The Big Breakfast known as 'The Cottage'. After renovation following a fire, it has also been used for a number of television shows. Mark Lamarr, Keith Chegwin, Paul Ross, Richard Orford, Richard Bacon and Mike McClean were "down your doorstep" outside broadcasters, often turning up live and unannounced at an unsuspecting viewer's house, while rooms within the Lock Keeper's Cottages featured the puppets Zig and Zag and video games guru Ben the Boffin. The show's style, with hand-held cameras moving around all of the set, meant that many of the crew members could be seen on screen. This led to them getting nicknames,
The Big Breakfast newspapers. Before most advertisement breaks a clip from an upcoming TV show or movie would be shown, a question being asked by one of the hosts about it; the answer would be revealed after the advert break, along with details of the show or film. This feature would result in the production team chorusing "Don't phone, it's just for fun!" which was a Chris Evans creation, initially used on his radio shows before he shot to fame on The Big Breakfast. A phone-in feature encouraging viewers to provide humorous answers throughout the morning to a pertinent (or occasionally inane) question.