Former presenters of 90s children’s Saturday morning shows have reminisced about the star-studded line-ups and the “free and open” atmosphere of the programmes.
Andi Peters and Emma Forbes, the original hosts of children’s morning show Live And Kicking from 1993 to 1996, and Phillip Schofield and Sarah Green, who co-hosted Going Live, reunited to discuss 90s Saturday morning shows on Fearne Cotton’s Sounds Of The 90s podcast.
Peters said: “We went through a lot of guests.
“On my last day, Sir Trevor McDonald was on, Cher, Sir Richard Branson who was a regular, Dawn French.
“There has never been television like it, I don’t think there ever will be and the audience numbers were huge… on occasion 70% share of people watching television were watching Live And Kicking.”
Forbes also recalled the safe nature of the show as the comedy duo Trevor and Simon would make innuendo-laden jokes which parents would laugh at but children would not understand.
She also said that guests would be entertaining and “outrageous” but the only time she had to take someone off-air was during an appearance by boy band New Kids On The Block.
Schofield and Greene co-hosted Going Live for six seasons from 1987 to 1993.
Schofield said: “Sarah and I, and you Fearne, actually, were at the tail end when telly was an enormous amount of fun, and now of course there are regulations, but in those days it was just a lot more fun and free and open and a laugh.”
Greene added: “By the time we got to ’93 a lot of the guests had been on two or three times before or their kids watched the show. I mean you know Paul McCartney’s kids watched the show, Sting’s kids.
“Sting only came on the show because he said, ‘my kids think it’s a cool show so I have to do it’, and those kinds of things.”
Schofield now co-hosts ITV’s morning programme This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby, which he noted is filmed in the same building as Going Live.
He also reminisced about how comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders used to film next door to Going Live’s studio.
Schofield continued: “Sometimes French and Saunders would be in there rehearsing and get bored in their rehearsals, they would be dressed in whatever outfits they had on from the sketch and they would just walk in and mess about with us in the studio.
“People who were just in the building at the time would think it was just fine to walk in as it was so relaxed on the door.”
Sounds Of The 90s is available now on BBC Sounds.