This show and CD:UK (1998) were effectively the same programme, sharing most of the same production team and presenters (until early 2002), the same studio (until September 2003) and with guests from the show appearing on CD:UK.
After SM:TV was cancelled, both SM:TV & CD:UK moved from a shared studio The London studios to different studios (CD:UK had the big studio, SM:TV rented out a small area - much smaller than what they had before) at The Riverside Studios in Hammersmith in September 2003. Shortly after this, SM:TV Live became SM:TV Gold for the rest of its run - consisting of old clips and live links.
Is one of only four British Saturday morning shows to run all year round, and was the first and longest running (as of October 2004) - from August 1998 until the show ended in December 2003. The only other shows to do this are BBC1's Live & Kicking (1993) between September 2000 until September 2001 and The Saturday Show (2001) Between September 2001 and September 2003 (the show is currently Summer only) and SM:TVs replacement Ministry of Mayhem (2004) from January 2004.
In April 1996, Blaze Television was set up by Zenith as a entertainment division of the company, and SM:TV and CD:UK were made by Blaze in August 1998.
On many of the occasions when a magician made a guest appearance on the show, host Cat Deeley would act as his assistant in one or more illusions. While these often involved her being either levitated, guillotined, impaled by spikes, crushed, stretched, or made to vanish, by far the most common was for her to be sawn in half, thirds or even quarters. On one of the occasions when she was sawn in half, Ant and Dec "stole" her halves and wheeled them off stage in opposite directions. On another occasion, she became the first British celebrity to take part in an illusion called Clearly Impossible, in which she was sawn in half inside a clear-sided box that gave an unobstructed view of her body all the way through the illusion.