| The Late, Late Breakfast Show | |
|---|---|
| Format | Live entertainment |
| Presented by | Noel Edmonds |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 130 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original run | 4 September 1982 – 8 November 1986 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Noel's Saturday Roadshow |
The Late, Late Breakfast Show was a BBC television light entertainment show broadcast live on Saturday evenings from 4 September 1982 to 8 November 1986. It was presented by Noel Edmonds, initially with co-host Leni Harper and also featured Mike Smith and John Peel. It is remembered for several accidents during its regular "Give It A Whirl" stunt slot; in particular, the 1986 death of Michael Lush.
Contents |
The show was the first show Edmonds presented in the Saturday evening slot, moving up from the Saturday morning children's slot where he had presented the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. Its theme tune was written by Gary Kemp and performed by Spandau Ballet. It was produced and directed by Michael Hurll. Initially, the show struggled in the ratings and seemed unlikely to survive beyond its first series. Initial co-host Leni Harper was fired after the third show and various revamps took place to bolster the ratings. Eventually, the inclusion of some of the biggest names in the music business as special guests helped raise the profile and ratings for the show. The Swedish group ABBA appeared twice in the first series, making their last ever TV appearance on the show. Edmonds would often interview the music guests live via satellite, although it became obvious in many cases, most notably the appearances of Rod Stewart and Duran Duran that he was in fact posing questions to an already recorded interview with another station and his questioning was being dubbed over the original interviewer.
The show was described as a "mag prog [magazine programme] especially for those who get up late on Saturday, featuring comedy, pop music & a few surprises".[1] Regular features on the show included "The Hit Squad", which was a hidden camera section, pop music performances, and "The Golden Egg Awards", which featured various outtakes. During the "Give It A Whirl" feature a member of the public would call in and have the "Whirly Wheel" spun to select a stunt, in a similar setup to gameshow Wheel of Fortune; after spending the week training, they would perform the stunt live on the next show.
Despite the appearance of choice, the wheel was in fact rigged to select a pre-arranged stunt; on one occasion the wheel chose the wrong stunt, and Edmonds called the hidden technician controlling the wheel out in front of the audience to apologise.
The author Helen Fielding, who later wrote the Bridget Jones novels, worked for a time as a researcher on the programme.[2]
There had been concern that the show's stunts were too dangerous; indeed, the BBC was twice threatened with legal action by the Health and Safety Executive to stop planned stunts such as plucking a member of the public from an exploding chimney by helicopter.[3] The BBC themselves described the stunts as "some of the most daring feats ever seen on British TV".[4]
On 10 September 1983, stunt driver Richard Smith fractured his pelvis and injured his head, neck and back after crashing at 140 mph (225 km/h) during one such live stunt – an attempt to leap more than 230 feet in a car.[5] Also in 1983, Barbara Sleeman broke her shoulder after being fired from a cannon; she would later say "The BBC don't give a damn. They just want the viewers."[6]
On 13 November 1986, self-employed hod carrier Michael Lush was killed during his first rehearsal for another live stunt. The stunt, called "Hang 'em High", involved bungee jumping from an exploding box suspended from a 120 ft-high crane. The carabiner clip attaching his bungee rope to the crane sprang loose from its eyebolt during the jump. He died instantly of multiple injuries, and the Breakfast Show was 'cancelled as well as all future editions' on 15 November. This led to Edmonds's resignation.
Although the inquest recorded a verdict of misadventure, the jury were informed of several failures on the part of the BBC. Graham Games of the Health and Safety Executive stated that the clip could have been opened by the weight of a bag of sugar, and demonstrated that the clip sprang loose 14 times in 20. David Kirke, a bungee specialist from the Dangerous Sports Club, stated that a similar stunt he had been involved with used three ropes, as opposed to the one rope used by the BBC, and shackles in the place of carabiner clips.[7] There was no safety officer on hand, and no supervision or demonstration from a trained stuntman. There was also no way for Lush to contact the ground once he was in the air, and nobody in the air with him in case he changed his mind; the jury heard that he delayed for almost two minutes before finally being instructed to make the jump. Furthermore, despite advice against it, the BBC production team had insisted on the use of an elasticated bungee rope.
The BBC made an ex gratia payment of approximately £120,000 to Lush's family. While the coroner recommended that safety officers be available during any such future stunts, BBC managing director Bill Cotton stated that there would be no future programmes that exposed members of the public to risk.[8] After the inquest, Noel Edmonds was quoted as saying "If I was to continue my career at the BBC I would want to be fully confident about any production team I was provided with."[9] He returned to the BBC's Saturday night lineup two years later, presenting Noel's Saturday Roadshow.