CBBC (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CBBC** (formerly known as **Children's BBC**) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6–12 broadcast on BBC One and BBC Two. Its sister channel, CBeebies, is aimed at younger children aged 6 and under. It broadcasts every day from 7am to 7pm, timesharing with BBC Three.

## History

### 1930–1952

The BBC has produced and broadcast television programmes for children since the 1930s. The first children-specific strand on BBC television was For the Children, first broadcast on what was then the single 'BBC Television Service' on Saturday 24 April 1937; it was only ten minutes long. It lasted for two years before being taken off air when the service closed due to the Second World War in September 1939.

Following the war, For the Children recommenced on Sunday 7 July 1946, with a twenty-minute slot every Sunday afternoon and the addition of programmes for pre-school children under the banner For The Very Young, and over the years they became an established feature of the early afternoons on the BBC's main channel BBC1.

### 1952–1964

In 1952, the "For the Children" / "For the Very Young" branding was dropped; older children's programmes were introduced by regular continuity announcers whilst younger children's programming was broadcast under the Watch with Mother banner.

Significant series for older children that began in the 1950s included The Sooty Show and Blue Peter.

### 1964–1985

The 1964 launch of BBC2 allowed additional room for young children's programming. On 21 April 1964, Play School became its first official programme after a power outage meant the opening night launch programmes were never broadcast.

Away from the screen, in 1964 the Children's department was briefly amalgamated with Women's Programmes to form Family Programmes until it was reinstated in 1967. Around this time, the production offices moved to the newly developed BBC Television Centre in White City with most offices being based in the East Tower where they remained until its closure in 2011.

Other significant series that began in the 1960s include The Clangers and in 1966, the long running story telling format, Jackanory.

Significant series that began in the 1970s included the long-running children's news service, Newsround. In 1975, The Watch with Mother branding was dropped. In 1976, Saturday Morning television began in earnest with the launch of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. In 1978, Grange Hill, a contemporary drama series set in a comprehensive school began.

Roger Gale, later an MP for the Conservative Party, was head of children's television from 1976 to 1979.

Significant series that began in the 1980s include Postman Pat. On 1 October 1980, See-Saw was launched (Watch with Mother branding having ended in 1975), which was moved to BBC2 in June 1987, before ending in 1990.

In 1983, a Diamond Jubilee Festival Exhibition commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of BBC Children's Programmes at the Langham Hotel in London. The exhibition then moved to the Liverpool Garden Festival in 1984.

### 1985–2002

Until 1985, children's programmes on BBC1 were introduced by the usually off-screen continuity announcer, though often specially-designed menus and captions would be used. In September of that year, the block rebranded as Children's BBC, and for the first time had a dedicated Children's BBC logo. It was described in a BBC press release as, "a new package of programmes specially gift-wrapped for children." Early graphics and idents were generated by a BBC Micro computer, with which the BBC had been increasingly been experimenting with and utilising in their children's programming continuity for a year or so prior to the rebrand.

The most significant change was that the continuity announcer was seen on screen (in-vision). Rather than use the existing BBC One announcer, a new presenter was selected. The launch presenter was Phillip Schofield, presenting the slot for the first time at 15:55 BST on 9 September 1985. Remaining in the small continuity booth at Television Centre, during the first few days of these broadcasts, Schofield began to refer to the space as "The Broom Cupboard", due to its very small size, and supposedly due to the BBC only sparing a small broom cupboard for him to host from. This quickly became an established name for the space, even appearing in billings as such. A list of CBBC Presenters shows that many more followed and this style of presentation continued and remains on the CBBC channel as of 2021.

During the 1990s, Children's BBC began to be informally referred to on-air as CBBC (this occurred at around the same time that ITV's rival service Children's ITV began to be referred to as CITV in a similar manner). The official billing name and on-air branding of Children's BBC remained in place, however, until the BBC's network-wide branding refresh on 4 October 1997, when the official billing name and on-air branding changed to CBBC (Children's ITV changed their official billing name to CITV after their own branding refresh the following year).

From 1996 to 1999, CBBC programmes were also shown on the channel Nickelodeon, as part of the CBBC on Nickelodeon (known as Children's BBC on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 1997) programming block. The CBBC on Nickelodeon block was originally hosted by Otis the Aardvark from its launch until 4 October 1997, when he was replaced by Marvin P. Porcevark, who unlike Otis, never appeared on the original CBBC block.

The launch of digital channel BBC Choice in 1998 saw the channel broadcasting children's programming in a Saturday afternoon slot which was subsequently replaced by the daily 6 am to 7 pm service CBBC on Choice, which aired archive preschool programming and was itself the precursor of the current CBBC and CBeebies channels.

### 2002–2012

In 2002, the launch of the CBBC and CBeebies channels saw a wide variety of programmes, both new and archive, being shown again on the new channels from 6 am or 7 am until 7 pm.

BBC Children's relocated to BBC Bridge House, MediaCityUK in Salford Quays in May 2011. In September 2011, the flagship magazine show Blue Peter began live broadcasts from its new home, with daily news programme Newsround joining it in November 2011.

### 2012-present

On 14 March 2016, CBBC unveiled a new logo and on-air presentation, featuring an abstract, multicoloured wordmark enclosed in a box. CBBC controller Cheryl Taylor stated that the new brand was designed to be "fun and unpredictable" and would "appeal to both ends of our broad age spectrum". The logo was also meant to be suitable for use across digital platforms.

On 20 October 2021, CBBC rebranded its on-screen bug and identity as part of the corporate rebrand of the BBC, dropping the 2016 logo which had been used for 5 years.

## Management

Along with CBeebies, CBBC is operated by the BBC Children's and Education department. BBC Children's was originally based in the East Tower of BBC Television Centre since the department's inception, but moved to MediaCityUK in Salford in September 2011, and the live presentation links are now recorded and broadcast from there.

## Programming

The remit of the CBBC programming output is to provide a wide range of high quality, distinctive content for 6–12 year olds, including drama, entertainment, comedy, animation, news, and factual programming. CBBC often complements this strand with programmes shown earlier than on the terrestrial channels, repeats, or whole series shown in a day, alongside other exclusive commissions. The longest-running CBBC programme is the magazine show Blue Peter. Other current programmes include The Story of Tracy Beaker, 4 O'Clock Club, Almost Never, The Dumping Ground, Got What It Takes?, Horrible Histories, Junior Bake Off, Sidekick, Odd Squad, Shaun the Sheep, Danger Mouse, and more.

### Scheduling on BBC One and BBC Two

Following the launch of Children's BBC as a branded block in 1985, the introduction of BBC1's daytime schedule in October 1986 led to the daily weekday offering of BBC Children's consisting of

* A 30-minute block on BBC1 at 10:25 am usually including the 'main' pre-school show (Play School, then from 1988 Playbus/Playdays), children's birthday cards, and a cartoon.
* A 15-minute pre-school programme or programmes on BBC2 at 13:20 (often the slot for Me and You). This had previously been shown on BBC1.
* The main afternoon block aimed at older children from 15:50 (16:10 in July and August) - 17:35.

Weekend programmes consisted chiefly of Saturday morning programmes on BBC1, such as Going Live!. 1986 saw the introduction of children's programmes on Sunday mornings. They were shown on BBC2 between October and January when the Open University was not being shown, and in the following year, this was expanded into an all-morning block, initially called Now on Two, later rebranded to But First This on 2. Children's programmes had traditionally been broadcast on weekdays during the school holidays and the launch of daytime television saw this expanded during the summer holidays into a three-hour block, broadcast from 9:05 am until 12:00 pm on BBC1 and branded But First This. By 1992, children's programmes broadcast all morning on BBC2 leading up to the older pop show The O Zone.

In 1995, children's programmes started to be shown on BBC2 at weekday breakfast. The block was called Children's BBC Breakfast Show. By 2000, the CBBC Breakfast Show would air from 07:00 to 09:00, extended in the school holidays with CBBC mostly on BBC One in the Christmas holidays, followed by the birthday card slot from 10:00 to 10:50, often linked by one of the Breakfast Show presenters; a single or more preschooler shows would air around 1:00 pm, also on BBC Two, linked by one of the presenters and Emlyn the Gremlyn then the afternoon block on BBC One would begin at 3:25 pm with a mixture of younger kids shows and older kids' shows, linked by two presenters and Emlyn the Gremlyn. Weekend programmes consisted chiefly of Saturday morning programmes on BBC One with CBBC from 07:00 to 09:00, Linked by the presenters, with Live & Kicking taking over from 09:00 until 12:10. Sunday mornings consisted of the CBBC Birthday Cards on BBC One from spring until the autumn with CBBC on BBC Two starting from 08:15 in the spring and summer and at 07:00 in the autumn and winter with the slot finishing at 11:15. In the summer, the CBBC slot would begin on BBC Two at 07:00 in its breakfast show slot before switching to BBC One at 09:00, finishing at 11:15.

### Relaunch to CBeebies and CBBC

Further changes to the schedule were rolled out during the 1990s and 2000s, including the introduction in the late 1980s of Sunday morning programmes on BBC2, initially only during the Open University's winter break and then subsequently year-round; the introduction of a regular weekday morning "breakfast show" format, also on BBC2; the relocation of the daytime preschool slot to BBC2, later returning to BBC1 at the start of the afternoon block.

The lunchtime block also continued to air on BBC2. From 1990 to 1993, like the previous block "See-Saw", this was introduced by the continuity announcer. In 1993, Children's BBC launched a "Lunchtime Club" for this slot and introduced by the then rota of Children's BBC presenters. In 1996, it was handed back to the continuity announcer's duty again to introduce the programmes. From 1998 to 1999, just an ident was played out with no announcements.

On 3 September 2001, children's programming on CBBC got separated in the lead up to the launch of two children's channels which would be separated for different age groups, the CBBC Breakfast Show would air older children's shows from 07:00 to 08:10, followed by a block of younger kids' programmes from 08:10 to 10:50, often linked by one of the Breakfast Show presenters; a single preschooler show would air around 1:00 pm, also on BBC Two, then the afternoon block on BBC One would begin at 3:25 pm with 25 minutes of shows for the under-sevens, presented mostly in voiceover, followed from 3:50 pm by the older kids' shows, linked in-vision.

When the CBeebies and CBBC digital channels began, children's programming on BBC One and BBC Two remained in the same slots but adopted the new branding. Viewing figures were considerably higher on BBC One and Two as not every viewer could receive the digital channels either because the service was not available in their area or because they had old equipment not able to receive it.

From February 2002, the morning block consists of 60 minutes of CBeebies-branded content from 06:00, followed by ninety minutes of CBBC from 07:00, then further CBeebies content from 08:30; in the afternoon on BBC One, there is a block of CBeebies content from 3:15 pm followed by CBBC content for the remainder of the afternoon slot.

## Other services

### CBBC Extra

CBBC Extra is a free interactive television service from CBBC provided by the BBC Red Button. It is accessible from CBBC by pressing red and then selecting CBBC Extra from the main menu. It can also be accessed from any other BBC channel by pressing red and going to page number 570. The service differs across digital platforms, for example Sky viewers can access a video loop. After a brief stint with a temporary producer, the channel really took off under producer and director Brendan Sheppard who spearheaded its success. After Sheppard had finished work on the BAFTA nominated Nelly Nut Live, he was asked by CBBC controller Gary August to work on CBBC Extra, and under Sheppard, the show received a new brand look, idents, graphics, and it introduced feature items such as Ask Aaron and a Halloween special with Basil Brush. There was a Doctor Who special with sequences featuring K9 that had to be cut at the last minute, and a documentary series called Really Living It! Sheppard was then asked to direct DinoSapien in Canada, and a new producer was installed after Sheppard moved on to Doctor Who. Its availability on Freeview is dependent upon BBC Red Button not showing other interactive services, such as major sports events coverage. The service offers numerous features including Newsround, horoscopes, Chris/Dodge's blog, viewer content, jokes, and other interactive elements.

### CBBC website

The CBBC website provides a wide range of activities for children aged 7–16, such as games, videos, puzzles, print and makes, including now defunct pre-moderated message boards, now replaced with comment threads below videos, games and articles. It also contains a TV guide and an area where kids can apply to be on a show. It provides content for all brands including Tracy Beaker, Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up, Horrible Histories, Stacey Dooley's Show Me What You're Made Of, Shaun the Sheep, Blue Peter, Newsround, Danger Mouse, The Dumping Ground, Wolfblood, Eve, Dick and Dom, Hetty Feather, Hank Zipzer, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and DIXI. It also gives kids the chance to view the BBC iPlayer to replay or catch up their favourite CBBC programmes for up to 1 year.

### Gaelic and Welsh services

BBC-produced children's programming, in native language of Wales, also airs on S4C.