Hello, this is the Red Box Podcast. I'm Matt Shirley. Thank you for all your lovely texts and tweets and emails about last week's first part of our new documentary series, The Sunday Shows at 50.

Last week in part one, we looked at the birth of weekend world in 1972, half a century ago. Now it's time to take a look at how David Foss came to dominate Sunday mornings for two decades.

This is part two of The Sunday Shows at 50.

2022 marks 50 years since the launch of weekend world, the flagship Sunday political program, which paved the way for everyone that followed.

It kickstarted a broadcasting arms race, which meant that what happened on the Sunday sofa became more important than what happened in the houses of Parliament.

This is the story of how political and journalistic careers were made and broken, even how elections were won and lost.

We'll bring you the stories of presenters and producers, prime ministers and press officers. Last week we heard how weekend world was born.

You never went on that program without being fully prepared. I mean, I would prepare for at least a day.

When you say weekend world, I'm immediately triggered in a good way because I didn't even know I was interested in politics as a child.

He was a genius in his own way, very, very, very hard act to follow.

Rumors began that not only was I being axed, but the whole program was being axed, but I felt I'd let everybody down.

Now in part two, how the biggest star on TV came to the fine Sunday mornings.

It was this lavish breakfast banquet and that was the deal.

What you tended sometimes to forget halfway through that you were on live television.

Every now and again, I'd be on the show and I think as he actually gone to sleep, but that's the moment at which he was usually most dangerous.

It's not an exaggeration to see that it played a part in the outcome of the election.

Essentially, I pledged that we would bring British health spending up to the EU average.

And I announced on the program Gordon was a little dismayed.

We're going back to February 1983.

In this year, Mrs. Thatcher would win a second term in a landslide general election.

Her friend and ally, Ronald Reagan, was in the White House and Culture Club, had the biggest hit of the year.

Also in 1983, five famous TV presenters sat on a sofa to launch breakfast television on ITV.

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