Live & Kicking - Demise and Replacement

Demise and Replacement

The Ball and Theakston series are considered to be when Live & Kicking was at its peak in popularity. After their final series in 1999, it was believed the BBC would replace Live & Kicking with another programme, as its two predecessors had both lasted six years. Instead, they continued with Live & Kicking, with new presenters Emma Ledden and Steve Wilson. The series was the beginning of the end for the show; Ledden and Wilson did not know each other at the start of the series, and so there was none of the interaction seen between Ball and Theakston between them. Additionally, SMTV Live which broadcast opposite on ITV was slowly becoming more popular, and gaining the audience the BBC was losing. After just one series, Ledden and Wilson's contracts were not renewed. Wilson later said that they were dropped just as they were starting to form a relationship, and that Ant & Dec, presenters of SMTV Live, had the edge over them as they had known each other much longer. Ledden had already been dropped when Wilson went through several meetings with the BBC. He decided it was better to leave after one good series, rather than do a second "lame" series, and went on to appear in rival SMTV Live's 100th show, in the Friends skit, 'Chums'. When Live & Kicking returned in October 2000, it was completely revamped, with brand new titles and a lineup of four presenters. However, this did nothing to increase viewing figures, and the chemistry between the presenters was even less apparent. It was decided not to end the show in April and replace it with a summer show, because the replacement FBi had lost even more viewers for the BBC. Live & Kicking continued until September after a move to Glasgow where the summer show had normally been filmed. Just before the move it was announced it would be the final series. The principal reason given for the decision was the increasing loss of viewers to SMTV Live, which had a similar format and was more successful. Live and Kicking was replaced by The Saturday Show, fronted by Dani Behr and Joe Mace, which was shown all year round until September 2003 when it began an Autumn-Spring/Summer loop with Dick and Dom in da Bungalow. Live & Kicking was featured in the BBC's It Started with Swap Shop programme in 2006, where Noel Edmonds interviewed the first pair of presenters, Andi Peters and Emma Forbes, about their time on the show.