Timeline of children's television on ITV

This is a timeline of children's programming on the British ITV network and ITV Digital Channels. The timeline starts in 1980 when ITV launched its first branding for children's programming, although programmes for children had been broadcast on ITV from the earliest years of the network.

1980s

• 1980
  • 6 June – The final edition of Magpie airs on ITV. The magazine format show, intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter ends after twelve years. ^[1]
  • 29 December – ITV launches its first branded children's slot when it launches Watch It! . The programmes are broadcast on weekdays between 4:15 pm to 5:15 pm and even though the block is produced by ATV, the links are presented live by the duty continuity announcer in each ITV region. ^[2]

• 1981
  • 29 December – Pipkins is broadcast for the final time.

• 1982
  • 5 January – Let's Pretend , the replacement programme for Pipkins, airs for the first time.
  • 3 April – The final edition of Saturday morning programme Tiswas is shown on ITV. It had aired, albeit originally as a regional programme made by ATV, since 1974.

• 1983
  • 3 January – Children's ITV is launched, replacing Watch It!. Programmes begin fifteen minutes earlier, at 4pm, the extra time being filled by a repeat of one of the pre-school programmes shown at lunchtime the same day. The slot is presented on a national basis and programmes are linked by an in-vision presenter. The links are pre-recorded in advance in a small studio at a London facility called Molinare, using a single locked-off camera and the presenter, usually from the world of children's television, changes on a monthly basis.
  • 1 February – ITV's breakfast television service TV-am launches and children's programmes are a major part of the service, especially at the weekend.
  • 1 April – Roland Rat makes his first appearance on TV-am. ^[3] Created by David Claridge and launched by TV-am Children's editor Anne Wood to entertain younger viewers during the Easter holidays. ^[4] Roland is generally regarded as TV-am's saviour, being described as "the only rat to join a sinking ship". ^[5]
  • April – No. 73 launches nationally as ITV's Saturday morning children's show. It had launched the previous year as a regional programme by TVS.

• 1984
  • 13 October – TV-am launches a new Saturday morning children's series called the Wide Awake Club . The live programme replaces pre-recorded shows such as Data Run and SPLAT. ^{[6] [7]}

• 1985
  • 14 September – Wide Awake Club is extended and now runs for two hours, from 7:30 am until 9:25 am.
  • 26 September – Mooncat and Co (formerly known as Get Up and Go!) is broadcast for the final time.
  • 3 October – Roland Rat, the puppet rodent who saved an ailing TV-am transfers to the BBC. ^[8] With only a week until October half term was due to start, TV-am launches Wacaday , a spin-off of the existing and successful Saturday morning programme, Wide Awake Club.
  • 4 October – Puddle Lane , the replacement programme for Get Up and Go!/Mooncat and Co, airs for the first time.

• 1986
  • 3 May – The first edition of Get Fresh airs. It alternates with No. 73 as ITV's Saturday morning children's magazine series for the next two years.

• 1987
  • 1 June – Live presentation of Children's ITV is launched and is presented by former Central announcers Gary Terzza and Debbie Shore. ^[9]

• 1988
  • 27 March – No. 73 airs for the final time. It had been known as 7T3 since January.
  • 3 September – Motormouth launches as ITV's new Saturday morning children's programme. ^{[10] [11]}

• 1989
  • April – The Wide Awake Club is renamed WAC '90. It is broadcast from Granada's studios in Manchester rather than from TV-am's London studios.
  • 3 April – The independent production company Stonewall Productions wins the contract to produce Children's ITV presentation. They choose not to use a fixed set, but instead present links from various areas of Central's headquarters at Broad Street in Birmingham, utilising a rotating team of presenters which includes Clive Warren (now a DJ), Jeanne Downs (a singer), Jerry Foulkes (a producer who left Children's ITV on 22 December 1989) and a large puppet dog called Scally (who started out with Mark during his last few months).
  • 3 September – The Disney Club airs for the first time. Produced by Scottish Television and went out on Sundays at 9:25 am and runs mainly between September and April.

1990s

• 1990
  • July – Hey, Hey, it's Saturday! replaces Wac '90 as TV-am's flagship Saturday morning children's programme.

• 1991
  • 9 April – Central wins back the contract to produce the continuity links, choosing to revert links back to a small in-vision studio and using one regular presenter, Tommy Boyd.
  • September – Children's programme Hey, Hey, it's Saturday! is axed. It is replaced the following week by TV Mayhem .
  • November – Following the loss of its franchise, TV-am scraps all of its original children's programming, replacing it with a new Saturday morning block for children called Cartoon World which as the name suggests, only showed cartoons.

• 1992
  • 6 March – After twenty years and 1002 episodes, the final new edition of Rainbow airs. The long-running series ends due to its producer Thames Television losing its ITV franchise. Repeats continue to be shown until the end of the year.
  • 4 April – The final edition of the Saturday morning show Motormouth airs. ^{[10] [11]} The programme ends following the announcement that TVS will lose its ITV franchise at the end of 1992. ^[12]
  • 5 September – The first edition of ITV's new Saturday morning show What's Up Doc? airs. It alternates with Gimme 5 as their Saturday morning children's show.
  • December – Cartoon World on TV-am ends.

• 1993
  • 1 January – Good Morning Television (GMTV) takes over the breakfast television franchise from TV-am and like its predecessor, children's programmes dominate weekend programming. Among the programmes is Saturday Disney which overlaps past its 9:25 am cut-off time. It continues to be produced by Scottish Television which was one of the owners of them at the time. Also, a programme for younger children, Rise and Shine airs from 6 am until the start of Saturday Disney.
  • 15 February – In-vision presentation is dropped by the first Network Centre controller of children's and daytime programming Dawn Airey (a former Central management trainee) with Steven Ryde providing live out-of-vision continuity links featuring a wide variety of animated characters.
  • 6 September – CITV's afternoon slot is extended to start at 3:30 pm, when ITV network centre decided to move the pre-school children's slot from 12:10 pm. Around the same time, the Children's ITV name is changed to CITV, having been used in some form or another since the previous year.

• 1994
  • No events.

• 1995
  • January – The Disney Club moves back once again to 9:25 am with Disney Adventures starting at 8 am with Sally Gray presenting.
  • 29 April – The final edition of Saturday morning show What's Up Doc? airs. It is replaced the following week by a new programme, Scratchy & Co. .

• 1996
  • 30 March – Saturday Disney airs on GMTV for the final time.

• 1997
  • No events.

• 1998
  • 14 March – Diggit launches as GMTV's flagship children's programming block. It is broadcast from 7:10 am to 9:25 am on Saturdays and 8 am to 9:25 am on Sundays. Additional editions on Bank Holidays and Summer holidays were shown under the name Diggit Extra.
  • 25 April – Scratchy & Co. airs for the final time.
  • 26 April – The Disney Club ends after nearly nine years, ^[13] it was replaced by Diggit which launched a month earlier.
  • 26 May – A new in-vision service is introduced by the new controller of ITV children's output, Nigel Pickard. Stephen Mulhern and Danielle Nicholls are the new presentation team.
  • 29 August – SMTV Live makes its debut as ITV's Saturday morning children's programme, presented by Ant & Dec and Cat Deeley.
  • 15 November – The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK takes place with the launch of OnDigital and as part of the 19-channel line-up, Carlton creates three new channels for the platform, including a daytime channel for children, Carlton Kids.

• 1999
  • 4 January – GMTV2 launches during the breakfast downtime of ITV2 and children's programmes form a major part of the new service. ^[14]

2000s

• 2000
  • 31 January – Carlton Kids stops broadcasting. ^[15]

• 2001
  • CITV's budget is cut by 17% due to the advertising recession, leading to CITV's controller Janie Grace publicly criticising Carlton and Granada Television, then the main controlling forces in the network for underinvestment in ITV's children's service. ^[16]
  • A new strand for pre-school children is introduced from 3:25 pm every afternoon under the name "CITV's Telly Tots". The in-house presentation is dropped and replaced with a CGI animated town using a plane, a car and a postbox as its mascots. A child voiceover is used to introduce its pre-school shows. ^[17]

• 2002
  • Further cuts take place during 2002, bringing the total cutback to 25% of the overall budget. ^[18]

• 2003
  • January – Diggit is relaunched as Diggin' It.
  • 27 December – SMTV Live airs for the final time. It is cancelled due to falling ratings. ^[19]

• 2004
  • 10 January – The first edition of ITV's new Saturday morning children's programme Ministry of Mayhem airs, it would later be shown on CITV. ^[20]
  • 31 August – All in-vision continuity is replaced by voiceovers, ahead of the closure of its presentation and transmission facilities in Birmingham.

• 2005
  • 5 February – Diggin' It and Up on The Roof are merged into a new programme called Toonattik . It airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:25 am until GMTV's closedown at 9:25 am.
  • Further cutbacks to children's programming on ITV take place. ^[21]

• 2006
  • 7 January – Ministry of Mayhem is relaunched as Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown .
  • 11 March – CITV Channel launches on Freeview, Home Choice and Telewest. It starts broadcasting on Sky on 8 May and on NTL on 6 June.
  • June – ITV closes down its in-house children's production unit, as part of their then on-going process of restructuring ITV Productions and blames the closure on the competitive production environment, though ITV denied any intention of ditching its children's programming from its network schedule. ^[22]
  • 1 July – After nearly 25 years, ITV ends its broadcasting of children's programmes on its flagship channel (with the exception of GMTV simulcasts) when it airs the final edition of Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown, as from the following week, cookery programmes air on ITV on Saturday mornings.
  • At the end of 2006, CITV ends on ITV after 23 years on the air, with the exception of GMTV simulcasts.

• 2007
  • No events.

• 2008
  • No events.

• 2009
  • 2 November – CITV is relaunched, with a new logo and new branding to match ITV1 as part of ITV plc's corporate look. Mini CITV is launched to house CITV's pre-school programming.

2010s

• 2010
  • 26 December – The final edition of Toonattik airs.

• 2011
  • No events.

• 2012
  • 21 December – CITV goes live for the first time in six years with a special 45-minute edition of Text Santa .

• 2013
  • 7 January – The Mini CITV name and the Mini mascots are dropped from on-screen use.
  • 14 January – CITV gets a new logo to match its rebranded sister channels.

• 2014
  • 18 January – The first edition of weekend breakfast show Scrambled! airs.

• 2015
  • 7 January – CITV withdraws from all of its pre-school programmes from both its weekday and weekend schedules with the exception of Sooty .

• 2016
  • 21 February – CITV's broadcast hours are extended into the early evening with programmes continuing until 9pm rather than 6 pm. ^[23]

• 2017
  • No events.

• 2018
  • 3 September – LittleBe launches on ITVBe. It airs at the start of the day and is aimed at 2-6 year-olds. ^[24] The block airs at 9 am to 12 pm on weekends and weekdays and Sooty is moved from CITV to LittleBe.

• 2019
  • October – CITV partner with the BFI in their Young Audiences Content Fund to deliver more UK originated programming.

2020s

• 2020
  • No events.

• 2021
  • 11 April – The final edition of Scrambled! airs.

• 2022
  • No events.

• 2023
  • 10 March – ITV Plc announces plans to wind down the CITV channel and transition its children's output to a predominantly online model. ^{[25] [26]}
  • 27 August – CITV children's block is broadcast on the ITV network (as part of ITV Breakfast) for the final time, ending the Children's ITV/CITV strand within the national ITV network after 40 years and withdrawing the last regular scheduled provision of programmes made for children on the network. ^[27]
  • 1 September – The CITV channel closes, with programmes moving to ITVX.
  • 2 September – CITV moves over to ITV2 as morning block, providing linear broadcasting of ITVX Kids shows from ITVX. The block is scheduled to broadcast everyday between 5 am and 9 am. ^{[28] [29] [30]}
  • 1 October – CITV's 602 Freesat slot was removed, a month after the channel's closure.

• 2024
  • 31 May – LittleBe is broadcast for the final time on ITVBe, with programmes moving to ITVX. ^[31]

See also

• Timeline of children's television on the BBC
• Timeline of children's television on other British TV channels

References

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2. "[no title cited]". Television and Radio. The Times. 29 December 1980.^{[ full citation needed ]}
3. "Roland Rat Superstar". Ratfans.com. 1983-04-01. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
4. "Anne Wood C.B.E. – The Children's Media Foundation". Thechildrensmediafoundation.org. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
5. Westcott, Matt (12 January 2015). "Car Torque with TV rodent superstar Roland Rat". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
6. Pelley, Rich (20 July 2020). "Timmy Mallett and Michaela Strachan: how we made Wide Awake Club". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
7. Tait, Derek (2019). A 1980s Childhood. Amberley Publishing. ISBN   978-1445692418 . Retrieved 20 July 2020.
8. Hewson, David (3 October 1985). "Roland Rat joins Wogan at the BBC". The Times. News International. p. 3.
9. Timeline: CITV from start to finish
10. "Sat Kids". Paulmorris.co.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
11. "Saturday Morning TV". screenonline. 26 August 1996. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
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13. BFI.org
14. thesearethedays (25 February 2018). "GMTV2 starts Monday 4th January 1999" . Retrieved 8 May 2019– via YouTube.
15. "Discovery channels boost ONdigital" . The Independent . 22 December 1999. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07.
16. Brown, Maggie (1 November 2001). "ITV kids' shows at risk". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 June 2013.
17. Brown, Maggie (12 November 2001). "Suffer the children". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 June 2013.
18. Deans, Jason (20 November 2001). "BBC chief calls for strong CITV". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 June 2013.
19. Wilkes, Neil (2003-08-21). "'SM:tv Live' axed after five years". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
20. "Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern 'almost unrecognisable' in Ministry of Mayhem throwback snap". Woman Magazine. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
21. "Tough times for kids TV". Broadcast Now. 24 February 2005. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
22. Holmwood, Leigh (20 June 2006). "ITV to end kids' TV production". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 June 2013.
23. "CITV extend their broadcast hours to 9 pm ahead of CBBC doing the same after BBC3 closure. • /r/BritishTV". reddit. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
24. "ITV set to reintroduce pre-school block". TBI Vision. 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
25. Wilkes, Neil (2023-03-10)."ITV to close down CITV Channel this autumn", Media Mole
26. ITV to supercharge kids offering on ITVX
27. "Changes to ITV1 and ITV2 after CITV closure", RXTVinfo
28. Wilkes, Neil (2023-03-10)."ITV to close down CITV Channel this autumn", Media Mole
29. ITV to supercharge kids offering on ITVX
30. Newsdesk1, RXTV (24 August 2023). "Changes to ITV1 and ITV2 after CITV closure > RXTV info" . Retrieved 3 September 2023.
31. "Broadcasting U-turns of 2024". RXTV. 2025-01-01. Retrieved 2025-01-02.