OLD ITV daytime

I'm old enough to occasionally slip up and call CITV "Watch It", ahem.

It is true that ITV used to have a *lot* of imported series, despite having fewer hours to fill. But I think that is one contributing factor to ITV's problems right now -- spreading the money too thinly.

If a decent quality programme can be bought in for £5,000, and a piece of turgid home-made junk costs £30,000 to fill the same space, why are ITV choosing the latter over and over again?

A case in point is that Vanessa/Trisha slot. I know it's popular and everything but ITV would get the same ratings figures if they just shoved on the latest trailer-park US show on at this time rather than a rather pale UK copy. What's the name of the guy who does the current one, Jeremy something? Jerry Springer's still going, thousands saved each year, job's a good'un. The UK programme's crap anyway, and the typical viewer of this show would probably prefer to see fat Americans throwing chairs at each other in any case.

You save money on this cheap stuff and you have more money to spend on fewer, decent programmes. Perhaps even repeat large chunks of prime-time during the day? ITV seem to have cottoned on to the latter one with the dramas being shown.

When did ITV stop their old practice of moving the children's segment to 4.20pm in the holiday periods anyway?

well Up to 1987: it was

6am: TVAM
9.30: ITV school
12pm: Imports and other cheap crap:

I'm old enough to remember when weekday afternoons on ITV (till about 4.40 or even 5pm) were filled with the test card and music. Although, and I don't know if it was the norm in other regions, STV had a lunchtime variety show called "The One o' clock Gang", and Tyne Tees had "The One o' clock show". Border didn't have it own, but screened the "show" on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and "gang" Tuesdays and Thursdays. I assume most ITV regions either had their own lunchtime slot...or bought in from an adjacent company.

Runaway Bay was actually a British programme (can't remember if it was a Yorkshire programme or not!!!) filmed in another country - but all the same BRITSH!

before pre-school series were moved from lunchtime (although they were repeated the 20 mins shows in the afternoon in the "old days"!!!!!!)

I seem to remember on Granada


1230pm Mon-Wed - The Sullivans
1230pm Thur, Fri - Take The High Road
1300 ITV News at One
1330 Foreign Drama's (except Fri)
1430 Various factual series.. including regional programmes (except Fri)
3pm Gameshows (except Fri)
130pm to 330pm Fri - Film
330pm Mon, Tue - Sons and Daughters
330pm Wed-Fri - The Young Doctors

IIRC Blue Heelers was never shown in Granadaland but the odd episode I did see on Central it did seem good enough to watch. In Fact Blue Heelers is still being made in Oz, along with Shortland Street is still in production in NZ

Anyone remember Richmond Hil or even Santa Barbara?????

Also...


Why did The Young Doctors used to use as its backing music quite often the original tune to Grange Hill?????

Presumably because it's library music - the same reason it was also the theme tune to Give Us A Clue (and some ATV schools programme IIRC?).

It was on, IIRC, for a couple of years at least, on Fridays around 2 or 2.15 in the afternoon...

so Form 1983 - 1988 Was blockbuster shown in most regions 5 times a week?

Can't remember ever seeing Blue Heelers on Tyne Tees (and therefore YTV given the timeframe).

AFAIK Blockbusters was shown 5 times a week, at least on Tyne Tees it was, having said that it was shown on a regional basis so some areas may have been different. I know UTV were around 2 months behind TTTV in 1986, and of course TTTV were about 4 months behind YTV in 1993.

Santa Barbara ... what a weird show that was ... TTTV seemed to have a particular liking for that one for some strange reason, repeating it at least once after the rest of the network got bored.

There was a period in the mid 1980's, where Blockbusters aired 6 days a week. Definitely in the Central region. Monday - Friday was the usual 5.15-5.45 slot, and Saturdays I think changed about, the 5.05, 5.10, or 5.35 type slot was used.

Although often unreliable, the different region's showings' of the Australian Soaps, particularly Sons and Daughters, is well documented on Wikipedia.

foudn these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_and_Daughters_%28Australian_TV_series%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Country_Practice#UK_ITV_transmissions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Heelers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Doctors

and you right blue healer was never shown in Tyne tees.