BBC Breakfast is going back in time to celebrate its 40th anniversary on 17th January 2023.
To mark the auspicious occasion the programme will take viewers on a journey back to the very first show with archive footage, viewers favourites and some extra special guests.
Jon Kay and Sally Nugent will be on the sofa presenting a special show which will include a half-hour section when it will be rebranded to the original programme – Breakfast Time – and the team will bring back the original, nostalgic vintage clock.
At 6.30am – the time the first show was launched – Kay will revisit the first programme and how it came to fruition in a specially produced film. There will also be some stories and memories from weather presenter Carol Kirkwood, who is the longest serving member of the team having starting as production secretary when Frank Bough and Selina Scott presented.
The Breakfast Time half hour will feature special guests joining Jon and Sally on the sofa including Russell Grant and Debbie Rix, with an appearance from Leo Sayer who was a guest on the very first programme. Francis Wilson – the first Breakfast Time weather presenter – will also be joining Carol Kirkwood for the day’s weather.
Diana Moran aka The Green Goddess, will be linking up with the studio team from the capital, recreating her famous morning keep fit routine at the site of her very first one, London’s Waterloo Railway station, while viewers will also be able to take a look back at that very first keep fit spot.
David Sillito will present a special on the battle with ITV to be the nation’s first breakfast show, how Breakfast changed the morning landscape of 80’s TV and how its evolved into the programme that it is today, pulling in an average audience of 1.3million viewers.
Richard Frediani, current editor of BBC Breakfast, said: “BBC Breakfast is the UK’s number one choice every morning, so we want to celebrate this occasion in the best way possible, bringing back presenters, taking a look at the archives, and marking history. I’m delighted to be at the helm for this special birthday. I hope viewers will enjoy the trip down memory lane as much as we have enjoyed making it while we prepare for an exciting 2023 with big plans for the year ahead.”
