I remember as a kid I used to wake up early for the 6am start of GMTV with a bowl of Shreddies at the ready...with an insane amount of sugar added for good measure (it's no wonder I had 2 teeth taken out around the age of 10! 😆). The first hour had pre-school shows like Ni Ni's Treehouse, Old McDonald's Farm and Boohbah. Then I would switch between the Disney animation extravaganza that was Diggit/Diggin'It and CBBC from after 7.
Then came (for me anyway) the creme de la creme of the scheduling that was the flagship programme, and I was Team CITV with this one.
By the end of the morning I'd be off to spend my pocket money (mostly at Woolworth's) on pick 'n mix and the latest singles from my favourite pop stars, mostly inspired from seeing them first performed on SM:TV or MoM.
I have cloudy memories of lying on my parents' bed watching Scratchy and Co on a tiny 14" TV. The sparsity of footage from that show that's resurfaced online meant I spent a long time trying to figure out if I'd just imagined Mark Speight used to wear that blue and white suit.
Didn't the BBC have like their own CDUK style show called Top Of The Pop's Saturday?
Yes. Originally part of The Saturday Show from 2002 then it split off in 2003 when Dick & Dom inda Bungalow switched over from the CBBC channel to BBC One.
I remember Andi Peters leaving Live & Kicking in 1996 feeling like the most important TV moment in history with how much it was built up. From memory Emma Forbes was going to stay on with a new presenter, but when the next series began in September it was Zoe & Jamie hosting with Emma as a special guest.
Did Saturday morning kids programmes end with Dick & Dom or did the ITV equivalent (whatever that was) carry on longer?
No, after Dick & Dom there was TMi with Sam & Mark and Caroline Flack which was brilliant in the first series from Leicester Square but went downhill after that. After the fourth series in 2009 it was moved to Friday afternoons for one final run in 2010 - I think that was also the last programme to be made in Studio 9?
CITV's Saturday mornings ended with Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown in 2006.
No, after Dick & Dom there was TMi with Sam & Mark and Caroline Flack which was brilliant in the first series from Leicester Square but went downhill after that. After the fourth series in 2009 it was moved to Friday afternoons for one final run in 2010 - I think that was also the last programme to be made in Studio 9?
I was well outside it's demographic, but the first series of TMi was fantastic. My partner and I would be in hysterics at some of the stuff they got up to running riot around the square and in the studio.