CITV

(This is the second thread in a group of three looking at history etc)

There is very little information about CITV around, especial its beginnings unlike CBBC:

* http://www.the-broom-cupboard.co.uk/page2.html
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBBC

I have asked in the other thread and "Steve Williams" was able to shine a bit of light around ""IBA were making noises that the kids shows on ITV weren't always that consistent - and indeed although there were many networked shows,"

But that is where it all goes cold, There nothing appear in online newspapers or etc, and some has said that CITV recorded links were done in London and it only went to brum in 1987 when it went live. Why did Stonewall Productions ( it seems no longer exsits) get the contract.

I was about to mention the website "Watched It" but it doesn't seem to be around anymore, unless anyone knows an alternative? Not sure if the info you wanted would have been there, but it would have helped!

edit - wayback archive link - http://web.archive.org/web/20070309121954/http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/1011/

It was on GeoCities so it would have gone anyway, but just before that the website was a replaced with a 'closed' message thanking visitors over the years.

aww watched it website that takes me back

Which can be seen here (NSFW due to music autoplaying): http://www.reocities.com/TelevisionCity/1011/

This was the main CITV history page that you're probably thinking of when you think of Watched It:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070219045235/http://freespace.virgin.net/greg.taylor1/watched_it/citv.html - complete with pictures!

How accurate it is I don't know, and it was never updated past 2000.

I do believe one Greg Taylor was a main person within ITV over that time, so I believe its is mostly correct.

Heres a Question does anyone know who else bid for CITV in 1999? it does not mention who the other ITV companies bidding to win the contact were http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/multi-platform/news/carlton-regains-citv-job/1215790.article

ON different note from Watch it in 1981: here's an Interesting Quote:

This episode of Rainbow contains some footage of early CITV.

That episode dates from transmission in July 1988.
I notice they then went and revamped the entire Children's ITV service two months later, when Mark Granger took over, making the references dated.

IMDB lists this particular series (Series 17) as having 51 episodes, and it apparently aired near enough every Tuesday. How accurate is that?

I have a vague memory that it was Granada and Scottish.

No, it is my real name.

One of the reasons I never liked CITV as much as CBBC was that they kept chopping and changing, given between 1987 and 1991 they had four different presenters and four different sets, as opposed to the consistency of the Broom Cupboard and the small CBBC family of presenters. The Granger set in 1988 is clearly an attempt to ape the Broom Cupboard. I do remember watching quite a bit of CITV when Granger was in charge, though, having been seduced by Look-In's new season preview.

Anyway, of course Tom Darvill, the CITV presenter from 2000, is dead famous now, though using a different first name.

And a damn good job they did too. 1999-2002 or so was a great era for CITV with a great studio, graphics, programming, yes I might be looking through rose-tinted spectacles as that's the era I grew up with but surely CITV hasn't been like that since. Although I liked the 1997-2002 look for CBBC, obviously the 3D CITV idents and graphics were much brighter and it looked fresh compared to CBBC at the time.

Too bad it was so short lived.