Going Live!

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Going Live!
Format Children's
Starring Phillip Schofield
Sarah Greene
Gordon the Gopher
Trevor and Simon
Emma Forbes (cook)
Phillip Hodson (agony uncle)
Nigel Taylor (vet)
Peter Simon
Annabel Giles
Nick Ball
James Hickish
Country of origin Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
No. of series 6
No. of episodes 179
Production
Running time 3hrs 15mins
Broadcast
Original channel BBC1
Picture format 4:3
Original run 26 September 1987 – 17 April 1993

Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene.

Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher.

The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking.

In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her husband Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show until 10.30. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.

Contents

[edit] Show segments

[edit] All About Me

This segment featured video diaries from viewers from different backgrounds. All About Me gained a lot of praise for showing diaries from mentally disabled children and those living below the poverty line.

[edit] Double Dare

Double Dare was presented by Peter Simon, and it was best known for Peter to fall, during the final round, into the Gunge. It was replaced in later series of Going Live!, first by Clockwise, presented by Darren Day, and then by Run The Risk, which was again presented by Peter Simon, along with Shane Richie. The latter of these shows continued onto Live & Kicking.

[edit] Growing Pains

Phillip Hodson provided 'agony uncle' advice to young callers on diverse and often difficult topics in Growing Pains. The topics ranged from love troubles and general teenage angst, to more severe topics such as child abuse and AIDS, which were uncharacteristically deep issues for a Saturday morning youth programme.

[edit] Live Line

In this segment, the show's producers would arrange for popular musical groups and performers to pay surprise visits to their fans. Usually this involved handsome male pop singers talking to teenage girls.

[edit] The Press Conference

The big set-piece interview at the end of each programme, featuring questions from both the studio audience and from phone callers. These were often with politicians, high-ranking executives in the BBC, or people who had made a notable achievement (e.g. sports people who had success at the Olympics).

[edit] The Video Vote

This was a phone-in section where the viewing public were encouraged to cast their opinions on the popular music videos of the time, which were then shown according to popularity.

[edit] Trevor and Simon

Main article: Trevor and Simon

These two anchormen (who were essentially clowns) provided light-hearted humour and character comedy. Popular characters played by the duo included:

  • 'The Sister Brothers', a pair of rogue traders;
  • folk duo 'The Singing Corner';
  • rave-goer Moon Monkey;
  • 'Blimey, that's good!', a parody of television shopping channels;
  • The Bottomless Bin;
  • The Witch Finders, who appeared every Halloween to enlist members of the studio audience to hunt 'witches' and other evil-doers. This normally ended up with them poking Phillip with sticks.

They were replaced in series five by Nick Ball and James Hickish, but returned for the last series.

[edit] Memorable Moments

In April 1989, pop group Five Star appeared on the show to answer questions from fans over the phone. Many viewers recall the moment Eliot Fletcher from Langley called in to ask them, "Why are you so fucking crap?", only to be quickly faded out by producers amid an awkward mix of laughter (from the crew) and silence (the audience of children). The band appeared unsurprisingly dumbfounded. (See video on YouTube — note that the applause is from the audience of the clip show that this was repeated on; there was no applause in the Going Live studio.)

Dannii Minogue made an impromptu debut appearance on British television during an interview on the show with her sister Kylie, when she was dragged out of the audience by Phillip Schofield.

On February 16, 1991, the 1991 version of the BBC One Globe was 'unveiled' on the programme (although it had been used in the link in to the programme), by Sarah doing an impression of The Queen.

[edit] Outside Broadcasts

During its run, the show made several broadcasts from outside the confines of the studio. These included:

[edit] It Started With Swap Shop

Going Live! had their own section on the BBC's It Started With Swap Shop featuring classic clips of the show and a part of the show when Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene were inside a lift with Trevor and Simon as some lift guards and they noticed the two presenters in the lift chatting behind them. Phillip & Sarah talk about their favourite moments, followed by a clip. The sketch ends when Phillip & Sarah come out the lift and say goodnight to Gordon the Gopher who is sitting by a desk. Finally the sketch ends with Trevor & Simon singing the famous Swing Your Pants song for money.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Saturday Superstore		 Going Live!
1987–1993		 Succeeded by
Live & Kicking