MILLENNIUM EVE - Biggest ever
There are moments in a lifetime that will never be repeated. A few years ago our generation was lucky enough to be witnesses to something so rare that only precious few will see the like again. Nope, not the dawning of a new millennium but an edition of The Big Breakfast that lasted 8 and a half hours! This was the mother of all Big Breakfasts.
From 0.30 to 09.00 on January 1st 2000 Channel 4 broadcast live from Lock Keepers Cottages. The results were fantastic, the presenters were pissed and the show even managed to overrun!
It all started when Planet 24 and Channel 4 made this press statement:
Big Breakfast Press Release re Millennium Show - MILLENNIUM NIGHT!
The latest news about our millennium celebrations with the Biggest Breakfast Ever.
On January the 1st Johnny and Liza will be going LIVE at The Big Breakfast house for an utterly groundbreaking 8 hours ably assisted in part by Richard Bacon, Sara Cox and Phil Gayle.
From 12.30am through to 9am The Biggest Breakfast Ever will be the one and only way to spend millennium night / morning.
Crammed full of brilliant features including The Big Breakfast Awards Ceremony (Live), The Tarbuck Interview (Liza conducts a live no holds barred interview with Johnny Vaughan - his first ever TV interview), a look back over The Big Breakfast shoulder at the past years, the good, the bad and the bloopers. A big, big prize competition, the likes of that has never been seen on TV before. Live outside broadcasts, guests, parties and true Big Breakfast fun.
This is must see TV and The Big Breakfast as you have never seen it before!
But did the show live up to the expectations?
Oh yes it did! As well as broadcasting a lot of BB Gold it also created new golden nuggets the fans treasured. It all started with a kicking remix of the BB theme tune (available on MP3 here at Bow Locks) then a crane shot of the house seeming with crowds. Obviously alcohol was running free resulting in guests and presenters slurring through items and Lee Evans staggering his way around the house.
To capture the moment a special portrait was commissioned and painted live during the show and, for a third time in the show's history the first ever family of the week were invited down to the house (they would return for a fourth and final time on March 29th 2002.)
Sadly Sara Cox and Phil Gayle never appeared on the show but this was made up for with classic clips of Chris, Gaby, Mark, Zoe, Rick & Sharon in action on past BBs. Richard Orford made an appearance hosting an OB from a Birmingham curry house while BB legend Keith Chegwin returned for his penultimate BB OB live from a casualty department capturing the UK's first millennium baby.
There was a live link up with local radio station DJ - 'The Tiger.' He was annoyed that he didn't get to see the celebrations as he was on air but the technicians got to go on the roof and watch the fire works. "Yeah," replied JV, "Twats aren't they." Marking one of the very rare occasions a BB presenter has been allowed to swear.
Also present in the show were the BB awards in which daft categories were invented and celebrities ridiculed in the chance to win a BB trophy (a model of the house.) Finally, Liza interviewed Johnny in a frank discussion about his time in prison, his wife and his future. Johnny Vaughan wouldn't be interviewed again in such depth until James O'Brien invted him onto his podcast in December 2021.
06.50am - It was at this time that Liza completely lost it. Linton and Lee Evans were visibly drunk and a whole 10 minutes of the show revolved around 'Funworks' (basically indoor fireworks) Liza hid behind the Xmas tree wearing 2000 sunglasses and a fake moustache for seemingly no reason...
7.15am JV phones up a viewer in a bizarre conversation which descends to a whisper. "I've lost my voice" says viewer. "We've lost our sanity" replies Vaughan.
Throughout the night ran a huge competition - Owe? No You Don't which gave the production team a chance to revive some of the most loved competitions. Gaggin' For It, Count Down Under and Thatch Of The Day all made a return. It was Thatch that got the better of Jamie Oliver who was so pissed that he had to be replaced halfway through the competition with BB Crewman Log, who wasn't much better! The competition saw Richard Randall jet-setting it across England to pick up the contestants who ended the show by playing a Grand Final in the P24 building behind the house. This, ladies and gentlemen was the world debut of Wonga!
The giant game of 'Jenga' was so controversial that Ian, the loser complained he had been cheated (he even emailed Bow Locks trying to get us to influence the BB production team!)
In true Big Breakfast style even 8 and half hours wasn't enough. Wonga overran leading Channel 4 into giving The Biggest Breakfast Ever! a 10 minute extension.The result was one of the best shows ever. A true fan pleaser that is still incredibly watchable after The Big Breakfast's demise. From soft porn in the shed to streaky Bacon on the OB The Biggest Breakfast ever is a show no BB fan should be missing from their collection - but how did the show's leading man feel about the festivities? Bow Locks caught up with Johnny Vaughan...
Johnny Vaughan, Interviewed December 1999
The Biggest Breakfast Ever is eight and a half hours of live TV. Are you looking forward to the prospect?
Yeah, it's going to be a corker.
You're really doing it completely live?
It's absolutely live, yeah. There are pre-recorded sections, which are highlights of the year, to give us a little break, but the rest is live. It's the charity-less telethon.
So what's happening'?
Dunno. But there'll certainly be no guests. No guests, no bands, nothing' No, to be honest I don't know, but I shouldn't think we'll be able to get any guests because it's New Year's Eve. But we've got lots of good outside-broadcast stuff. We're the show that will tell you what everyone else is doing. We are central rumour control for New Year's Eve.
Are you looking forward to it?
Yeah, I'm really excited by it. But do you know what? I hate New Year's Eve. I really hate it. It's always such a let-down. The best parties are the ones you don't think will he any good. The ones that you roll up to thinking will be good are shit. Everyone's going, "It's gonna be brilliant," and it never is, because come midnight nothing happens. God doesn't go, "Happy New Year everyone"; all that happens is a clock moves. We're just worshipping clocks. It's pathetic.
You really don't like it then...
I find it no more exciting than watching the speedometer in my car. It's less exciting than that.
What about the social aspect?
I find even that a sham. You can't get home because you can't get a cab. We've all got the same mates that we see at parties anyway... Who do you see that's new? I just don't get it.
So you're happy to be working?
Yeah, I've got all my friends coming down, all the crew's families are coming and we'll have a big party.
Won't you be completely knackered by the end?
Yeah, I will be, but it's the challenge isn't it? You've got to rise to challenges. It's always better to regret something you have done rather than something you haven't. Apart from murder.
Talking of extreme violence, your video All The Rage - a film of TV punch-ups - is out now. Why did you make that?
I've always been obsessed with the psychology of violence in sport. I was interested because when I'm at football and a fight breaks out on the pitch, much as people put down on-pitch violence, there isn't one person in the crowd going. "Get on with the game chaps” It's almost as if this is really what they came to see.
Johnny’s Video “All The Rage” is in the shops now!