The Chris Moyles Show
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 | This article may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. (November 2008) |
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| File:ChrisMoylesLarge.jpg Moyles standing in front of the BBC Radio 1 Logo | |
| Genre | Comedy, talk |
|---|---|
| Running time | 210 minutes (6:30-10:00 am) |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 1 |
| Written by | Chris Moyles David Vitty |
| Produced by | Rachel Mallender (née Jones) Aled Haydn Jones |
| Executive producer(s) | Piers Bradford |
| Recording studio | Studio Y2, Yalding House, London |
| Original release | 5 January 2004 – Present |
| Audio format | FM and Digital radio |
| Opening theme | The Cheesy Song – since 1st of Jan 2007 |
| Website | Official Website |
| Podcast | Best of Chris Moyles Best of Chris Moyles Enhanced |
The Chris Moyles Show is the current BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in the UK, and has been since Chris Moyles became the station's breakfast show presenter on 5 January 2004. From 2004 to 2007, the show was broadcast 6:55–10:00 am each weekday, but since 15 October 2007 it has started from 6:30 am.
Show format
Moyles' show lasts three and a half hours, with news and sport read half-hourly between just before 06:30 (unusually for radio, the news leads up to the top of the half-hour and the show begins properly at exactly 06:30 am with the BBC Pips) where they then play the "Cheesy Song", an opening song performed like a Broadway musical number which has different lyrics for each day of the week. A typical half-hour segment contains between fifteen and twenty minutes of chat, discussing the team members' lives, Radio 1's features, music or popular culture. There are regular celebrity guest interviews usually between 08:00 and 09:00, with the occasional live music performance and frequent first exclusive plays of new single releases. At 10:00, when it switches over to the Fearne Cotton Show (which replaced the Jo Whiley Show from 21st September 2009) Chris will typically talk to Fearne for the first few minutes. The show relies on a number of on-air contributions from background staff in a variation of the "zoo" format, with members of the production team, news and sport readers and other studio guests contributing throughout the show.
Features
- Rob DJ's Monday Night Pub Quiz
- One of Chris' friends, Rob DJ, presents a quiz he writes in a pub in their mutual home town of Leeds every Monday evening, with the team reconstructing five questions from the quiz on Tuesday morning. Running totals of each team member's recent performances are kept and analysed. Since 2007, the quiz has been an interactive feature, with listeners able to play along on their mobile phones via WAP. Until the BBC's fake competition winners scandal forced the company to abandon competitions, one male and one female audience member would take part in the quiz live on air. The rules are that the answer is what Rob DJ has put on the cards, which is not necessarily always the correct answer. However the controversial answers are usually vigorously debated between the team. Chris Moyles won the pub quiz in both 2007[1] and 2008[2]. Rob DJ's Monday Night Quiz Book is published by Michael O'Mara Books.
- Tedious Link
- by Comedy Dave was carried forward from Moyles' old afternoon show and is a parody of Jo Whiley's now defunct Tenuous Link. Comedy Dave links one record played in the previous programme to another record using 'cleverly' written facts to connect the names of the titles or artists, whilst the theme tune to the BBC TV Series Bottom is played in the background, though this was replaced with a purpose-written jingle and music 'bed' in January 2009. The record is (normally) played at precisely 9:00 am, introduced by the famous BBC Pips, and afterwards the link between the records is reviewed for mistakes – which is usually found to be the case. Chris plays clips of speech from various celebrities telling Dave whether 'That tedious link was rubbish' or not! The theme music to the former Channel 4 TV show "Treasure Hunt" used to accompany this review, now replaced by a repeat of the purpose written jingle music bed. The feature runs from Monday to Thursday.
- Car Park Catchphrase
- Two listeners inside their car had to beep their horn to guess a catchphrase, which is hosted using voice samples from the Northern Irish comedian and original Catchphrase presenter, Roy Walker. Even though simple catchphrases are used and carefully chosen obvious clues provided by Walker using the fictional character Mr Fish, who was the subject of all the clues, many callers fail to spot the correct phrase. The competition went off air at Christmas 2005, but returned to the show on 8 January 2007. It went off the air again when the BBC announced it would temporarily suspend all phone-in competitions. The feature again returned on 14 April 2008 but contestants now have to register through the Radio 1 website, previously Rachel would say at the end of the feature ramble – "The lines are now open for Car Park Catchphrase, you need to be in a car, know your catchphrases and be in a car park, Thank You!". The feature began with the Car Park Catchphrase jingle, followed by Moyles introducing the feature by saying "Goood Morning Car Park Fans!", Dominic Byrne is then invited to 'bum' along to the base of the Car Park Catchphrase bed, followed by a chat with clips of Roy Walker. The two callers were then introduced, and asked what model of car they are in, to which the team used to all say "Mmmm, nice wheels!" and then to beep their horn, to which comments are made about the horn. The game is then played with a best-of-3 rule, and winner stays on – for tomorrow's game. The feature is then ended by Roy saying "Say goodbye Mr Fish... He's waving!" This feature was aired around 9:45–10:00 , at the end of the show. Car Park Catchphrase was 'Rested' on the 18th December 2008 , Moyles last Thursday before Christmas. However, after the last edition of Cheggers Pop Quiz, Moyles hinted to Jo Whiley during the handover to her show that Car Park Catchphrase may return after the show's summer break and indeed, when they returned, so did the feature.
- Cheggers Pop Quiz
- In January 2009, Car Park Catchphrase was replaced by another feature, starring Keith Chegwin, called 'Cheggers' Pop Quiz'. Within this, Moyles asks two callers questions related to pop music and popular culture. The winning caller (the contestant who has answered the most question correctly) returns the following day in a 'winner stays on' format. On Wednesday 29th July, Moyles announced that it would be the last edition.
Other regular competitions hosted include Viaduct (named by Simon Mayo when asked for a suggestion about what to call the quiz when Moyles stood in on the breakfast show). It is based on a Two Ronnies sketch (in turn based on Mastermind, with a specialist subject of "answering the question before the last"); and more recently Car Park Catchphrase, featuring voice samples from the Ulster comedian Roy Walker. This was replaced in January 2006 with a spoof on the quiz Blockbusters called Beep Beep Busters. Car Park Catchphrase returned in January 2007, but rested again at the end of the year; at the same time it was announced there would be a new pop game show in 2009 with Keith Chegwin – "Cheggers pop quiz".
Numerous other features in Moyles's shows include "Girls Going to Football", in which Comedy Dave predicts the scores of football matches to which female listeners are going; "Frog Or Dog", where listeners had to do an impression of either a frog or a dog; "Guess Who", a Twenty Questions-style game, in which the team members try to guess the name of a celebrity spotted by another of the team; and "Celebrity Tarzan", in which listeners have to try and guess which celebrity is hollering like Tarzan, in order to win various prize
Other features of the show included "Who Knows Dom?" in which a daily increasing 'chain' of people who know team member Dominic Byrne was developed. "Who Knows Dom?" was replaced by "Just Ask Dom", which uses the same jingle but with different lyrics and involves listeners sending in a question on any topic for Dom to answer. Birthday Corner was discontinued on 25 January 2008.
From 17 September 2007 to 28 September 2007 Radio 1's legendary 'Golden Hour' returned from 9:00–10:00 am as part of the 'Radio 1 Established 1967', the celebration of the station's 40th year on air. The feature has now appears on the show every Friday between 9:00–10:00 am.
Team members
Of the current team members, Comedy Dave has worked with Chris the longest; though since 2004 he has also presented his own show; Chappers and Dave, alongside Mark "Chappers" Chapman, a BBC Radio 1 sports reporter.
- Chris Moyles
- Host of the show.
- "Comedy" Dave Vitty
- Co-presenter, who is responsible for most of the written comedy on the show.
- Rachel Mallender (née Jones)
- Producer since 2003.
- Aled Haydn Jones
- Day Producer. He had previously worked as the Assistant Producer. Also the presenter of The Sunday Surgery.
- Dominic Byrne
- Newsreader since the move to mornings. He also does regular celebrity interviews and presented several features such as One Road Travel and Who Knows Dom.
- Carrie Davis
- Sportsreader since October 2004 until February 2010, the quietest member of the team, becoming pregnant and having to temporally leaving the show (tbc if Davis is to return).
- Tina Daheley
- Sportsreader since February 2010, replacing former sportsreader Carrie Prideaux who left the show to have a baby.
- "To a lesser extent" Matt Fincham
- Assistant Producer. When things go wrong, Matt gets the blame.
Regular Contributors
- Ant Danbury
- Creator of the Best of Chris Moyles podcast, known for having the voice of a child
- Rob DJ
- Chris' friend from Leeds who is the author and presenter of Rob DJ's Monday Night Pub Quiz in Chris's local pub in Leeds. This is also a feature with the same name, but done on Tuesdays.
- Andi Peters
- Former children's TV presenter who frequently calls up the show, or is called by the team, usually unannounced, and has conversations with the team.
- Roy Walker
- (2004–2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) – Host of Car Park Catchphrase in pre-recorded form.
- Keith Chegwin
- Keith (aka Cheggers) continuously sends in jingles, spoof ads and other songs remixed in his studio, probably the most famous of these is his 'Cheggae', a mix between Church music and Reggae. When the show returned in 2009 Cheggers had his own feature called "Cheggers' Pop Quiz".
- Will Kinder
- (2000–2005, 2008, 2009) – Producer of the Afternoon Show (2000–2003), but left to join Tiger Aspect Productions. However, he returned shortly afterwards. He currently produces most of the video output on the BBC Radio 1 website. Has reappeared on the show on some occasions when there has been video recording in the studio. He now features (and contributes) regularly, and is constantly at the receiving end of banter from the team.
- Angelo
- Chris' fat fighting competition, talks to the show every week, usually on Thursdays to update them with the latest news in his attempts to be thin. (March 2009 - December 2009)
Notable former team members
- Carrie Prideaux
- Sportsreader from 2004 - February 2010, who lef the show on maternity leave. She was replaced by Tina Daheley.
- Longman
- A semi-frequently heard contributor who used to own a sandwich shop. He is currently a personal trainer and lives in Florida with his wife.
- Juliette Ferrington
- (2004) – Original sportsreader on the Breakfast Show, after making frequent appearances on the Afternoon Show. However, she left in October 2004 to join BBC Radio 5 Live as their North of England football correspondent.
- Lizzie Buckingham
- (2001–2002) – Joined the show as broadcast assistant after working with Jamie Theakston. Left in 2002 to become Day Producer on the Scott Mills show, before moving to Canada.
- Jon Culshaw
- (1998–2002) – Resident show impressionist, Culshaw would join the team every Friday for impression-based segments, most notably prank phone calls. In 2000, Culshaw began his career with Dead Ringers on BBC Radio 4, which transferred to television in 2002, prompting Culshaw to leave his role on the Chris Moyles show.
- Simon "Melinda" Hollis
- (1998–2000) – Former broadcast assistant on the Afternoon Show, got the nickname "Melinda" because he used to work in a mail room (ergo a messenger). Left the show on the 21st December 2000 & moved to Australia six months later.
Guests
Moyles has had, and frequently boasts about, a wide array of celebrity guests on his show. Notable appearances include Dave Grohl, Ben Stiller, 50 Cent, Noel Gallagher, Davina McCall, Rio Ferdinand, Ozzy Osbourne, Joss Stone, David Beckham, Jeremy Clarkson, Chris Rock, Will Smith, Kiefer Sutherland, Anthony Costa and many more.
In the Summer of 2004, Moyles interviewed the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair as part of Sport Relief. Among other questions posed to the PM was to name his favourite type of cheese, to which Blair replied Cheddar.
A long-running gag throughout certain interviews is for Chris to demonstrate and describe the hydraulic desk in the studio. This is usually done if the team deem the visiting guest to be less than entertaining, or boring.
- Since David Gest did not show up to an interview with the show there has been a policy where if the celebrity who is due to be interviewed isn't there on their call time, they will be cancelled. This has happened three times to date. The first was David Gest, who was followed by Katie Price. On 25 February 2008, Adrian Chiles was due to be a guest on the show but was late. However, his interview was then rescheduled rather than cancelled entirely due to the reason of promoting the charity Sports Relief. On 10 October 2008, Kelly Osbourne was meant to be promoting BBC Switch on the show, but was not there for her call at 8 am, and was cancelled.
Podcast
Starting on 28 July 2005, as part of the BBC's podcasting trial, a weekly podcast entitled the Best of Chris Moyles was released, containing the highlights from the past week of the show. Originally updated every Thursday, and now Friday as from January 2006, the podcast features highlights from the five previous broadcasts. It featured as the most downloaded podcast in the UK iTunes Music Store for much of 2005; however, in December 2005, it was overtaken by the Ricky Gervais Podcast. The podcast is quite popular and is downloaded by over a quarter of a million people worldwide.[citation needed] The podcasts also contain an original opening and closing link.
Complaints
There have been a number of complaints in the last two years about the Chris Moyles Show. These have included complaints of bad language, racism, homophobia, transphobia and sexism; some of which have been upheld by Ofcom.
See also
References
External links
- The Chris Moyles Show at Radio 1
- The Unofficial Chris Moyles Fansite
- The Official Chris Moyles Show Facebook page
Footnotes
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrismoyles/2008/12/chris_martins_in_tomorrow.shtml/ The Blog explaining car park catchphrase's 'resting'.(About half way down)