Category: Show Diary
Scott begins his new weekday Radio 2 show with a musical welcome from Liverpool, the first Birthday Game and Zoe Ball and Richie Anderson playing Speedmates. [...]
Scott refuses to leave the house with a broken veneer
The front of one of Scott's veneers has fallen away, leaving what appears to be a missing tooth. He has avoided social events because smiling makes it look as though he has been punched, although the underlying tooth is still present and a repair is booked.
The temporary gap explains the subject nobody in the studio has wanted to mention. Chris had assumed it was a Christmas injury, while Scott is mainly relieved that radio allows him to work [...]
The result can finally be revealed
The previous night's Robot Wars episode ends with Scott and Chris as celebrity champions. Their team defeats machines operated by Jordan Stephens and Suzi Perry, vindicating the trip to Glasgow and explaining why they had struggled to discuss filming without revealing too much.
Scott controlled the weapon while Chris helped drive, supported by Dangerous Dave. Chris wants greater recognition for his contribution and the pair celebrate with the intensity of a foo [...]
The strange week between Christmas and New Year
Scott and Chris return on Breakfast unsure whether Wednesday still counts as Bamboleo Wednesday when most listeners have only just gone back to work. Chris had to text the previous evening to confirm that the show was really happening before leaving the pub early.
They greet people working through the holiday period and defend themselves against claims that the programme is pre-recorded. A listener heading to New York for her 21st birthday helps by [...]
The mums open the wrong son's presents
Scott and Chris repeat their most uncomfortable Christmas tradition. Each has selected, wrapped and delivered a present to the other's mother, but both mums have been told that the parcel was chosen by their own son.
They call the women and ask them to open the gifts live on air, accepting praise for taste and effort that belongs to somebody else. Scott admits he has invested more thought in Chris's mum than in his own girlfriend, while Chris enjoys the dec [...]
The carollers pick up
The Breakfast show calls the University of Illinois's free Dial-a-Carol service again. A recorded message warns that high demand may create a 15-minute wait, but Scott remains on the line until a volunteer answers and asks for a name, location and request.
The result is an intimate American performance heard live across Britain. After earlier calls with Judge Rinder and M.O, the service has become one of the year's most persistent festive threads, with the hold music and ch [...]
Cheese is now acceptable at breakfast
Scott opens Early Morning Cheese Club at 6.45am. Listeners arrive prepared with Babybel in the car, a one-kilogram wheel of Camembert, Double Gloucester, Stinking Bishop and grated cheddar, while the studio microwaves a fondue powerful enough to drive one cheese-hating producer from the room.
Every caller pulls a cracker with Scott before eating. The jokes are ancient, the toys require assembly and the smell lingers across Radio 1, but Christmas is only four [...]
London fails the Christmas market test
Scott visits the South Bank expecting a major Christmas market and finds only a handful of huts. He asks listeners to nominate somewhere more convincing and considers travelling to Birmingham or another city before the week ends.
The studio has already created its own seasonal atmosphere with crackers and a strong smell of Camembert. One producer is so disturbed by cheese that the decision to serve it early in the morning becomes a genuine workplace problem [...]
The least festive place in the BBC
Scott begins a week of Breakfast cover and complains that Radio 1 does not look sufficiently Christmassy. His solution is to send Chris to the BBC's basement showers, where there is no tinsel and several unsuspecting colleagues are getting ready for work.
Chris hides in a cubicle and softly sings “Little Donkey”, expecting the room to join in. Nobody responds. Scott makes him repeat the song and increase the volume, but the combination of running water, whisper [...]
The window closes at 3.55
Natasha calls to confirm the rules of Relationship Transfer Deadline Day. Scott and Chris decide that anybody considering a break-up must act by 3.55pm, after which it becomes unacceptably cruel to leave a partner during Christmas.
Once the deadline passes, every existing relationship is protected until an unspecified reopening date in January. Natasha has no intention of using the window, but callers with doubts receive a final warning that indecision will commit them [...]