TVam was awarded the new Breakfast franchise in 1983 after persuading the IBA of the viability of the idea. With an All star cast of Michael Parkinson, David Frost, Anna Ford, Angela Rippon and Robert Kee (known as the 'famous five') it was eventually launched two weeks after the BBC's "Breakfast Time" ;and was not an overnight success. After many relaunches (almost having it's franchise removed) and disputes with the unions over manning levels a successful and profitable service was established with Bruce Gyngell at the helm; providing a model for the rest of ITV. The biggest suprise was that after all this it lost it's franchise in the 1992 franchise rounds.

It's legacy is that it brought an unsuspecting world "Roland Rat - SUPERSTAR"! ....yeeh! Rat Fans

GMTV took over the early slot in 1993 and carried on with cloned programming of it's forerunner and eventually beefed up it's news content. It faced a now very competitive market with rivals on BBC1 (now with 'Breakfast news'), Channel4 ('The Big Breakfast' - began in '92), Channel5 and Sky News, plus a resurgence in the radio audience during it's peak air time.

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