not going to be here next week.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13But make the most of it cos I shall be back a week after.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16But Angela was never to return to the field of battle.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19I presented with Anna and Angela for a week each,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21and then suddenly they were sacked.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23It was so dramatic. I had no idea about...
0:27:23 > 0:27:26I got a call from a friend of mine at ITN and he said,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29"What's this about Anna and Angela being sacked?" I said, "What?"
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Here were ITN telling me, and I was in the same booming building!
0:27:32 > 0:27:34I've got nothing to say.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36I've simply been given a letter saying I've been sacked
0:27:36 > 0:27:40and I've given it to my lawyer so I can't say anything. He said, "Don't say anything."
0:27:40 > 0:27:42I was called in and told I was sacked.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45- What did they say to you? - I can't tell you that.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49- Were you given any kind of reason? - No.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53Unfortunately, both Angela Rippon and Anna Ford technically
0:27:53 > 0:27:55breached their contracts by speaking out
0:27:55 > 0:27:58at the time of Peter Jay's departure.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01My problem was that I didn't have time to do anything
0:28:01 > 0:28:05except reduce the costs in the company if it was going to survive.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06It was not a personal...
0:28:08 > 0:28:10..involvement on my part.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12I didn't realise that Anna
0:28:12 > 0:28:16and Angela would have taken this very wonderful
0:28:16 > 0:28:19but very risky action in demonstrating
0:28:19 > 0:28:21against the Aitken takeover,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25which then very considerably damaged their careers.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29And I regret bitterly for the rest of my life
0:28:29 > 0:28:32that I didn't foresee that danger and didn't forestall it
0:28:32 > 0:28:37by calling Anna and Angela and saying,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40"Look, I have decided to stand down for these reasons."
0:28:40 > 0:28:45For the famous five, the dream of breakfast telly domination lay in ruins.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48I remember one moment we were standing on the third floor
0:28:48 > 0:28:53of this building in Camden Town and there was a canal beneath us
0:28:53 > 0:28:55and I was standing there, looking out the window.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58I turned around and David was looking at me and he said,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02"Who jumps first?" I think if we'd gone together it'd have been about right.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06From the very beginning, the famous five had been headline news.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08But even after their exit from the battlefield,
0:29:08 > 0:29:11they were still able to hold the front page.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13For those who haven't yet gone down to the newsagent's
0:29:13 > 0:29:15and seen the papers, Anna Ford went up to her former boss
0:29:15 > 0:29:19when she met him at a party for the first time since she was sacked
0:29:19 > 0:29:22and threw a glass of wine in his face.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25I was enjoying the cocktail party and then from some distance away,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28some wine was thrown.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31And it seemed at the time a rather trivial incident
0:29:31 > 0:29:35but it was then written up two or three days later
0:29:35 > 0:29:37in a hugely dramatic way.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40The whole of the front page of the Daily Mail was,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42"Anna's Grapes Of Wrath."
0:29:44 > 0:29:48# I can feel it coming in the air tonight... #
0:29:49 > 0:29:53I had my wine glass filled up and walked over
0:29:53 > 0:29:56and threw it at him because that's how I was feeling.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58And I don't regret it at all.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01How many people have congratulated you on your actions over the years?
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Quite a lot. Quite a lot.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Is it really vital to us
0:30:06 > 0:30:10when civilisation's on the razor's edge that we know about Anna Ford?
0:30:10 > 0:30:12She's everywhere.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14- It's quite an amazing story!- Is it?
0:30:14 > 0:30:15Well, isn't it?
0:30:15 > 0:30:17Even as a freelance,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21I just felt that I was in the middle of this insanity.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26And what was kind of destabilising, I guess,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30is the fact that as someone who knew nothing about television,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33I looked around me and there was absolute pandemonium.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36And when I glanced at the people who should have known something about
0:30:36 > 0:30:41television, I could see that they thought it was pandemonium as well.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43As the ship was sinking at Camden Lock,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46- the BBC wallowed in their surprising victory.- Lovely. Will you excuse me?
0:30:46 > 0:30:50- Certainly.- I've got an engagement on the other side of the studio. Nice to meet you.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54The fact is that we began to realise that we were going to bury them
0:30:54 > 0:30:55and we did bury them.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57Good morning. How are you?
0:30:57 > 0:30:59'We obviously won the ratings battle'
0:30:59 > 0:31:03and there was big explosions coming from the other side.
0:31:03 > 0:31:04I mean, red wine was thrown.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Presenters disappeared into the far distance,
0:31:07 > 0:31:09or the near distance, or were never seen again.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12We were very chirpy and cheerful and, dare I say,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16a little bit pleased with ourselves for the first six months because
0:31:16 > 0:31:19we couldn't believe just how strong the audience was in our favour.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22But, you know, you've got to be careful about that.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Anyway, I've now got to learn how to reverse.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27- I think I'll just pull out and leave you to the weather.- OK.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31By mid-May, the battle for Britain's breakfast
0:31:31 > 0:31:34had reduced TV-am to tatters.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Having lost two of their presenters and their general, who had
0:31:37 > 0:31:41guided them from inception to the battlefield, all seemed lost.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44In what had been nothing short of a breakfast blitzkrieg,
0:31:44 > 0:31:49the BBC revelled in the 90% share of the audience.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53As a last-ditch measure, TV-am appointed a new general
0:31:53 > 0:31:57to lead the fight back - LWT producer Greg Dyke.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Well, the day I arrived...
0:31:59 > 0:32:02I arrived on the Monday and that was the same day that
0:32:02 > 0:32:07Timothy Aitken sacked Anna and Angela.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09I went in, a happy bloke, smiling a lot...
0:32:09 > 0:32:12People would come in my office and cry.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14I've never come across anything like it.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17People were literally crying around the office
0:32:17 > 0:32:20because they'd worked themselves to death to get this thing on air,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24it was then a disaster and of course, it was known as "ailing TV-am",
0:32:24 > 0:32:28and my job was to pick it up and turn it around.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31How do we get an audience for this thing and make some money?
0:32:31 > 0:32:34From the beginning of Breakfast Time, the on-screen
0:32:34 > 0:32:38relationship between Frank Bough and Selina Scott had blossomed.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Selina Scott, if you're smiling at me, I will never speak to you again! I did get one bubble.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45- One bubble!- One big bubble! - I didn't see it.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47I'll come over there and check later.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51I said to Ron Neil, "Why have you put Selina and me together?"
0:32:51 > 0:32:55He said, "With you and Selina, I regard you as beauty and the beast.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59"She's so beautiful and you're so bloody ugly," he said. And that worked!
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Quite simply, you are a beautiful woman. Everybody knows that.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04You're making me blush, Frank! Honestly!
0:33:04 > 0:33:09Over at TV-am, Field Marshal Dyke's first move was to find replacements
0:33:09 > 0:33:13for the decommissioned big guns of Anna Ford and Angela Rippon.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Feet.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18After your head, they're probably the most important part of your body.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22But they're prone to all sorts of ailments and disorders
0:33:22 > 0:33:24and we all know, when your feet hurt, life can be hell.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26So you go to a chiropodist,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29but what sort of treatment can you expect when you get there?
0:33:29 > 0:33:31Greg Dyke called me and said,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35"Tell me about this Anne Diamond." And I said how good she was
0:33:35 > 0:33:36and how close we were
0:33:36 > 0:33:40and what a great relationship we'd had on regional television.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42And he said, "Can you arrange for me to meet her?"
0:33:42 > 0:33:46They met in a pub that night and six weeks later, she was on the sofa.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Greg sat down and just explained to us his philosophy
0:33:49 > 0:33:53and he said that he thought it was about a mission to entertain.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56And he said, "This isn't going to be a champagne building any more,"
0:33:56 > 0:33:58because that's what they used to do.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00They'd spent a lot of money on champagne launches
0:34:00 > 0:34:04and things like that. He said, "This is a beer-and-skittles company now.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07"This is the sort of television we're going to produce.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10"It's going to be fast and furious and, by the way,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13"do you mind reading the bingo numbers out?"
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Now, another lovely face. Annie with the bingo numbers.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18It's about time I had a compliment! Right, it's bingo time.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22For all you newspaper bingo addicts, we're going to give you the numbers
0:34:22 > 0:34:24in today's Sun, Daily Star and Daily Mirror, so here goes.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27And first of all, it's the Sun numbers.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30The great advantage of having a television show where there's
0:34:30 > 0:34:33nobody watching is you can try all sorts of things.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38And some work and some don't. And if you think they work, keep them in. If they don't work, don't bother.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41No-one's going to know cos there was no audience anyway.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43We just started trying things.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47It was pretty populist stuff. We had to get an audience quickly.
0:34:47 > 0:34:48Now, for all Popeye fans,
0:34:48 > 0:34:52we'll be joining the muscle-bound mariner in a few minutes, but first,
0:34:52 > 0:34:56did you know that today is the start of National Brownie Tea Making Week?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58With a new presenting team in place,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01the axe next fell on the programme content.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05Battlefield casualties included the hard news agenda and Robert Kee,
0:35:05 > 0:35:09the comic strip soap opera The Secret Life of Melanie Parker,
0:35:09 > 0:35:13and Commander Philpott, who was banished to the weekends.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18Greg's recipe was to bring in just people who weren't stars.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21All the people he brought in were sidekicks.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24- You're taking this very seriously. - I am indeed, Nick.
0:35:24 > 0:35:25I've got a clipper board.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29I said, "I don't need you to do sport. What do you know about?" He said, "I don't know."
0:35:29 > 0:35:33I said, "What do you do with your time?" He said, "I watch telly." I said, "That's it!
0:35:33 > 0:35:35"You're going to do television every week!"
0:35:35 > 0:35:40Tonight, The Golden Girls. Actually, it's very funny. I like it.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Some of the ladies watching the programme, Greg discovered,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46were a little bit overweight, so let's get Diana Dors in.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Let's lose weight with Double D Diana Dors!
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Something for the dads there with Diana, something for the grandparents,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55and something for the lady who wants to lose weight.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58- Peggy, step forward.- I think we should have a drum roll.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01- She is beautiful, isn't she? - Hello, Peggy.- Hello.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04You started at 11 stone 13.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08- Yes, something like that. Nearly 12 stones.- How do you feel now?
0:36:08 > 0:36:11- Fantastic.- Has it made any difference to your life?- Oh, yeah.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14- I've got a great sex life. - A great sex life?
0:36:14 > 0:36:16We've got to move on to the scales now.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19I think it's a bit early in the morning for that.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21I'm very pleased for you! I'm very pleased for everybody!
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Wincey Willis was... We just liked her because of her name.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28How can you have a weather person called Wincey Willis?!
0:36:28 > 0:36:30Down in the south-western corner,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33into the Channel Islands, one or two showers coming in, some heavy,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35and one or two thundery showers about as well.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38By midday today, temperatures scorching again.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Every presenter had to have some sort of strange trademark.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Ready? Here we go!
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Bounce!
0:36:45 > 0:36:48'She was my PA's fitness teacher, so I got her in'
0:36:48 > 0:36:50and her name was Lizzie.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54I said, "That's boring, isn't it? We'll call you Mad Lizzie. You go and do this," and she did that.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59The recipes were done by a retired vicar called the Cooking Canon.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Who cares about figures? I don't! I'm working on mine - it's getting better every week.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07There was a fishing correspondent called the Codfather.
0:37:07 > 0:37:08Oh, my God!
0:37:08 > 0:37:10Who loves skate and chips?
0:37:10 > 0:37:15'Greg was devil may care. He just wanted to be Snap, Crackle and Pop.'
0:37:15 > 0:37:19Can you spot the new look? Yes, you've got it. No woolly jumper.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21Instead, a suit, a tie
0:37:21 > 0:37:25and an altogether more sophisticated approach.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28'It was done by the seat of the pants, day in, day out.'
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Trying to get things that would work.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Competition time.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36While the innovations of TV-am kept pouring in...
0:37:36 > 0:37:39One slices a bagel in a transverse way to the axis.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41..over at Breakfast Time,
0:37:41 > 0:37:43it was very much a case of "carry on as you were".
0:37:43 > 0:37:47But with one crucial difference - no Frank and no Selina.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51- Beautifully dressed this morning. - Thank you very much. Good morning.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54While Selina is away on hols, Sue Cook is here with us again.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58And with the BBC big guns on leave, for the first time,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01TV-am sensed a chink in their opponents' armour.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04# Get a great big blanket and a cool pair of shades... #
0:38:04 > 0:38:09Having noticed that TV-am's viewing figures went up during half-term,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12General Dyke literally fought the Battle of Breakfast
0:38:12 > 0:38:15on the beaches, with new recruit Chris Tarrant.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17Good morning. Are you all right?
0:38:17 > 0:38:19CROWD: Yes!
0:38:21 > 0:38:25'What we couldn't believe was that the first time'
0:38:25 > 0:38:28we crossed live to Chris Tarrant on the beach in Blackpool,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31which was like at about 6:20 in the morning...
0:38:31 > 0:38:37Don't forget at 8:15, we shall be talking to Keith Harris and Orville.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40We crossed there live and there was a big crowd there already.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44So the audience was hungry for what we were trying to sell them.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46Look at the state of this!
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Chris Tarrant, the Lebanon, News At Ten.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52What a sight! Still looking out for the ferret!
0:38:52 > 0:38:56If this battle of the beach bulge was helping TV-am to find
0:38:56 > 0:38:59an audience, one of its surviving presenters was helping to
0:38:59 > 0:39:01lead the resurgence.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Ha-ha-ha!
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Hello, good morning and welcome. Ha-ha-ha!
0:39:06 > 0:39:08'Not only did I like Roland Rat,
0:39:08 > 0:39:10I liked the guy behind Roland Rat,'
0:39:10 > 0:39:14who said to me almost on the first day when we met in make-up,
0:39:14 > 0:39:16I said, "Why does it work so well, Roland Rat?" He said,
0:39:16 > 0:39:21"Because Roland Rat's heart and soul are there, in the palm of my hand."
0:39:21 > 0:39:24I thought, "Here is a puppeteer who actually believes in it."
0:39:24 > 0:39:28He was a strange man because he was the most boring man in the world
0:39:28 > 0:39:32until he put his arm up this rat's arse, in which case he became funny.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Can you tell us exactly when we're going to see you again on this television programme?
0:39:36 > 0:39:38All the time! Non-stop! Yeah!
0:39:38 > 0:39:42'He was just so irreverent, so rude, so unusual in those days.'
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Sort of quite arsey with people.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47And very arrogant. Very cheeky.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50And absolutely brilliant. Called me "Nic-oh-lars"!
0:39:50 > 0:39:54- Morning, Nic-oh-lars! - Good morning, Roland. What are you wearing this lot for?
0:39:54 > 0:39:56He called John Stapleton "Staple Gun" the whole time he was on
0:39:56 > 0:39:59and poor old John is trying to be a news presenter and having a
0:39:59 > 0:40:04puppet calling you Staple Gun is not the best means of giving gravitas.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07- Give it to old Staple Gun there. - Thank you, Roland.- Morning, John.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10I'm most impressed. That's very kind. Good morning, Roland.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12'Roland Rat... Yeah.'
0:40:12 > 0:40:16As one wag said at the time, "I've heard of a rat deserting
0:40:16 > 0:40:19"a sinking ship, I've never heard of a rat joining one."
0:40:19 > 0:40:22And we'll come back after the break to meet our new presenter,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25who is called Roland Rat, would you believe?
0:40:25 > 0:40:27What we'll do to stem the ratings.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30- What?- Roland Rat.- And that's going to be a presenter, is it?
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Nick and I didn't have to feel threatened by Roland Rat
0:40:32 > 0:40:34cos we'd all come in at the same time
0:40:34 > 0:40:36and we were all just trying to build an audience.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38I can see that the original famous five might have thought that
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Roland Rat did not belong because he didn't belong in their master plan.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45But the master plan had completely changed by the time I arrived
0:40:45 > 0:40:47and Roland Rat was a very important part of it.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50- I am a fan. I've got one of your T-shirts.- Have you?- Yeah.
0:40:50 > 0:40:51Do you wear it all the time?
0:40:51 > 0:40:54- Not quite all the time.- Why haven't you got it on today?- Well, you know.
0:40:54 > 0:40:55She wanted to look smart.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58I mean, that looks a right mess you got on there. What's that, then?
0:40:58 > 0:40:59Some cheap thing, innit, eh?
0:40:59 > 0:41:01'I like to think I did my bit.'
0:41:01 > 0:41:04I like to think we all did our bit conveying a more sort of
0:41:04 > 0:41:06serious news edge.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09At the end of the day, we were probably saved by the rat.
0:41:09 > 0:41:10HE LAUGHS
0:41:10 > 0:41:14When you start from a base of nil, you move up.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15Oh, we've hit 30,000 viewers.
0:41:15 > 0:41:1850, 100, half a million, a million.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21And I suddenly get a phone call from Clive Jones saying,
0:41:21 > 0:41:22"We've overtaken the BBC."
0:41:24 > 0:41:25With Frank and Selina
0:41:25 > 0:41:27having been granted leave for the summer holidays,
0:41:27 > 0:41:31TV-am's end-of-the-pier-show counteroffensive had
0:41:31 > 0:41:34re-established them in the battle for breakfast.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37TV-am started to recover.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40They began to claw back the ratings and do rather better
0:41:40 > 0:41:44and, well, it was a question of, will their station survive?
0:41:44 > 0:41:46And it did survive.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51The war for an audience for TV-am suddenly seemed winnable.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54But it didn't have the certainty of the BBC's licence fee
0:41:54 > 0:41:57and it was wracked by advertising disputes.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01So many doubted its ability to last what would be a long campaign.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05It was a shambles. Absolute financial shambles.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07There were times when we didn't get paid
0:42:07 > 0:42:09and Anne and I used to go to the accounts department or wherever
0:42:09 > 0:42:11and say, "Our money hasn't gone in."
0:42:11 > 0:42:13They'd say, "Sorry, it's the computers."
0:42:13 > 0:42:15You'd have to go to the head of finance every month
0:42:15 > 0:42:17and plead for your paycheque.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21No-one was paid and they came up with the usual fib about it
0:42:21 > 0:42:24being a computer problem, you know. Nonsense. Absolute nonsense.
0:42:24 > 0:42:25They'd no money.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27Nobody in television had ever come across this.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31Television had always been well paid with lots of money flashing around.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35Suddenly, there was a whole station that had no money at all.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39So it was...different. As I say, I enjoyed it.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44I thought it was very stimulating to see what you could do without money.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48There was one day Anne and I were actually on air,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51chatting away to camera, and I went into a film report or something.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54The director came into our ears and said, "Don't be alarmed but you
0:42:54 > 0:42:58"might find all the lights go out in a minute and the whole place comes to a standstill."
0:42:58 > 0:43:00I said, "Why?" He said, "We haven't paid the electricity bill
0:43:00 > 0:43:03"and they're in reception now, about to turn the power off."
0:43:03 > 0:43:05And that was true.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07And I think Greg came in and paid a whacking great cheque,
0:43:07 > 0:43:10which later bounced, but it just staved off the problem immediately.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13There was an advertising agency working for us who phoned me up
0:43:13 > 0:43:16one day and said, "If we don't get paid...
0:43:18 > 0:43:20"..we're not going to do any more work."
0:43:20 > 0:43:22And I said, "I wouldn't do that."
0:43:22 > 0:43:24They said, "Why?" I said, "There's two piles here.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26"There is the ones who still work for us.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28"They've got a chance of being paid.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31"The other lot have got no chance at all."
0:43:31 > 0:43:34And they carried on working and in the end they got paid.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38While TV-am remained in the financial mire, the BBC,
0:43:38 > 0:43:39despite losing some ratings,
0:43:39 > 0:43:43still had cause to celebrate what had been a momentous year.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48# Mornings used to be oh, so boring
0:43:48 > 0:43:51# Nothing to do except stretching and yawning
0:43:51 > 0:43:54# But then a year ago
0:43:54 > 0:43:57# Came the birth of a brand-new show
0:43:57 > 0:44:00# So happy birthday, Breakfast Time
0:44:00 > 0:44:04# You're one year old and you're looking fine
0:44:04 > 0:44:07# A new institution A small revolution
0:44:07 > 0:44:14# Happy birthday, Breakfast Time. #
0:44:14 > 0:44:17But as the BBC machine rumbled on relentlessly
0:44:17 > 0:44:19despite the occasional mishap...
0:44:19 > 0:44:21I had an encounter with the M4 this morning.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23- I hope my wife's not up. - What do you mean an encounter?
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Well, there was nobody about but I hit a patch of ice
0:44:26 > 0:44:28and I spent 200 yards trying to decide
0:44:28 > 0:44:31whether the car was going into the central reservation or the ditch.
0:44:31 > 0:44:32Oh, heavens.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36..things were even more accident prone over on the other side.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39TV-am kind of felt like being a citizen of a banana republic
0:44:39 > 0:44:41at one stage because every time you
0:44:41 > 0:44:44looked around there was someone new in the presidential palace.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48With losses of over £1 million a month threatening TV-am
0:44:48 > 0:44:53with financial oblivion, they turned to Australian tycoon Kerry Packer.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56He, in turn, ensured that one of his own was there
0:44:56 > 0:44:58to oversee the investment.
0:44:58 > 0:44:59Step forward Bruce Gyngell.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05Bruce was walking testosterone. Bruce was walking ambition.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09Bruce was not a little wallaby, he was a kangaroo.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12He leapt into our world, he led from the front,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16he was wanting to achieve and he was wanting to...the opposition.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20While Greg Dyke had turned round the viewing figures for TV-am,
0:45:20 > 0:45:22Packer's appointment was charged
0:45:22 > 0:45:24with making the operation financially viable.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Now, the first week he was there, he took me out for lunch.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29We did numerology.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31I didn't know what was but basically it's about coins and numbers
0:45:31 > 0:45:34and all this. Cos he was a bit cranky.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36And we did all this and he said,
0:45:36 > 0:45:41"Boy, this tells me wonderful things. We're going to get along so well."
0:45:41 > 0:45:43And I'd gone within a month.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47You have two enormously successful TV guys
0:45:47 > 0:45:51with two reasonably sized egos
0:45:51 > 0:45:54and Greg did, I think, feel,
0:45:54 > 0:45:58"They're kicking me out of my own house and home,"
0:45:58 > 0:45:59but sensibly didn't think,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03"Would this work? Wouldn't this work?" He just went.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05Bruce thought about things so carefully.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07It was always a philosophy for him.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09He believed that if you were going to switch on
0:46:09 > 0:46:10the breakfast television set,
0:46:10 > 0:46:13it had to have this lovely, warm glow to it.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17'So he made sure that the set was oranges and pinks
0:46:17 > 0:46:22'and that my wardrobe had to be pink, frankly. Pink or red.'
0:46:22 > 0:46:26Or maybe yellow and orange but never blue.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29And he made it very clear to me that he would sack me if I wore blue.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33He insisted, absolutely insisted, that we were bright.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36He went into the make-up room and said, "These kids,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40"they're looking pasty-faced. Brighter. More orange."
0:46:40 > 0:46:41Bruce had this wonderful kind of
0:46:41 > 0:46:45post-hippie guru type of aura about him.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48You know, the whole thing, his whole belief in pink,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51the way he had a trampoline in his office.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53He used to bounce on the trampoline every morning
0:46:53 > 0:46:56and make other people bounce on the trampoline
0:46:56 > 0:46:58cos it got rid of stress levels.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00There was a lot of sort of funny,
0:47:00 > 0:47:04quite humorous goings-on.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07He was the first man I ever met who saw me wearing one
0:47:07 > 0:47:12of my ludicrous jumpers and said to me, meaning it, "I like your style."
0:47:12 > 0:47:15With the colour contrast now turned up to 11,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18TV-am continued to close the ratings gap.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20Do you like it? It's fabulous, isn't it?
0:47:20 > 0:47:22- I'm not going to say no, am I?- No.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24And while historians would declare
0:47:24 > 0:47:29the years of 1984-86 as a golden age for breakfast television,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33in reality, the battle was to become like trench warfare,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36with neither side able to achieve dominance.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41During this stalemate, viewers could turn on the TV
0:47:41 > 0:47:45and be forgiven for thinking they were watching the same show.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50- It really does look dreadful. - Well, it looks dreadful, it does.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53SHE STUTTERS AND CHUCKLES Hello.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56And then shrugging up the shoulders to the ears.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Amid this deluge of daily features,
0:47:58 > 0:48:03the stalemate continued through to the very fibre of each programme.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06We had jumpers for every day of the year. There was an Easter jumper.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Not just one Easter jumper but a host of them with bunnies, Easter eggs.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Christmas jumpers, Valentine's Day jumper.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14Whatever the time of year, whatever the season, there was a jumper.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16I could've sold jumpers, you know.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19I could have made a million selling jumpers.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24BBC Wardrobe were looking everywhere for sweaters.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27'The great British public started to knit for me.'
0:48:27 > 0:48:31But not just sweaters. You would get willy warmers that were knitted.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33It was perceived as a battle of the sofas
0:48:33 > 0:48:35and of course that's what it was.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38I mean, outrageously, I suppose, when we'd come in, we had said,
0:48:38 > 0:48:42"Right, we're not going to do what the famous five initially did.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44"We're going to out-sofa Breakfast Time."
0:48:44 > 0:48:46They were doing us.
0:48:47 > 0:48:48TV-am was doing us.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52TV-am were BBC Breakfast Time.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54They were doing us.
0:48:54 > 0:48:55They were being us.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01By 1986, with their constant bombardment of fun and frivolity,
0:49:01 > 0:49:06TV-am were consistently achieving 60% of the breakfast audience.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08In the face of this assault, the BBC retreated.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17The BBC decided to relaunch Breakfast Time with a desk.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27Good morning and a very warm welcome to BBC Breakfast Time.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30It's Monday, November the 10th and today we start a new look
0:49:30 > 0:49:33but I hope you'll find us as welcoming as ever.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37It was a sort of round, curved wooden affair
0:49:37 > 0:49:39with the hint of a pot plant.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42Frank was there with his sports jacket on and his tie
0:49:42 > 0:49:47and I had shoulder pads that almost filled the screen.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49As you can see, we've got a splendid new desk here,
0:49:49 > 0:49:51from which we'll be giving you all the news of the day
0:49:51 > 0:49:53and comment on the important stories of the morning.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56And very smart you look, too, in your jacket.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58Somebody up above said,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01"I think Breakfast Time should be a bit more cerebral than it is.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03"You know, let's have a bit more news."
0:50:03 > 0:50:05And in today's programme...
0:50:05 > 0:50:07The teachers' dispute - is an end in sight?
0:50:07 > 0:50:08And beating the terrorists -
0:50:08 > 0:50:11can the Europeans come up with a common approach?
0:50:11 > 0:50:15So, what happened was you got terrific success on your hands
0:50:15 > 0:50:17and somebody comes and punches it.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19A lot of people in the BBC are much more comfortable
0:50:19 > 0:50:23if you're behind a desk and you've got a suit and tie on.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28And that is not what I think breakfast television was ever about.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31But it's a tendency in the BBC - just toughen it up, old boy.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35It was I think what the BBC secretly wanted.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37It bored the pants off the nation
0:50:37 > 0:50:41but it was what the BBC hierarchy secretly wanted.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44The general public, who had come to love the woolly jumper approach,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46vented their fury.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49I'm afraid it's not Breakfast Time. It's not.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51The mood isn't the same. It's gone.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54I felt, if I ate my breakfast while I was watching,
0:50:54 > 0:50:55I'd end up in detention.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59I'd like to see something that makes me feel relaxed and watching
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Sally Magnusson and Frank Bough behind a desk
0:51:01 > 0:51:03does not put me at ease.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05You've got a great success on your hands,
0:51:05 > 0:51:07like Ronald Neil produced for the BBC,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11it seems to me a terrible thing to change, to want to change it.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13But they did.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17Bruce Gyngell said to us, "This is a gift." And it was, of course, a gift.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19I can see why people at the BBC might have said,
0:51:19 > 0:51:21"They've out-sofaed us so therefore
0:51:21 > 0:51:25"we go back to what the BBC is good at and there will always be
0:51:25 > 0:51:26"an audience for that."
0:51:26 > 0:51:30But it was a gift to us and we ran and ran with it. Of course we did.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34For the next 12 months, the morning breakfast battle
0:51:34 > 0:51:37saw the bright-eyed and bushy tailed TV-am firmly
0:51:37 > 0:51:42in the ascendancy, often hitting audience figures of 2.7 million -
0:51:42 > 0:51:44double that of the BBC.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47For one man who'd overseen the early BBC triumphs,
0:51:47 > 0:51:49the breakfast war was over.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53I just thought the management moved the goalposts a little early
0:51:53 > 0:51:54after the first version.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57I think it had a lot more life in it and could've been adapted.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00But there you go. I mean, the BBC calls the shots
0:52:00 > 0:52:02and they have the right to make the decision.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06I decided I would leave and, indeed, of course,
0:52:06 > 0:52:08I didn't leave the programme that I'd started.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11It was an entirely different programme so the departure wasn't
0:52:11 > 0:52:13particularly painful.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16I had three heroes in broadcasting.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18One was David Frost,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21another was Michael Parkinson, who I ended up working with,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25and a third was Frank Bough, who was on the other side.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29I thought Frank Bough was the ultimate broadcaster. And still do.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Frank Bough's retirement from the battlefield saw the BBC become
0:52:32 > 0:52:35even more entrenched behind their desks, enlisting such
0:52:35 > 0:52:39hard-hitting journalists as Kirsty Wark and Jeremy Paxman.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43Good morning. It's seven o'clock on Tuesday the 1st of November.
0:52:43 > 0:52:44This is the BBC's Breakfast Time
0:52:44 > 0:52:47and these are the main news stories overnight.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Meanwhile, TV-am continued as a lean, mean sunshine machine,
0:52:54 > 0:52:57which, despite the departure of breakfast veteran Nick Owen,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00was not only winning the ratings war,
0:53:00 > 0:53:04with audiences of nearly 3 million, it was also properly making money.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09But it then picked a fight with itself.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11With most unions now on their knees,
0:53:11 > 0:53:15Margaret Thatcher saw TV as the last bastion of restrictive practices
0:53:15 > 0:53:19and, when the technical union ACTT called a strike,
0:53:19 > 0:53:22Bruce Gyngell retaliated by locking them out.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Bruce had clearly pledged to himself and to Margaret Thatcher, I think,
0:53:25 > 0:53:30that he would beat the unions even if it took locking them out and using
0:53:30 > 0:53:34non-union labour to man the cameras and work all the gizmos and gadgets
0:53:34 > 0:53:38that a television studio has and, ultimately, he kept his word.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41He led from the front. He was in there behind the cameras.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43You know, the management took over.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47There we were, professional presenters sitting on the sofa
0:53:47 > 0:53:51but behind that camera was a lady who, last week, was head of accounts
0:53:51 > 0:53:55and behind the camera over there was somebody who was advertising manager.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58And working all the buttons in the background was somebody else
0:53:58 > 0:54:01who, you know, was a management figure.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03We are prepared to keep manning the cameras
0:54:03 > 0:54:05and operating the studios and VTs
0:54:05 > 0:54:08until such time as they accept the ten-point plan we've put forward.
0:54:08 > 0:54:09Start off on camera two.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15The latest national and international news from Sam Hall in Washington
0:54:15 > 0:54:17and Gordon Honeycombe here in London. Gordon.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25Hello. I'm still here.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27On to the newspapers this morning.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29We did have Gordon Honeycombe a moment or so ago.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38We thought it would damage the franchise but it didn't at all,
0:54:38 > 0:54:40actually. It just shows what the audience want, doesn't it?
0:54:40 > 0:54:42Thank you, David, and good morning.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45The news headlines on Sunday, March the 20th.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48The Army has named the two soldiers...
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Even amid the chaos,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52TV-am could do no wrong,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55with audience figures during the strike actually going up.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00For the BBC, languishing with 30% of the audience share,
0:55:00 > 0:55:04the darkest hour was before and just after the dawn.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07Where is this man, whatever his name is, who's talking about seals?
0:55:07 > 0:55:09Where's Dr John Harwood? Quick, quick, quick, quick.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12- Where is Dr Harwood, please? - Somebody get him in there.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14Is he here? Or is he in a studio somewhere?
0:55:14 > 0:55:17Somebody talk to me, for Christ's sake!
0:55:17 > 0:55:18With Breakfast Time having become
0:55:18 > 0:55:22an uneasy mix of hard news and fluff,
0:55:22 > 0:55:26in 1989, the BBC ditched the breakfast magazine show experiment
0:55:26 > 0:55:28for some unrelenting hard news.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34A very good morning to you and welcome from Jill and me.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36The time is eight o'clock.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40You're watching the first edition of the BBC's Breakfast News.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45He'd triumphed in the ratings and defeated the union.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47Now, counting Margaret Thatcher as a personal friend,
0:55:47 > 0:55:52Bruce Gyngell's technicolor TV-am just had to secure the renewal
0:55:52 > 0:55:56of the original franchise to ensure another glorious eight years.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58The first seven years of TV-am were quite extraordinary.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02From nothing, it went to something huge and, under Bruce Gyngell,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04the rocket really took off
0:56:04 > 0:56:07and I think Bruce thought that he was unbeatable.
0:56:07 > 0:56:12He'd beaten the unions, he'd beaten the BBC, he was the golden boy.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15And he assumed that he was going to have the franchise renewed.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Good evening. Mrs Thatcher has told TV-am
0:56:22 > 0:56:24she's heartbroken that it will lose
0:56:24 > 0:56:26its licence to broadcast breakfast television.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30In 1990, the Conservative government had revised the rules
0:56:30 > 0:56:33on bidding for independent television franchises.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37Despite Gyngell turning TV-am into the very model of Thatcherism,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40well, rules are rules.
0:56:40 > 0:56:45"I'm only too painfully aware that I was responsible for the legislation.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48"Yours sincerely, Margaret Thatcher."
0:56:48 > 0:56:51And in the "all's fair in love and war" world of breakfast telly,
0:56:51 > 0:56:57it was Sunrise Television, led by a TV-am exile, who took the spoils.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59When we won it...
0:57:01 > 0:57:06..there's always a degree of revenge is a dish best delivered cold.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10And there's a few people in your life
0:57:10 > 0:57:14you'd like to get your own back on and Bruce was one of them and we did.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20The battle for Britain's breakfast of 1983-91
0:57:20 > 0:57:23was a unique chapter in British broadcasting,
0:57:23 > 0:57:28with the upstart commercial venture of TV-am giving the mighty BBC
0:57:28 > 0:57:32a run for its money before fading from the battlefield.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35We now have to say it finally. Thank you and goodbye.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37ALL: Goodbye.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40In this war of the sofas, there were many casualties but both
0:57:40 > 0:57:45the victors and the losers had changed the TV landscape for ever.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47If you look back now at Britain before breakfast television,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50it was fairly stiff and starchy and formulaic.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53Breakfast Time worked because you couldn't quite
0:57:53 > 0:57:55predict as a viewer what you were going to see next.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58SHE GIGGLES AND SHRIEKS
0:57:58 > 0:58:00It was the unexpectedness of it, you know.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03It made television more accessible to people.
0:58:03 > 0:58:04It was cosy, it was chatty,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07we invited viewers to give us their opinion.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09"Nick is not boring," says Francis of London.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11Thank you, Francis.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14And they felt a part of it and I think that was a big, big difference it made.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18You can have a really, really personal relationship with your audience.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21Even more so now they can tweet and text in and things like that.
0:58:21 > 0:58:23I think it's brilliant.
0:58:23 > 0:58:25I think breakfast television has done us all a power of good.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29I think, certainly, breakfast television did introduce
0:58:29 > 0:58:35a much greater degree of informality to the media.
0:58:35 > 0:58:39Was that a good thing or not? I don't know.
0:58:39 > 0:58:44Ladies and gentlemen, live, all the way from George Square, Glasgow,
0:58:44 > 0:58:46Mr Tony Ferrelli singing Memories
0:58:46 > 0:58:49inside a washing machine.
0:58:49 > 0:58:53# Memories
0:58:53 > 0:58:57# Like the corners of my mind
0:58:58 > 0:59:05# Misty, watercolour memories
0:59:05 > 0:59:08# Of the way we were. #