9 November 1993(1993-11-09)– 23 August 1999(1999-08-23)
It'll Never Work? is a television programme for children showcasing new inventions and developments in scientific technology. Produced by Roy Milani for BBC Children's, the show ran for seven series between 9 November 1993 and 23 August 1999 on weekdays within the Children's BBC, later CBBC, strand on BBC One. It'll Never Work? was presented throughout its run by children's television presenter Sally Gray, who would go on to present children's quiz 50/50, Jez Nelson, who would go on to front the related primetime BBC technology series Tomorrow's World, and science presenter Angela Lamont. This team was augmented during later series by presenters Adrian Johnson (series 5, 1997) and Rick Adams (series 6, 1998).
For each episode the presenters travelled worldwide to discover new gadgets and to test out whether new inventions worked or not, hence the show's title. In between the main features, spoof adverts would showcase Chindōgu, inventions that solve everyday problems but not in a practical way.
The show was critically and commercially lauded, winning the 1994 BAFTA TV Award in the category of 'Best Children's Programme (Factual)' for Roy Milani, and nominated again in the same category the following year.[1] The series moreover achieved ratings of up to four million viewers.[2]
There were seven series of It'll Never Work? produced in total, all appearing on BBC One. The first six series each consisted of six episodes of 25 minutes length and were screened as part of Children's BBC's autumn season, running on Tuesday afternoons in the six weeks before school Christmas holidays. The final series in 1999 comprised only five episodes and was screened on Mondays as part of CBBC's line-up for school summer holidays. All episodes premiered in the 4:35pm slot preceding Newsround.
First series: 9 November – 14 December 1993
Second series: 8 November – 13 December 1994
Third series: 7 November – 12 December 1995
Fourth series: 12 November – 17 December 1996
Fifth series: 11 November – 16 December 1997
Sixth series: 17 November – 22 December 1998
Seventh series: 26 July – 23 August 1999
Design Awards
The third series introduced a competition for young inventors to submit ideas to the It'll Never Work? Design Awards. The first awards ceremony was televised from the Science Museum in London on 17 March 1996, with the judging panel including astronomer Patrick Moore. This segment returned in the same form a year later on 16 March 1997, featuring Kevin Warwick.
Blue Peter is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Television Centre in London until September 2011, when the programme moved to dock10 studios at MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester. It is currently shown live on the CBBC television channel on Fridays at 5pm. The show is also repeated on Saturdays at 11:30am, Sundays at 9:00am and a BSL version is shown on Tuesdays at 2:00pm.
Tomorrow's World is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The Tomorrow's World title was revived in 2017 as an umbrella brand for BBC science programming.
Dick & Dom in da Bungalow is a British children's television series presented by the duo Dick and Dom. The series was broadcast on weekend mornings for five series on the CBBC Channel, BBC One and BBC Two, running between 31 August 2002 and 11 March 2006.
BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC is aimed at children aged between 6 and 12, and CBeebies offers content for younger viewers. Unlike CBeebies, the CBBC brand predates the launch of these channels all the way back to when it was just a children's block on the main channel BBC, when it was also the brand name used for all of the BBC's children's programmes. CBBC broadcasts from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and CBeebies broadcasts from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, respectively timesharing with BBC Three for CBBC and BBC Four for CBeebies. The brands also have dedicated websites, social media channels, and over-the-top media services on BBC iPlayer.
Newsround is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972. It was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically at children. Initially commissioned as a short series by BBC Children's Department, who held editorial control, its facilities were provided by BBC News. The programme is aimed at 5 to 17-year-olds.
The Really Wild Show is a long-running British television show about wildlife, broadcast by the BBC as part of their CBBC service to children. It also runs on Animal Planet in the US.
Ortis Deley is a British television presenter, comedian, singer, radio DJ and actor. He is of Ghanaian and Nigerian descent, best known for presenting the Children's BBC Saturday morning flagship series Live & Kicking. As of November 2021, he is a presenter on The Gadget Show. He has also co-presented Police Interceptors in the UK, with Rick Edwards. He appeared on Police Interceptors special edition where he drove around with the Cleveland and Durham specialist operations unit as well as observing the operations of the control centre.
Barnaby John "Barney" Harwood is a British actor and television presenter. He is known for his work with CBBC beginning in 2002.
Steven Ryde is an English actor, voice-over artist and producer, best known for his role as Tatty Bogle from 1994 to 1998 in the children's TV series Wizadora. He has worked mainly in children's television for over 30 years.
Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien is an English television presenter and actress. She is perhaps best known for her work presenting for the BBC, including the popular CBBC art programme SMart from 1999 to 2009, and CBeebies pre-school art spin-off programme SMarteenies in 2002.
Naomi Laura Wilkinson is an English television presenter and actress.
Edward Oliver James "Ed" Petrie is an English actor, comedian, and television presenter.
Warrick Brownlow-Pike is a British puppeteer. He is best known for performing the character "Gonger" on Sesame Street and its spinoff series The Furchester Hotel and Dodge the Dog on the CBeebies Channel.
CBBC is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6–12. Its sister channel, CBeebies, broadcasts programming and content for children aged 6 and under. It broadcasts every day from 7 am to 7 pm, timesharing with BBC Three.
Sally Jean Gray MBE is a Scottish television presenter.
Iain Andrew Stirling is a Scottish comedian, writer, television presenter, actor, narrator and Twitch streamer from Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Way Things Work was a short-lived children`s television series based on the best-selling book of the same name by David Macaulay. The series was co-produced by Millimages, Pearson Broadband, and Schlessinger Media; it was distributed by the latter. The program ran daily on BBC2 and CBBC from 2001 to early 2002, before it was discontinued due to a lack of both episodes and audience. The series (hand-animated) was one of the last few educational TV programmes still shown by the BBC on CBBC. It is one of its most short-lived television series, running for only 26 15-minute episodes. The programme aims to teach basic principles of science to young viewers and revolves around the residents of the backward Mammoth Island as they struggle through daily life with the use of outlandish contraptions. The series was later dubbed into French and briefly aired in syndication on TV network France 5. A DVD containing all 26 episodes of the series was released in 2005.
The Dumping Ground is a British children's television drama series that focuses on the lives and experiences of young people who live in a children's home with their care workers in care. The series has broadcast nine series, with its tenth series currently airing, the show has continuously aired on CBBC since its inception back in 2013. The series is a continuation of Tracy Beaker Returns, which aired from 2010 to 2012, and is the third television series in the Tracy Beaker franchise.
Children's BBC Presentation was the BBC's presentation of its programmes for children and which was the only part of BBC One and BBC Two's television presentation where the continuity announcer appeared on the TV screen rather than as a voice over.
This is a timeline of the history of the broadcasting of children’s programmes on BBC Television.
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