'Live & Kicking': Tube Talk Gold

If you ask us here at Tube Talk, Saturday morning television is just not right these days. Those waking up ready to start their weekend are presented with cookery shows, sport and news. What are the poor kids to do? After sighing in despair at the lack of fun morning telly, what better show to celebrate in Tube Talk Gold this week than the fabulous Live & Kicking?

Live & Kicking: Originally broadcast from October 2, 1993 to September 15, 2001

We're not going to lie. Even now we're supposedly grown-ups, here at Tube Talk Saturday mornings aren't the same now that we don't have any Live & Kicking action to look forward to. Who else used to rush downstairs in their pyjamas and stick on the BBC for some comforting weekend fun? Once, it snowed and my friend wanted to play, but I wouldn't go out until Live & Kicking had finished. That's dedication.

But why did we love it so much? Well, there was a little something for everyone. We got sketches, game shows, celebrity guests and competitions. And let's not forget that for those of us who couldn't persuade our parents to get fancy Nickelodeon (I'm totally not still bitter), it was one of our only chances to watch classics like Clarissa Explains It All (as well as other favourites like Rugrats, of course).



One of the best bits was definitely the celebrity guests. Most of them were members of favourite bands like Boyzone, Take That or the Spice Girls, but you still got the odd surprise every now and then. The best interviews took place in the 'Hot Seat' (what a lame name for a segment, now that you think about it), and it was always fun to watch stuttering fans call in to ask their idol about their favourite colour. Naturally, some guests were harder to control than others - naughty Mel B, for example, dropped a bit of a rude word in the video below...



Live & Kicking was also great because it felt totally anarchic and daring for a young kid - people are getting gunged! Parents are getting gunged! Celebrities are getting gunged! It was amazing having kids in the audience, and everything was so "cool" - guests sat on beanbags, Mr Blobby had a riot, and everything got a bit noisy. And it was live so anything could happen - and often did.

But at the same time, it was also totally safe and comforting. The cool kids flipped to ITV when SM: TV started in 1998, but there were still plenty of us clinging to the reassurances of the BBC's family-friendly Live & Kicking. The hosts (and smooth, suave, voiceover guy Mitch) obviously had a lot to do with that.



You can tell someone's age and taste by asking them who their favourite Live & Kicking presenters were - you're wrong if you don't say Zoe Ball and Jamie Theakston, by the way. Andi Peters and Emma Forbes did an admirable job establishing the show, but it really came into its own with Zoe and Jamie. When they left, it was definitely the beginning of the end. New hosts Emma Ledden and Steve Wilson were never going to be able to reach the heights of the Zoe and Jamie wonder years, and it was just a matter of time before the show came to an end.

But let's not focus on the bad times. When Live & Kicking was good, it was really good. This is a show that spawned a spinoff magazine and even a computer game, where you could decide what to include in your very own episode of Live & Kicking (I'm not even ashamed to say that I had that). What other kids' magazine show would spawn goodies like that? What have you got to say for yourself, Blue Peter?



There have been many early morning kids' shows in the past - Swap Shop and Fully Booked come to mind, for example. But for some reason it's always Live & Kicking that sticks in the memories. It was the perfect format, but kids don't know what they've got till it's gone, and it looks like we might never get a show like Live & Kicking again.

That really would be a shame. Proper kids' television has largely been relegated to digital channels now, but that's no good. The youth of today needs gunge! They need live broadcasts where anything (and everything) could go wrong! They need nightmare-inducing characters like Mr Blobby! They need - seriously - places to watch their favourite popstars perform and reveal useless trivia!

We're being overwhelmed by nostalgia now, so all we'll say is that there is absolutely no doubt in our minds that Live & Kicking should be reinstated to its rightful place on Saturday mornings. Miss it or miss out!

Were you a fan of Live & Kicking? Leave your comments below!