The first hour of BBC Choice from 5-6pm was branded as 'Chill on Choice', and the first half was indeed the soap Breakers which started on BBC1, but I think it flopped so ended up being shunted to Choice. The second half of the hour varied, and was usually something like a Top of the Pops artist compilation, or a repeat of The Brittas Empire.
I remember reading about Backstage on the old TV & Radio Bits site but apart from one screenshot of three presenters on a sofa I haven't seen any footage of it.
Another show I remember reading about was 'The RDA'. TV & Radio Bits had a whole page dedicated to pre-Stuart Murphy BBC Choice shows.
Backstage initially ran from 6-7pm, before being halved in length in October 1999. Kaye Adams was the original presenter, and was later replaced by Julia Bradbury and Jon Monie taking turns. All three united for the last ever edition in March 2000, which is where the screenshot on my old website came from. I think I still have a moment or two from the start of that episode on tape so I might be able to stick it on YouTube if anyone is really desperate to see it. Also still got a few RDA bits too, I think.
The daytime hours of BBC Choice consisted of a preview loop, with a menu and music shown for half an hour before the start of programmes, until CBBC on Choice started in December 1999. When Chill on Choice and Backstage were axed, CBBC on Choice was extended to run until 7pm.
Such a shame no version of that website exists any longer, and that they saw fit to force the Web Archive to delete/hide their cache.
It is, it had lots of good stuff on there. The owner is a member on here,
I'm sorry that I had to block it from the Internet Archive, but the reasons behind the closure, which I won't go into any detail suffice to say involved copyright issues, meant that I wanted it all completely removed from the internet.
Extending BBC3's hours permanently wouldn't really be worth it. ITV2 and E4 both pick up the bulk of their audience in the evening and are both full of repeats or cheap imports during the day. BBC3 would end up the same way, but because they're only on air for 2 hours pre-watershed, most of the repeats would either be on a constant loop or they'd be 'stealing' shows from BBC1. They'd be criticised for not being value for money which is something the channel already faces, not to mention the problems BBC2 daytime is currently experiencing.
The problem here is that there is absolutely no capacity on Freeview to extend any of their channels permanently, unless they closed 301 or reduced it to evening hours, or switched BBC Parliament back to audio only. Also I read somewhere recently that as part of DQF they will no longer be commissioning for pre-watershed BBC Three anyway, instead concentrating budgets on the 9pm and 10.30pm slots.
I think I would have preferred CBeebies and CBBC to have been a single channel, especially since since the demise of Class TV, CBBC is broadcasting to an audience which shouldn't be available to watch. It could perhaps be split: CBeebies 6-7am, CBBC 7-8.30am, CBeebies 8.30am-3.30pm, CBBC 3.30-7pm. However daytime BBC Three wouldn't be particularly worthwhile, and BBC Two daytime is effectively going to become BBC Four daytime anyway.