The end of CITV

[Arran]

Granada used to show Crossroads at around 4.30 pm (when they first decided to show the series in 1972), but then again, up until that same year, children's programmes were mostly on between 4.45 pm and 5.50 pm.

In the 1970s there were lots of miserable adults who wanted to sit down in the afternoon with a cup of tea and watch programmes like Crossroads or The Cedar Tree. Housewives were ubiquitous back then. Kids can go and wait for their programmes until the time when their parents are cooking dinner.

The concept of children's programmes starting at 4PM was actually in response to an increase in the number of families where both parents worked in order to keep kids off the streets after school before their parents returned home.