Live & Kicking - History

History

Live & Kicking was conceived as a replacement for Going Live!, a successful Saturday morning programme that had been running for six years. It was first broadcast on 2 October 1993 at 9am on BBC1. The original hosts were Andi Peters, Emma Forbes who had presented a cookery segment in Going Live!, and John Barrowman. For the second series, John Barrowman was relegated to host the showbiz Electric Circus segment, leaving Andi and Emma to become the main hosts. He left after one series of Electric Circus to concentrate on acting. Comedy duo Trevor and Simon and Peter Simon, in the Run the Risk segment, were also regulars who had featured on Going Live!.

While the first series was not as popular as its predecessor, the second series was more successful. It was broadcast during the winter months, from September to April, with Fully Booked replacing it during the summer. New episodes of the Rugrats were shown opposite ITV's What's Up Doc? which began broadcasting at the same time, which ensured viewers would continue to watch.

From the second series, many of the long-term regular features were introduced, such as Sage and Onion, two puppet leprachauns (voiced by Don Austen and John Eccleston), and later on Mr. Blobby, played by Barry Killerby. Andi Peters expressed his intention to move on in March 1996, and Emma Forbes decided to follow after finding out she was pregnant.

They were replaced by Zoë Ball and Jamie Theakston, who presented it for three series. According to the BBC, the show's popularity was at its peak during the 1996/1997 series when the show regularly had 2.5 million viewers. After three series, Ball decided to move on due to a hectic schedule, and Theakston followed. The final episode hosted by Ball and Theakston later won the show a children's BAFTA award for Best Entertainment show in November 1999.

The show returned in Autumn 1999 with new presenters Emma Ledden and Steve Wilson,. They only lasted for one series, due to ratings dropping to 1.6 million during their tenure. At the same time rival SMTV Live on competitor channel ITV was relaunched to feature more comedic elements and began to gain popularity, known for its innuendo and features. Fully Booked, the BBC's summer replacement, was also revamped and retitled as FBi, but ratings continued to drop. The following October, the final series was a complete revamp, with a lineup of four: Ortis Deley, Katy Hill, Trey Farley and Sarah Cawood.

Ratings continued to plummet, due to the continuing success of SMTV Live. In March 2001, the BBC made an unprecedented move and extended the series over the summer, like SMTV was broadcast, but announced it would be the final series. Hill was replaced by Heather Suttie as the show was moved to BBC Scotland on 21 April until 15 September 2001 when the final show aired. It was replaced by The Saturday Show, which continued to be broadcast all year round.