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SMTV Live
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SMTV Live (an abbreviation of Saturday Morning Television Live also written 'SM:TV Live' and in early promotional material 'SMTV://live') was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, first broadcast on ITV on 29 August 1998 and last broadcast on 27 December 2003. On the surface it did not seem to stray away from the format of other Saturday morning programmes, featuring an audience of children, competitions and cartoons, though it constantly won in ratings battles with the BBC version, Live & Kicking, and gave ITV their most watched children's programme since Tiswas.
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Encyclopedia
SMTV Live (an abbreviation of Saturday Morning Television Live also written 'SM:TV Live' and in early promotional material 'SMTV://live') was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, first broadcast on ITV on 29 August 1998 and last broadcast on 27 December 2003. On the surface it did not seem to stray away from the format of other Saturday morning programmes, featuring an audience of children, competitions and cartoons, though it constantly won in ratings battles with the BBC version, Live & Kicking, and gave ITV their most watched children's programme since Tiswas. At the height of it's popularity, the show regularly attracted 2.5 million viewers.
Presenters
The show went through a series of presenters, starting in 1998 with the most famous line-up of Ant McPartlin, Declan Donnelly, and Cat Deeley.
In 2001, Ant & Dec left. Cat was joined by a guest presenter, popular UK pop star Louise Redknapp, while Ant and Dec's replacements were chosen. A year later, Cat also left the show but continued to do CD:UK. 2002 brought a new line-up of presenters in the form of James Redmond (Hollyoaks actor), Tess Daly, and Big Brother winner Brian Dowling. Redmond was later sacked due to alleged comments made about music on the show, leaving just Daly and Dowling. For a short period, Claire Richards and Ian "H" Watkins, formerly of pop group Steps, also regularly presented. During the final series, Des Clarke, Shavaughn Ruakere, and Stephen Mulhern were the presenters. (Shavaughn stopped appearing at the end of August with no explanation. She returned for the final episode in December, but no mention was made of why she left. Only one small comment regarding her absence was made by Shavaughn in that episode.) It is widely believed that the change of presenters from the original line-up was one of the biggest reasons of SMTVs loss of popularity.
Sketches
SMTV Live featured many sketches, many of which parodying popular shows of the time, some of which became staple to the show.
Ant and Duck
A short-lived sketch, this has "Farmer Ant" presenting a pseudo-preschool show teaching children about the countryside and Dec as the aggressively misanthropic Duck. It would end with a song near the end where Dec would twist the lyrics to diss the countryside and where, at the end, Ant would force Dec into line by singing threats of calling the Chinese takeaway. Much of the humour came from Dec's attempts to twist the lessons about the countryside; for example, when Ant was talking about (in examples of people living in the country) the aristocrat who owned an estate, Dec replied "Big Tony runs the estate!" (meaning a council estate). Duck was done by having Dec sitting on a stool in a duck costume, with fake duck legs on a haystack so it would look like Duck was short and sitting on the haystack. In the last sketch, there was a gag where Farmer Ant finds Dec has gone (leaving his legs behind) and, as he asks where Dec's been, a toilet is heard flushing and Dec in his costume walks back from the loo carrying a newspaper and then sits on the stool.
Cat The Dog
Cat The Dog first appeared in the Dec Says/The Secret Of My Success sketches (see below) and when Ant and Dec left the show, Cat got her own run of sketches. Each episode would start and finish with Cat writing in her diary. Joined by her "bestest ever ever friend" pop star Louise Redknapp she acted out a comedy sketch series playing school girls in which Cat was dressed as a goofy brummy teenager with huge false teeth and big wild hair and spoke with a brummie accent "it's ever so different from Bir-ming-ham-!". An infamous gag that was repeated every week involved Cat mentioning that she had measured herself again and nothing was growing (implying that she was measuring her breasts). Towards the end, she said that they were growing and she would soon be able to fit into a larger shoe size. With over a dozen episodes, Cat The Dog was one of the show's highlights.
Chums
A parody of the American sitcom Friends, featuring jokes like Ant trying to hang a picture over the camera, wondering why 'There are no pictures on this wall!' Many recurring themes and plot lines appeared in Chums, such as the romance between Dec and Cat, and their kiss that was interrupted every episode. Every episode when Cat and Dec went to kiss, Dec would say the phrase "Me and Cat, alone in the flat... I think I'm going to kiss her!"
When Ant & Dec left the show, their last episode featured Dec & Cat's "wedding", which never happened in the end, as Dec decided to leave and travel the world to find himself - and took Ant with him... The episode ended with Dec finally kissing Cat, which they did again in the last SMTV.
Episodes nearly always ended with the "freeze-frame", where everyone would freeze exactly where they were, a joke taken straight out of Police Squad. The celebrity guests present always took part in Chums, usually appearing as new flatmates. Amongst the best remembered episodes were their parodies of Big Brother ("Big Idiot") and Band Aid. ("Ant Aid" - where the line "Feed the world, Let them know it's Christmas time" became "Blink for Ant, Close your eyes and open them, Blink for Ant, It's time we saw what he can see"")
Chums continued for a few weeks after the departure of Ant & Dec, but finished quickly. However, during SM:TV Gold, no mention was made of this period and they treated Ant & Dec's departure episode as the last. The last SMTV saw Ant, Dec and Cat return to a deserted cobweb-filled flat, also implying that nothing happened after they left.
Episodes usually opened with a joke based on the line "... is filmed in front of a live studio audience" such as "Chums is filmed in front of a bribed/jive/hive studio audience" or "Chums is filmed before the studio audience..... can escape". Other episodes opened with a joke "Chums is sponsored by" skit, with some ridiculous product (such as fish deodorent and a toilet which can also be used as a mixing bowl) being demonstrated by the cast.
Fartbeat
A parody of Heartbeat. Featured very little story, with celebrity guests joining in with the fart gags. One character was Greengas, an obvious parody of the real character Greengrass (Heartbeat)
Most of the Scenes took place in the police station.
F'art Attack
A parody of Art Attack, presented by 'Neil Pumpcannon' (Ant). Similar to Fartbeat above, the gags were all based around passing wind. The real Neil Buchanan appeared in the final outing of this sketch.
SMTV 2099
A parody of Star Trek, and of the Sci-Fi genre in general. This featured Dec as a Captain Kirk-type captain of a spaceship, Cat as an Uhura-esque communications officer (in a silvery wig), and Ant as a bizarre character that, upon pressing his badge, could transform from "Interior Designer Mode" to "Warrior Mode" and back (the only difference being in "Warrior Mode", he wore a Geordi La Forge-type visor, though on many occasions he would actually forget to put the visor on when in Warrior Mode, and had to be reminded by someone else to do so, causing much hilarity). An infamous gag repeated every week involved one of the characters (usually a female celebrity guest on the show) claiming to draw "a pair of orbits around twin planets" (or something similar) upon a transparent gridscreen, although it was obvious they were drawing breasts. The character would then stand behind this drawing, with the breasts aligned with their body, and say triumphantly, "What do think of that, then?"
After Ant and Dec's departure and their replacement with Brian and Tess, the show became SMTV 2099:The Next Generation, but this was only referenced as a sign at the bottom, and never by the presenters.
The Vicar of Dribbley
A parody of The Vicar of Dibley. All the gags were based on dribbling water over the characters.
Captain Justice
A sketch based on consumer rights programmes. 'Presenter' Dec would often ask individual children in the audience what their question to Captain Justice (Ant in a super-hero costume) is. But before they had a chance to speak, he would rephrase the question. Captain Justice would, in a booming voice, give an explanation of how he'd do a superhero-esque revenge in answer to the problems, such as dealing with a store by unleashing the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to lay waste to it and "leave horse manure" everywhere. Then Dec would say "or..." and, in a small voice, Captain Justice would give a more realistic answer, such as simply asking for their money back. The sketch often had homoerotic overtones in it, playing up to the rumours of romance between the two male presenters. Captain Justice would try to impress Dec or ask him out on a date, and when Dec gave his confused reply, he said "Sorry, misread the signs! Goodbye!", and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. At the end of one sketch, Dec added to the joke by saying "Captain Justice there, always disappears with a puff."
The Beautiful Corrs
In this sketch, Ant, Dec, and Cat all dressed up as the female members of the band The Corrs. There was little story, just them asserting how beautiful they are. Often, there was a man with a brown paper bag over his head, labeled 'Jim'. He was not considered beautiful enough by the three "female" members of the group, to show his face, a reference to the fact that the real Corrs' brother, Jim, is usually pushed to the background in the videos, and very rarely sings.
The last sketch received mention as 13th in Channel 4's Best TV Moments of 2001. When the presenters were performing, the real Corrs appeared, reprimanding them for being so shallow and saying that they were not all about beauty. When Ant, Dec and Cat left the stage, deflated, the three girls turned to camera, and bragged about how beautiful they were. "Jim" then took the paper bag off his head to reveal the real Jim only to be told to put it back on because he wasn't beautiful enough.
PokéRap and Pokéfight sketches
Pokémon was very popular at the same time as SMTV, and as ITV had rights to broadcast the series, they featured it in SMTV. This gave inspiration to the writers, who dressed Ant and Dec up as Pokémon characters and had them 'battle' each other (in the traditional sense of the word rather than Pokémon's connotations) in a segment played out between the parts of pokémon called "Pokéfights". Dec was frequently Ash and Misty, where Ant usually played 'G-G-G-Gary' (and one time 'J-J-J-Jessie') and Cat once made a guest appearance as Jessie of Team Rocket. As opposed to being separate beings, the cast's 'pokémon' were more like a 'move' they would do upon another. For example, 'Embarrassmon' involved one dueller telling a secret about the other, who would turn red and their health would diminish; or Ant unleashing HeWhoSmeltItDealtIt - "HeWhoSmeltItDealtIt is an Air Pokemon, and the first person to smell its pungent aroma shall be blamed for its origins!". The show once had Ant attack as Britney Spears (dressing up in a schoolgirl outfit over his Gary costume) and Dec retaliating as Christina Aguilera, ending the sketch by making up - "thus showing how far removed from reality Pokemon is". Also, whenever Dec played as Misty, and Ant, as Gary, hit him with a particularly 'bruising' attack, he would shout "I'll never have kids now!". In a popular incident, Ant used "Bryan", where Westlife came on and Dec as Misty went nuts over Bryan, pulling off his Misty shirt to reveal a Bryan T-shirt and screaming "Bryan! Bryan!" in an outrageous burst of humour.
Another common Pokémon-based sketch was the PokéRap. Ant and Dec would dress up as rappers and perform a rap featuring the names of various Pokémon. They did this in knitted Pokémon jumpers, with Pikachu and their name on. This developed into a phone-in segment whereby viewers would send in their own pokeraps (and later, home videos) and Ant and Dec would rap one out each week (with seemingly little rehearsal), with a "Pikachu, Pikachu, P-P-Pikachu!" chorus and the last line "SMTV will make you Poke-tuff; 9:25 every Saturday - don't be a Jigglypuff! Aww yeah, UH!" This led on to later sketches featuring a Pokémon-themed activity, which featured that week's guests in their own Pokémon wear, such as "Miss Poké-World". Later in the series, the sketches began with Dec refusing to do any more PokéRaps, because Ant and Cat were fed up with them and always teased him about them, and instead concentrate on another task, such as working in a mock fast food restaurant. It wasn't long before the urge to perform the rap got the better of him, egged on by further taunts from Ant and Cat, and he eventually let himself go, trashing the set, yelling angrily at them "Get out of my super-duper market!", "Get out of my Poké-shopping Channel studio", etc. When asked what he was going to do now, he said he was going to do another rap. Ant then yelled "Noooooo!", and another rap began. After the rap was over, Dec would go over to the guests for that day's sketch and tried to make them introduce Pikachu with him. The guests would refuse angrily (or sometimes fearfully) and Dec would brush it off, before finally saying a threatening statement to the guests to make them introduce the character such as "I HAVEN'T HAD MY BRAIN MEDICINE YET, TODAY!!!" The last sketch featured Ant ranting to Dec and begging him to stop. Dec brushed it off, and prepared to begin. When he said "hit it!", Ant and Cat dropped a large "10-ton weight" on him, and the studio rejoiced, as did the producers, Richard and Judy in the This Morning studio, weather forecaster Siân Lloyd, and stock footage of a massive crowd.
Dec Says/The Secret of My Success
Every week, Dec would present a skit where he read a problem from a viewer. Dec would then begin to describe how he was once in a similar situation but was able to get out of his because of his excellence. However Ant, who was always standing nearby, would remember things differently and then we would fade into a flashback of Dec's childhood. The flashback would always show Dec as an inconsiderate, cheeky schoolboy who would always get himself into trouble, usually involving the show's guests playing a teacher, the police, etc. The flashback would end, with Ant saying "If only they knew the truth... if only!", and then we'd hear the end of Dec's version, where he would be saying something along the lines of "And that's when I was awarded a medal for bravery and cunning. Of course I didn't accept the medal...", etc.Another time while Dec was telling the end of his story, he made the common hand gesture for masturbation while talking about being a coffee bean shaker with the line people still do this to me in the street it was jokes like this that showed how SM:TV could appeal to adults and kids alike. Ant would then make a jibe, walk off set and reappear next to Dec a few seconds later wearing a ridiculous costume.
Later sketches, rather than a 'problems' show, were based around a book Dec was 'selling' called "The Secret of My Success", and which no-one was buying. The last sketch on the last ever show, 'explained' how Ant & Dec came to be a double-act, and showed Dec and Cat auditioning for Pop Idol, hosted by Ant and Dick (Richard Whiteley), who was the ladies' favourite, who Dec replaced after an unfortunate 'accident' during the sketch. A blooper in this sketch occurred, when, as Ant was talking directly to the camera, the Pop Idol logo on the wall in the background suddenly fell off the wall and split cleanly in two when it hit the ground.
Ant also occasionally appeared as a schoolboy in these sketches, where he was an overweight boy who ate huge amounts of food and was referred to as Gi-Ant.
This section also introduced the character of 'Cat the Dog' which was Cat as a schoolgirl with very messy hair, huge teeth and a strong Birmingham accent. When asked where she was from she would say in a muffled voice "Burmingum!", the person replied "Where?", and she repeated "Burmingum!". She had an attractive best friend called Louise who appeared occasionally (played by Louise Nurding). Cat the Dog later got her own "series", The Further Adventures of Cat the Dog.
Casually
This sketch was a mix of popular BBC medical drama series Casualty and American soap operas with overacting, villains & over dramatic music all featuring. James Redmond was in this sketch during his brief tenure on this show. Ironically the following year he landed the role of "Abs" Denham on the real Casualty. The sketch made it's last ever appearance on the day Cat was leaving the show.
Eminemmerdale
As the name suggests, a combination of Eminem and Emmerdale. It was based on the Dingles from the actual show, but the family were called 'The Dingleberries'. There was Mother Lucia (played by Shavaughn) who was styled to be like Lisa Dingle. Brian played a character based on Sam Dingle (but who really like pigs!). Tess played a very posh Charity Dingle. And not forgetting Cousin Eminem from the USA played by Des who'd always destroy the walls by his chainsaw. A final episode of this was meant to appear in the last episode and it was going to be a Christmas Special, but it was dropped some point between recording and airing. Although most references were cut from the show's airing, clips appearing in the trailer and one of Brian Dowling's references was left in. Instead of this being shown, an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants was abruptly cut to after an advert break.
Anty and Decky the Garden Goblins
Parody of Bill & Ben: The Flowerpot Men with Ant and Dec as Anty and Decky respectively. Cat played 'Prozac the Giggle-Fairy', and the Narrator, which was her recorded voice used as a voice over. This sketch allowed the two to insert a few off-colour jokes into the show, most notably Anty and Decky's love of the "Dizzy Water" (alcohol) found at "The Grown-Ups Shed"
Other features and competitions
There were many competitions on SMTV. Unlike many other Saturday morning children's programmes, SMTV did give away impressive prizes, such as holidays to America for the family, as well as the usual televisions, games consoles and CDs. (Ant famously gave away his own car in one of the earliest episodes.) Some of the competitions were phone-ins, though a few were more notable, and had a slot on the show every week. One competition, after four weeks of a Pokemon-themed Wonkey Donkey, had a live Who Wants to Be a Mew-Trainer quiz where the winner won a holiday to Japan to go to the Pokemon Center shop and receive a Mew for his Pokemon game.
Postbag
The weekly reading of fan-mail began with the whole studio doing a dance to the song "Please Mr. Postman". While not strictly a sketch, there were several moments of humour and sketch-type gags in its run based around the mail they received, and sometimes the absence of it (which often was revealed to be a hoax with the phrase "Only Joking, we've got Squillions"). One time, Dec received a hand-crafted Pokemon pouch for his trousers and showed it off in a dance (with pelvic-thrusts) to the song "I'm Too Sexy". They also got sent in a lot of crisps where people claimed it was the biggest crisp ever and either Ant or Dec would have a ruler to try and confirm it. Often, the studio audience would start chanting "Eat it! Eat it!" and often, Ant would refuse just before putting it in his mouth, but on several occasions, he did eat it (to the disgust of the studio audience, and his fellow presenters). They also once rather famously got sent in a toe nail (which was also requested by the audience to be eaten by Ant).
On a show on April 1st, Dec (appearing slightly ill) collapsed onto the floor unconscious during the Postman dance; after a few seconds, Cat called for the nurse and the show immediately went into the second half of Pokemon. The Dec Says sketch came after and Dec, now fine, thanked the viewers for all the calls received asking if he was all right and then said "oh, Happy April Fool's Day..." and winked. It's not known if it actually had been an April Fool's Day joke or if he was just pretending it had been to reassure a scared audience.
Another famous incident occurred when Ant was asked to read out a rather crude anecdote, and started laughing uncontrollably, causing Dec to fall into hysterics as well. This clip has since been shown more than any other clip from the show, due to being considered an 'outtake'.
Songs
One edition of Mr Postman ending with Ant playing a viewer's home-made song about SMTV that they'd received, and after that viewers were sending in their own songs every week. Ant sang along to them in the studio as they were played and there was often a dance involved. While most of them were crafted by young kids, one song, "We All Love Cat Deeley", was done by an amateur student band and they were brought in to play it live in one week. This band were called "Sparky" and based in Stockport.
Wonkey Donkey
The premise of the game was very similar to that of Catchphrase. The example the presenters always gave to explain the game was 'Wonkey Donkey'. It was a small toy donkey with one leg missing. Thus, it was a wonkey donkey. Every week, something similar was shown to the viewers who rang in to guess what it was. The golden rule was it had to rhyme. Some weeks it was very easy, and the first caller got the answer right straight away. Other weeks it was not as straightforward with viewers blurting out anything, whether it rhymed or not. If nobody got it one week, it would go to a rollover next week. After three weeks, it would be abandoned for a new one. This only happened once in the show's history, when after three weeks fifteen callers had failed to get "Twee Bee".
Dec found it very frustrating when the callers could not get the answer right, and he sometimes threw the toy and the stand it was placed on in anger, or ranting into the camera, which became a staple occurrence and sparked his catchphrase for the game, "IT'S GOTTA RHYME!". A particularly memorable incident occurred when the toy (a Gordon the Gopher dressed in formal clothes and placed in a toy limosine) was set up, with the answer being "Chauffeur Gopher". One viewer called in and offered as an answer "Rich Duck"; a flabbergasted Dec simply stared at the camera and said, with genuine dismay, "That's so stupid I can't even get angry". On another occasion, a toy kitten saying "I have a soft spot for you, I really love you" was the clue. The answer was "Smitten Kitten". None of the first four callers, bar the third one, managed to use the word 'Kitten' despite Ant and Dec's continuing insistence that they do so. The final caller could not come up with a rhyme for 'Kitten', and when Ant gave him the clue "The kitten has a soft spot", the viewer stumbled through answering "Soft spot kitten". This caused Dec to point away from the camera and shout "GET OUT!" repeatedly. Once in the show's opening 'menu', when Ant and Cat mentioned that the game was coming up later, they said "And remember, for the sake of Dec's blood pressure, IT'S GOTTA RHYME!". One edition of the game featured a toy racoon stranded on an island, nobody got it right in the first game despite Ant giving clues, while one caller thought it was a chicken, only for Dec to shout at the camera "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A CHICKEN!". Another caller kept splurting trying to give his answer, with Ant then shouting "BLUGH!, BLUGH!, BLUGH!, WHATEVER YOU SHOUT WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!".
The hosts' continued frustration led to them filming a pre-recorded round of the game, with an answer of "Pat Cat" (the clue being host Cat Deeley rubbing her arms over her back). The fictional contestant made a number of unrelated guesses, including constantly repeating "Feely Deeley" even when informed it was incorrect numerous times.
The game had a break for a while and came back towards summer of 2003 and the start of the show they had a party and a banner saying 'Welcome Back Wonkey Donkey!'. Des, Brian & Shavaughn dressed up in certain things that rhymed with their names such as 'Press Tess' where Tess was dressed like a newspaper. But when Des came on, he was dressed as a banana and said he was Banana Des (which didn't ryhme!). So from then Shavaughn was the host of the game and Des was the lovely assistant! When Shavaughn left, Stephen took over for the rest of the show's time. But there was no Wonkey Donkey on the last ever SM:TV Gold due to Stephen not being there.
What's Ant Whistling?
This competition involved Ant whistling a popular tune from a TV series that the phoning-in contestants had to guess.
Splattoon/Men in Splat
Based on the title of Oliver Stone's film Platoon, the aim of the game was for a caller to direct a blindfolded celebrity to use a gun to 'splat' small model hot air balloons, filled with paint. For this game, Ant and Dec always dressed up as WWI fighter plane pilots, complete with fake moustaches and pipes and spoke with old-fashioned accents. There was a running gag of Cat as "Private Deeley", with Ant and Dec not realising she was a woman in drag. After SM:TV started to show episodes of MIB: The Animated Series the game was given a cosmetic makeover, replacing the hot air balloons with aliens and renaming it "Men in Splat".
Challenge Ant/Brian's Brain
Each week, a child would challenge Ant by asking him ten questions they had prepared. For every one Ant did not answer correctly, the child won a prize, such as a DVD or video game. One memorable live blooper came in this game when the child asked Ant the question "Who appeared naked on Channel 5 last week?", to which the answer was Keith Chegwin, referring to the show he hosted, Naked Jungle. Ant answered correctly, and that got a laugh, but then Dec, red-faced, announced that the next prize up for grabs was a DVD of Free Willy, which reduced the studio to hysterics.
At the end of the ten questions, the child would have the chance to gamble the prizes they had won for the 'star prize', which was usually a DVD player or games console. They then asked Ant a further question, called the "Killer Question", with an accompanying dramatic sound effect. If Ant answered incorrectly, the child and audience would chant, "you're thick, you're thick, you're thick, you're thick you are, you're thick, you're thick!" (to the tune of the opening lines of "Ole!" by The Bouncing Souls) and so on, and put a dunce cap on Ant's head. If, however, Ant answered the question correctly, the child would lose all their prizes, and Ant would be crowned "King of Common Knowledge", to the tune of Rockin' All Over The World, revelling in taunting the child, as he was crowned. In later episodes, the child would get a 'consolation prize' of a handkerchief reading "I lost on Challenge Ant". Although most went forward with the Killer Question, there were three occurrences where the child decided to go home with the prizes they had already won. One of these occurrences had the child requesting to go home and Dec replying "Well we all want to go home love".
There were also "celebrity editions", (called "Challenge Ant - Celebrity Style!") played by stars such as Robbie Williams and Westlife. One edition had, seemingly without warning, Ant being challenged by his own sister and for ownership of items of his stuff (he won). Another edition took place on the day of the Tyne-Wear Derby. This involved Ant and Dec being challenged by their respective girlfriends. The grand prize for the lads was a trip to the derby, and if they lost they had to take their girlfriends out shopping. This match was a disaster for the lads.
When Ant & Dec left the show, Brian Dowling took over the game, being the one asked the questions, with Cat and later Tess Daly taking over Dec's role as host, and it was renamed Brian's Brain. This game was played in the last-ever show, and was also played in Ant & Dec's first prime-time Saturday night show Slap Bang with Ant & Dec, (the forerunner to Saturday Night Takeaway) only this time played by elderly contestants.
In a memorable episode on Cat's last day, Cilla Black entered the studio at the part where Brian was supposed to enter, and announced that today they would be testing Cat's brain. Another memorable episode featured Brian's sisters as the contenders.
Eat My Goal
Celebrity guests would take it in turns to take penalties, with Ant in goal. Callers would choose the celebrities they thought would win against Ant. The name comes from a song by Collapsed Lung, which they played when a goal was scored.
Sabrina's Poem
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was airing on SM:TV, and was very popular with viewers. Dec had often proclaimed his love for Sabrina and would regularly read a dreadful poem he'd written just for her, often to the dismay of everyone in the studio. In the early days, Ant would attempt to block this by claiming that Sabrina's lawyers had banned Dec from reading out the poem on the air. This led to an early blooper when Ant was supposed to open a scroll of things Dec wasn't allowed to say in that week's poem. But while he made the sound of it dropping to the floor, he didn't actually open it, and the studio broke down with laughter. Ant's excuse was that he "thought it was still rehearsal".
On another occasion Dec was dared not to actually mention Sabrina's name in the poem, and he said names like Tina, Katrina, and names that rhymed with Sabrina, but right at the end he did say Sabrina, and got a pie in his face. Later sketches saw him write a story in which he would be the hero that saved Sabrina (played by a female guest from that week's show) from impending doom, but the 'cast' would always ruin it for him, for example, Cat and Ant would mishear words in his story (e.g. When he said the word "eastward", a cowboy would come out, with Cat claiming she thought he said "Eastwood")
When interviewing Melissa Joan Hart, the actress who played Sabrina, for the programme the gag was employed. Dec asked Hart to be his 'lass'. Apparently not understanding him, she said yes.
Pick Your Knows
Each week a child would come into the studio and pick a question category. The child was then asked to pick their knows (to choose a celebrity to answer the question.) If the celebrity got the answer wrong, the child won a point but if they got it right, the celebrities got a point and whoever had the most points at the end of the game won.
15 to Fun
This was a one-off episode based on the gameshow 15 to 1. The winner went on holiday.
CD:UK
After each programme, CD:UK (an abbreviation of CountDown United Kingdom) was broadcast, with the same presenters as SMTV Live. This was also presented live, and featured bands in the charts, music videos, and interviews with famous music stars. Although Cat Deeley left SM:TV Live in 2002, she continued to host CD:UK for a further 3 years - outliving SM:TV itself. CD:UK came to an end on ITV in April 2006 due to budget problems within the network.
SMTV Gold
The death knell for SMTV came in 2003, when falling viewing figures led to the show being axed. In the run-up to the last ever edition in December of that year, which brought back all the old presenters (except James Redmond), SMTV Gold began. Basically, a show comprising of clips from what is considered the 'golden age' of SMTV; 2000 - 2001. There would be three votes every week for the viewers to vote for a favourite sketch. The current presenters delivered fillers and links to the clips, as well as show the usual selection of cartoons. Des & Stephen hosted the show every week, but Stephen didn't host the show with Des on the last ever SM:TV Gold (which was the week before the last ever show). This was maybe because Stephen would be presenting replacement show, Ministry of Mayhem in January a few weeks later. CD:UK continued to be broadcast on ITV until April 1, 2006.
Video releases
Two videos from SMTV Live have been released:
- The Best of SMTV Live So Far (2001)
- Chums (released on VHS in 2000, re-released on DVD in 2004)
Writers and producers
The first six months of the show were produced by Ric Blaxhill, a former producer for Top of the Pops. He was replaced in late 1998 by Steve Pinhay and Phil Mount, and then shortly afterwards by David Staite. In September 1999, Ben Ward and Gez Foster, two writers from Men In Trousers were brought in from rival BBC show, Live and Kicking which SM:TV Live soon overtook in ratings. These two writers were also members of The Cheese Shop comedy group.
Multi award-winning writer Dean Wilkinson was with the show for many years and Conor McAnally was its executive producer throughout the five years on air. He is still in the role of Director of Programmes at Blaze TV, who made SM:TV, and was executive producer of CD:UK until its end in 2005, however he still has involvement in its popular US counterpart CD:USA.
Awards
SMTV has won a number of awards
- British Academy Children's Film and Television Award (2002) Entertainment
- British Academy Children's Film and Television Award (2002) LEGO/BAFTA Kids' Vote
- British Academy Children's Film and Television Award (2001) Presenter - Cat Deeley
- British Academy Children's Film and Television Award (2000) Entertainment
- British Comedy Award (2000) People's Choice Award
- RTS Programme Award (2001) Presenter - Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly
- TV Hits Award (2000) Best Teen Show
In 2001 it came 27th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows.
External links
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