Record Breakers
Record Breakers was a British children's TV show, themed around world records and produced by the BBC. It was broadcast on BBC1 from 15 December 1972 to 21 December 2001.
Format
The programme was a spin-off series from Blue Peter which had featured record breaking attempts overseen by the McWhirter twins. As well as interviews with people who held British or World records, early editions of the programme would include a feature in which the studio audience would test the McWhirter brothers on their knowledge of records, and the climax of each show would usually be a world record attempt in the studio.Presenters
It was originally presented by Roy Castle with Guinness World Records founders twin brothers Norris McWhirter and Ross McWhirter. Other hosts during this period included Dilys Morgan in 1973, Fiona Kennedy, Julian Farino, Cheryl Baker and Kriss Akabusi. Ross was murdered by a Provisional IRA gunman in 1975, but his brother continued to appear on the show in the "Norris on the Spot" feature. Norris carried on as the book's sole editor until he left the show in 1985.After Castle died in 1994, the show continued to be hosted by Baker and Akabusi, alongside newcomers Mark Curry in 1995 and later Ronald Reagan Jr. who presented a report from the USA each week. The programme was revamped in 1998 and returned as Linford's Record Breakers, hosted by Linford Christie with new co-presenters Jack Lattimer, Kate Gerbeau and Jez Edwards. Lattimer and Gerbeau left after one series and were replaced by Sally Gray for the next two series. The show's original title returned for the final series in 2001; this was hosted by Edwards, alongside Fearne Cotton and Shovell.
Production
The closing theme was "Dedication", performed by Roy Castle, who broke nine world records on the show himself. Producers of the series over the years were, Alan Russell, Michael Forte, Eric Rowan, Greg Childs, Annette Williams and Jeremy Daldry.By the time Record Breakers was cancelled, it had been on air for 29 years, 7 days and was one of the longest-running TV programmes in Britain.