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They completely pretended that era of Chums never existed when we had SM:TV Gold and the final episode in 2003, they acted as if it ended and the flat had been abandoned after the wedding.

From what i've read Chums was dropped and replaced with SMTV 2099 when James Redmond was made permeant in January 2002. Did he appear as the 'third chum'? Only Cat and Louise are credited in those titles.

I remember seeing on YouTube years ago a clip of the start of Dec Says/Secret of My Success where Dec did the w*nker hand gesture whilst talking about making coffee or something and the crew behind the camera laughing… have I just been dreaming that? If not it's amazing the stuff they got away with just because they were in a lower profile Saturday morning kids slot.

That sounds like a reference to the Nescafe magic beans ads rather than that gesture? Or may have been intended as that but looked like something else?

This may well be on folks' radar already, but YouTube user Sticky Tape 'n' Rust has been uploading loads of late 80s - early 2000s junctions and CBBC continuity. A lot of them seem fairly unremarkable ephemera but there may well be some gems there.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIpVRqYPd8dX2RdvoOPx4lA

They did get a slap on the wrist for quite a lot, though, notably the sketch which ended with the punchline "come drink my love custard". There was also an Action Man competition where they got censured because Ant accidentally managed to say "Action Man" about fifty times in a minute. He said he had no idea he was doing it.

Not a gem exactly but 17th Oct 1993 and Ratz is already on CBBC, they didn't waste any time did they (given he made his Live and Kicking debut 15 days earlier). Cleary commissioned with the intention of making him an Edd the Duck replacement on CBBC, though I think the only time he made it into the broom cupboard was during school holidays.

Lasted just short of a whole year.

Memory may be rubbish, but the last sighting of Ratz was on the first Monday of September 1994,
doing the links on BBC 2's breakfast show with the first sighting of the new idents.

Josie D'Arby did the BBC 1 Playdays and BBC 2 "Lunchtime Club" links from the Holiday Island set,
before unveiling the new Pres A with Toby that afternoon.

Ratz was to The Broom Cupboard what Pootchie was to Itchy and Scratchy.

I hated it.

I may have a faulty memory here, but I think this happened on the Tuesday. They were due to relaunch from Pres A on the Monday afternoon but didn't, due to a power cut and were still in the Broomcupboard (with Ratz). I seem to remember Toby Anstis making some remark about the place stinking of diesel from the generators.

Yes, I remember that. She claimed she was left stranded on the island but was going to be rescued.

Yes I recall them unveiling the new idents before the new studio that afternoon (much as they did 7 years later). I recall it all being on the Monday though - we always went back to school on a Tuesday with Monday being the staff training day, so it was quite unusual for me to see the Playdays link. That said, I've been saying for years that the broom cupboard wasn't used at all over the summer so its last appearance must have been in the afternoon slot before the summer holidays began, but then this popped up:



Obviously the BBC2 broom cupboard which got a fair bit of use of the summer of 94 for a variety of reasons. But presumably it got wheeled out occasionally for the "lunchtime club" - either to simplify what was often one link, or if the weather was too grim to use even the beach hut area on the roof, so it's possible the NC1 variant did also. I think the old Pres A set was taken apart at the start of the summer so was out of action. There is clip here of Andi Peters doing his holiday morning "EEK" show from what looks very much like a stripped Pres A, which would suggest it wasn't available: