A Fond Farewell To GMTV

Today marked the end of an established era in breakfast television, as GMTV bid a fond farewell to our TV screens after seventeen years of dedicated and professional breakfast TV.

GMTV (Good Morning Television) started on Friday 1^st January 1993, and has been presented over the years by the likes of Fiona Phillips, Eamonn Holmes, Michael Wilson, Anne Davies and Ben Shepherd.  Today, it was former Sky News presenter Emma Crosby, Richard Arnold and Andrew Castle who bought down the curtain on such an emotional day for everyone involved with the company.

GMTV took over from the very popular TV-AM as the ITV breakfast franchise, following the controversial 1991 ITV Franchise Awards, which spelt the death knell for regional television symbols across the corporation.  GMTV will be replaced by Daybreak on Monday, which will be presented by new recruits from the BBC, Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley.  Some of the GMTV regulars, such as Dr. Hilary Jones, Kate Garraway and John Stapleton will still be around on the new breakfast show, though whether it will have the success that GMTV has created for a national audience is hard to say.

In the show’s final moments, Castle said the following:

"Like all families there have been squabbles along the way, but there have been no shortage of love, effort and perseverance, and we just want to say to the viewers who have been with us loyally for a long time, thank you so much."  "Fingers crossed for them, really good luck."

Thank you GMTV for giving us so many memories, you will profoundly missed by everyone.

Media Changes Aplenty - Adrian Jumps Ship And Some Aren't Happy!

Following the news of Adrian Chiles departure to ITV on Monday night, there have been many upcoming changes, which have promoted anger with some highly-established presenters and turned the BBC and ITV into a Spring Transfer Window Service, rather than TV organisations!

Chiles’ decision to leave the BBC was not of great surprise, as it has been widely tipped that he would quit, after finding out that Chris Evans would present the daily evening programme, The One Show on Friday nights.  However, not many predicted he would switch to ITV as a result.  Although he does leave The Apprentice and Match of the Day 2 behind, this could be a brilliant career move for the popular Chiles, one of TV’s most common stars in recent years.  He has been part of The One Show furniture since it began over three years ago, first with Myleene Klass and now with Christine Bleakly.  In his new four-year deal, he will front breakfast show GMTV five days a week and become the much-needed new face of ITV’s growing football portfolio.  Chiles will begin at ITV with their coverage of this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa, and will front the FA Cup, the UEFA Champions League and England internationals from next season.

This move has angered ITV’s main sport face, Steve Rider.  According to some media sources, Rider is planning to sue ITV in the High Court, as his £500,000-a year contract states that he will be the leading face of ITV’s World Cup efforts this summer.  He was absent from ITV’s Champions League coverage in midweek and should he not be at Rockingham this weekend, for ITV4’s British Touring Car Championship action, then presume Rider is preparing to leave ITV.  Reportedly, he may be planning to move back to the BBC, to front golf, tennis and rugby coverage, should things not work out with ITV.

The shake-up at the BBC has continued, with the news that Katie Derham is to leave ITN News to join the BBC, though not on the BBC News team.  After twelve years with ITN, Derham will front the BBC’s coverage of the Proms, plus other daytime programmes.  Chiles future replacement at The One Show has not been officially confirmed, though Strictly Come Dancing winner and BBC breakfast host, Chris Hollins is to fill the post for now.  BBC Radio 1 presenter, Colin Murray will be the new fresh face on the MOTD2 sofa from next season.  He already has connections with BBC, though his Radio 1 show, plus presenting the popular ‘Fighting Talk’ programme on BBC Radio Five Live.  Of recent times, he has been fronting Football on Five’s coverage of the UEFA Europa League.

Finally, the concertina effort has continued over on ITV, at GMTV.  Helen Fosparo, currently a host of the GMTV Newshour programme is expected to become Chiles full-time co-anchor from late on this year.  With new bosses having come in at the end of last year, GMTV is going through a major revamp, which has already led to the departure of Penny Smith and Krypton Factor host, Ben Shepherd.  Other anchors, Andrew Castle, Emma Crosby and Kate Garraway are also all expected to be wielded the axe in the coming weeks.

Watch this space for possible further movements in the TV market in the coming weeks; this has certainly been a week full of change, instead of the traditional continuity that we associated BBC and ITV for.  

The Krypton Factor - Is It The Toughest Gameshow In Britain?

Tomorrow on ITV1 at 7.30pm marks the Grand Final of The Krypton Factor.  The rejuvenated second series, hosted by GMTV’s Ben Shepherd has seen nine weeks of punishing torture, torment and craft and now four individuals stand on the verge of becoming, Krypton Factor champion 2010.

The show was a popular hit in ITV’s schedules for over eighteen years.  Initially presented by Gordon Burns, the ‘K’ logo and its demanding games won fans alike, for its entertainment and competitive nature.  It drew at its peak, 13million viewers.  Sadly in 1995, Burns decided to quit and the show was axed by Granada Television, the then producers.  It was a sorry and dismal decision….

Luckily, Krypton Factor fans got a second chance, when together with ITV Productions; business partners Sage regenerated the show, with flashy graphics, a new upbeat theme tune and a hi-tech 21^st century studio layout.  Four games remain from the original series, all as challenging as they were in its first run.  Mental Agility is the first round, where contestants are locked inside The Krypton Factor cube and have to beat the clock, whilst solving complex puzzles.  These games are fun for the audience and viewers at home to play along with, and if you think you can do better than the actual contestants, then go to to the ITV Krypton Factor website to try your luck.  After that, the Observation round takes place, where a classic clip from ITV’s archives is shown and the contestants have to memorise what they can, in order to win the round.

The next round is the toughest physical course ever seen to human eyes.  Forget the Eliminator course on Sky 1’s Gladiators, The Krypton Factor assault course is the toughest challenge known to any contestants.  Freezing water tanks, demanding rafts, steep, leg-zapping hills, and the course has the lot.  Please don’t try this at home!  You must be incredibly fit to tackle this beast of a course and those who complete, deserve a load of credit for just getting round in one piece.  The final round is General Knowledge, when contestants buzz in to answer questions in just ninety seconds, against one another, in an attempt to win the round and the episode. 

After seven morale-sapping heats and two tense and exciting semi-finals, tomorrow night sees the final of the 2010 series.  The crème of the crop are semi-final winners Ed Brimms and Pete Thompson and runners-up James O’Driscoll and Malcolm McKinnon.  All have strong points and weak links, but any of these four could take the crown on the night, anything is possible.

Is the Krypton Factor the toughest show in Britain?  It’s a debatable question, with a complex answer, but certainly, whoever takes part needs a lot of steel, nerve, determination and physicality to be successful.  This isn’t a gameshow just based on brains and intelligence; this is a game of strength and skill too.  Whoever wins The Krypton Factor has the right to call themselves, the ultimate champion….tune in to find out who that will be.

Don’t miss The Krypton Factor Grand Final tomorrow night on ITV1 at 7.30pm

Play the actual Krypton Factor games on the website, www.itv.com/thekryptonfactor