JA
I'm not convinced it would have lasted much longer - I can't remember when ITV finally got rid of that unique slot at about ten past twelve where Rainbow and some other stuff resided for ages but it wasn't too far away from when Thames lost its franchise IIRC and I suspect that when that disappeared, Rainbow would have gone with it anyway. If it were still running today it would probably be an indie production from Thames or whoever and aired on CBeebies.
Rainbow did get three more series from 1994 to 1996. It was retooled twice in that time though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_(TV_series)
I wonder how Sooty would have gone if Thames didn't lose their franchise. The change from The Sooty Show to Sooty and Co was down to them moving production to Granada, I imagine The Sooty Show would have stayed on if Thames had won (and so would Rainbow, probably).
I'm not convinced it would have lasted much longer - I can't remember when ITV finally got rid of that unique slot at about ten past twelve where Rainbow and some other stuff resided for ages but it wasn't too far away from when Thames lost its franchise IIRC and I suspect that when that disappeared, Rainbow would have gone with it anyway. If it were still running today it would probably be an indie production from Thames or whoever and aired on CBeebies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_(TV_series)