The following details are for the programmes thatGMTV (Good Morning Television) broadcast onITV.
GMTV is the former breakfast television franchise for the UK's ITV network. It began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and finished on 3 September 2010, being replaced byITV Breakfast.
GMTV is the original brand for GMTV's weekday breakfast magazine programme from 6:00 am. It included national and international news stories, regional news, weather, interviews, cookery and health features, human-interest and showbiz stories, and competitions.
In spring 1993, shortly after the channel's launch, a separate news-focused programme was introduced between 6:00 am and 7:00 am, which in early 1994 becameThe Reuters News Hour. The main 6:00–9:00 am programme remained namedGMTV but, as part of the show's new look for the millennium, this main programme later becameGMTV Today.
On 3 January 2000,GMTV relaunched and changed the names of each of their programmes. This now meant the programmeGMTV did not exist. This was then split up intoThe Newshour andGMTV Today. This titling for the programmes remained until January 2009, whenGMTV relaunched.The first presenters were:
GMTV underwent a major revamp on 5 January 2009, reverting to its original title,[1] and incorporating theGMTV Newshour into the show as well. The show returned with a new set and new onscreen graphics. For the first time since the station's launch the logo was changed from the 'sun' logo. Despite the changes, the same theme music and headline beds were still used throughout the programme and nothing altered with the weather until 18 January 2010.[2] However, on 9 March 2009,GMTV introduced a new theme music and headline beds to its main programmes, replacing the previous music that had been in use since 2000. On 31 August 2009,GMTV saw the introduction of 3D graphics, graphic animations, through the use of a new system called VizRT, and a voice-over announcer to introduce presenters at the top of the hour. These were later slightly revised in October of that year.
The show had previously been criticised for its poor journalistic approach although from 2009 it took on a more confident approach, with 7-minute bulletins at the top of the hour, a detailed bulletin at half-past the hour, and theTop Stories at 15 and 45 minutes past each hour. These replaced the hour and half-hour bulletins which featured previously.
Fiona Phillips andAndrea McLean left the show in late 2008.[3][4] In November 2008 it was announced thatSky News business presenter Emma Crosby would replace Phillips, and theBBC's Kirsty McCabe would replace McLean as weather presenter.[citation needed] Aside from the new members of the team, previous presenters continued to present in their previous slots and, from August 2009, a voice-over at the top of the hour referred to the show asGMTV with ....[5] This continued untilPenny Smith left on 4 June 2010, with the same presenters on air from 6:00–8:35/9:25 am.
In November 2009,ITV plc took full control of the broadcaster after purchasingThe Walt Disney Company's 25% share.[6]
The show featured the latest fashion, food and celebrity gossip, hosted byLorraine Kelly. There was also regular specialist guests, who made regular appearances. Owing to Lorraine living inScotland, Monday and Tuesday episodes were broadcast live, with Wednesday and Thursday's shows pre-recorded and broadcast as live. The show's target audience was women; therefore, during events such asFashion Week, the programme broadcast live from location with fashion expertMark Heyes.
Lorraine Kelly began presentingTop of the Morning in January 1993. In March whenFiona Armstrong walked out of the mainGMTV show, Lorraine moved to theGMTV slot[14] andFern Britton andAmanda Redington took over hostingTop of the Morning.Top of the Morning was produced by an independent production company.[15]
In 1994, it was replaced with the GMTV-producedQuarter to Nine. In June 1994, Kelly went on maternity leave, returning in November 1994 to do a mother and baby slot. This led to her becoming the main presenter ofNine O'Clock Live. The show proved so popular that it moved to the earlier 8:35 am slot had been retitledLorraine Live in autumn 1997.
The main guest host for Lorraine Kelly when she was ill or on holiday wasFiona Phillips, but after the birth of Fiona's children, she shared the job withAndrea McLean. Occasionally, when neither was available, guest hosts were drafted in, such asDale Winton andPaul O'Grady. After 2008, once both Andrea and Fiona had left, guest hosts were drafted in.
In January 2000,GMTV rebranded toGMTV Today, and Lorraine's show changed its name toLK Today.
As part of the later rebrand that took place at the start of 2009, the show again changed its title toGMTV with Lorraine, to coincide withGMTV Today changing back toGMTV. Lorraine moved for the first time into the mainGMTV studio, instead of having her own part of the studio to host from.
In November 2009, ITV plc took full control of the broadcaster after purchasing The Walt Disney Company's 25% share.[6]
The format of the show between January and September 2010 included Lorraine giving a brief introduction describing what was coming up on the show, before discussing the main stories from the morning's newspapers with a male and female reviewer. The show's first guests tended to be interviewed next; however, some days there would be money-saving advice fromMartin Lewis or a fashion feature fromMark Heyes in that slot. A news summary was shown at 9:00 am presented byPenny Smith orHelen Fospero, followed by a brief weather summary fromClare Nasir or Kirsty McCabe. The chef who was appearing that week then cooked the dish for the day in the GMTV kitchen, before the final guests made their appearance. The competition that ran onGMTV also appeared throughout the show. The programme was sponsored byMatalan andActimel.
For 2010, the GMTV kitchen was introduced which would involve a chef appearing for the entire week cooking their dish at 9:00 am. The kitchen was set up in the area where the news desk was usually positioned; however, when GMTV moved to Studio 3, the kitchen faced a new look, and the position of it moved.
In April 2010, to makeGMTV's programming more consistent,GMTV with Lorraine began airing all year round, instead of breaking during school holidays, with guest presenters. For the first week of the school holidays,ITV News anchorNina Hossain presented the show, withRuth Langsford presenting the following week.
On 9 July 2010, as well as the announcement thatGMTV had been axed to make way forDaybreak, it was also revealed that Lorraine's new programmeLorraine would replaceGMTV with Lorraine.[16]
On 16 July 2010, Lorraine presented her last show before leaving, and throughout the summer holidaysFiona Phillips,Emma Bunton andKirsty Gallacher each presented her show for two weeks.[17]Myleene Klass presented the final week of the show.
Newshour was launched in March 1993, and was GMTV's weekday news-oriented breakfast programme, broadcasting for an hour from the start of GMTV's weekday broadcast at 6:00 am. From 21 February 1994, it was contracted out toReuters, and by April the viewing figures had increased from 200,000 to just over 1 million.[18] The programme included national and international news stories, regional news, weather and newspaper reviews, plus various guests, and was designed to be more serious than the lighter and more tabloidGMTV Today programme which followed. From January 2009, theNewshour title was scrapped, and the programme was merged withGMTV Today to create oneGMTV name again. The same presenters fromNewshour continued to present the 6:00 am to 7:00 am slot until June 2010 (Penny Smith andJohn Stapleton).
GMTV Today was GMTV's flagship weekday breakfast programme, comprising national and international news stories, regional news, weather, human-interest features and competitions. It was also designed to be more lighter and friendlier against theNewshour which preceded it. The original presenters wereEamonn Holmes and Lorraine Kelly. Kelly was replaced byAnthea Turner in 1994, but she left in December 1996. From 1997,Fiona Phillips presented alongsideEamonn Holmes (Monday to Wednesday) andAndrew Castle andKate Garraway (Thursday to Friday). In April 2005, when Holmes left, he was replaced by relief andEntertainment Today presenterBen Shephard.
When GMTV relaunched in 2009, it merged with theNewshour withToday to try to recreate a more news-based content throughout the entirety of the show and create consistency. Part of the relaunch was due to the significant presenter changes. These included the departure ofFiona Phillips andAndrea McLean, who were replaced byEmma Crosby and Kirsty McCabe. The same presenters fromToday continued to present the 7:00 am to 8:30/9:25 am slot until June 2010, and then 6:00 am to 8:30/9:25 am slot until the demise of the show.
Sunday Best was GMTV's original Sunday magazine programme, launched in January 1993. It was originally intended to be a Sunday edition of the regular weekday programme, featuring the regular lifestyle and human interest stories, interviews, and news bulletins. Originally it aired from 7:20 am–8:50 am and was hosted byEamonn Holmes andAnne Davies. By the start of March it was moved to 6:30 am–8:00 am.
However, as part of the station's relaunch in April 1993, Eamonn Holmes moved to become the main anchor of the weekdayGMTV programme withMike Morris replacing him. It was reduced to a 60-minute slot from 7:00 am–8:00 am, from 25 April 1993.Sunday Best started to introduce more political aspects to the programme, and over time moved from being a general magazine programme to become a weekly political programme.Anne Davies left the programme in January 1994 when the format started to change to increase the amount of current affairs.Mike Morris left in mid September after being unhappy with the refocus of the programmes.[19]Roy Hattersley was drafted in to present.
The last programme was on 9 October 1994. It was suddenly replaced the following Sunday on 16 October 1994 byThe Sunday Review (a 60-minute signed review of the week's news which had been broadcasting since early 1993 under the name "Timeshift"), andThe Sunday Programme, shortly afterMike Morris left GMTV, stating thatSunday Best was becoming too political for a Sunday morning.[20]
The Sunday Programme was GMTV's political programme. It launched on 16 October 1994[20][21][22] as a replacement forSunday Best, which was GMTV's original Sunday morning magazine. The programme aired between 7:00 am and 8:00 am, just afterThe Sunday Review (a 60-minute signed review of the week's news).
It was originally presented byAlastair Stewart, who left in 2001, andSteve Richards took over. From 1995 to 2001, the programme was calledAlastair Stewart's Sunday Programme, but this was changed when Alastair left in 2001. In 2008, the programme was quietly axed and replaced with children's programming.
Entertainment Today was GMTV's entertainment round-up show on Fridays, designed to replaceLK Today at the end of the week. It aired at 8:40 am. The programme was broadcast for 45 minutes, and included interviews with actors and actresses from upcoming films and music performances. Presented byBen Shephard andJenni Falconer originally, as Ben started to present more during the week forGMTV,Michael Underwood was also introduced as a presenter. In 2008, the show was replaced byThe Richard Arnold Show in July, which aired for six weeks. After the show's run,Entertainment Today didn't return, and instead the mainGMTV Today show was extended to 9:25 am every Friday.
The Richard Arnold Show first aired in the summer of 2007, as a replacement forEntertainment Today while it took a six-week break. It aired in the same slot asEntertainment Today; Fridays at 8:40 am. The programme was broadcast for 45 minutes, and included TV related guests and entertainment features. The show returned again in the summer of 2008, owing to the popularity, for another six-week series. GMTV's TV criticRichard Arnold was at the helm. The following week,GMTV Today extended its on-air time to 9:25 am, as it was decided thatEntertainment Today would not return.
Eat Your Words was a game show created by Clive Doig[23] in which kids had to solve challenges linked to words and food. The series started on 12 February 1994[24] withKonnie Huq andMark Speight. In 1995, Simon Parkin become the presenter and was joined by Julia Binsted. The series ended on 24 February 1996.
Toonattik was theflagshipchildren's strand ofGMTV (known asCITV at weekends). It began on 5 February 2005 and was presented byJamie Rickers andAnna Williamson. The strand aired on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:25 am until GMTV's closedown at 9:25 am. The original slot featured games, competitions and studio guests combined with the American imported cartoons. However, on 6 March 2010 it was reported thatToonattik andAction Stations! presenters Jamie and Anna would be made redundant,[25] as part ofITV plc's buyout of Disney's 25% share in GMTV. Threrefore, on 9 May 2010, Jamie and Anna departed and from the following weekend, the slot relaunched with out-of-vision presentation. From that point,Toonattik also featured British cartoons.
As of 12 March 2006, GMTV simulcastedToonattik on theCITV channel during their allocated broadcast time, allowing youngerSky Digital,Virgin Media andFreeview viewers to access the show through the children's section of theEPG for the first time. Also, for the first time on the EPG, it gave details for the programmes broadcast in theToonattik time slot.
Action Stations! was theflagshipchildren's strand of the Britishbreakfast televisionstation,GMTV2 (branded as part ofCITV). The slot aired between 6:00 am and 8:40 am on theCITV channel.
It began broadcasting on 13 March 2006 and was simulcast on both the CITV channel andITV2; however, it moved toITV4 on 17 March 2008, meaning that ITV2 could broadcast 24 hours a day. From 7 June 2010, ITV4 ceased simulcasting, meaning that from early June 2010, GMTV2 could be seen on the CITV channel only, again allowing ITV4 to broadcast 24 hours a day.[26]
Originally,Action Stations! featured the voices ofToonattik presenters Jamie Rickers and Anna Williamson in the form of robots with pre-recorded links in between cartoons, and was later voiced by Mike Rance as a spaceship captain. Between September 2009 and May 2010, the slot had the presenters presenting links from theAction Station's "space base".
Diggit/Diggin' It was one of GMTV's weekend children's programmes, which began on 14 March 1998 and replacedWake Up in the Wild Room. It also replacedDisney Club on Sunday mornings. It was broadcast from 7:10 am to 9:25 am on Saturdays and 8:00 am to 9:25 am on Sundays. Additional editions on bank holidays and summer holidays were shown under the nameDiggit Extra.
Initially, the show was presented byPaul Ballard (known on screen as Des) andFearne Cotton. On Des's weekends off, the show was often co-presented byReggie Yates. In September 1998, the show launched a search for a new presenter (similar to the one that had discovered Fearne a few years earlier). Viewers had the chance to vote for a winner in December 1998; the winner was Jack Stratton. Jack co-presented with Des and Fearne on both shows for a time, before becoming a solo presenter of pre-recorded inserts on the Sunday show. He was asked to leave the show owing to end of contract, and in 2000 Fearne also left to concentrate on her other CITV series, the reins being handed over toLaura Jaye andVictoria Hickson. Des left the show in 2002 and GMTV relaunched the show asDiggin' It in January 2003, including a giant puppet named "It". Laura and Victoria also left and were replaced withLiam Dolan (previously a presenter onCBBC) andAbbie Pethullis, with voiceovers fromPhil Gallagher.
From 2003, for the first timeDiggin' It was allowed to have its presenters discussing the weekend's line-up onCITV every Friday afternoon. Liam Dolan was seen sending a Happy Birthday message toCITV on 3 January 2003 on behalf of theDiggin'It team. The show was dropped on 30 January 2005 to make way for the merger ofDiggin' It andUp on the Roof intoToonattik.
Saturday Disney was GMTV's first children's programme, broadcast from 2 January 1993 to 30 March 1996 on Saturday mornings. Initially presented byStuart Miles and Pippa Ford-Jones, with other presenters includingTara Lynne O'Neill, was a mixture of Disney cartoons old and new, celebrity guests, games and features. The set featured a wonky house, an "outside" area (which was in fact still the studio), a jail cell, and an area known as "the splatter dome". The entire set was deliberately cartoon-like in appearance.
After around five months into the series, Ford-Jones was suddenly dropped from the show. The reasons surrounding her departure are not clear. At first, Miles told the audience that "Pippa isn't here this week" and introducedCarmen Ejogo as a stand-in. Ford-Jones never returned and was soon removed from the opening title sequence. However, some pre-recorded location items featuring Ford-Jones were shown over the weeks after her departure. Ejogo remained as the female presenter on a permanent basis, and, after the departure of Miles, became the sole presenter until the show's demise.
Disney cartoons were the main staple around which the show was built. GMTV came under criticism for extending the show's running time in early 1993. After just three months in April 1993, GMTV replacedTeen Win Lose Or Draw, which ran from 8:50 to 9:25 am, with a newly imported cartoonDarkwing Duck, which ran under theSaturday Disney strand. It was said that GMTV was putting ratings and advertising revenues before educational values. In May 1995, the series was reduced to finish at 8:50 am to allowMighty Morphin Power Rangers to be shown.
Wake Up in the Wild Room was a children's programme broadcast from 13 April 1996 to 7 March 1998 on Saturday mornings. Produced in partnership with Disney, it was presented byDave Benson Phillips. The grand finale at the end of the show had a game in which contestants had to pick a number from the Big House (e.g., number 5 was a window, number 9 was a roof) but would have to watch out for traps that could result with a pie being thrown in their face by resident pie thrower Gary the Ghost, who wore white ghost makeup and amilkman's uniform. Gary also pied various celebrity interview guests, most notablyDonna Air, who had uttered a word that had been deemed taboo for that episode's duration.
The Disney Club started on 3 September 1989 and was produced byScottish Television andBuena Vista International Television, and went out on Sundays at 9:25 am. The programme mainly broadcast from September to April, taking a spring and summer break.
Original presenters
In January 1993, the series was moved to also broadcast onGMTV and overlapped past 9:25 am cut off time. It continued to be produced by Scottish Television, which was one of the owners of GMTV at the time.[27] By September 1993, the series had moved back to 9:25 am, with Jenny Powell replacing Andrea Boardman. A new programme calledDisney Adventures with Andrea Boardman filled the time slot instead. When the series returned on 4 September 1994, the series had once again moved back to broadcast duringGMTV overlapped the 9:25 am cut off time, by starting at 8 am.Philippa Forrester joined the team, alongside Richard Orford, with Andrea Boardman continuing with inserts films.
Disney Adventures returned on 6 May 1995 with Sally Gray, Jenny Powell,Jocelyn Barker andYvette Fielding presenting instead of Boardman, continuing until October 1995.
Disney Club returned on 5 November 1995, with new presentersCraig Doyle, Jenny Powell and Sean Maguire. The last series from September 1997 became two separate Disney blocks, but presented by the same people: Craig Doyle and Paul "Des" Ballard with a name change taking place on 25 September calledRoad Hog. The series finished on 26 April 1998,[28] replaced byDiggit.
Up on the Roof was one of GMTV's children's slots, presented by Jamie Rickers, broadcast from June 2001 to February 2005. It was regularly broadcast on only Sundays from around 8:15 am straight afterDiggit/Diggin' It until 9:25 am when GMTV handed over to CITV. The cartoon series that were shown were mainly those that featured such action animated programmes asHe-Man,Spider-Man andTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.Up on the Roof ended on 30 January 2005 and was replaced byToonattik from 5 February, broadcast on both Saturdays and Sundays.
Parkin's In andFun in the Sun was a children's programme block presented bySimon Parkin. The series appeared during school holidays only, including half term, usually from 8:35 am to 9:25 am. It was filled with cartoons, guests andMr Motivator.[citation needed] During the early years, additional programmes were produced for Scotland only, owing to different holidays. The series had ended by 1996.
Rise and Shine was GMTV's very first Saturday morning children's series, starting on 2 January 1993. It was presented byKate Weston andPaul Zerdin alongside Paul's puppet character Sam. The series was aimed at younger children. It featured cartoons and programmes such asCount Duckula,Roobarb,The Shoe People,King Rollo,Towser,Victor & MariaJames the Cat,Mio Mao,Barbapapa,Rosie and Jim,Mr Men,Ric the Raven,My Little Pony,The Wombles,Gran,Barney & Friends,The Glo Friends,MoonDreamers,Potato Head Kids,Fred Basset,Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids andMuppet Babies. In 1995, the series was axed.
The Fluffy Club was GMTV's pre-school programming slot which aired every Monday to Friday on the CITV channel between 8:40 am and 9:25 am as part ofGMTV2 and every Saturday and Sunday from 6:00 am to 7:25 am on ITV. It was produced byDarrall Macqueen. It was presented byEmma Lee (who replaced original presenter Mandisa Taylor in March 2010) and puppet fluffy duckling "Tiny Little Fluff" (who is seen in the show's logo). The slot launched in September 2008 replacingWakey Wakey! and featured a combination of both home-grown and American imported programmes.
Our House is a children's programme from 1997, created byScottish Television. The series was about Grannie Banannie and her grandkids Lizzie and Jack. The series was also broadcast outwith GMTV, on Scottish and Grampian Television albeit in Gaelic, and was renamed "Granaidh Bananaidh". The music for the series was produced byThe Singing Kettle's Gary Coupland. Kate Copstick, Colin Purves, Kathy Smee and Geoff Felix were among the voice artist. A VHS entitled "The Best of Our House" was released in 1998 by Tempo.
A spin-off ofOur House about two microscopic, pea-eating bits of fluff named Riff (who is orange, tall and slightly dim-witted) and Raff (who is purple, short and smart) who hide in Grannie Banannie's bag. The show mainly focuses on the two of them going outside, exploring the big world, and getting into mischief. The episodes would include clips fromOur House (namedThe Grannie Files) and would end with Riff and Raff singing a song during the end credits (named Sing-along-a Riff and Raff). Two VHS releases, "The Video Shop" and "The Zoo", were produced in 1999. Coupland also produced the music and theme tune for this series.
Oooberry Telly was launched in February 2002 running in the 6:00 am to 7:10am timeslot. Because of the block's name, the continuity package would always lead toNi Ni's Treehouse, being the last preschool programme shown before handing over toDiggit /Up on the Roof. The "Horace & Oupagogo" shorts from said series would also be shown as separate miniseries while the viewers tuning in waited forNi Ni's Treehouse to air. The block was discontinued in mid-2003 with all the preschool programmes being branded under "GMTV Kids", the logo of which holds the Disney Mickey Mouse text font.
Wakey! Wakey! was GMTV's pre-school slot that ran every weekend on CITV, GMTV, and GMTV2 from 6:00 am to 7:25 am. It was originally presented byKerry Newell (ofFun Song Factory fame) who was later replaced by formerCBeebies presenterSue Monroe from 2006. BeforeWakey! Wakey!,Toonattik ran the pre-school slot for the first half of 2005 with pre-recorded voiceovers with Jamie and Anna taking over from 7:25 am. In September 2008, the show was relaunched asThe Fluffy Club.