Timeline of children's television on the BBC

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This is a timeline of the history of the broadcasting of children’s programmes on BBC Television.

1930s

  • 1936
    • 2 November – The BBC opens the world's first regular high-definition television service, from Alexandra Palace.
  • 1937
    • 24 April – The very first children's television show For the Children is broadcast.
  • 1938
    • No events.
  • 1939
    • 1 September – The BBC Television Service is suspended, about 20 minutes after the conclusion of a Mickey Mouse cartoon (Mickey's Gala Premiere), owing to the imminent outbreak of the Second World War amid fears that the VHF transmissions would act as perfect guidance beams for enemy bombers attempting to locate central London. Additionally, the service's technicians and engineers will be needed for war efforts such as the development of radar. On radio, the National and Regional Programmes are combined to form a single Home Service.

1940s

  • 1940 to 1945
    • No events.
  • 1946
    • 7 June – The BBC Television Service begins broadcasting again. The first words heard are "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?". The Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Premiere that had been the last programme transmitted seven years earlier at the start of World War II, is reshown after Bligh's introduction.[1]
    • 7 July – The BBC's children's programme For the Children returns, one of the few pre-war programmes to resume after the reintroduction of the BBC Television Service.
    • 4 August – Children's puppet "Muffin the Mule" debuts in an episode of For the Children. He is so popular he is given his own show later in the year on a new service Watch with Mother.
  • 1947
    • No events.
  • 1948
    • No events.
  • 1949
    • No events.

1950s

1960s

  • 1960
    • No events.
  • 1961
    • No events.
  • 1962
    • No events.
  • 1963
    • April – Watch With Mother is moved to a mid-morning slot and from September the lunchtime broadcast is reintroduced.
  • 1964
    • 21 April – The first edition of Play School is broadcast. It is transmitted on the new BBC2 channel which had launched the previous evening but the launch night was affected by a power cut which resulted in Play School becoming the first programme to air on the new channel.
    • 28 September – Blue Peter is now shown twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays with each episode extended from 15 to 25 minutes.
  • 1965
    • 18 October – The Magic Roundabout debuts on BBC1.[3] It continues until 1977.
    • 13 December – Storytelling series Jackanory debuts on BBC1[4] running until 1996 and was later revived in 2006.
  • 1966
  • 1967
    • 25 December – Sooty is shown for the final time on the BBC, it would transfer to the newly-launched ITV franchise Thames the following year.
  • 1968
    • No events.
  • 1969
    • No events.

1970s

1980s

  • 1980
    • 1 October – BBC1's lunchtime children's programme is labelled See Saw for the first time.[9]
  • 1981
    • No events.
  • 1982
    • 27 March – The final edition of Saturday morning children’s magazine show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop is broadcast.[10]
    • 17 April – The BBC launches its first summer Saturday morning magazine programme, Get Set. However unlike its winter counterpart, the summer shows air only for the first half of the morning. This allows for an earlier start to Grandstand to accommodate live test cricket and on the weeks that cricket is not being shown, a feature film is broadcast from around 11am until the start of Grandstand at 12:30pm.
    • 2 October – The first edition of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop Saturday morning replacement show Saturday Superstore is broadcast on BBC1. It adopts a similar format to its predecessor.[11]
  • 1983
    • 19 September – Due to the transfer of programmes for schools and colleges to BBC2, the morning broadcast of Play School moves to BBC1.
  • 1984
    • 21 April – The Saturday Picture Show replaces Get Set as the BBC's summer Saturday morning magazine programme. Its running time is extended and begins at the earlier time of 8:45am.
  • 1985
    • 29 March – Play School is shown in the afternoon for the final time.[12]
    • 9 September – The weekday afternoon block of children's programming is rebranded as Children's BBC and for the first time the children's block has dedicated idents and an in-vision presenter. Previously, children's programming had been introduced by BBC1's team of regular duty announcers.
    • October – A weekday 20-minute morning slot of Gaelic children's programmes begins on BBC One Scotland. The programmes are generally shown in term-time before Play School, starting at 10:10am.
  • 1986
    • 27 March – Following the launch the previous autumn of in-vision continuity for children's programmes, for the first time in-vision presentation is introduced to holiday weekday morning children's programmes. The Easter period's ten programmes are presented by Roland Rat and are called Roland Rat's Easter Extravaganza.[13]
    • 1 April – As part of the BBC's Drugwatch campaign, BBC1 airs It's Not Just Zammo, a Newsround special presented by John Craven and Nick Ross that seeks to warn younger viewers about the dangers of using drugs. The programme follows a recent drug abuse storyline in Grange Hill involving the character Zammo McGuire (played by Lee MacDonald), and features the launch of a version of the anti-drugs song "Just Say No" recorded by members of the Grange Hill cast.
    • 27 October – BBC1 starts a full daytime television service. This includes a new morning programme block for children which lasts for 30 minutes. In addition to the continued broadcasting of Play School, a birthday slot is introduced along with a cartoon.
  • 1987
    • 18 April – The final edition of Saturday Superstore is broadcast on BBC1.[14]
    • 25 April – It's Wicked replaces The Saturday Picture Show as the BBC's summer Saturday morning magazine programme. It runs for just the one series.
    • 22 June – The BBC's lunchtime children's programme moves from BBC1 to BBC2. It is shown slightly earlier, at 1:20pm.
    • 3 July – But First This launches as BBC1’s new weekday school holidays children’s morning programming block. Described as “a sort of magazine between the programmes”, it airs each weekday during the holidays between 9:05am and midday.[15]
    • 26 September – Debut of Going Live!, a new live magazine show, broadcast on BBC1, and presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene.[16]
    • 11 October – A new Sunday morning children's strand Now on Two launches. It is broadcast between October and January during the during the Open University off-season.[17]
  • 1988
    • 23 April–10 September – Two Saturday morning magazine shown are shown on Saturday morning this summer. On the Waterfront is aired for the first part of the summer[18] with UP2U taking over in mid-July.[19]
    • 16 October – Play School is broadcast for the final time. The last new edition had been shown in March.
    • 17 October – Playbus, the replacement programme for Play School is broadcast for the first time.
  • 1989
    • 22 April – 16 September – Again, two Saturday morning magazine programmes shown are shown on Saturday morning this summer as again On the Waterfront is aired for the first part of the summer[20] with UP2U again taking over in mid-July.[21]
    • 22 June – After more than 17 years, John Craven steps down as presenter of Newsround.
    • 8 November – The first edition of Byker Grove is broadcast. The teen drama, set in a youth club, will air for the next 17 years.
    • 25 December – Playbus is renamed as Playdays.

1990s

  • 1990
  • 1991
    • 9 September – New idents launched featuring the BBC corporate logo.
  • 1992
    • 26 March – The final original edition of pre-school educational series You and Me is broadcast although repeats continue to be aired until 1995.
    • 25 April – Parallel 9 replaces The 8.15 from Manchester as BBC1's Saturday morning summer magazine programme.
  • 1993
  • 1994
    • 5 September – The idents get a refresh with new 3D graphics.
  • 1995
    • 21 April – At the end of its 42nd series, the final edition of Why Don't You? is broadcast. The programme ends after nearly 22 years on air.
    • 22 April – Fully Booked replaces Parallel 9 as BBC1's Saturday morning summer magazine programme.
    • 9 October – From that day, children's programmes are shown on BBC2 during the peak breakfast period and the strand is called the Children's BBC Breakfast Show.
    • Blue Peter is now shown three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.[25]
  • 1996
    • 24 March – After more than 30 years on air, the final edition of storytelling series Jackanory is broadcast.
    • 10 June–23 August – For the summer period, the late afternoon block of children's programmes aired on BBC1 are transferred to BBC2.
  • 1997
    • 28 March – The final episode of Playdays is broadcast.
    • 31 March – Children's television series Teletubbies premieres on BBC2.[26]
    • 4 October – The new BBC corporate logo comes into use and new idents featuring various animations on a yellow background is now officially called CBBC.
  • 1998
    • 23 September – The BBC launches BBC Choice, its first new TV channel since 1964, available only on digital TV services. Children’s programming forms part of the output from the start, aired on weekend afternoons as CBBC Choice and included strands like Dog & Dinosaur, 'The Crew Room, L&K Replay and Re:Peter.
  • 1999
    • 6 September – The children's programme Tweenies makes its debut on BBC2 at 10:30am and again at 3:25pm on BBC1.[27]
    • 29 November – From that day, children's programming is broadcast all day on BBC Choice. Branded CBBC on Choice, children's programming is broadcast on the channel every day from 6am until 7pm. Aimed at young children, with presentation links pre-recorded by a CBBC presenter. It includes repeats of archive shows rarely seen on the main channels.

2000s

  • 2000
    • 23 September – The final edition of Summer Saturday morning children's magazine show Fully Booked is broadcast. This brings to an end an almost 20 year run of BBC1 Summer only Saturday children's magazine shows.
    • 7 October – Live & Kicking returns with a new look and became the first Saturday morning magazine show on BBC One to air all year round.[28][29]
  • 2001
  • 2002
    • 11 February – Two new BBC children's channels, CBeebies (aimed at children under 6) and CBBC (aimed at children aged 6–12) launch.[31][32] The new channel sees the launch of through-the-day editions of Newsround and the introduction of weekend editions. Newsround Showbiz is also launched at around the same time. This also coincided with new idents known as the Bugs.
  • 2003
    • No events.
  • 2004
    • No events.
  • 2005
    • 3 September – After several revamps and presenting changes, BBC One airs the final edition of its children's entertainment series The Saturday Show.[33]
    • 10 September – Sportsround, a weekly spin-off from CBBC children's news programme Newsround is launched. The sports magazine show was broadcast on Friday evenings at 6:30pm on CBBC Channel and on Saturday mornings on BBC Two.
    • 30 September – CBBC's identity is relaunched, with its second new look since the launch of the CBBC Channel, known as the Green Gumdrop.
    • 5 October – The 6am CBeebies programming block on BBC Two ends and is replaced by an hour of Pages from Ceefax.
    • 21 December – The BBC announces that it is to trial a three-month experiment in which its Saturday morning schedules for BBC One and BBC Two will be swapped. The changes, taking effect from January 2006, are being implemented because of frequent scheduling changes caused by big events and breaking news stories, and will mean children's programming will be absent from BBC One's Saturday morning lineup for the first time since 1976.[34]
    • Newsround Showbiz ends after three years on air.
    • CBBC Extra launches on the BBC Red Button.
  • 2006
    • 10 December – The 344th and final edition of Byker Grove is broadcast. The teen drama, set in a youth club, ends after 17 years.
    • 25 December – The weekday 6am CBeebies programming block on BBC Two is reintroduced.
  • 2007
    • May – It is announced that Blue Peter will be aired twice a week. The BBC argues that by dropping one show the quality of the programme’s content will improve.[35]
    • 3 September – CBBC launches another new look with a stylised ident.
    • 20 October – BBC Switch, a teenage block of shows is launched to cater for the under-served 12 to 16-year-olds.
    • 1 December – BBC HD channel is officially launched after around eighteen months of trial broadcasts.
    • 25 December – BBC iPlayer, an online service for watching previously aired shows, is launched.
  • 2008
    • 11 February – CBBC on BBC One was shifted to run 3:05–5:15pm rather than 3:25–5:35pm as before in order to accommodate The Weakest Link moving from BBC Two to BBC One. The changes are made following the BBC's loss of the rights to the soap opera Neighbours which had for many years been broadcast between the end of CBBC and the start of the 6 o’clock news.
    • 20 March – The remit of CBBC is altered to remove the schools programming element from the channel.
    • 15 September – BBC One airs the 601st and final episode of Grange Hill after a 30 year run.[36]
  • 2009
    • No events.

2010s

  • 2010
    • 10 September – The CBBC idents gets a slight refresh.
    • 11 December – The final episode of Sportsround is broadcast after five years on air. It is replaced by a new sports show Match of the Day Kickabout, which airs in Sportsround's original BBC Two slot on Saturday mornings.
    • 18 December – BBC Switch is switched off.
  • 2011
  • 2012
    • 12 January – Blue Peter is now only broadcast once a week, for the first time since 1964 and for the first time in the show's history, first run episodes were now broadcast on the CBBC Channel at 5:45pm on Thursdays. However, a repeat was still broadcast the following day on BBC One.
    • 21 December – CBBC and CBeebies both air on BBC One for the last time.
  • 2013
  • 2014
    • 13 September – a new set of CBBC idents launches while keeping the existing logo.
  • 2015
    • No events.
  • 2016
    • 14 March – A new CBBC logo appears alongside new idents.
    • 11 April – CBBC extends its broadcast hours from 7pm to 9pm, using capacity which had previously been used by BBC Three that went off the air in February.
    • CBBC Extra, which had been broadcast on the BBC Red Button since 2005 ends.
  • 2017
  • 2018
    • No events.
  • 2019
    • No events.

2020s

  • 2020
    • 28 July – The BBC axes the teatime edition of Newsround after 48 years after concluding that the typical child no longer turns on traditional television channels when they return home from school. They will focus on the morning edition instead which will be aimed at schools where it is often used by teachers in classrooms, in addition to investing in the programme's website.[39]
  • 2021
  • 2022
    • 5 January – The relaunch of BBC Three sees CBBC’s hours reduced, ending its broadcast day two hours earlier, at 7pm instead of 9pm.[40][41]
    • 3 September - CBeebies programming returns on Saturday mornings on BBC Two at 6:35am & CBBC programming moved on BBC Two to 7:20am.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Back after the break". BBC. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  2. ^ Kynaston, David (2009). Family Britain, 1951–57. London: Bloomsbury. p. 458. ISBN 978-0-7475-8385-1.
  3. ^ "The Magic Roundabout: 1: Mr. Rusty Meets Zebedee – BBC One London – 18 October 1965 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Jackanory – BBC One London – 13 December 1965 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  5. ^ "You and Me - BBC One London - 14 January 1974 - BBC Genome". The Radio Times (2618): 12. 10 January 1974. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  6. ^ McGown, Alistair, Watch With Mother, BFI Screenonline, retrieved 22 June 2012
  7. ^ "GRANGE HILL – A TELEVISION HEAVEN REVIEW". TV Heaven. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  8. ^ Lysons, Jon. "Grange Hill (1978–2008)". BFI Screen Online. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  9. ^ "See-Saw – BBC One London – 1 October 1980 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  10. ^ "Swap Shop – BBC One London – 27 March 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  11. ^ "Saturday Superstore - BBC One London - 2 October 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Play School: It's Friday – BBC One London – 29 March 1985 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  13. ^ BBC Programme Index - BBC1 listiungs 27th March 1986
  14. ^ "Saturday Superstore - BBC One London - 18 April 1987". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  15. ^ BBC1 listings 13 July 1987
  16. ^ "BBC One London – 26 September 1987 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  17. ^ BBC Genome Project - BBC2 listings 11 October 1987
  18. ^ "On the Waterfront - BBC One London - 23 April 1988". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  19. ^ "UP2U - BBC One London - 16 July 1988". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  20. ^ "On the Waterfront - BBC One London - 22 April 1989". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  21. ^ "UP2U - BBC One London - 16 September 1989". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  22. ^ "The 8:15 from Manchester - BBC One London - 21 April 1990". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  23. ^ "Going Live! – BBC One London – 17 April 1993 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  24. ^ "Live and Kicking – BBC One London – 2 October 1993 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  25. ^ Marson, p.45
  26. ^ "Teletubbies: Ned's Bicycle – BBC Two England – 31 March 1997". BBC Genome. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  27. ^ "Tweenies – BBC Two England – 6 September 1999". BBC Genome. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  28. ^ "Live and Kicking – BBC One London – 7 October 2000 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  29. ^ "CBBC – BBC One London – 21 April 2001 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  30. ^ "Live and Kicking – BBC One London – 15 September 2001 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  31. ^ "New BBC channels get launch dates". BBC News. BBC. 7 January 2002. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  32. ^ "BBC children's channels on air". BBC News. BBC. 11 February 2002. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  33. ^ "The Saturday Show – BBC One London – 3 September 2005". BBC Genome. BBC. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  34. ^ "BBC mulls Saturday morning switch". BBC News. BBC. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  35. ^ "Blue Peter to lose a show a week". BBC News Online. BBC. 25 May 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  36. ^ Holmwood, Leigh (15 September 2008). "BBC1 screens the last ever episode of the school drama today". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  37. ^ "Revamped Blue Peter moves north". BBC News. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  38. ^ Youngs, Ian (29 September 2017). "Let the gunge flow! Saturday morning kids' TV goes live again". BBC.
  39. ^ "BBC axes evening edition of Newsround after 48 years". The Guardian. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  40. ^ "BBC Three will return to TV screens after six-year break". 2 March 2021.
  41. ^ New Year change to CBBC hours
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