NEWS FROM SETANTA

Saint & Greavsie to return to TV screens

Legendary double-act back together for Setanta FA Cup Final coverage

Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves have reformed their legendary football pundit double-act and will star in a Saint & Greavsie FA Cup Special being broadcast by Setanta on May 30th 2009 as an integral part of the channel’s coverage of the FA Cup Final. They last appeared together on British TV screens in their own football show in 1992.

The return of Saint & Greavsie is a key component of Setanta’s plans to roll back to the days when watching TV on FA Cup final day was a magical experience, as much about the build-up to the game as the game itself. This year coverage will start at 9am and will be free-to-air, meaning the signal will be un-encrypted and therefore available to cable and satellite viewers without a subscription, until 7pm.

The Saint & Greavsie FA Cup Special will be broken up into three separate mini-programmes appearing throughout the build up to the Everton v Chelsea final which kicks off at 3pm.

Ian St John said: “We’re delighted to be given the chance by Setanta to return to TV screens. We’re not quite sure where all the years have gone, but we’ve never lost the passion for the game, or for talking, laughing and joking about it. We’re looking forward to bringing that back to TV screens on FA Cup Final day on Setanta and making the build up to the match as memorable as hopefully what happens after the ref blows his whistle for the kick off.”

Timothy Ryan, Setanta Marketing Director, said: “We wanted people to enjoy the whole sense of occasion of the FA Cup Final and roll back to the era where viewers woke up on FA Cup Final day with butterflies in their stomachs, switched on their TV first thing in the morning and didn’t switch it off until the trophy had been lifted and the teams were out the baths and back on their coaches to either celebrate or drown their sorrows.”

“Getting Saint & Greavsie to re-form and make their own show is a big part of that approach to make the Setanta coverage a Mecca for football fans. Especially given the fact that Setanta will be free for the day and therefore all cable and satellite viewers can watch our output.”

“Saint & Greavsie as a double-act are a TV institution up there with the likes of Morecambe & Wise, Reeves & Mortimer, French & Saunders, Ant & Dec and even Richard & Judy. We’re delighted that after an absence of approaching 17 years we’ve managed to bring them back to the UK viewing public on FA Cup Final day.”



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