CD:UK

CD:UK (CountDown:United Kingdom), stylised as cd:uk, was a music television programme which ran in the United Kingdom from 29 August 1998 until 1 April 2006. Originally run in conjunction with SMTV Live, the programme aired on ITV as a rival to the BBC's Live & Kicking and was the replacement for The Chart Show, which had been airing on the network for nine and a half years.

CD:UK
Presented by	Ant McPartlin Declan Donnelly Cat Deeley Holly Willoughby Dave Berry Myleene Klass Lauren Laverne Johny Pitts
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Blaze Television
Production location(s)	The London Studios (1998–2003) Riverside Studios (2003–06)
Running time	60 minutes
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	29 August 1998 (1998-08-29) – 1 April 2006 (2006-04-01)

In contrast to its predecessor, which only showed promo videos, CD:UK was broadcast live on Saturday mornings with a studio audience and featured live performances, as well as star interviews and competitions. It also featured the Saturday Chart, which although was unofficial, usually reflected the new chart positions a day before the official chart was announced on Radio 1. This made the BBC's long-running Top of the Pops, which aired only the night before, seem very out-of-date broadcasting the previous week's chart. CD:UK later utilised an interactive chart based on viewers' votes, called the MiTracks Countdown. From 1998 to 2006, the show was sponsored by Tizer, Ribena and Rimmel.

In 2002, the programme was criticised for showing "raunchy" performances in a slot aimed at children, sparked by a performance of "Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera. In response, a spin-off programme entitled CD:UK Hotshots, featuring music videos which could be considered unsuitable for daytime viewing, was launched in January 2003 and broadcast overnight.

History

Presenters

The show was at the peak of its popularity between 1998 and 2001, when it was presented by Ant & Dec and Cat Deeley.

CD:UK was originally fronted by the same presenting team for SMTV Live - Ant & Dec and Cat Deeley. Ant & Dec left both programmes on 1 December 2001 and leaving Deeley as solo presenter. As time went on, due to her popularity with viewers, Deeley was offered more and more television work and went on to present Stars in Their Eyes and Fame Academy. This meant that she was absent from the show more and more and was frequently replaced by either a celebrity guest or Holly Willoughby from SMTV's successor Ministry of Mayhem. Deeley chose to leave the programme for good in March 2005. TRL presenter Dave Berry presented the programme for several weeks before Holly Willoughby became the new regular host presenting each fortnight with guest presenters such as Kelly Osbourne, Rachel Stevens, Brittany Murphy, Girls Aloud, Natalie Brown and Jayne Middlemiss filled in for the weeks when Willoughby was absent.

MiTracks relaunch

In August 2005, Myleene Klass was hired as main presenter alongside XFM DJ Lauren Laverne and Trouble TV presenter Johny Pitts as part of a major revamp of the programme, which was duly unveiled on 17 September 2005 with new titles, a redesigned studio and a new chart, the MiTracks Countdown, which allowed viewers to vote for their favourite and least favourite songs on the CD:UK website.

Although it was initially reported that the relaunch had helped double viewing figures, audiences soon dropped below 1 million.

Axing

On 28 December 2005, it was announced that CD:UK was to cease production due to budget issues within the broadcaster. The final regular edition of the show was aired on Saturday 18 March 2006, followed by two compilation programmes on 25 March and 1 April, respectively.

Aborted revival

On 20 April 2006, it was announced that production company Blaze Television had reached a deal with Five to revive the programme. However, Five announced on 2 June that Klass, Laverne and Pitts would not return to present the show, and that Berry would instead host the show alongside a yet to be decided female presenter, later announced as Caroline Flack. It was also announced that CD:UK would air at 17:30 on Saturday afternoons, and that the show should be back on air, initially by Autumn 2006, later pushed back to some time in 2007. However, nothing on the subject had been heard in several months and it seemed uncertain as to whether the show would return at all. It was officially announced on 17 April 2007 that CD:UK would not be returning.[1]

Music

There have been two compilation albums released between 2 October 2000 and 20 January 2001, featuring many of the bands and singers who have performed on the show. Classic artists include: Westlife, Fatboy Slim, Samantha Mumba, S Club 7, Ronan Keating, Five, Steps, A1, Britney Spears, Shanks & Bigfoot and Craig David.

CD:UK – You Know Where it's At!

Disc 1

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Take On Me"	A1	3:33
2.	"Keep On Movin'"	Five	3:19
3.	"Born to Make You Happy" (Radio Edit)	Britney Spears	3:36
4.	"When You Say Nothing at All"	Ronan Keating	4:17
5.	"Fool Again"	Westlife	3:30
6.	"Reach"	S Club 7	4:00
7.	"Deeper Shade of Blue"	Steps	3:41
8.	"Last One Standing"	Girl Thing	3:08
9.	"Sexbomb" (Peppermint Disco Radio Edit)	Tom Jones & Mousse T	3:16
10.	"All The Small Things"	Blink 182	2:53
11.	"The Bad Touch" (US Radio Edit)	Bloodhound Gang	3:39
12.	"Dirty Water"	Made in London	4:36
13.	"You Do Something to Me"	Dum Dums	3:47
14.	"Gotta Tell You"	Samantha Mumba	3:20
15.	"Say My Name"	Destiny's Child	4:01
16.	"Shackles (Praise You)"	Mary Mary	3:14
17.	"Thong Song"	Sisqo	3:29
18.	"There You Go" (Album Version)	P!nk	3:25
19.	"He Wasn't Man Enough"	Toni Braxton	4:23
20.	"7 Days" (Radio Edit)	Craig David	3:54
Total length:			73:11

Disc 2

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Out of Your Mind" (Radio Edit)	True Steppers feat Victoria Beckham	3:25
2.	"Freestyler"	Bomfunk MCs	2:53
3.	"Bang"	Robbie Rivera presents Rhythm Bangers	3:06
4.	"Sandstorm" (Radio Edit)	Darude	3:46
5.	"It Feels So Good"	Sonique	3:47
6.	"With My Own Eyes" (Single Edit)	Sash!	3:41
7.	"On The Beach" (CRW Radio Edit)	York	3:16
8.	"It's My Turn" (Original Mix)	Angelic	3:09
9.	"Girls Like Us"	B15 Project feat Chrissy D & Lady G	3:08
10.	"Airwaves" (Original Mix)	Rank 1	2:58
11.	"Take Your Time" (Illicit Dub)	The Love Bite	3:33
12.	"Tell Me It's Real" (Astro Trex Team Master Mix)	K-Ci & JoJo	3:51
13.	"Mambo Italiano" (Radio Edit)	Shaft	2:49
14.	"Flee Fly Flo"	Fe-m@il	2:50
15.	"I Wanna Love You Forever"	Jessica Simpson	4:04
16.	"Bye Bye Bye"	N-Sync	3:19
17.	"Candy" (Remix)	Mandy Moore	3:42
18.	"New Beginning"	Stephen Gately	3:39
19.	"What a Girl Wants" (Radio Edit)	Christina Aguilera	3:14
20.	"The One"	Backstreet Boys	3:43
Total length:			68:04

CD:UK – More Wicked Hits

Disc 1

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"My Girl"	Westlife	2:55
2.	"Touch Me"	Rui Da Silva	3:26
3.	"Walking Away"	Craig David	3:25
4.	"Same Old Brand New You"	A1	3:32
5.	"Life Is A Rollercoaster"	Ronan Keating	3:54
6.	"Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)"	Christina Aguilera	3:24
7.	"Natural"	S Club 7	3:15
8.	"Lucky"	Britney Spears	3:25
9.	"What About Us"	Point Break	3:28
10.	"She Bangs"	Ricky Martin	4:04
11.	"Body II Body"	Samantha Mumba	3:59
12.	"Pure Shores"	All Saints	4:27
13.	"Most Girls"	P!nk	4:11
14.	"Unleash The Dragon"	Sisqó	3:23
15.	"Country Grammar (Hot S**t)"	Nelly	3:51
16.	"Don't Think I'm Not"	Kandi	3:51
17.	"Why?"	Mis-Teeq	3:41
18.	"Uprockin' Beats"	Bomfunk MC's	3:00
19.	"Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely"	Backstreet Boys	3:55
20.	"My Love"	Westlife	3:52
Total length:			72:58

Disc 2

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Demons"	Fatboy Slim feat Macy Gray	5:54
2.	"Dancing In The Moonlight"	Toploader	3:30
3.	"Buck Rogers"	Feeder	3:13
4.	"I'm Outta Love"	Anastacia	3:48
5.	"Lady (Hear Me Tonight)"	Modjo	3:41
6.	"Phatt Bass"	Warp Brothers Vs Aquagen	2:52
7.	"Sky"	Sonique	4:00
8.	"Body Groove"	Architechs feat Nana	5:15
9.	"Silence"	Delerium feat Sarah McLachlan	3:49
10.	"Feel the Beat"	Darude	3:19
11.	"True Step Tonight"	True Steppers feat Brian Harvey & Donell Jones	3:43
12.	"The Fields of Love"	ATB feat York	3:44
13.	"PistolWhip"	Joshua Ryan	2:34
14.	"It's A Good Life"	Cevin Fisher feat Ramona Keller	4:12
15.	"Girls on Top"	Girl Thing	3:25
16.	"I'll Never Stop"	N-Sync	3:08
17.	"Girl You Know It's True"	Keith And Shane	3:13
18.	"When I Said Goodbye"	Steps	3:33
19.	"Don't Wanna Let You Go"	Five	3:38
Total length:			70:30

CD:UK Hotshots

CD:UK Hotshots was a spin-off programme, aired on the ITV network overnight. Introduced in January 2003, the show was initially presented by Cat Deeley, but she left to make way for MTV presenter Dave Berry who left in the summer of 2005 and was replaced by a rotating presenting team of Myleene Klass, Lauren Laverne and Johny Pitts.

As opposed to the main show, Hotshots consisted of presenters' links and music videos - some of which had been considered unsuitable for broadcast on CD:UK.

International versions

Although the original UK version has ended, an American version of the programme, CD USA, began on DirecTV's The 101 on 21 January 2006. Australian broadcaster Foxtel also air a local version of the show, renamed CD Live, on the Fox8 channel every Saturday evening. In Italy, the public television channel Rai Due has aired from 2003 to 2007 an Italian version of the show, renamed CD Live, which replaced Top of the pops, every Saturday afternoon at 15:00. In Croatia, the public television channel HRT 2 aired a Croatian version of the show, renamed T-Mobile CD Live, from 2007 to 2008 every Friday afternoon at 18:40.

Controversies

• On 2 December 2000, Cat Deeley interviewed ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. When asked what was the most ridiculous rumour he had heard about himself, he replied "getting a blow job in a bar", and then spoke about how his rhino iguana "bit the fuck out of [him]". Dec apologised for Slash's comments and a feature on Slash's Snakepit, which was due to be shown the following week, was dropped.
• There was also a complete sound failure which prevented a performance by The Charlatans.
• Kele Le Roc performed her single "My Love", only to be interrupted by a man who invaded the stage, grabbed the microphone from her hand, and threw it onto the ground before unfurling a poster of his band. He was taken away by security, arrested and fined for damaging the microphone.
• In 2002, Christina Aguilera performed her single "Dirrty", introducing her raunchy image amid to complaints from parents as the show was aimed at youngsters. She appeared to be wearing hotpants and knickers saying "Dirrty" on them with a bikini top.
• Pink was once asked to change her lyrics to her song "Just Like a Pill" to avoid swearing, (the song features several uses of the word 'bitch'). As a compromise, she did change the lyrics but she removed her top on stage to reveal a T-shirt underneath with 'f**k' written on it (asterisks covered the 'u' and 'c'). She was threatened with being banned from the show if she pulled off similar stunts in future.
• One of the sponsorships stings from Tizer, which featured the "Tizer head" talking to Cat Deeley, was acknowledged by Deeley in the actual show, which aimed controversy at the Ofcom rule of keeping sponsorships of "live" TV shows separate from the live show itself.

Further references

• Tizer previously sponsored The Chart Show, the "ancestor" of CD:UK. They stopped their sponsorship of CD:UK in June 2003 due to the launch of the "!tz a Red Thing" campaign, thus this meant the sponsorship lasted almost five years. In September 2003, Ribena sponsored the show until December. Rimmel London sponsored the show from September 2005 until the show's end in April 2006.
• There were two compilation albums released in association with the show. The first was 2000's You Know Where it's At!, followed by More Wicked Hits in 2001.

References

1. CD:UK fails to chart at Channel Five, guardian.co.uk, 17 April 2007