History and format

The show replaced the long running Wake Up to Wogan and Evans originally took over the airwaves from Sarah Kennedy after the news at 7:00 am but following her departure later in 2010, this was changed to 6:30 am (following the news headlines). He always finished with a handover to Ken Bruce at 9:30 am. It was confirmed on 7 September 2009 that Evans would succeed Wogan as he retired as presenter of the breakfast show at the end of that year.^[2]

On 6 January 2010, it was announced that Moira Stuart had returned to the BBC after two years away, becoming the show's regular newsreader.^[3] The original sports presenter Jonny Saunders was replaced by Vassos Alexander on 25 July 2011.

The first three songs played on the first broadcast of the show were The Beatles tracks "All You Need Is Love" and "Got To Get You Into My Life", and Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly with Me".

Evans's team of co-presenters on the show included ex-BBC TV newsreader Moira Stuart, sports presenter Vassos Alexander who took over from Jonny Saunders in July 2011 and travel reporter Rachel Horne who took over from long-serving travel reporter Lynn Bowles in March 2018. There were also sometimes roving reports from Joe Schmo (aka Joe Haddow) from various locations in the UK.

Features

Features on the show included:

• Introduction – Chris introduced the team over the theme from Joe 90.
• Good Morning Chris Club – at 6:40 am listeners emailed or text in with a reason to be in Chris's "club" and if he thought they should go in, he honked a horn. Background music was the theme from Thunderbirds.
• Big Screen Belter – a track featured in a movie at 6:45 am.
• On This Day – a run-down of significant events from history that occurred on that day read by a celebrity at 7:15 am. Background music was the theme from Dallas.
• Kids Get a Fanfare – a child got to tell the nation about something that they're going to do for the first time that day before coming back on the show the following day to talk about how it went (7:25 am).
• Moira's Golden Oldie (Christmas Golden Oldie) – Moira Stuart read out the request for a classic song selected by a listener after the news at 7:30 am. Renamed Moira's Christmas Golden Oldie from the last week of November through till the end of December.
• Frontpages – Chris read a selection of stories in the morning papers to the theme from Indiana Jones movies at 7:40 am. When Mark Goodier filled in for Chris, he parodied fellow Radio 2 show Pick of the Pops as Pick of the Papers, with the theme to the show instead of the Indiana Jones movie theme, and when Sara Cox filled in for Chris she uses the movie theme opening to Disney/Pixar's 2001 film Monsters, Inc. instead of the Indiana Jones movie theme as well.
• Listener Breaking News – Listeners contacted the show with pieces of their own news; Evans read a selection at 8:10 am. Usually, this was done over the theme music from The Champions, but during the summer this was temporarily replaced by an instrumental version of "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard and The Shadows. Previously the theme to The Adventures of Black Beauty, and prior to that the theme from Jurassic Park were used.
• Who's on the Phone? – Most weekdays at around 8:15 am, a celebrity was interviewed on the phone to plug a TV show or film that was either on TV during that week or out in cinemas.
• Smashers – Two classic songs from a selected decade were played every day after the news at 8:30 am. On Monday these are from the 1970s. Tuesday was 1980s, Wednesday was 1990s and Thursday was 2000s.
• Mystery Guest/Not So Mystery Guest – Chris conducted a three-minute "interesting, stimulating, and if it calls for it humorous" interview with a guest he had had no prior warning about, to the theme music from Agatha Christie's Poirot. Since around 2015, the team had now known about who will be talking, and the segment name changed to make the Mystery Guest a Not So Mystery Guest.
• Gobsmackers – two songs selected by a listener that sounded great when played back to back after the news at 9 am.
• Top Tenuous – listeners' texts and emails with tenuous connections to an event, object or celebrity read to the theme tune to Police Squad! at about 9:10 am.
• Pause for Thought – a brief reflection with themes of spirituality, religion, giving and faith (mostly of Christianity, but Muslim and Jewish contributors also feature); regular contributors included Reverend Rob Gillion, Rector of Holy Trinity Church and St Saviours who was, at one time, an actor in Tales of the Unexpected,^[4] and Muslim editor Sarah Joseph OBE. Other contributors have included the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York. This segment was carried over from Evans show's predecessor, Wake Up to Wogan.
• Good Old Fashioned – Listeners text in "good old-fashioned" greetings for friends and family. These were usually "good old-fashioned" hellos, happy birthdays, or happy anniversaries, read by Chris, Vassos and Lynn to Laurie Johnson's "Las Vegas" (better known as the theme tune from Animal Magic) at the end of the show, before he hands over to Ken Bruce.
• The 7:53 See - Listeners texted in what they can see in front of them and Evans read out the responses at 7:53am
• The Wrong Bongs – A short-lived feature where Lynn would read out a selection of listener texts that have been sent in correcting the team on facts that were wrong in the previous day's show. After each text, Chris would play a clip of one of the "bongs" from Big Ben.
• Head to Headlines – Vassos and Moira each chose three news stories each day, and Evans decides which of the stories is better in three head-to-head rounds per day (~8:25 am read to "Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones).
• Don't Forget – listeners emailed in a reminder for the day for a friend or relative to be read just before 9:30 am to the theme tune from Please Sir. Replaced by the "Good Old Fashioned"s in 2015.
• Hello/Goodbye – Listeners would phone up and greet Chris and the team with a 'Hello', only to be met with a 'Goodbye' in whatever tone of voice had been used by the listener, just before 9:30 am. Replaced by the "Don't Forget"s in 2012.

Whenever Chris was not presenting, a segment called The Half/Whole Wower, featuring non-stop music with a feel-good theme, ran from 8 am to 8:30 am. Whenever Sara Cox filled in for Chris, she used "Wow" by Kylie Minogue as the theme song; however Mark Goodier did not use it when he filled in for Chris, and Fearne Cotton also did not use it when she filled in for Chris as well.

Regular songs played included "Papa Loves Mambo" played on Mondays after the 8 am news, "Get Happy" by Judy Garland played on Tuesdays at the same time and "Happy" by Pharrell Williams on a Friday also after the 8 am news. Also, "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)" by The Banana Splits was played every Tuesday after the news at 7 am.

Previous regular songs have included "Sunchyme" by Dario G, played every Monday and "Talk to the Animals" by Sammy Davis, Jr. (replacing "The Candy Man", also by Davis), played every Friday after the 8 am news throughout 2014. Both songs were replaced for 2015 with "The Deadwood Stage" from the film Calamity Jane played on a Monday and "Jump in the Line" also played on Mondays. "Bring Me Sunshine","Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd and "Happy Days" theme played on a Friday. Until December 2016, "How D'Ya Like Your Eggs in the Morning?" by Dean Martin and Helen O'Connell was played in full on Tuesdays, though an excerpt continued to be used as a daily jingle until the end of the show's run.

Sometimes, a re-written version of "Wake Up Boo!" by The Boo Radleys played as a jingle, as it once did on Evans' Radio 1 breakfast show.

Stand-in presenters

Evans' stand-in presenters included Graham Norton, Richard Allinson, Miranda Hart and Jon Holmes, Richard Madeley, Zoe Ball, Ryan Tubridy, Patrick Kielty, Sara Cox, Fearne Cotton, and Mark Goodier.

In October 2011 the show attracted criticism after Hart and Holmes co-hosted it for a week while Chris Evans was on holiday. The website Digital Spy reported that some listeners were unhappy with the quality of the programme. The BBC issued a statement in response saying, "Miranda Hart is one of the UK's best-loved comedians and BBC Radio 2 felt it appropriate to bring her warmth to its audience for a week. Jon Holmes is a highly experienced presenter from BBC Radio 6 Music [...] BBC Radio 2 appreciates if their presentation wasn't to everyone's liking, but feels it's important to be able to bring new talent to its output and hopes its audience understands the importance of maintaining a breadth of content on the network."^[5]

On 11 April 2013, Evans turned up to work with a sore throat, and ended up losing his voice. Sports Presenter Alexander stood in for Evans. Zoe Ball stood in for Evans the next day and the following Monday, with Richard Allinson taking over on the Tuesday when Ball was also ill. Evans returned on 17 April, revealing he had been suffering from rhinitis.