The Big Breakfast: new series release date on Channel 4 - who are presenters AJ Odudu and Mo Gilligan?

Lighthearted live morning show The Big Breakfast is returning to Channel 4 this month.

When the series first aired in the ‘90s the show had some of the most famous names of the time on as guests, from Victoria Beckham to Will Smith.

Now the series is being relaunched with a view to brighten up daytime television and feature a new string of celebrity guests.

What is The Big Breakfast?

The Big Breakfast is a light morning show made up of a mix of news, interviews, and feature pieces.

When it first aired from 1992-2002, the show was praised for bringing levity to the morning TV slot, and now it is returning with plans to pull in an audience tired of hard news and noisy debate shows.

The revamped version of The Big Breakfast started with a one-off special for Channel 4’s Black to Front initiative.

The original show didn’t have one black or Asian lead presenter over its ten year run, and so the show was relaunched with two black main presenters, AJ Odudu and Mo Gilligan.

They will be joined by different celebrities each week for interviews and discussions.

Comedian and presenter Judi Love will host the On the Bed segment, where she will interview the guests, while Melvin Odoom and Harriet Rose will head out onto the streets to interact with members of the public.

The day’s main news headlines will be read out by newsreader Phil Gayle who appeared on several episodes of the original run of the show.

Who are the presenters?

AJ Odudu

Odudu is a Blackburn-born presenter known for co-presenting Big Brother’s Bit on the Side with Emma Willis and Rylan Clark-Neal.

She took part in season two of Celebrity Karaoke Club in 2021, going on to win the series. Later that year she took part in season 19 of Strictly Come Dancing and impressed the judges but was forced to drop out of the competition the day before the final when she suffered an ankle injury.

This year she joined Vernon Kay to host The Great Comic Relief Prizeathon, presented the UK jury points in Eurovision, and was one of the presenters for the BBC’s coverage of the  Platinum Jubilee Pageant.

Mo Gilligan

Gilligan is a stand-up comedian from Lambeth in South London. He began uploading videos of his comedy on social media and eventually found success in 2017 after rapper Drake became aware of his work and posted about him.

He has co-hosted chat show The Big Narstie Show since 2018, and has his own late night programme, The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan.

Gilligan has made guest appearances on celebrity panel and game shows including The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Celebrity Goggglebox, The Masked Singer, and The Cube.

Is The Big Breakfast House coming back?

The original Big Breakfast was filmed in a real house in Tower Hamlets - a six bedroom property with a large garden.

However, the house was listed for sale in 2020, going for £5.75 million, and had been completely renovated since The Big Breakfast days.

The new series will be filmed at a new house, though it is not clear where that will be as yet.

When is The Big Breakfast on TV?

The first episode of The Big Breakfast will air on Channel 4 on Saturday 13 August from 10am-12.30pm. The show will air at the same time weekly.