Holiday was a long-running UK television programme on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

, and was the oldest travel review show on UK television. It was aired on the channel from 1969 until 2007.

Overview

The programme began in 1969 as Holiday 69, and until the 1990s the year was included in the title in this way. The first presenter was Cliff Michelmore

Cliff Michelmore

Arthur Clifford "Cliff" Michelmore CBE is a British television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme Tonight, which he presented from 1957 to 1965....

 who remained with the series until 1986. In 1974 its popularity led to ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 launching a rival show, Wish You Were Here...?

Wish You Were Here...?

Wish You Were Here...? is a British television show that was first broadcast on 7th January 1974 on ITV. It was a series of 30 minute shows about travel and holidays. The show was broadcast during peak viewing hours and had gained a significant viewing audience in the UK...

.

Each week, the programme consisted of several reports in which one of the presenters visited a holiday resort and reviewed the attractions of the region. Despite the programme's obvious attraction as escapism, over the years it was criticised for featuring destinations that the majority of viewers would be unable to afford.

The programme spawned several short-lived offshoot programmes, including Summer Holiday; Holiday: Fasten Your Seatbelt (1996–98, in which presenters tried out holiday-related jobs); Holiday: You Call the Shots - in which viewers advised the presenters which sites to visit in a particular destination prior to filming; and Holiday on a Shoestring (1999).

It was announced by the BBC in November 2006, that after a record 37 years on air, Holiday would end at the end the season that was running at the time of the announcement in March 2007.

The programme's time slot is now filled by The One Show

The One Show

The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...

.

Presenters

Many presenters came and went over the history of the programme, the most notable being Cliff Michelmore

Cliff Michelmore

Arthur Clifford "Cliff" Michelmore CBE is a British television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme Tonight, which he presented from 1957 to 1965....

, Ginny Buckley

Ginny Buckley

Ginny Buckley is a British journalist, radio and television presenter.-Early life:Buckley was born and grew up in Rochdale, England, before moving to Australia at the age of 18....

, Peter Whelpton, Joan Bakewell, Anne Gregg

Anne Gregg

Anne Deirdre Gregg was a travel writer and TV presenter from Northern Ireland. She is perhaps best known for presenting the BBC's travel programme Holiday throughout the 1980s. She was one of the first people from Northern Ireland to become a national British television personality.-Early...

, Frank Bough

Frank Bough

Frank Bough is a retired British television presenter who is best known as the former host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including Grandstand, Nationwide and Breakfast Time, which he fronted alongside Selina Scott.-Early life:...

, John Carter, Desmond Lynam, Eamonn Holmes

Eamonn Holmes

Eamonn Holmes is an Northern Irish journalist and broadcaster. He is known for his work on UK and Irish television, notably presenting GMTV and This Morning. He is married to TV presenter Ruth Langsford.-Education:...

, Anneka Rice, Jill Dando

Jill Dando

Jill Wendy Dando was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader who worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was murdered by gunshot outside her home in Fulham, West London; her killer has never been identified....

, and Craig Doyle

Craig Doyle

Craig Doyle is an Irish television and radio presenter. To British viewers he is recognisable as working for the BBC and ITV...

.

In addition, the teams of "reporters" who provided regular reviews from holiday destinations have included Sarah Kennedy

Sarah Kennedy

Sarah Mary Kennedy MBE is a British TV and radio broadcaster. She presented her own daily early morning radio show, The Dawn Patrol, on BBC Radio 2 from 1993, before announcing her decision to leave the show on 3 September, 2010.Kennedy was honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2005, when...

, Bill Buckley, Kieran Prendiville

Kieran Prendiville

Kieran Prendiville is a television writer, producer and presenter.-Early years:Kieran grew up in England where his father had emigrated to practise medicine...

, Fyfe Robertson

Fyfe Robertson

Fyfe Robertson was a Scottish television journalist.He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and christened James. He was one of six children of Jane Dunlop and James Robertson, a miner, who became a minister in the United Free Church of Scotland. He grew up in poverty but attended the High School of...

, Kathy Tayler

Kathy Tayler

Kathy Tayler, born 23 March 1960, is a UK TV presenter and former champion modern pentathlete.- Athletics:Kathy won the women's modern pentathlon World Cup in 1979 at the age of 19. She was a member of the Great Britain modern pentathlon team that twice won gold at the World Athletics...

, Monty Don

Monty Don

Montagu Denis Wyatt Don is a British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture, best known for presenting the BBC television series Gardeners' World.-Early life:...

, Rowland Rivron

Rowland Rivron

Rowland J. Rivron is a British comedian, musician, writer and television presenter.-Early life: Rivron was brought up in Hillingdon, West London and attended Abbotsfield Secondary School...

 and Carol Smillie

Carol Smillie

Carol Patricia Smillie is a Scottish television personality, model and actress. Smillie is well-known for presenting the award winning BBC series Changing Rooms, which won her a National Television Award for Most Popular Factual Programme in 1998.She became the hostess of the British version of...

. The final presenter was Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is a successful homestyle consultant best known for his appearances on the BBC television programme Changing Rooms...

.

Theme tunes

The original theme tune for the series was Love's The Castle.

Subsequent theme tunes in the mid-70s included Hugo Montenegro

Hugo Montenegro

Hugo Montenegro was an American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks. His best known work is derived from interpretations of the music from Spaghetti westerns, especially his cover version of the main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

's arrangement of Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...

's theme to the 1968 movie The Fox and Jean Michel Jarre

Jean Michel Jarre

Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...

's Equinoxe (Part One).

Gordon Giltrap

Gordon Giltrap

Gordon Giltrap is an English acoustic and electric guitarist and composer, whose musical styles cross multiple genres, including folk, blues, folk rock, pop, classical and rock....

's Heartsong was used as a theme tune from 1978 until the end of the 1985 series, when it was replaced with The Holiday Suite written by Simon May

Simon May

Simon May is a British musician and composer, best known for composing some of British television's best known theme tunes, including EastEnders and Howards' Way, and for composing the music for the 1988 film The Dawning....

. This proved unpopular, and was replaced the following year by a further Giltrap composition.

In 1988, Paul Hardcastle

Paul Hardcastle

Paul Hardcastle is an English composer and musician, specialising in the synthesizer.-Discography:In the early 1980s, Hardcastle played the keyboards on several singles on the Oval record label by the dance music groups Direct Drive and First Light, before going solo.He achieved some acclaim for...

composed new music called The Voyager. This theme was used throughout the 1990s and 2000s until the programme came to an end after 37 years in 2007.