166-479: Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown (previously titled Ministry of Mayhem and MoM ) was a British children's entertainment programme, which was broadcast on ITV (later CITV ) from 10 January 2004 to 1 July 2006. Ministry of Mayhem was first broadcast on 10 January 2004 and aired weekly on a Saturday morning on ITV . The programme featured a mix of cartoons, celebrity guests, live music and phone-in competitions - with surreal characters, crazy games and
332-593: A 'stripped' daily weekday schedule to the strand inspired by American broadcasters such as Nickelodeon (where she had previously worked ) additionally failed, after initially increasing viewership. Despite its cutbacks and falling ratings, the ITC contended in its 2002 performance review that CITV had "sustained an impressive schedule", gave "factual material a fresh look", and "continued to produce good dramas". In-house promotions additionally maintained graphics refreshes, and presentation producers Sid Cole and Martyn Fox took
498-402: A Christmas break, the programme returned with a new format, design, theme tune, and name - Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown . The format consisted of Willoughby and Mulhern inviting viewers and celebrities into their 'flat' to participate in a battle of the sexes. The teams had to earn points from the games they played, and which ever team had the most points by the end of the show would be
664-511: A central service under the STV brand. The company had several disputes with ITV plc in the late 2000s and early 2010s over network programming. STV aimed to broadcast more Scottish programmes at peak times and so removed several key ITV plc programmes from their schedule in July 2009 including The Bill , Midsomer Murders and Lewis . Despite STV's explanation of expense, ITV plc were angered by
830-411: A considerable amount of syndicated unscripted US programmes in daytime during the 90s, such as Judge Judy and The Jerry Springer Show . By 1996, ITV had been quiet with US series in primetime, particularly as Channel 4 and Sky One increased the competition for securing the most popular US dramas and sitcoms. However, that summer, ITV debuted the primetime soap Savannah , in a 9pm Friday slot. It
996-493: A couple of hours after midnight, replacing gambling broadcasts: the time between the news and the shopping is usually kept for re-runs, with ITV repeating its primetime entertainment shows, films, or sports programming from ITV4. ITV continues with its regular scheduled programming after the shopping service finishes at around 3am with showbiz news bulletin FYI Extra and repeats, many of which have on-screen BSL signing for
1162-450: A dangerous procedure. The original Lab was a plain white room located somewhere in the large studio. Post revamp it occupied a fairly large part of the studio in an enclosed set. However, to make room for a new seated area within the enclosed set, and larger outdoor-oriented experiments, the Lab was reduced to at least half its original size and equipped with a cupboard that acted as a portal to
1328-400: A dedicated CITV programming block now broadcasting on ITV2 every morning, from 2 September 2023. Schools programming on the network began in 1957 in some regions and expanded as more regions began broadcasting. It was a contractual obligation for some ITV companies to broadcast schools programming, and this was initially broadcast as part of the normal scheduling. The programmes were moved into
1494-427: A different playout source (usually from that of the originating ITV company, i.e. if the first programme was Rainbow , which came from Thames TV , their staff would have to run the tape while the presenter was talking, and would not show the region's skyline ident before the programme's titles) and each link being pre-recorded (played out by Central), things often went wrong on air: programmes would be rolled early and
1660-423: A door, hoping for it to be made of paper. Ray would then charge at a door and either run through it if it was made of paper or slam into it and fall backwards if it was made of wood. Ray would often fall and roll across the floor of the studio rather dramatically, and he was often checked to see if he was hurt (although Stephen often found his collisions hilarious). To suit the theme of an episode, Ray would often wear
1826-402: A dresser. Taken from MOM. Cut after 6th show. Both teams would compete against each other as a celebrity's face would be revealed from behind soap bubbles on the studio TV screen. If one team correctly identified the celebrity, they would earn their team points and would then be asked a supplementary question about the celebrity who had just been revealed. Getting that question right would earn
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#17328021678911992-511: A full-day average of 33,000 viewers and a 2.5% share of the child audience. This put it ahead of other channels Cartoon Network (20,000, a 1.5% share), Boomerang (28,000 a 2.1% share), and Nickelodeon (26,000 a 2.0% share). The channel peaked at 4:30 pm with Bratz gaining 51,000 viewers and a 3.6% share. The channel took a 0.2% audience share in its first week compared to: CBBC 0.6%, Cartoon Network 0.4%, Boomerang 0.4%, and CBeebies 1.4%. Its overall ratings share for March 2006
2158-481: A further two years in 1999, successfully seeing off two rival bids from other ITV companies. Presentation was refreshed several times by their in-house promotions team, with one of the service's longest-lasting visual identities launching on 11 September 1999. Under the design and direction of Carlton's Dave Hickman and Amanda Robinson, 3D animation firm Aldis Animation produced many of the strand's short computer-generated idents and break bumpers. CITV's online presence
2324-562: A gunge tank, wearing ear defenders with giant ears on both sides, guessing charades to popular songs using props. Example:- Holly would wear a blonde Heidi Range wig with a red apron = Red Dress by Sugababes . If they answered correctly, there was no gunging but if they did answer incorrectly, the presenter would be gunged. Since Ministry of Mayhem started many games have been played, to date many have been discontinued including: Christmas editions of MoM were aired on 25 December 2004 and 24 December 2005. The most notable special edition
2490-543: A joint venture. Charles Allen, chief executive of ITV plc, claimed to not believe in ITV creating a new channel by itself in a "over-populated market", whilst the network held talks with Nickelodeon and Disney . On 11 April 2005, ITV announced they had entered into a partnership with Nickelodeon to launch a free-to-air channel dubbed "INK" (ITV Nickelodeon Kids). The venture would allow the two companies to share programmes across each other's networks. However, on 14 July 2005, it
2656-529: A light-touch regulator, the ITC ; companies became able to purchase other ITV regional companies and franchises were now being awarded based upon a highest-bidder auction, with few safeguards in place. This heavily criticised part of the review saw four operators replaced, and the operators facing different annual payments to the Treasury : Central Independent Television, for example, paid only £2,000—despite holding
2822-529: A load of gunge thrown in for good measure. It was initially presented by CITV presenters Stephen Mulhern , Holly Willoughby and Michael Underwood . The theme tune was sung by boyband The Noise Next Door and can be found as a B-side to their debut single "Lock Up Ya Daughters". The show was produced at The Maidstone Studios by The Foundation, working initially in partnership with Carlton Television . After Carlton and Granada merged in 2004 to form ITV plc , all Carlton productions were switched to run under
2988-402: A lucrative and large region—because it was unopposed, while Yorkshire Television paid £37.7 million for a region of the same size and status, owing to heavy competition. Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. By 2004, the ITV network
3154-472: A marathon of archive programming, officially known as the Old Skool Weekend . A new look was introduced on 14 January 2013 to coincide with ITV's corporate rebranding. CITV adopted a "yellowy-orange" logo with cartoon idents that "burp and fart, and do other things kids love", as well as child voiceovers. On 22 February 2016, the channel extended its on-air hours to 9pm. Following its move from
3320-422: A matching costume. A contestant would attempt to beat Ray in a one-on-one race, normally on foot, but occasionally by other modes of transport, such as husky dogs. The contestant would often be given a handicap (e.g. time, distance) and was required to make up the deficit to Ray over the course of the race. An audience member is embarrassed by a relative, which also became a feature of the very first Showdown as
3486-737: A monthly political programme, most non-news regional programming in the English regions was dropped by ITV plc in 2009, although it continues in Wales and the Channel Islands, as well as on STV and UTV and ITV Border in Scotland from 2014 to cover mainly Scottish politics whilst ITV Border in England broadcast network programming . On 14 January 2013, ITV plc regional news programmes titles were discontinued in favour of more generic branding under
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#17328021678913652-508: A more coherent approach to children's output, with the introduction of the new Watch It! block each weekday from 4:15pm to 5:15pm, after the IBA continued to emphasize issues. Watch It! was conceived by the promotions department at ATV, with the implementation of the branding differing from region to region, thus it was always transmitted locally and never provided on a network basis. ATV provided different animations each season, to freshen up what
3818-422: A new pre-school sub-strand also introduced under the name "Telly Tots", which replaced the in-vision presentation between 3:20 and 3:40pm with a CGI-animated town of cartoon mascots. Books, magazines and video tapes were introduced to tie-in with the new strand. However, further cuts took place again during 2002, bringing CITV's total budget reduction to 25% overall at £30 million. Grace's experiment in introducing
3984-475: A new set and opening titles being introduced - however the characters 'Tina and Gina' were not included in the revamp. Other new additions included sketch series At Home with the Mayhems and later Butthaven , which featured the presenters playing 'rainbow coats' in a fictitious holiday camp of the same name - with possible inspiration from the sitcom Hi-de-Hi! , and even a special studio appearance from one of
4150-462: A preview video loop running from late February 2006 until the launch. The channel launched on 11 March 2006 at 9:25am, with a simulcast of Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown being the first programme to air following a countdown graphic. It initially launched on Freeview Channel 75, Homechoice (now known as TalkTalk TV ), and Telewest Channel 734, and was added to Sky Channel 624 on 8 May 2006 and NTL Channel 76/602 on 6 June. Additionally,
4316-485: A public service broadcaster, the ITV network is obliged to broadcast programming of public importance, including news, current affairs, children's and religious programming as well as party election broadcasts on behalf of the major political parties and political events, such as the Budget. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In exchange for this programming,
4482-451: A room of antiques in April 1984). By 1985, the links were still being recorded, but using a common, stylized set known as "Network Control", which allowed the presenter to be joined by guests in the studio for interviews. The exterior of this fictitious location also featured in the animations and stings. Technical considerations often left the system flawed. With each programme coming from
4648-489: A segment for broadcast during the day in the 1960s, under the banner Independent Television for Schools and Colleges and from 1987 were broadcast on Channel 4 in the ITV Schools on Channel 4 segment. In 1993, this segment became Channel 4 Schools and later in 2000 4Learning . These strands of programming consisted of schools programming from all the ITV companies or from independent sources. The schools strand itself
4814-409: A select few series sourced from independent production companies. In July 2009, ITV announced CITV was the only channel among its portfolio to have an increased budget. Emma Tennant, the then-controller of CITV, told a children's Showcomotion conference that "the commissioning budgets for all channels next year are going to be smaller, except CITV, which is growing – but it will not necessarily spend
4980-447: A set built to look like a transmitting station. Although the studio space was small, the designers' use of a plate glass mirror gave the effect of a much larger set. The new live format gave brought a great deal of flexibility; timings could be altered, schedule changes reflected, and breakdowns dealt with in a continuous manner. In 1988, the format was refreshed again with a new single presenter, Mark Granger, replacing Terzza and Shore, in
5146-462: A sign language service within the broadcast as part of its quota and licence requirements. ITV's strong daytime line-up helped by programmes such as This Morning , Loose Women , Dickinson's Real Deal and game shows Tipping Point and The Chase are very popular, achieving the highest audience share during the daytime slot. In recent years the network has tried to use formats that ITV Studios own outright (whether they have originated in
Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown - Misplaced Pages Continue
5312-551: A smaller, more basic studio set which included in-vision monitors showing the VT clock of the next scheduled item. On 3 April 1989, the independent production company Stonewall Productions won the contract to produce and revamp the Children's ITV presentation . Stonewall Productions was headed up by Michael Jackson, a Central staffer who used his expertise to put a successful application together. Whereas Central had restricted links to
5478-455: A special appearance from Timmy Mallett . There were also interviews with Chris Tarrant and Ant & Dec - and The Phantom Flan Flinger , mascot of Tiswas , was revived. When the show launched in 2004, former SMTV Live sponsors Monster Munch was the main sponsor. Cheesestrings took over the following year and remained the official sponsor until the show's end on 1 July 2006. ITV (TV network) ITV , legally known as Channel 3 ,
5644-453: Is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV . It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition, eliminating what had been the monopoly of BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of
5810-403: Is actually pre-recorded. This has been proved by the fact that Sniff only appears in this segment. The game has appeared on editions where Holly Willoughby was absent, along with the lack of any obvious entry details for the game, either on the show or the website, and with the speed Holly would have to change costumes if the segment was live, as she appears on screen within seconds either side of
5976-424: Is complete without us being able to play in the cable and satellite world. In fact, we can't not do this and ultimately survive as a kids player in the future". ITV director and former CITV controller Nigel Pickard additionally admitted the network's output for children had become "a minnow in a sea of twenty channels". In early 2004, ITV finally confirmed it had greenlit the launch of a children's channel, but as
6142-425: Is not owned or operated by one company, but by a number of licensees, which provide regional services while also broadcasting programmes across the network. Since 2016, the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc. The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences. The last major review of
6308-453: Is now defunct, with no particular branding segment used. ITV was originally very reliant on broadcasting American series, with westerns such as Gunsmoke and Rawhide in particular being considerable successes for the network during its earlier years. Action drama The Fugitive and sci-fi anthology The Twilight Zone were also broadcast by various regions in the early 1960s, with Batman and I Dream of Jeannie shown later on in
6474-567: The ITV News title with the region listed as the subheading. However some "heritage" brand names were retained including Calendar , Granada Reports and Lookaround . On 28 June 2014, ITV News Cymru Wales returned to its historic name of Wales at Six . The network broadcasts children's programming under the CITV (Children's ITV) strand. Children's programming was originally provided during weekday afternoons and weekend mornings, however following
6640-500: The Broadcasting Act 1990 , it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC1 , BBC2 and Channel 4 . ITV was for four decades a network of separate companies that provided regional television services and also shared programmes among themselves to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers,
6806-562: The ITV Breakfast time slot. CITV did not have a +1 simulcast , unlike the rest of ITV's portfolio of channels. Additionally, the channel was only simulcast in HD on Sky online and Sky Glass . On 22 July 2023, ITV launched a new children's hub on the ITVX streaming service, ITVX Kids , previously announced to be an eventual replacement for the CITV channel. At 9:00pm on 1 September 2023,
Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown - Misplaced Pages Continue
6972-583: The ITV News brand. ITN has long been respected in the news industry as a source of reliable information and news, and as a result the service has won many awards for their programmes, the latest being in May 2011 when News at Ten was named best news programme by the Royal Television Society and BAFTA . The ITV National Weather forecast was first broadcast in 1989, using data supplied by
7138-833: The Independent Television Authority (ITA, then IBA after the Sound Broadcasting Act) to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands and the North of England, with separate franchises for Weekdays and Weekends. The first ITV service to launch was London's Associated-Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches,
7304-459: The Met Office , and was presented by a number of weather forecasters. The forecasts are sponsored with the sponsor's message appearing before and after the forecast. The forecasts are made immediately after the main national news bulletins. Prior to the creation of the national forecast, each regional company provided its own regional forecast. The regional forecasts today are incorporated into
7470-462: The Unwind slot, but this was eventually phased out and replaced with the aforementioned news and information service. This overnight programme service is very different to what used to be shown on the network in the years after 24-hour broadcasting was introduced - this included new entertainment, imports, sports and other information programmes, and, in some regions, a job finder service, however due to
7636-906: The Unwind with ITV sequences to fill small pieces of time before this. Teleshopping on ITVBe starts at 01:00 and continues until 07:00. There are some occasions when other coverage means this cycle of programmes get misplaced, for example a live event overnight, such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars , both of which ITV started airing in 2024, or, over Christmas, failing to sell Teleshopping slots, meaning more repeats, films and long Unwind sequences are used as filler instead. Overnight, STV broadcasts an overnight rolling news and information service, mixing reports from STV News and other information-based services, instead of ITV's shopping slot and Unwind . Due to STV opt-outs, this service can start later than or earlier than ITV's teleshopping. STV originally simulcast
7802-602: The "Spellminator" ("Spellminatrix" for Holly) and another contestant who usually wrote in to the Ministry to take part. Michael was dressed in a black dinner suit and was the MC. There were three rounds of spelling, in which each contestant was given a word with its definition and had to spell it one letter at a time. The person with the most points at the end would win and later receive the Spelling Smackdown belt. If there
7968-480: The 1993 invitation to tender for the provision of the Children's ITV service specified a minimum number of high quality trailers that the successful applicant were required to create over the term of the contract. Containing a sizeable promotions department - and a credible reputation for presentation within the ITV network - the contract remained with Central. The Broadcasting Act 1990 and subsequent 1991 ITV franchise auctions also brought about numerous changes to
8134-667: The 75% limit as possible. The group cut the number of regional news programmes offered from 17 in 2007 to 9 by 2009, resulting several regions being merged to form one programme, including the Border and Tyne Tees regions, the Westcountry and West regions and the removal of sub regional programming, with some regions only represented by pre-recorded segments. Sub-regions were restored in 2013. STV Group plc owns two franchises, covering central and northern Scotland, through subsidiary companies STV Central and STV North, broadcasting
8300-500: The BBC revamped their own children's presentation with the introduction of Children's BBC. Using the BBC1 announcer booth at BBC Television Centre , later dubbed "The Broom Cupboard", Phillip Schofield provided links between the programmes. This format of a small self-op continuity studio using one single presenter (and an occasional puppet) continued in largely the same format until 1993, but
8466-505: The BBC, where he would go on to launch the CBBC and CBeebies channels. Prior to leaving ITV, Pickard had begun floating the idea of a separate CITV digital channel to open in 2001. CITV strands had already been broadcast for a short period on the then-new ITV2 . In 2001, CITV's budget was cut by 17% due to the advertising recession, leading to CITV controller Janie Grace publicly criticising Carlton and Granada Television , by that time
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#17328021678918632-462: The Builder became key earners for the corporation via merchandising and licencing. Former BBC Children's and Granada Kids producer Steven Andrew took over from Grace as ITV's controller of children and youth programming, overseeing the merger of Carlton and Granada's children's departments he had previously called for prominently whilst serving as director of the latter. Andrew returned focus to
8798-490: The CITV Channel. As such, the programme no longer used the 'Extra' tagline, given that the whole two-and-a-half hour show was now only airing on the CITV Channel. On 1 July 2006, the very final edition was broadcast, which saw the return of the characters 'The Doctor', 'Mr. Lee' and one half of The Hyenas, 'Sniff'. There was also a new take on M.O.M favourite Cakey Sk8, plus some jabs by presenters and characters towards
8964-571: The CITV branding. The new children's strand replaces teleshopping and re-runs of shows including World's Funniest Videos and Love Bites . Children's shows featured on the new breakfast time block include Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous and Scooby-Doo . Plans for a standalone CITV digital channel were first put in motion and reported as far back as 2000, but were placed on hold indefinitely following its budget cuts in 2001. When Steven Andrew became controller of children and youth programming at ITV plc in 2003, he stated that "No kids strategy
9130-489: The Central Promotions Department came up with the initial concept for Children's ITV. The new look was devised, and links between programmes were pre-recorded using presenters drawn from the constituent programmes. The networking arrangements were similar to those already in place for the transmission of schools programmes – the links were played out from Central and the component programmes came from
9296-538: The Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators' licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. While this has been the longest period that the ITV network has gone without a major review of its licence holders, Ofcom announced (following consultation) that it would split the Wales and West licence from 1 January 2014, creating a national licence for Wales and joining
9462-597: The Granada name, thus the programme became a Granada-Foundation production. From 2006, Granada programmes for ITV were branded ITV Productions , and so it became an ITV Productions-The Foundation production for the remainder of its run. It was one of the last Saturday morning children's live magazine programmes on British television and the final show on 1 July 2006 marking the end of the Saturday morning children's programmes after 38 years. This occurred on 24 July 2004, with
9628-499: The ITA awarded more franchises until the whole country was covered by fourteen regional stations, all launched by 1962. The network has been modified several times through franchise reviews that have taken place in 1963, 1967, 1974, 1980 and 1991, during which broadcast regions have changed and service operators have been replaced. Only one service operator has ever been declared bankrupt, WWN in 1963, with all other operators leaving
9794-456: The ITC for the creation of a separate CITV Ltd company, which would allow more children's output to be made in-house - a proposal which ultimately fell apart due to the need for a change in the law and support from the Office of Fair Trading . Around the same time, greater emphasis was placed on viewer engagement with the launch of a CITV text messaging service, interactive online vote events, and
9960-478: The ITV network for children aged 6–12. It replaced the earlier Watch It! branding and introduced networked in-vision continuity links between programmes. These links were originally pre-recorded from a small London studio up until 1987, when Central won the contract to produce live links from their Birmingham studios. In 2004, presentation of CITV was relocated to Granada Television in Manchester, which saw
10126-760: The ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers. Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the digital terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned ITV2 , ITV3 , ITV4 and ITVBe in their region. UTV and STV (formerly Scottish Television and Grampian Television ) previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, when they adopted
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#173280216789110292-538: The ITV network's history goes back to 1955, many regional franchisees changed over the years. Some of the most important names in the network's past – notably Thames , ABC and ATV – have no connection with the modern network. The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954 , designed to break the monopoly on television held by the BBC Television Service . The act created
10458-799: The ITV plc channels. Despite this, STV was given a broadcasting licence for what would become the STV2 channel in 2013, however this was short-lived and the channel closed in 2018. The broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with Channel 4 . CITV launched in March 2006 (closed September 2023). ITV Encore launched in June 2014 (closed May 2018) and ITVBe launched in October 2014. ITV Box Office launched in February 2017 (closed January 2020). On 13 September 2022, ITV confirmed that during
10624-553: The ITVX loop since its official September closure. Programming between 6 and 9:25am was controlled by ITV Breakfast (previously GMTV ), who, having rebranded the vast majority of their GMTV children's output as CITV, used the space to simulcast their programming at weekends on the ITV network and CITV Breakfast on weekdays. ITV took over at 9:25am, controlling the rest of the day's programming. When it first launched, GMTV used to sell all
10790-495: The Parent Trap where the viewer embarrassed the parent. Two teams, composed of one of the presenters and a child, go to a supermarket with a trolley full of items in progressively larger sizes. The aim of the game is to place all of the items into unsuspecting shoppers' trolleys. The first team to do so wins. The introduction of this game came a matter of weeks before the new series of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow started which
10956-545: The UK with their Lifted Entertainment company or have come from production companies they own abroad), though some popular programme formats like The Masked Singer have still been acquired from other companies abroad. Currently ITV are behind the formats for Dancing on Ice , The Voice UK (the format originally coming from their Dutch production company) and I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! , while forthcoming music game show Walk The Line has been co-developed by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment and ITV. Since
11122-566: The United States). In summer 2006, ITV shut down its in-house children's programming unit as part of ITV's then on-going process of restructuring ITV Productions, publicly blaming the closure on the competitive production environment. The closure and confirmation that the network were seeking to lobby Ofcom in an effort to reduce its required children's programming hours saw CITV controller Estelle Hughes resign. Despite this, ITV denied any intention of ditching its children's programming from
11288-401: The additional money on original commissions". It was made clear that due to tight budgets, the slightly increased spend could nonetheless simply lead to more acquisitions rather than new original programmes being commissioned. On 2 November 2009, the CITV channel was relaunched with a new logo and visual identity to match ITV1 as part of ITV plc's corporate look. The channel's pre-school strand
11454-463: The aforementioned appeal was produced for the channel. Both programmes were produced in-house by ITV Studios . The channel's promotions team headed by Dave Hickman additionally continued to produce original short-form content, such as the BAFTA -award-winning Share a Story campaign. On the weekend of Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 January 2013, the channel celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of its brand with
11620-514: The airtime for the channel, making it the first ITV plc-owned channel not to be sold by the in-house sales team. Airtime sales were later taken back in-house by ITV. Some of the channel's most notable programming has been specially commissioned by CITV, such as Horrid Henry , Mr. Bean: The Animated Series , Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids , Thunderbirds Are Go , and Sooty . A number of other programmes are sourced from different broadcasters internationally. The CITV channel launched with
11786-453: The blur of The Doctor as he shouts through the letterbox. But viewers without cable or satellite never got to see him that week, as he only fully appeared on the CITV Channel's Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown Extra . Though Stephen asked the Doc on the show if he could come back next week, it was to be a one-off appearance. However, the Doc re-appeared for the final show on 1 July 2006. MoM
11952-400: The breakfast service. All licences listed here were renewed until the end of 2024. Licences in England and Wales were held by the individual regional ITV plc owned companies prior to November 2008. The appointment to provide national news for Channel 3 is also subject to approval by Ofcom. This appointment has been held by ITN since the channel's inception, and has also been approved through
12118-511: The channel ceased broadcasting, with a promotional loop informing viewers of the move to ITVX. At around 9:02pm, the ITVX loop started airing with a screenbug. On 2 September 2023, the children's block was moved to feature every morning on ITV2 during breakfast time, from 05:00am to 09:00am. However, it was later shortened to 6:00am to 09:00am. Shows broadcast are sourced from the ITVX Kids streaming service. This strand has retained usage of
12284-657: The channel in 2013, ITV reintroduced these shows away from CITV under the LittleBe strand on ITVBe in September 2018. From 2019 until its 2022 closure by the UK Government , the BFI 's three-year Young Audiences Content Fund pilot scheme provided grants for additional content on CITV alongside its small remaining investment into commissions. On Monday 19 September 2022, due to the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II ,
12450-482: The channel itself in 2023, with the final regular children's TV slot on ITV ending just before 08:25 on Sunday 27 August 2023. The move came 40 years and eight months after children's programmes on the ITV network were first brought under the Children's ITV brand. On 2 September 2023, the morning after the closure of the CITV channel, ITV2 launched a new breakfast time block from 5am to 9am everyday with shows featured on ITVX Kids on ITVX . Currently, this block retains
12616-416: The channel simulcasted CITV Breakfast (previously known as GMTV2, originally broadcast on ITV2 , then ITV4 ) on weekdays between 6am and 9:25am. The channel was broadcast daily from 6:00am–6:00pm, although throughout 2007 ended earlier at 12:30pm on weekends to make way for sports coverage on ITV4. Its launch coincided with a full visual identity rebrand; though out-of-vision voiceover announcements remained,
12782-431: The channel was an episode of The Rubbish World of Dave Spud titled 'Moonbreaker'. The channel then closed shortly afterwards with a loop and caption card informing its viewers that its content could now be seen on ITVX. On 1 October 2023, CITV's 602 Freesat slot was removed, exactly one month after the closure. In late February 2024, CITV's live streams on ITVX and other remaining platforms were removed, after repeating
12948-697: The channel's normal programming was replaced by ITV London's feed This was in contrast to CBBC and CBeebies, which did not carry the BBC's coverage. On 10 March 2023, ITV plc announced that it would close the CITV channel in the autumn, with a phased migration of ITV's children's programming moving to ITVX Kids set to launch on 22 July, on its streaming service ITVX . ITVX launched the ITVX Kids FAST channel on 12 July 2023. CITV officially ceased broadcasting at 9:00pm on 1 September 2023. The channel's remaining promos were notably adjusted to promote ITVX prior to its closure. The last programme to air on
13114-484: The contest, both the Spellminator and the contestant would walk into the ring accompanied by a song with a spelling motif such as: Respect by Aretha Franklin , D.I.S.C.O. by Ottawan , I.O.U by Freeez , Y.M.C.A. by Village People and ABC by Jackson 5 . Mr. Lee (played by Vincent Wong ) brings on the ring-tones to his own theme tune. Then, contestants from the studio audience pair up with either one of
13280-418: The contract to produce the continuity links from 9 April 1991, choosing to revert to a small in-vision studio using only one regular presenter, Tommy Boyd , and use their own new branding package. During the 1991–1993 era, greater relevance was being placed throughout television on promotional trailers as a way of effectively detailing areas of the schedule to viewers who might not know about them; consequently,
13446-399: The creation of ITV Network Limited (and given Channel Television is now owned by ITV plc), it has been replaced by an affiliation system. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, with STV and UTV paying a fee to broadcast it. All licensees have the right to opt out of network programming (except for the national news bulletins), but, unlike
13612-456: The day of Monday 19 September, the day of the state funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II , all programming schedules on ITV's digital channels will be scrapped, with the main ITV News coverage being shown live and uninterrupted on every channel. This was the first time ITV decided to do this, with the company keeping their digital channels' schedules mostly as advertised in the run up to
13778-560: The deaf community. Replacing the information-based ITV Nightscreen slot in 2021 was Unwind With ITV , programming produced in association with the Campaign Against Living Miserably . At around 4am each night this mindfulness programme shows calming shots of natural landscapes and relaxing animations for around an hour, with versions of the footage also seen on ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4. These three channels continue programming until around 02:30, sometimes using
13944-400: The decade. Due to the varying schedules of many ITV regions, acquired content was not broadcast by some franchises. By the 1970s, most ITV regions were airing the likes of Hawaii Five-O , Happy Days , and The Brady Bunch . 1972 also saw the beginning of ITV's daytime programmes at lunchtime, a slot that would become associated with the many Australian soap operas that were broadcast in
14110-411: The decision taken by ITV to air a new cookery programme by the name of Saturday Cooks! in its place on the main channel. At the very end of the final show, Holly and Stephen were both gunged by the cast and the crew, after which an 'older' Holly and Stephen reminisced about their time together in a pre-recorded post-credits style scene. The Lab has been with the show since the start and has survived
14276-543: The decision to end the talks as a "mutual backing away". ITV officially revealed their independent plans for a channel in August, although no launch window was given, it was confirmed that it would timeshare with ITV4 , which was scheduled to launch on 1 November. On 16 December 2005, it was announced that the ITV News Channel , which by then had downgraded its hours due to the launch of ITV4, would close down at
14442-436: The decision, as a recent schedule change had made The Bill central to their programming, and broadcast the programmes on ITV3 as well to ensure Scottish viewers could see the programmes. On 23 September ITV plc was reported to be in the process of suing STV for £20 million, as ITV felt dropping the shows constituted a breach of network agreements; STV subsequently counter-sued ITV plc for £35 million. The dispute
14608-513: The demise of in-vision continuity. Nine years later, the operations moved to ITV Granada's MediaCityUK studios in Salford. In 2006, CITV launched as a digital channel on Freeview. The channel primarily ran repeated ITV content and acquisitions daily from 6:00am to 9:00pm. Following the axing of its original afternoon slot in late 2006, a CITV programming block on the ITV network continued to air on weekend mornings from 6:00 am to 9:25 am as part of
14774-414: The digital rights to children's programming", it was again pushed back by another four weeks. Promotions for the channel began on 20 February, including an online countdown clock, running to the channel's launch date. As had become standard for Freeview channel launches, the channel was allocated an EPG number well before transmission started. Initially, a static 'coming soon' graphic was shown, followed by
14940-411: The end of 2024. For over 60 years of ITV, its homegrown programmes have become among the best remembered as well as being extremely successful. Before the 1990s, nearly all of the content for the channel was produced by the fifteen franchise licensees: the regional companies. However, following legislation in the Broadcasting Act 1990 imposing a 25% quota for commissioning of independent productions,
15106-428: The end of January 2006 to make way for the launch of the CITV channel in February. A few days later, ITV announced the closure had been brought forward to 23 December, with the channel effectively ceasing operations that day and leaving ITV4's downtime unoccupied until February. The CITV channel's launch was pushed back to 11 March in February 2006. As a result of a "comprehensive" rebranding and problems with "clearing
15272-485: The end of their runs. A heavy emphasis on action, fantasy and science fiction series was also placed by ITV during this 1980s, with The A-Team , Buck Rogers in the 25th Century , and Airwolf being broadcast by the network, as well as the likes of Baywatch and SeaQuest DSV by the 1990s. ITV also picked up a glut of older-skewing CBS dramas through that period, including Murder, She Wrote and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . In February 1989, in tandem with
15438-471: The ending of productions such as World in Action ( Granada Television ), This Week ( Rediffusion London / Thames Television ), First Tuesday ( Yorkshire Television ), Network First , Survival ( Anglia Television ), and Weekend World ( LWT ) and their replacement with populist shows such as Tonight . News at Ten was also axed in 1999, although it was reinstated in 2001. In December 2009,
15604-520: The entire 11 March 2006 edition as, over on ITV1, coverage of the qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix was being broadcast from 10:30. It was first reported on 12 May 2006 that Saturday Showdown was to be axed, which was due to ITV's in-house children's production arm closing down. The programme was gradually phased out, eventually being dropped from the ITV network itself as of 10 June and its last three weeks airing exclusively on
15770-464: The eventual winner being Scratch and Sniff . The game Name That Tone saw the introduction of a man by the name of Mr. Lee (played by Vincent Wong), whose original intention was to solely deliver the list of ring tones to whoever was hosting the game to the song of his same name by The Bobbettes - and the autumn saw the arrival of a puppy called Snowy , who like The Hyenas had his name chosen from viewers' suggestions. On 7 January 2006 after
15936-718: The fields of sports coverage and drama productions, and it continues to schedule national news in primetime. Breakfast Television programmes have been broadcast on ITV at breakfast since 1 February 1983. It was initially run by an independent contractor - TV-am , and later GMTV - until GMTV Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Historically, ITV aired breakfast programmes from 6am until 9.25am but ITV extended this to 10am on weekdays on 6 January 2020. and now broadcasts two breakfast programmes on weekdays - Good Morning Britain and Lorraine . Good Morning Britain keeps viewers up to date with all
16102-668: The fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc , which runs the ITV1 channel and the UTV channel – now branded as ITV1, and STV Group , which runs the STV channel . The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004. ITV plc holds the Channel 3 broadcasting licences for every region except for central and northern Scotland, which are held by STV Group. Today, ITV plc simply commissions
16268-497: The final edition of ITV's long-running arts programme, The South Bank Show was broadcast. ITV's primetime schedules are dominated by its soap operas, such as the flagship Coronation Street and Emmerdale . At the start of the 21st century, ITV faced criticism for including a large amount of "reality TV" programmes in the schedule, such as Celebrity Fit Club , Celebrity Wrestling and Celebrity Love Island . In its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in
16434-502: The final show, Mr. Lee returned. In Saturday Showdown , a revised version of Ram Ray is played. This version uses only four "doors" - a dresser, a cupboard (later a jukebox), a toilet door and a set of shelves. Two callers take it in turns to guess which of these objects is 'soft' i.e. will break when Ray runs into it. The caller who guesses correctly wins points for their team, be it boys or girls. This segment primarily used furniture but as weeks went by, they slowly reverted to 3 doors and
16600-407: The following week if an incorrect answer was given the previous week. If the caller gives out the correct answer, they would win prizes; more prizes were added to the previous weeks' prize if an incorrect answer occurred in consecutive weeks. Example:- "It's round, red, hard, something you play with, sits on a table = a snooker ball". As part of Saturday Showdown Extra, Stephen or Holly would stand in
16766-564: The former Granada studios to MediaCityUK in 2012, and several rounds of redundancies in the years prior, CITV's dedicated in-house promotions and presentation unit was axed in November 2016. All remaining creative responsibilities involving its content were handed to personnel in charge of other ITV channels. At the same time, ITV abandoned its programming director role specifically for children's television last occupied by Jamila Metran, leaving existing channel and genre teams to direct CITV's output. After removing all pre-school programming from
16932-504: The funeral (with a few amendments for cancelled sporting events on ITV4) and all royal coverage being on their main channel. ITV plc owns thirteen of the fifteen franchises and broadcasts to England, Wales, southern Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland through its subsidiary company ITV Broadcasting Limited. The company also owns the breakfast television licence , which as of January 2020, broadcasts across
17098-568: The game. It has been speculated that the callers on this segment are either somehow connected to the crew or the winners of keys to the studio, and are present in the studio at the time of recording. According to Sniff, Granny Dolly is now dead, as he had to eat her, as he had no food, which is why DDB finished. A version of Relly from Helly in which the child embarrasses the parent, which was discontinued after one show. A similar format to Name that Tone, based around distorted songs rather than ring-tones, and featuring Scratch rather than Mr. Lee but on
17264-427: The inclusion of more factual and topical series, as well as mixed entertainment and drama. Once again, concerns about CITV and its structure were highlighted by Angus Fletcher, president of Jim Henson Television Europe, and Anne Wood , founder of Ragdoll Productions , as it could only earn money from a then-unreliable advertising market, unlike BBC Worldwide , where the likes of Teletubbies , Tweenies , and Bob
17430-472: The latest news, sports, features and weather, whilst Lorraine predominantly focuses on celebrity interviews, recipes, fashion and showbiz. Until 27th August 2023, the service would show a simulcast of the CITV channel, but since that service has closen has shown a mix of repeated programming whilst the CITV service that still exist broadcasts at breakfast time on ITV2 (which has the CITV block), ITV3, ITV4 and ITVBe from 7am show other repeats some of which provide
17596-410: The latter were unable to receive the channel on Freeview unless they could receive transmissions from England. ITV's closure of its in-house children's programming production unit in 2006 had coincided with a "commissioning freeze", leaving only repeats and a number of unaired new productions for scheduling on the channel. A conclusion of this was confirmed on 7 March 2008, alongside the first renewals of
17762-516: The launch of the CITV channel in 2006, all children's programming, with the exception of the weekend ITV Breakfast slot, were relocated from the ITV line-up to the CITV channel in 2007, a move which was challenged by Ofcom in April 2007. In 2023, ITV announced that CITV would cease broadcasting as a linear channel, and would be replaced by ITVX Kids , a streaming media service which launched in July 2023. The CITV channel closed on 1 September 2023, with
17928-476: The links were pre-recorded in advance in a small studio at a London facility called Molinare, using a single locked-off camera. The first set design was a rocket ship and was used for the first few months. The concept was eventually retired, and the set and style of presentation used began to reflect the presenter doing the presenting that month or the programme that they starred in (i.e. Pat Coombs as "The Dressmaker" from Yorkshire Television 's Ragdolly Anna in
18094-434: The links would be cut short. Programmes would also fail to appear and the presenter would be left on screen. Because each link was recorded for the slot available, the presenter would hold the final pose for a few moments so that the transmission controller at Central had something to leave on screen just in case. Pre-recording the links also meant that late schedule changes could not be easily referenced. In September 1985,
18260-423: The main controlling forces in the network, for underinvestment in ITV's children's service. Grace went further and complained to the ITC , claiming CITV was unlikely to fulfil its range of programming commitments in expensive genres like drama the following year. In an attempt to combat this, Grace considered commissioning more lower-cost productions such as video diary documentaries. Grace also sought support from
18426-420: The main regional news bulletins, and in the summer months, includes a pollen count. Currently only new episodes of long-form news and current affairs programmes like Exposure , Peston and On Assignment are being scheduled after News at Ten , with the latter title only appearing on a monthly basis, typically on the last Tuesday of the month. The channel broadcasts a partnership teleshopping service for
18592-486: The many revamps, though the set itself has changed. It was primarily used by the Doc, a mock German scientist and 1970s throwback from the University of Brighton, played by Peter Cocks. Although nowadays he's never referred to by name, in an early edition of the show, he revealed his surname to be Undgoggles, presumably making his first name Helmut. The Doc is usually accompanied by Stephen (as a lab-hand) for this part of
18758-400: The network as a result of a franchise review. Separate weekend franchises were removed in 1968 (with the exception of London) and over the years more services were added; these included a national breakfast franchise from 1983 onward—operating between 6:00 am and 9:25 am—and a teletext service. The Broadcasting Act 1990 changed the nature of ITV; the then regulator the IBA was replaced with
18924-527: The network between 6:00 and 10:00am each morning using the Good Morning Britain (previously Daybreak ) and Lorraine names. The company broadcasts a centralised service under the ITV1 brand. In Northern Ireland, ITV used the UTV brand name as the name of the channel until April 2020. The group also owns ITV Studios , the production arm of the company and formed from an amalgamation of all
19090-526: The network launching its national weather forecast, and as part of a new early evening lineup which involved the shortening of Children's ITV, Australian soap Home and Away was acquired by ITV, particularly to compete with the success of rival Australian soap opera Neighbours on BBC One. ITV also broadcast Beverly Hills, 90210 beginning in early 1991, in the same Saturday teatime slot that Baywatch had occupied, although some episodes were broadcast in later time slots. It moved to Sky One beginning with
19256-511: The network schedule centrally; programmes are made by its own subsidiary ITV Studios and independent production companies. Regional programming remains in news and some current affairs series. In Northern Ireland, ITV plc used the brand name UTV as the name of the channel, until the ITV channel was rebranded as ITV1; it is still, however, used for local programming shown there. This was the name used by former owner UTV Media (now known as News Broadcasting ). ITV plc bought UTV in 2016. Although
19422-476: The network started, Independent Television News Limited (ITN) has held the contract to produce news for the ITV network, with 30-minute national news bulletins currently broadcast at 1:30 pm , and 10:00 pm, and an hour-long bulletin at 6.30pm. These bulletins were broadcast under the ITN brand from 1955 until 1999, when a new network identity reinforced the ITV brand, resulting in the new bulletins being broadcast under
19588-435: The network's schedule altogether. By January 2007, CITV's weekday afternoon strand on the main ITV network had nonetheless permanently ended, making the recently launched CITV channel the main outlet for ITV children's programming. A simulcast of the CITV channel was broadcast on ITV during weekend mornings, continuing after the brand's original weekday afternoon strand was axed. These simulcasts were later dropped alongside
19754-499: The newly established ITV Network Centre, a role first taken up by Dawn Airey . Soon after assuming control of Children's ITV, Airey dropped its in-vision presentation - beginning from 15 February 1993, Steve Ryde instead provided live out-of-vision continuity links featuring a variety of animated characters and settings. Ryde additionally had creative input into on-screen promotions devised alongside producer-director Tony Jopia, and occasionally appeared on-screen. On 6 September 1993,
19920-468: The newly expanded schedule, including The Sullivans and The Young Doctors . By the 1980s, more were added to the schedule, such as Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice . In primetime by the 1980s, ITV was broadcasting the likes of Hill Street Blues (which ITV began showing just one week after its debut on NBC in the United States) and L.A. Law . It was also early in the decade when Australian evening soap opera Prisoner: Cell Block H
20086-408: The newly separated West region to Westcountry Television , to form a new licence for the enlarged South West of England region. All companies holding a licence were part of the non-profit body ITV Network Limited, which commissioned and scheduled network programming, with compliance previously handled by ITV plc and Channel Television . However, due to amalgamation of several of these companies since
20252-517: The number of programmes from independent production companies not connected to the traditional ITV network, has increased rapidly. Notable examples include Talkback Thames (one half of which, Thames Television , was itself a former ITV franchisee), producers of The Bill and co-producers of The X Factor , and 2waytraffic , producers of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? . From the late 1990s, ITV's long-standing commitment to strong current affairs and documentary programming began to diminish with
20418-413: The outdoors for larger experiments. When the programme was renamed Saturday Showdown , the show no longer had the Doc or his lab. Though on 18 March 2006, the Doc made a surprise appearance at the end of the main show. The part went as follows: Just as Holly and Stephen are about to say goodbye, Stephen found a German towel. They both say, "He isn't back, is he?" and we see through the door's frosted glass
20584-403: The output and structure of ITV's children's output. Both saw several regions end in-house production of its programming in favour of commissioning independents, such as Tetra Films , which housed children's personnel from Thames. Alongside this, the network's subcommittee on children's productions across its regions was superseded in favour of one controller of children's and daytime programming at
20750-432: The possibility of launching a separate CITV channel, which until then had been put on hold indefinitely by the 2001-02 budget cuts. On-screen, various changes to the in-vision presentation team saw no less than eight host additions and replacements over the course of four years, and a September 2003 branding refresh coincided with a reduction in studio space and time for the service. By 31 August 2004, all in-vision continuity
20916-467: The pre-existing CITV branding, following the channel's closure. On 1 October 2023, the CITV channel's 602 Freesat slot was removed, exactly one month after the closure. Before being known as Children's ITV, the timeslot for children's programmes on the ITV network was briefly branded as Watch It! , which started on 29 December 1980, and was presented live by the duty continuity announcer in each ITV region. The notion of networking children's continuity
21082-437: The presenters or the show's celebrity guest to guess the titles of songs in the form of ring-tones, usually for a mobile phone or an MP3. A spin-off show entitled "MOM's Name that Tone" featured on CITV on Tuesdays for a while. Ram Ray was the most popular game in the show. It involved the dwarf stuntman Ray (played by actor Raymond Griffiths) charging into a set of five doors, four wooden, one made of paper. A caller would select
21248-454: The previous system, will receive no fee refund for doing so. Therefore many do not opt out due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. Prior to the affiliate system being introduced, STV would frequently (and sometimes controversially) opt out of several popular network programmes – such as the original run of the first series of Downton Abbey – citing the need to provide more Scottish content to its viewers. As
21414-512: The production departments of the regional licences they own. The company produces a large proportion of ITV's networked programming (around 47%, but previously as high as 66% according to some reports ), with the rest coming primarily from independent suppliers (under the Broadcasting Act 1990, at least 25% of ITV's total output must be from independent companies). ITV plc hopes to increase the amount of in-house programming to as close to
21580-423: The punchline of the game still being the same. Showdown had many games to fill the time gaps between shows. The games included: Despite the rude-sounding name, it is actually Granny Dolly in her loft with Scratch and Sniff. They both have to dodge her mothballs and the one with the least hits wins. The golden ball also wipes out all of your hits. Despite having the appearance of a live phone-in game, this segment
21746-399: The refresh was intended to bring back "the kind of brash children's ITV of more than a decade ago". On 5 February 2008, ITV4 extended its broadcast hours to stay on-air around the clock. As a consequence, the CITV channel moved to the space on multiplex A on Freeview originally held by ABC1 from English and Scottish transmitters and S4C from Welsh transmitters, which meant that viewers of
21912-468: The revamp airing their final episodes between late 1997 and August 1998, in favour of newer programmes designed to be stripped daily in the style of the BBC's daily preschool programmes (such as Teletubbies and Playdays ), such as Dream Street , Maisy and Mopatop's Shop . Steve Ryde became producer behind the scenes, and selected Stephen Mulhern and Danielle Nicholls as the new in-vision presentation team out of over 900 auditions. CITV
22078-563: The service was relocated in 1997 when Central moved into newer, smaller studios at Gas Street Studios in Birmingham. A heavily revamped live in-vision service and logo were introduced on Tuesday 26 May 1998 by the new controller of CITV output, Nigel Pickard , who had replaced Airey's successor Vanessa Chapman in January. With the refresh and his subsequent commissioning of the highly-popular SMTV Live , Pickard sought to reinvigorate
22244-421: The show's stars, Ruth Madoc , who was subsequently gunged. On 18 December 2004, Underwood presented his final edition, though this was not announced on screen until towards the end of the show - he was given a Ministry style send off. From 1 January 2005, Ministry of Mayhem was rebranded as M.O.M . On 26 February 2005, a large crate mysteriously arrived in the studio, and viewers were asked to guess what
22410-466: The show, and the two attempt a simple experiment in order to demonstrate some scientific principle; the Doc also tries to incapacitate Stephen with laughter (and has succeeded on several occasions) by laying on thick innuendo , as well as comedic hints towards homosexuality and Nazism, much to the hilarity of adult viewers. At least one of the experiments has resulted in a complaint to OFCOM being upheld for fear that it would encourage children to imitate
22576-643: The small audience this was phased out and replaced by more relaxed and niche programming. Before 24-hour broadcasts, ITV's franchises simply closed down and restarted the following morning with ITV Morning News , followed by breakfast TV. The regional ITV companies are required to provide local news as part of their franchise agreement together with local weather forecasts, with the main local bulletin at 6pm and regional bulletins located after each national news programme. In addition to this, traditionally ITV companies would provide other regional programming based on current affairs, entertainment or drama. However, apart from
22742-479: The station's former in-vision presentation studio, Stonewall chose not to use a fixed set, but instead presented links from various areas of Central's headquarters at Broad Street in Birmingham, utilising a rotating team of presenters consisting of Clive Warren , Jeanne Downs , Jerry Foulkes , and large puppet Scally the Dog (which was first introduced during Granger's final few months under Central). Central won back
22908-434: The strand on tour at theme parks during the summer months of 2001 and 2002. Soon after CITV celebrated its 20th anniversary in January 2003, Grace left her post, just before her predecessor and former Television South colleague Nigel Pickard became ITV's new overall Director of Programmes. Pickard pledged to produce 80 more hours of children's programming against a target of 520 hours in 2002, and to extend their range for
23074-414: The strand was extended to start at 3:30pm, a move made possible by shifting ITV's lunchtime pre-school programming broadcasts at 12:10pm to mid-afternoon. Around the same time, Children's ITV began to be informally referred to as CITV. However, the "Children's" was not removed from the logo until Monday 2 September 1996, accompanying the introduction of a digital on-screen graphic (DOG). Presentation for
23240-617: The strand with more live entertainment content for an older pre-teen and teenage audience, such as The Top 10 of Everything and Mad for It , an area of the service which had been given less prominence for some time due to ITV allocating its spend on other means such as Formula One coverage . As a result of the shift towards older audiences, preschool programming was also revamped, with numerous preschool shows such as Tots TV , Wizadora , The Riddlers , Potamus Park , The Blobs and The Caribou Kitchen , which aired weekly (and in some cases, twice-weekly), decommissioned as part of
23406-435: The supplying companies. Children's ITV went to air on Monday 3 January 1983, between 4 and 5:15pm every weekday afternoon, the extra 15 minutes being filled by a repeat of one of the preschool programmes shown at lunchtime the same day. Initially featuring a different presenter each month (usually from children's television, e.g. Matthew Kelly , who became the strand's original presenter whilst also hosting Madabout ),
23572-479: The team more points. At the end of the round, there would then be a series of quickfire general knowledge questions, which, as the game was usually played at the end of the show, often determined the winners of that week's showdown. In this feature, viewers guess what would be in the hyena's dark green cupboard; Holly & Stephen would give out some clues to what would be inside before the viewers started to phone in to guess their answers; more clues would be described
23738-623: The third season. ITV reshuffled its daytime schedules in the Autumn of 1993, and just a few months prior, Central began broadcasting the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street . The revamp saw more ITV companies pick it up, with Scottish Television the only region to reject the series outright. Central also broadcast the Australian soap opera Echo Point around the same time, although no other franchises picked it up. ITV also aired
23904-410: The winner, with the losing team having to face a forfeit (e.g. getting covered in gunge). Also ten viewers (of the winning gender) at home would win a key to the flat and/or a place on the team for the studio games the following week. Ray and Scratch 'n' Sniff remained after the revamp. The most noticeable character absences were The Doctor and Mr. Lee. A new character called Wallace was introduced. He
24070-400: The word then they'll be told their prize is backstage and are then sent into the mouth regardless. The Hyenas are implied to eat the contestants regardless of if they win or lose. After the game's first appearance the hyenas would also splash the loser with "Hyena milk" (implied to be their urine). Later the rules were changed so that the contestant had to guess three specific words instead with
24236-424: The year prior. It saw nowhere near the same levels of success, and was dropped by the network after just three episodes. It later resurfaced in late night before moving to BBC One in 2000. CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc . CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on
24402-458: Was a considerable success for ITV's standards, and it became the highest rated new American series of that year. Despite this success, ITV moved the show for its second season, no longer networking the series and moving to late night slots. ITV tried again at broadcasting an American drama series in September 1997, with the ABC legal drama The Practice , which ran in the same slot that Savannah had
24568-430: Was a rapping child who supposedly lived in the closet under the stairs - he disappeared after the first episode. On 11 March 2006 it was the first programme to be broadcast on the long-awaited CITV Channel - which also saw the introduction of Saturday Showdown Extra , which was exclusive to the new channel and aired straight after the main programme from 11:30 to 12:00. Only viewers on the CITV Channel were able to watch
24734-404: Was a tie after three rounds then a spell-off contest would take place. The spell-off would involve a longer word (usually nine letters or more) being given and each competitor would take it in turns to spell the word letter by letter; the first person to make a mistake would lose. The game disappeared after a few weeks and then returned briefly with different rules, using the spell-off format. Before
24900-549: Was additionally expanded, with its first fully-fledged standalone website launched by ITV and web design agency Workhouse on 25 October 1999. Shortly afterwards, in-vision presentation started sharing studio space with the West Midlands edition of Central News . This allowed more room for a larger, specially stylised set, created by prop manufacturers Dorans Propmakers. Despite indicating he had more work to do in interviews, Pickard left his role at CITV in June 2000 for
25066-404: Was also host to many children's shows and cartoons, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Finders Keepers . After the launch of the CITV channel, viewers could switch over for a different show (similar to the interactive feature on CBBC's Mighty Truck of Stuff). Celebrities propel cakes from skateboards and the cake which reaches highest up the wall wins; the wall had to be extended after it
25232-402: Was announced that the venture would not go ahead and that ITV would instead launch a children's channel alone. Both parties failed to reach an agreement on the exact structure of the new venture and how it would be branded, with ITV stating "We just got to the point of thinking that it was more sustainable for us to do it ourselves. The deal fizzled out over a period of time". Nickelodeon described
25398-399: Was available to each company. Most regions would use their own station announcers during Watch It! airtime. Shortly after the start of new franchises in 1982, some ITV stations raised concerns that Watch It! had not gone far enough to address previous concerns. Central 's Controller of Children's Programmes, Lewis Rudd, suggested a different approach to the presentation method. As a result,
25564-438: Was bought by ITV, and was broadcast after News at Ten . By 1982, Channel 4 had launched, and despite originally being related to ITV, it competed against its parent network to screen popular American programmes such as St. Elsewhere and Cheers , although the latter did receive a single ITV broadcast as part of a night showcasing Channel 4 programmes. Both Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law had moved from ITV to Channel 4 by
25730-466: Was broadcast live and allowed for a looser, more relaxed style of presentation than the rival Children's ITV service. Children's ITV went live in early June 1987. Using the small presentation studio at their Broad Street studios – which had become available since in-vision continuity for the Central region was dropped – former Central announcers Gary Terzza and Debbie Shore presented live links from
25896-473: Was ended in 2011 with STV agreeing to pay ITV plc £18 million. The signing of the new affiliation deal has resulted in STV paying a flat fee for all networked programming, and so to drop any programmes is unlikely due to the large costs involved. There are fifteen regional licences, covering fourteen regions (there are separate weekday and weekend licences for the London region), and one national licence for
26062-531: Was first suggested within ITV as far back as the early 1970s, but with fierce regional identities prevalent – including scheduling, presentation, and programming – the idea stalled until the late 1970s, when the IBA began to express concern that most ITV shows for children were not consistent or fully networked. On Thursdays, the ITV regions were able to broadcast whatever programmes they wished; many non-children's programmes appeared, such as Looney Tunes . In December 1980, ITV announced its first concerted effort at
26228-550: Was found that celebrities using it were getting the cakes higher and higher. The cakes were brought on by Willoughby, in the role of "Cousin Polly with the Trolley", wearing a french maid costume and short black wig. She would speak in an exaggerated cockney accent, and give the scores in metres, which she would pronounce "MEE-ahs". This game saw Stephen (in one episode, Holly) dressed up in a bumblebee costume and colloquially known as
26394-428: Was initially broadcast live daily on weekdays from a small studio at Gas Street Studios during this period; a new Sunday morning strand was also introduced prior to the May revamp, with live in-vision presentation launching for it later that year in September - outside broadcasts additionally occurred on occasion. By then coming fully under Carlton Television 's branding, Central retained the contact to produce CITV for
26560-446: Was inside. When eventually opened, it revealed the show's new resident puppet characters, 'The Hyenas ' - operated by Don Austen and John Eccleston . Austen and Eccleston were no strangers to Saturday morning children's television with previous experience on What's Up Doc and Live and Kicking . Every week, The Hyenas would provide humour and wreak havoc amongst the proceedings. Viewers were later asked to suggest names for them,
26726-473: Was on 17 September 2005, in honour of ITV 's 50th anniversary, where the programme celebrated the history of Saturday morning children's television on the network. The special guests were a selection of presenters from the programme's many predecessors, sharing their memories and participating in the usual MoM items. The guests were Sally James , Neil Buchanan , Gareth Jones , Gaby Roslin , Pat Sharp , Jenny Powell , Gail Porter and Brian Dowling - with
26892-498: Was owned by five companies, of which two, Carlton and Granada had become major players by owning between them all the franchises in England, Wales, the Scottish borders and the Isle of Man. That same year, the two merged to form ITV plc with the only subsequent acquisitions being the takeover of Channel Television , the Channel Islands franchise, in 2011; and UTV, the franchise for Northern Ireland, in 2015. The ITV network
27058-444: Was replaced by an out-of-vision voice-over once more (provided by promotions producer Tim Dann ), while the newly-formed ITV plc announced the eventual closure of its presentation and transmission facilities in Birmingham, signalling the end of CITV presentation from Central. Presentation was fully relocated to Granada in Manchester by early 2005. After a brief period surrounding the Granada and Carlton merger in which CITV's budget
27224-428: Was revamped and renamed "Mini CITV" at the same time. On 9 January 2012, a change in the forward error correction mode on the multiplex allowed CITV to broadcast in Wales on Freeview. On 21 December 2012, the channel aired its first live programme since 2006, a 45-minute CITV special of Text Santa , ITV's Christmas charity appeal. A year later, a series of 10-minute programmes titled Help with Hattitude in aid of
27390-434: Was slightly increased again by £7.5 million, a third round of cuts took place due to the perceived rising costs of original production and the imminent effects on advertising revenues from a ban by Ofcom on 'junk food' advertising within children's schedules from 2007, as well as increasing competition from CBBC and numerous other digital children's channels for new programmes (especially imported cartoons, typically from
27556-427: Was to feature an almost identical game, which had been pre-filmed in August. A game the hyenas created, an audience member is made to sit on a chair in front of a giant mouth sculpture and must talk about a subject without saying a specific word. If the audience member says the word then they are disqualified and sent head first through the mouth hole. If they manage to talk for the required amount of time without saying
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