Let’s take a trip back to the fun ‘Noughties’

The turn of the millennium was a time of possibility and uncertainty, with hopeful plans for the future and technological paranoia colliding.

Y2K, the infamous ‘millennium bug’, was expected to cause global chaos – aeroplanes would fall out of the sky, missiles would fire by accident – all simply by the hypothetical resetting of dates on computers at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000.

Of course, it didn’t quite pan out out like that, nor did we see flying cars and alien contact, as some people envisioned in the decades before.

Nevertheless, change was certainly afoot. The Internet was starting to show its world-changing potential, reality TV was altering our viewing habits, and everyone was turning to mobile phones, in particular the iconic Nokia 3310.

In the first of a new 10-part series, Angela Scanlon takes a lighthearted year-by-year look back at the decade that kicked off a brand new century.

Each week, she is joined by two famous guests including Clara Amfo, Russell Kane, Amol Rajan and Kimberley Walsh, with each celeb helping her look over the highlights, reveal their personal favourite moments, and explain why the year was so important to them.

Audiences can expect lively discussion, funny observations and friendly disagreements about the best of Noughties pop culture.

Angela says: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to revisit the Noughties remembering some of the wildest telly/pop culture moments and celebrating the highlights with my amazing array of guests.

“From fashion and sporting icons, TV talent shows to our favourite sitcoms and the stars that dominated the headlines… this decade was punchy!

“It also allowed me to wear a velour tracksuit with rhinestone boots (again) and for that I am forever grateful.

“I hope it will offer a little escape and take people on a trip down memory lane to a time where what the Beckhams wore was a deliciously pressing global matter.”

In the first episode, Angela invites comedians Ellie Taylor and Geoff Norcott to look back on the year it all started, 2000.

It was the year that the Big Brother house opened its doors for the very first time. But it wasn’t the first big reality TV show – Castaway 2000, featuring a pre-fame Ben Fogle, aired earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, Anne Robinson became TV’s most feared woman on The Weakest Link, while Strictly fans learned how to keep dancing with Bruce and Tess.

Meanwhile, the freshly-built upturned salad bowl in Greenwich, south east London, aka the Millennium Dome, became the most popular tourist attraction of the year. But its success didn’t last long…

Musically, Kylie was Spinning Around in her gold hotpants, we had game-changing debut albums from Coldplay and Craig David, the emergence of Beyoncé, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor taking on Posh Spice in the biggest chart battle since Britpop.

Plus, there was a growing obsession with celebrity couples such as Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, box-office smashes in the shape of Gladiator, X-Men, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and sporting glory at the Olympic Games in Sydney.

We are currently living in uncertain times, but cast your mind back two decades, and ask: was it any different in 2000?

Over the next few weeks we will see how a dash of certainty entered our lives straight after the turn of the millennium, only to be preceded by plenty of highs and lows in the following decade.

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