Difference between revisions of "The Saturday Show"

Revision as of 10:58, 30 September 2012

The Saturday version of Chris’s show used to be a great way to start the weekend proper.

The show ran for over three and a half years, and was often performed under a haze of booze from the night before. It was also the show on which Moyles and Dave first worked with producer, Rachel Jones, who later went on to produce the breakfast show.

On April 25th 1998 Chris was promoted from his previous 6-9am Saturday slot, as Radio One revamped their weekend schedules. He was given the new 10am-1pm show, produced by Richard Murdoch (known as Count Drunkula due to his red-stained teeth from drinking wine the previous evening) - and less than ably assisted by “Baldie” Greg Young. For more on Richard and Greg, check out our past team members page.

The show also often contained slightly bizarre competitions, the most famous probably being “Hello, I'm Listening”. This involved Chris phoning up someone, who would then have to answer with “Hello, I'm Listening” (like Frasier Crane from the hit TV series Frasier). There would also be variations of this, with different phrases. Sometimes callers would be from the phone books of the team, or from emails into the show.

Features

• Girls Going To Football - Chris used to invite women to phone in and predict the day's football scores. Dave would then predict them with far greater accuracy himself, in a psychic manner. There were several comedy alternatives suggested, such as ”Dames Going To Games” and ”Bitches at the Pitches”. The strapline was ”You have to be a proper fan, but not a man!”.

• Boys Going Shopping - During the summer, Moyles and Dave would sometimes use this feature to replace Girls Going To Football. It usually involved desperate men phoning up in search of excuses to get out of going shopping with the missus.

• Gargling - A competition where callers would have to ring up and pick a member of the team to gargle a song for them. If by some miracle they guessed it correctly, they would win office tat. Sometimes celebrity guests would gargle (badly), although Baldie Greg was always the worst by far.

• Who’s In The Doghouse - Sung to the tune of Who Let The Dogs Out? by the Baha Men, this involved blokes ringing in to explain why they were in the doghouse. It usually involved too much alcohol the previous night.

• Midday Chocolate Money - A tribute to Richard and Judy's Midday Money feature, but instead of winning £500 for each correct question, the caller would win a chocolate coin. Chris and Dave used to play this game at exactly midday, with a series of straightforward questions, which they would do in a Richard and Judy stylee - clip here.

• Fingernail Riverdance - A feature that involved lots of synchronised finger tapping, in time to the Lord Of The Dance music. Strange but funny.

• May Divorce Be With You - Chris and Dave used to make predictions on how long people's marriages would last. We can’t quite remember why.

• Dave’s Introductory Service - Not a feature strictly done on Saturdays, but still a favourite if there was a link to kill. Comedy Dave would show off his musical knowledge by identifying songs from their introduction, whilst playing against a caller or fellow team member.

Every week after 12, the lads would also be joined by celebrity guests, often ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. Sisqo and Jerry Springer were particular favourites, although a long list - including Natalie Imbruglia, Dannii Minogue, Atomic Kitten and Kenickie - didn’t go down quite so well.

In February 2000 '911' announced their split live on the show, and another memorable moment was the day Chris and Dave had to stay on until 3pm in the absence of Emma B - for a five hour marathon shift.

The funniest ever moment on the Saturday Show is widely thought to be the time Comedy Dave sang an off-the-cuff song all about cheese in June 2001, including the classic line ”Just take a look at my cheese!”.

In August 2001, Radio One announced a major change to its weekend line up. According to a press release, Chris was “giving up” his weekend slot to make way for a new show by Jamie Theakston. A spokesman said "It's because he now has five hours extra each week in the afternoons. It has always been the plan to move him from Saturdays". Either way, Moyles didn’t sound too chuffed. The Sun’s Showbiz Editor Dominic Mohan said that Radio One bosses were mad, as Saturday was Chris’s best show.

The final edition of the Saturday Show was aired on Saturday September 15th 2001. Actor and singer Adam Rickett and television personality Dale Winton both made guest appearances on the last show, and you can see webcam images from the final show in our picture gallery. Before the final Saturday Show began, Moyles made a short statement advising listeners that the show would have the usual fun and laughter, despite the September 11 terror attacks in the USA a few days earlier. He respectfully advised anyone who would not be in the mood for a laugh to not listen to the show.

Chris has since presented one off weekend shows for Radio One, including shows live from Cardiff in 2003, Londonderry in 2004 and Newquay in 2006.