Today with Des and Mel

Today with Des and Mel was a British television series hosted by Des O'Connor and Melanie Sykes. The show featured celebrity guests, phone-in competitions and chat between the hosts. It was produced by Carlton Television, at The London Studios. The show was previously produced at Teddington Studios for the first series. Today with Des and Mel was loosely based on the format of the popular American television show, Live with Regis and Kelly. Although the filming pattern varied, for much of the show's run, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's programmes were recorded 'as live' very shortly before start of transmission (typically being recorded about half an hour prior), whereas Thursday and Friday's episodes were generally pre-recorded in a separate block on Wednesdays. The series pulled in very high ratings for its daytime slot, and as a result at one stage, the show was given the green light for an evening version to be made. For a short time in January 2005, the show appeared in a 5 p.m. slot, but this was soon dropped, and a full prime-time version never came about. ITV announced on 12 May 2006, that the show had been axed.