CBBC before CBBC

[Arran]

CBBC launched on 9 September 1985 with Philip Schofield in the Broom Cupboard studio.

What was your experience of the time slot for children's programmes in the afternoon during the first half of the 1980s before CBBC?

The programmes were similar to those incorporated into CBBC, but the presentation and scheduling were different.

Was the creation of CBBC really a breakthrough as far as kids were concerned like CITV was?

What was the time slot called before CBBC?

[George 1978]

I suppose that CBBC (or Children's BBC back then) was an inspiration from Children's ITV (CITV) and making continuity prior to children's television programmes more friendly an relevant to the indended audience. My household was an ITV one and so I didn't see too much of Children's BBC. I know that old episodes of Grange Hill downloaded onto YouTube in the first half of the 1980s at least were original TXs as some of them have brief BBC 1 globe coninuity before linking into the programme rather than have Phillip Schofield or Andi Peters linking into it from the Broom Cupboard. Don't fotget that it was around the same time that they poached Roland Rat from TV-am as well.

I think it all stemmed from when it turned from "Now on Granada - Rainbow" into "Now on Children's ITV - Rainbow" at the start of 1983, and that Charles Foster became Matthew Kelly as a result. Never mind about regional continuity - the new Children's ITV was more friendlier to my own age group back then. If Children's BBC had poached Danielle Nicholls from CITV - (who I regarded as a stereotype of an average teenage female viewer in the mid to late 1990s) - then perhaps I would have watched BBC 1 more during children's hour.

Regarding CBBC, I had wondered whether the BBC had got any feedback about the changes back in September 1985, with parents writing to Points of View, perhaps? I would like to see episodes from that time to see if there was any correspondence - it was just before Anne Robinson joined. Also, whether anyone from Tunbridge Wells actually wrote in to ask how much of their Licence Fee went towards the cost of those changes in 1985. At the end of the day however, it's the programmes themselves which were for kids, and the nature of the continuity wouldn't have made much difference to the programme itself to be honest.

[George 1978]

What was the time slot called before CBBC?

Did the BBC have an official name for Kids' TV before Children's BBC was coined? I just assumed that the closest they had to giving strands to children's television was Watch With Mother and See Saw.

[Arran]

I definitely agree that there was something warm and friendly about CITV with its own branding and continuity presenters. CITV appeared almost like a TV channel of its own, separate from the regional ITV company. Like a small version of TV-AM for an hour or so in the afternoon! In comparison, the BBC presentation feels cold and it's harder to determine where the children's TV slot starts and finishes as programmes are integrated into the main TV schedule with no separate branding.

See Saw was the precursor of CBeebies. It predates CITV, so I have wondered why the BBC never got round to producing the CBBC brand for programmes for older children before ITV launched CITV.

It's an interesting point you make about parents writing to Points of View asking how much of the TV Licence fee was allocated to CBBC continuity. I never thought about this one. It would have been possible to create the CBBC branding and idents for the time slot without the Broom Cupboard continuity for pennies. Something closer to Watch It! rather than CITV, but it would probably have had its own dedicated continuity announcers.

At what point in time was CBBC commonly referred to as CBBC in speech as its original name and ident was Children's BBC?

[Richard1978]

For a couple of years before the Broom Cupboard there were those BBC Micro animated characters to link programmes.

I remember being just the right age for the Broom Cupboard era of CBBC, which Philip Schofield, Andy Crane, Andi Peters and a other few fill-ins (Simon Parkin & Debbie Flint come to mind) managed to make the links seem fun without making it feel forced. I've never worked how scripted things were, or they mostly improvised things.

But First This! allowed for more scope during the holidays.