I think the BBC should put CBBC back on BBC1 from 9am onwards. It was more fitting for CBBC to be on BBC1 during the summer mornings. It doesn't quite belong on BBC2 for some reason. BBC2 used to cator for the film lovers throughout the 80's and 90's during the summer mornings. What does BBC1 show now instead of CBBC... boring Kilroy repeats and House Invaders. This isn't what I call quality TV at all. The BBC would pull in more viewers if they put CBBC back on BBC1 and stuck to the old film schedule on BBC2 or repeats perhaps of vintage TV series such as Thunderbirds or something like that. The likes of Kilroy can be seen all year round, I don't think it should be shown during the summer as well.
Never mind Why Don't You..? - what about Play Chess?! 10 minutes of dullness with William Hartnell that made you wander off and do anything else. There was also Silas, a dubbed German series about a boy and a horse. That followed the success of Heidi, which has never been repeated anywhere (probably cos there were about 60000 episodes...)
I think you mean Bill Hartston. IIRC Heidi ran to about 26 episodes; shown in two stints mid-1981, and repeated in Summer 1986.
Oh yeah, William Hartnell was Doctor Who, wasn't he!? Wasn't far off though when you think about it. Not bad, especially as I never watched it - it really was exceptionally dull.
An internet search suggests there were 52 Heidi episodes...
I remember Play Chess - the only good thing about it was the intro with the animated chess pieces!
If I remember right, Play Chess used to be on after Why Dont You...? (or as the song went: Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set And Go Out And Do Something Less Boring Instead?) ... perhaps an apt invitation given what followed it. They'd have been as well sticking on the World Paint Drying Championships instead of Play Chess!
Here in Scotland we had the Untied Shoelaces Show with "Tiger" Tim Stevens - a mixture of pop, cartoons and phone-in competitions. Another presenter was Joe Austen who illustrated the Magic House stories on BBC1.
I'm sure anyone who watched the Magic House stories will remember this phrase...
He went to Talk Sport radio, but he got sacked last year after apparently playing an inappropriate song when the news of the death of the Queen Mother was announced.
It wasnt for that, it was for letting a call on air where some, on the day the Queen Mother died said "Id just shoot the whole F**cking lot of them" about the Royals.
IIRC Heidi ran to about 26 episodes; shown in two stints mid-1981, and repeated in Summer 1986.
Ah yes, Heidi - a production from the 'crude Childrens drama department' of ORF. Actually was it a co-production made with EBU money? I seem to remember a whole host of european broadcasters name belt up the screen in the end credits. The dubbing was actually quite good (original dialouge - Austrian) and took me around 3 episodes of watching that bilge to work out that the actors were not speaking on screen in English.
Quote:
Andrew Chatterton wrote:
Bruno Brookes, who now runs his own radio school.
Are you sure? Wasn't it someone called Paul?
Named 'The Radio School' Bruno (real name Trevor) Brooks runs it along with ex-radio one DJ Neal James. Based in Newbury IIRC
Looking at the BBC World fire-alarm thread, with CBBC not going past 11, there is no more yearly fire-drills on live CBBC. I'm sure I can remember nearly every summer there being a fire-alarm in the morning and the presenters having not a clue what to do. And having to carry on whilst the bells and lights are going off!
When Nigel Pickard decided to return to presenter lead links in 1998 they hired Stephen Mulhern & Danielle Nicholls to present. They decided to return to this format immediately and so started it in may half term 1998.
At this time Central News west was broadcasting from the main studio and there were no other studios to work in; so they had to use an old storage room and turned it into a studio. This was the first studio that had purple and orange tiled flooring to match centrals look at this point; furry walls 2d citv giant logos on the walls, two podiums with 14" tvs in them and the character cut outs everywhere.
They endhanced their graphics and created the signature tune thats still around now in september 1998. At this point the studio now had blue shapes painted onto the walls to match the background of the graphics. The carpet had red and blue tiles of carpet (instead of orange and purple) so that it matched the CiTV logo. Instead of giant CiTV logos in 2d on wood, they had plastic 3d versions made; they had beenbags added to the studio and 3d oval tvs that went over the screens in the podiums.
In 1999 they changed there graphics to include a blue background (yellow for tots). The walls were now the blue background(not sure if it was screens or wallpaper!) and yellow for the tots end of the studio. The beenbags were gotten rid of, the 3d logos stayed and new ovals were placed over the screens.
From may 1998, every Friday they had an band/musical artist/pop star that performed at the end of the show; as there wasnt much room in the CiTV main Studio, they had them in the old CENTRAL NEWS WEST studio (when they removed the C shaped desk there was a stage and big screen). The thing is they never had a chat to the artists, they just got people in to perform at the end of the show!
On Christmas Eve 1999 Stephen & Dannielle revealed two presents they were Tom Darville and Andrea Green, the two new presenters that then helped to present on boxing day afternoon. They presented from the same studio until the end of the week.
On Monday January 3rd Andrea had Chicken Pocks; and they presented from their new studio which is the one where they used to get guests to perform on Fridays; i.e. the old Central News West studio. CiTV got rid of the stage, rolled in carpet and built up tiers that are still there today and plonked the big screen onto them. Since they revealed the new set they have tweaked it and the biggest change came when they added all the metal to the set in february 2002 when CBBC relaunched.
For the last couple of years BBC Scotland has had there own out-put on BBC TWO Scotland for about an hour in the mornings for the three weeks before the english schools traditionally break up.
1995/6 - MegaMag, presented by Grant Stott
1997 - Up For It, presented by Gail Porter
1998 - Up For It, presented by Marsali Stewart
1999 - Not sure. Possibly Up For It
2000 - BBC Scotland shows e.g. 50/50, Hyperlinks, FBi Best Bits all linked together by the CA.
2001 - UKool Live shown to the network.
2002 & 2003 - Nothing
I got some of these on video with exclusive CBBC Scotland idents. BBC Scotland have really let themselves down these last few years.
I enjoyed UKool Live as I had finished my GCSE's and it was great to wake up; not have to worry about school and watch this as everyone around me rushed to get to work and school!
I feel that its more the fault of the entire CBBC, not just Scotland, its as though now the BBC has given them their own channel, they are taking away output on terrestrial; presumebly to get more of an audience for the channel; and i wouldnt mind if this week on the channel was more like HOT used to be and wasnt full of repeats of Chuklevision and S Club; and they are just the ones that I can suffer to watch!
One of the problems now is the CBBC and CBeebies divide, as time has to be given to both services on BBC 2 throughout the day, though I am in favout of CBBC being on throughout all morning, as CBeebies hogs most of Daytime BBC2 throughout the year anyway.
Though I must admit I have watched Chuklevision once or twice this week. This is obviously a stunt by CBBC for doing theme weeks and they are obviously copying other Kids Channels, such as Toon Disney showing endless Recess and Nickelodeon showing U-Pick Live, with endless Sabrina The Teenage Witch, but CBBC needs more than Chucklevision and S Club 7 to save it's butt.
Though the summer holidays on terrestrial have taken a down turn in a way. With the BBC showing as much as they can, ITV showing regular daytime schedules. Even Channel 4 made several attempts pre-T4 to fill the 9.30am-12.00am, possibly the most famous being The Bigger Breakfast. Though in the morning's now I usually watch T4 for Friends and five for The Wright Stuff and Terry and Gaby. (I haven't watched it as much with Terry being away) I hope Sky One's daytime schedule gets better soon!
