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At 3:55pm on Monday 9 September 1985, Children’s BBC was launched. Presented by Philip Schofield from a small studio, often referred to as The Broom Cupboard. Children’s television would never be the same again.
The reason for launching Children’s BBC on 9 September, rather than 2 September, is because of the Trades Union Congress during the previous week. This resulted in a continuation of the summer season 4:20pm start to children’s programmes for the first week that children were back at school.
The first programme on Children’s BBC was (somewhat ironically) the final episode of Mike, Mop and the Moke – in a series of 7 episodes which commenced on 22 July.
The third programme was the second episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. The first episode had been broadcast a week earlier.
Newsround was at 4:55pm followed by Blue Peter.
The first day of Children’s BBC was followed by Rolf Harris Cartoon Time at 5:35pm.
Many new programme series commenced on Children’s BBC in September, although 11 existing programme series continued into Children’s BBC – two of which ended in the first week. The earliest series to continue into Children’s BBC was Battle of the Planets, which commenced on Wednesday 5 June and ended on 18 September.
I find it strange that the BBC never had a proper on-screen brand for children’s programmes until September 1985 whilst they had the BBC Schools brand for educational programmes for schools, and the See Saw brand (the precursor of CBeebies) was launched in 1980 for pre-school programmes.
It is plausible that the creation of Children’s ITV in January 1983 was the driving force which resulted in the BBC launching Children’s BBC to compete with it. The BBC executives didn’t seem to be sufficiently inspired by Watch It! on ITV in 1981 to create its own on-screen brand for children’s programmes. The computer graphics as presentation material during the children’s programme timeslot were introduced in 1984 – a full year after the launch of Children’s ITV.
Children’s BBC had a much slicker and more relaxed style of presentation than Children’s ITV because the continuity was broadcast live from The Broom Cupboard and all programmes originated from the BBC. Children’s ITV at the time deployed a cumbersome arrangement of Central Television playing out continuity material that had been pre-recorded earlier in the day, and regional ITV companies playing out programmes that they had produced or acquired. This resulted in difficulty synchronising pre-recorded continuity with programmes originating from different sources in the ITV network.
The reason for launching Children’s BBC on 9 September, rather than 2 September, is because of the Trades Union Congress during the previous week. This resulted in a continuation of the summer season 4:20pm start to children’s programmes for the first week that children were back at school.
The first programme on Children’s BBC was (somewhat ironically) the final episode of Mike, Mop and the Moke – in a series of 7 episodes which commenced on 22 July.
The third programme was the second episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. The first episode had been broadcast a week earlier.
Newsround was at 4:55pm followed by Blue Peter.
The first day of Children’s BBC was followed by Rolf Harris Cartoon Time at 5:35pm.
Many new programme series commenced on Children’s BBC in September, although 11 existing programme series continued into Children’s BBC – two of which ended in the first week. The earliest series to continue into Children’s BBC was Battle of the Planets, which commenced on Wednesday 5 June and ended on 18 September.
I find it strange that the BBC never had a proper on-screen brand for children’s programmes until September 1985 whilst they had the BBC Schools brand for educational programmes for schools, and the See Saw brand (the precursor of CBeebies) was launched in 1980 for pre-school programmes.
It is plausible that the creation of Children’s ITV in January 1983 was the driving force which resulted in the BBC launching Children’s BBC to compete with it. The BBC executives didn’t seem to be sufficiently inspired by Watch It! on ITV in 1981 to create its own on-screen brand for children’s programmes. The computer graphics as presentation material during the children’s programme timeslot were introduced in 1984 – a full year after the launch of Children’s ITV.
Children’s BBC had a much slicker and more relaxed style of presentation than Children’s ITV because the continuity was broadcast live from The Broom Cupboard and all programmes originated from the BBC. Children’s ITV at the time deployed a cumbersome arrangement of Central Television playing out continuity material that had been pre-recorded earlier in the day, and regional ITV companies playing out programmes that they had produced or acquired. This resulted in difficulty synchronising pre-recorded continuity with programmes originating from different sources in the ITV network.
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