591 Breakfast Time

First   viewed  :  17  January  1983

Hot  on  the  heels  of  Channel  Four, another  part  of  the  modern  TV  landscape  fell  into  place   in  the  middle  of  January  1983  when  BBC  One  launched  Breakfast  Time  a  couple  of   weeks  ahead  of  ITV  who  weren't   quite  ready  to  go  with  their  alternative. There  were  a  number  of  naysayers  around,  including  my  mother , who  said  people  would  never  have  the  time  in  a  morning  to  switch  the TV  on. Mum  stuck  faithfully  to  her  beloved  Radio  Four  and  never  watched  anything  before  6pm  on  a  weekday.

Curiosity  compelled  me  to  get  up  early  and  watch  a  bit  of  it. The  main  host  was  Nationwide  anchorman  Frank  Bough  in  his  comfy jumper, aided  by  glamorous  newsreader  Selina  Scott  poached  from  ITV  and  earnest  law  reporter  Nick  Ross, also  casually  attired. Perhaps  having  some  inkling  of  its  rival's  business  plan, the  programme  emphasised  its  cosiness  and  informality  with  all  its  guests  interviewed on  copious  sofas. Though  it  didn't  shy  away  from  covering  serious  news, memorably  filming  the  extraction  of  Norman  Tebbitt  from  the  rubble  of  the  bombed  hotel  in  Brighton, 1984, the  show  was  on  the  whole  pretty  anodyne.

The  initial  carrot  for  me  was  the  promise  of  a  chart  rundown  on  a  Wednesday  morning  but  when  I  realised  this  would  only  feature  one  song,  I  soon  gave  up  on  it  and  chose  to  stay  in  bed  a  bit  longer.

Nevertheless  Breakfast  Time  was  a  success. The  travails  of  TV-am  on  the  other  channel have  been  well-documented  with  the  head  start  enjoyed  by  BBC  turning  out  to  be  the  least  of  their  worries. There  are  few  better  examples  of  disconnect  between  the  political  establishment  and  the  ordinary  population  than  the  catastrophic  failure  of  Peter  Jay's  "mission  to  explain".
Jim  Callaghan's  son-in-law  put  together  his  "famous  five" - Parkinson, David  Frost, Angela  Rippon, Anna  Ford  and  the  less  stellar  Robert  Kee  , a  dry  old  stick  from  Panorama ,  to  helm  a  show pitched  at   Guardian  readers. The  viewing  figures  were  dismal  and  Jay  was  unceremoniously  dumped  by  investors  led  by  Tory  crook   Jonathan  Aitken. Ford  and  Rippon  were  sacked  for  publicly  siding  with  Jay  and  replaced  by  Roland  Rat. Newsnight  took  pity  on  Jay  and  found  him  a  spot  as  their  economics  reporter.

Ironically,  after  the  new  downmarket  version  of  TV-am  had  caught  up  with  them  in  the  ratings,  the  Beeb  ditched  the  sofas  and  woolly  jumpers   in  1986  and  went  for  a  harder  news  approach  with  desks  and  presenters  in  suits. Ross  already  had  a  good  life  raft  in  Crimewatch. Scott  survived  making  a  terrible  self-indulgent  documentary  about  herself  to  carve  out  a  career  in  the  US.

Bough  initially  was  switched  to  Holiday  as  a  replacement  for  veteran  Cliff  Michelmore  but  in  1988  a  tabloid  scandal  arose  when  he  was  alleged  to  be  using  prostitutes  and  taking  cocaine. Frank's  ill-advised  mea  culpa  turned  it  into  a  sensation  and  even  though  he'd  left  Breakfast  Time  a  year  earlier  it  was  surely  no  coincidence  that  the  Beeb  decided  on  a  re-brand  as  Breakfast  News  the  following  year.