Going Live!

Play Bus took the slot from Monday the 17th on Saturday mornings.

There was Going Live with Philip Schofield and Sarah Green plus Gordon the Gopher.

Play school going off feels like the end of a chapter because everybody grew up looking through the round square and arched windows.

Going live was the opposite energy, phone-ins and pop stars and a puppet gopher stealing every scene.

Toys and Tech now to set the scene before any scores.

The Toy Retailers Association gave Toy of the Year to Sylvanian Families again.

I bet she loved every second of it.

[laughs] Um, but, uh, yeah, what, what age do you remember watching? Was it when it went into the next one, which was Going Live?

Yes.

Yeah.

So I remember Going Live, which then became Live & Kicking in '93.

Mm-hmm.

So in '93, I would've been 11.

So yeah, Going Live and Live & Kicking would've been the, the ones that I really paid close attention to.

If you were a kid, mind, Saturday morning was where it was at.

Live & Kicking had started on, uh, BBC One, uh, just four days earlier on the 2nd of October, taking over from Going Live.

Andy Peters, Emma Forbes, and John Barrowman were the hosts, with Trevor and Simon doing the comedy, and it went head-to-head, um, with, you know, What's Up Doc? on ITV.

Four days old and already the thing every kid was arguing about at school, Lee, because, uh, Going Live was a tough act to follow.

Andy Peters had been a big name since his days in the broom cupboard on Children's BBC, so plenty of people tuned in just for him.

Time for the toy shop and a gadget.

That was the grown-ups' Friday night, but for anyone still in school, the real appointment was Saturday morning.

Going Live was still running on BBC One, uh, with Philip Schofield and Sarah Green, um, holding the fort, Gordon the Gopher squeaking phone-ins, cartoons, and pop stars getting gently roasted.

It was the three-hour pajama shift, uh, before anyone was allowed near the console.

Going Live was sacred, Lee.

Cereal on the carpet and hoping the phone-in computer actually picked your school.

I never got through once, which is probably for the best because I'd have just shouted about Sonic and ruined the whole segment.

It was, and if you were a kid back then, the, the telly you were really glued to was Saturday morning.

On BBC One, uh, that meant going live, uh, with Phillip Schofield and Sarah Green, Gordon the Gopher squeaking away, and Trev and Simon getting the guests to swing their pants.

It was three hours of phone-ins, pop stars, and cartoons, and on the very next Saturday, Phillip and Sarah unveiled, uh, BBC One's brand new ident, that see-through spinning globe.

Oh, [laughs] I'd completely forgotten Gordon the Gopher, and now I can hear that little squeak in my head.

Going Live was the show you watched in your pajamas with a bowl of cereal balanced on your knees, and the swing-your-pants bit was absolutely the highlight.

I don't care what anyone says.

Let's do a bit of period flavor now.

Once, possibly twice, possibly every level.