Rob Francis takes a deep dive into TV-am, the station that promised to change mornings forever but spent years fighting ratings disasters, boardroom coups, presenter sackings, and even being saved by a puppet rat.

From David Frost and the Famous Five, to the rise of Roland Rat, the rivalry with the BBC’s Breakfast Time, and the brutal franchise loss that handed breakfast television to GMTV, this is the full story of ambition, arrogance, and how not to launch a TV station.

Plus, the extraordinary moment Margaret Thatcher wrote to Bruce Gyngell saying she was “heartbroken” over TV-am losing its licence.

It is sharp, critical, and full of television history that shaped the mornings we still know today.

The TV-am logo is owned by Ian White.