Scott and Chris were on Breakfast
Greg James was taking a week off.
Scott and Chris therefore moved into Radio 1 Breakfast from Monday to Thursday.
The change immediately produced a different energy.
Chris was broadcasting from home.
Scott was in the studio.
Both repeatedly reminded listeners that the programme was still there even if mornings felt less structured than normal.
The show mixed its own regular features with Breakfast ideas, including Better Days, a quiz based on happier dates from the recent past rather than current news.
Dogs were improving lockdown
One of the day’s “latest things” involved a dog in the United States called Soda delivering bottles of wine.
The bottle could be placed safely on the dog’s back so customers kept their distance from the human delivering it.
Scott considered Soda an ideal lockdown employee.
Another video involved sports reporter Michelle Owen trying to commentate on her husband playing FIFA while the family dog repeatedly disrupted the broadcast.
The programme was beginning to collect the animal clips people were sharing while stuck at home.
Watford v Southampton needed a decider
Chris’s football loyalty to Watford and Scott’s association with Southampton had already produced competition on the show.
Now the pair wanted a proper result.
With actual football suspended, they needed another method.
Radio 1 veteran Chappers returned as referee.
The sport was:
rock, paper, scissors.
Chris represented Watford.
Scott became Southampton.
Chappers treated it like a cup final
The game was given commentary, tactical analysis and a completely unnecessary amount of tension.
Chappers reminded Chris that Watford’s previous supposed win over Burnley had benefited from Jordan North not turning up.
This time there would be no excuse.
Best of three.
Three.
Two.
One.
Scott and Chris shouted their choices like elite athletes.
Chappers analysed whether repeating a move was clever strategy.
For a few minutes, suspended football had been replaced by radio presenters yelling “rock” and “scissors” from separate locations.
Better Days deliberately ignored the present
The Breakfast quiz also asked listeners to remember ordinary events from previous years.
A Big Weekend.
A chart moment.
A celebrity birthday.
The feature was deliberately nostalgic.
The current days were difficult enough.
Radio 1 could spend a few minutes asking what happened on a much better one.
The week had only just started
Scott and Chris would remain on Breakfast through Thursday.
That gave them four mornings to expand remote DJ sets, challenges and archive material into a much bigger programme.
Monday began with dogs, rock-paper-scissors football and Chappers.
The tone was set.
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