The Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former Boomtown Rats and Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof. It had a continuous run except for three days after the September 11, 2001 attacks when it was replaced by news bulletins.

The programme was distinctive for broadcasting live from former lockkeepers' cottages commonly referred to as "The Big Breakfast House", or more simply, "The House", located on Fish Island, in Bow in east London.

The show was a mix of news, weather, interviews, audience phone-ins and general features, with a light tone which was in competition with the more serious GMTV output and even more serious BBC output.^{[citation needed]}.

The Big Breakfast was launched at the end of September 1992 to replace The Channel Four Daily, which had been Channel 4's unsuccessful first dip into the breakfast television market between 1989 and 1992. The Daily, launched at huge expense, had possessed an "analytical" style, focusing largely on current affairs, news bulletins and quiz shows; however, this format had failed to earn enough viewing figures,^{[citation needed]} and consequently Channel 4 had opted to change direction and work towards a lighter style focusing mainly on entertainment and humour.

Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1959– 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.

Born in Colwyn Bay, Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975; Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.

In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.

Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he briefly fronted The Tears, and has released four solo albums. Suede reformed in 2010. In Suede's early days, Anderson's androgynous style and unique, wide ranging vocals were an instant phenomenon in the UK.

Born in Haywards Heath, West Sussex into a working class family, Anderson's mother was an artist and his father was a classical music fan. He was brought up in a small council estate in Lindfield, a village adjoining Haywards Heath, attending Lindfield Junior School then Oathall Comprehensive School.

In his teens, Anderson played guitar for garage bands such as The Pigs and Geoff, the latter featuring future Suede bassist Mat Osman. In the late-1980s, Anderson and Osman formed Suede with Anderson's girlfriend, Justine Frischmann, soon recruiting guitarist Bernard Butler through an advertisement in the NME. After receiving percussional help from former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, in 1991, Simon Gilbert joined Suede as their official drummer. It was around this time that Frischmann left Anderson for Blur frontman Damon Albarn, which created an early rift in the burgeoning Britpop scene of the early 1990s. After missing too many rehearsals and flaunting her relationship with Albarn while still living with Anderson, Frischmann was fired from the group, going on to front Elastica.

Rolf Harris, CBE, AM (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the characters. He also began a musical career initially with the piano accordion. He wrote the famous song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", and when performing in Canada he introduced his popular routine around his song "Jake the Peg". He often uses unusual instruments in his performances: he plays the didgeridoo, has been credited with the invention of the wobble board, a rhythmic percussion instrument, and was associated with the Stylophone, a small electronic keyboard instrument.

From the 1960s he has become a popular television personality, presenting shows including Rolf's Cartoon Club, Animal Hospital and various programmes about serious art. In late 2005 he painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which was the subject of a special episode of Rolf on Art.

Vanessa Jane Feltz (born 21 February 1962) is an English television personality, broadcaster and journalist. She currently presents an early morning radio show on BBC Radio 2, a mid morning phone-in show on BBC London 94.9. In 2011, she started hosting The Vanessa Show on Channel 5. The first series ended on June 24. The show will return in September.

Vanessa Feltz was born in Islington, London, and grew up in Pine Grove, Totteridge. On her radio show she frequently refers to Totteridge as "the Beverly Hills of North London", and her middle-class Jewish background as like "growing up in Fiddler on the Roof [with her] as Topol".

Her father Norman was in the lingerie business. Her mother Valerie (née Ohrenstein) was a housewife who died of cancer at the age of 57 in 1995. She has one sister, three years younger.

Feltz was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, an independent school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. She then went on to study English at Trinity College, Cambridge, England.