8 /10 1 Votes
Country of origin United Kingdom No. of episodes 81 First episode date 16 September 2006 Number of episodes 81 | 8.1/10 IMDb No. of series 5 Producer(s) Ed Thomas Final episode date 17 December 2010 Program creator CBBC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Sam NixonMark RhodesCaroline Flack (2006–2008) Theme music composer Dan McGrathJosh Phillips Similar Top of the Pops Reloaded, Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wi, Hedz, Basil's Swap Shop, Mighty Truck of Stuff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sam & Mark's TMi Friday (originally TMi) is a British children's entertainment programme that was produced for five series by the BBC and aired from 16 September 2006 to 17 December 2010.
Format
TMi launched on 16 September 2006 as a Saturday morning show, airing in the autumn/winter months on BBC Two, replacing former occupant Dick and Dom in da Bungalow. Former Pop Idol contestants turned presenters Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, better known as Sam & Mark, were joined by Caroline Flack for a mix of cartoons, competitions, games, music videos and celebrity guests. The first series had a reality theme to the proceedings, which had never been done before on a children's Saturday morning show. This consisted of Sam and Mark living in the 'TMi flat' throughout the week, mainly rehearsing or practising for their weekly head to head challenges in the studio. In 2007, it had been reported that TMi had used a fake phone-in caller during the game, Birthday Bingo, on the first show.
The show had some dramatic changes from the second series in 2007, which included the demise of the TMi flat and a new format that saw the presenters encouraging viewers to be their 'friend' on the website (or 'web space' as they called it). Sam, Mark and Caroline would go through a series of challenges (mostly involving gunge) in the hope of gaining new friends, although once the viewers had picked a presenter, they could only change on a Saturday between 9 am and 9 pm. This series also saw a change of studio location from MTV in Leicester Square to TC9 at BBC Television Centre, a reduced time slot from the original 165 to 90 minutes, and a repeat at 5 pm on the CBBC Channel. At the end of this series, Caroline was crowned 'queen of TMi' after receiving the most amount of friends, with Sam coming in second and Mark facing a messy forfeit for coming last.
The third series in 2008 had no particular theme and was also the last to feature Caroline, who left to concentrate on prime-time projects. Caroline's departure was not officially announced until the start of the fourth series in 2009, which saw the show starting at an earlier time and three editions being recorded 'as live' for no official reason. This was also the last that aired on Saturday mornings.
In 2010, the show was re-launched as Sam & Mark's TMi Friday and aired on Friday evenings on the CBBC Channel. Apart from these changes, the format remained the same as the last three series, where teams of children called the 'TMiers' would participate in games to win prizes and/or 'SMarks' in a bid to become the mightiest TMiers in the land at the end of the series. This was also the final series, with the last edition airing on 17 December 2010.