The Big Breakfast

The Big Breakfast
Lock-keeper's cottages, in Old Ford Lock, Tower Hamlets used as the studio for The Big Breakfast
Created by	Charlie Parsons
Starring	Various
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	2,482
Production
Running time	2hrs 5mins / 5 hrs 35mins (The Bigger Breakfast)
Release
Original network	Channel 4
Picture format	576i (SDTV), 4:3
Original release	28 September 1992 – 29 March 2002
Chronology
Preceded by	The Channel Four Daily
Followed by	RI:SE

The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rats singer and Band Aid/Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof.

The programme was distinctive for broadcasting live from a former lockkeepers' cottages commonly referred to as "The Big Breakfast House", or more simply, "The House", located on Fish Island, in Bow in east London.

The show was a mix of news, weather, interviews, audience phone-ins and general features, with a light tone which was in competition with the more serious GMTV and even more serious BBC Breakfast programmes.

The Big Breakfast was launched at the end of September 1992 to replace The Channel Four Daily, which was Channel 4's unsuccessful first dip into the breakfast television market between 1989 and 1992. The Daily, launched at huge expense, had possessed an analytical style, focusing largely on current affairs, news bulletins and cerebral quiz shows; however, this format had failed to earn enough viewing figures, and consequently Channel 4 opted to change direction and work towards a lighter style concentrating mainly on entertainment and humour.

The first two presenters were Chris Evans (from 1992 to 1994) and Gaby Roslin (1992 to 1996). At its height in 1993, viewing figures reached around two million per edition, and it was the highest rated UK breakfast television programme. Along with Evans and Roslin, Bob Geldof presented a short-lived political interview slot. His wife Paula Yates interviewed people conducted whilst lying on a bed, and the puppet characters Zig and Zag created morning mayhem in the bathroom with Evans in a slot called 'The Crunch'.