CBBC on Choice

**CBBC on Choice** was an digital channel that broadcast archive children's programmes from the 1970s through to the 2000s on the now defunct digital channel BBC Choice. It was avaliable on Sky Digital, ONdigital (later known as ITV Digital). and NTL and Telewest (now known as Virgin Media).

## History

It started on Monday 29th November 1999 and was broadcast from 6am-7pm, the first programme to be shown was "Teletubbies". before from Monday November 29th 1999 - Friday March 31st 2000 it was until 5pm from the start, Later it was extended to 6pm from Monday 3rd April 2000 - Friday 19th May 2000 on weekdays, and 7pm at the weekends from Saturday April 8th 2000 when the 'CBBC Choice' strand was axed, 7 weeks later, when "Breakers" finished on BBC Choice on Friday May 19th 2000 which was what came on after CBBC on Choice finished, it was 7pm on weekdays also from Monday May 22nd 2000 and it's broadcasting hours have been 6am-7pm for rest of the channel's life until 2002. It aired a mix of pre-school and older audience programming like Teletubbies, Tweenies, Playdays, Paddington, ChuckleVision, Simon and the Witch, Bitsa, Monster Cafe, Noddy, Bodger and Badger, The Family-Ness etc.

It had 5 presenters during its 2 year run, the first presenter was Michael Underwood from November 1999 - November 2000 and then Adrian Dickson took over from November 2000 - February 2002. Angellica Bell also presented CBBC on Choice for a while from September 2000 - December 2000, Emlyn the Gremlyn also presented from September 2000 - April 2001 and Liam Dolan from September 2001 - February 2002, Ana Boulter also presented for a short period in 2001.

It's weekday schedule consisted of Teletubbies, Tweenies, Playdays, Maurice Sendak's Little Bear, Bitsa (early seasons aired at lunchtime) and pre-school shows along with educational shows, weekends would have Double bills of Teletubbies and of the Tweenies, Bitsa (later seasons aired at lunchtime), ChuckleVision, Bob the Builder and pre-school shows along with 6-to-11-rated aimed shows. Educational shows weren't featured in the weekend schedule expect for Teletubbies, Tweenies and Playdays, The schedule's would be like this all year round for CBBC on Choice, expect for Christmas when Teletubbies would go on a break for Christmas 1999, 2000 and 2001, The Christmas schedules had a few differences for the 2-week festive season, on CBBC on Choice's first Christmas in 1999, the weekend schedule gets turned into an secondary afternoon programming block called Mighty Gifty Telly, broadcasting Tweenies, Jackanory Gold, Melvin and Maureen's Music-A-Grams (the 1993 series), Bob the Builder, Oakie Doke (the 1998 series), 64 Zoo Lane, ChuckleVision and even **El Nombre**. Weekdays was normal except for Toy Symphony appearing on Christmas Eve and Noddy lasting 25 minutes on the following Monday along with Playdays and Pingu starting of the following Monday also, joining the sole new shows to be broadcast from 20th December 1999 to January 2000 in the morning, including The Family-Ness and Hotch Potch House Stories. 1999 was the only year to feature the educational shows and Bodger and Badger in the schedule over Christmas. Jackanory Gold and Playschool only appeared on CBBC on Choice for two days only each Christmas from 1999 and 2000, In 2000, the schedule was different to the previous year, Bodger and Badger went on a 2-week break along with the educational programming, the only educational programming that was present were the Teletubbies, Tweenies and Playdays. In 2001, 3 new shows launched for the festive season on CBBC on Choice, Binka, Dr Otter and third series of Brum launched on Monday 17th December 2001. Programming strands Gremlyn TV and Gremlyn in the Works were shown as normal in 2000 and Choosy Bits and Make It Magic appeared as normal in 2001 at mornings and teatimes for both strands.

All programmes were broadcast in 4:3 format from launch day on 29th November 1999 to 2nd September 2001 expect for the Tweenies which was broadcast in widescreen, From 3rd September 2001, CBBC on Choice like CBBC1 & 2 were cropped to widescreen and all programmes were showing in widescreen format.

The in-vision continuity links were shot in the CBBC studio like BBC1 and BBC2 with the presenters displaying birthday cards, pictures and photographs being sent into the studio and the address would be displayed on the screen also, plus they would introduce CBBC on Choice by telling us what programmes were coming on before linking into the first programme, they would link into other programmes afterwards, The links were pre-recorded.

In 2000, the channel began special theme sections to celebrate their programming in the morning and teatime every day, the first two successful ones on 4th September 2000 were "Gremlyn TV" and "Gremlyn in the Works" on the 9th September 2000 hosted by Emlyn the Gremlyn and featured pre-school shows like "Brum", "Charlie Chalk" "Mr Benn" "Pigeon Street" and "Postman Pat". Gremlyn in the Works was a double bill of "Bitsa". These strands were shown twice on a 4-month loop. Next up after this was a request strand beginning on 2nd April 2001 called "Choosy Bits" when any CBBC on Choice show could be shown under the requests of a viewer, this ran until February 2002. the weekend strand was "Wacky Weekend" with double bills of "Mortimer and Arabel" on Saturday and "Simon and the Witch" on Sunday from 31st March 2001. "Wild Weekend" soon followed on 30th June 2001 with nature programming like "The Animal Magic Show" (which was new to CBBC on Choice), "Caterpiliar Trail", "Two by Two" and "The Wild Bunch". and the last strand was "Make it Magic" on 3rd November 2001 which had "The Artbox Bunch" "Bitsa" "The Animal Magic Show" and "Morph TV with Tony Hart", All strands were shown at 6am - 6.30am before the main schedule kicked in at 6.30am and 6.30pm - 7.00pm before the start-up of BBC Choice, "Gremlyn in the Works" was the only strand not to appear first thing in the morning from 6am - 6.30am, instead this came on after the first two screenings of the weekend schedule at 12.00pm - 12.30pm, the teatime showings like the other strands continued to be shown at 6.30pm - 7.00pm.

CBBC on Choice ended on 10th February 2002 and was replaced by CBBC and CBeebies the following day, the last programme to be shown was Bitsa. Some programmes haven't been shown since the end of the channel in 2002 but most have continued to be screened until now on BBC1, BBC2, CBBC and CBeebies.

## Presenters

* Michael Underwood (1999-2000)
* Angellica Bell (2000)
* Emlyn the Gremlyn (2000-2001)
* Adrian Dickson (2000-2002)
* Ana Boulter  (2001)
* Liam Dolan (2001-2002)

## Programmes aired on CBBC on Choice

* The Adventures of Spot
* The Adventures of the Garden Fairies
* Angelmouse
* Animal Album
* The Animal Magic Show
* Animal World
* The Artbox Bunch
* A Bear Behind
* Bananaman
* Barney
* Bertha
* Bill and Ben
* Binka
* Bitsa
* Bob the Builder
* Bodger and Badger
* Brambly Hedge
* Brum
* Bump
* Caterpillar Trail
* Charlie Chalk
* Christopher Crocodile
* ChuckleVision
* Come Outside
* Dr Otter
* El Nombre
* Enchanted Lands
* Ethelbert the Tiger
* The Family Ness
* Fiddley Foodle Bird
* Fingermouse
* Fireman Sam
* The First Snow of Winter
* Forget Me-Not Farm
* Funnybones
* The Greedysaurus Gang
* Greenclaws
* Hairy Jeremy
* Happy Families
* Hotch Potch House
* Ivor the Engine
* Jackanory
* Jonny Briggs
* Joshua Jones
* Juniper Jungle
* Just So Stories
* Little Bear
* The Little Green Planet Show
* Little Monsters
* The Little Polar Bear
* The Magic Key
* Melvin and Maureen's Music-A-Grams
* Microscopic Milton
* Monster Cafe
* Monty the Dog
* The Morph Files
* Morph TV with Tony Hart
* Mortimer and Arabel
* Mr Benn
* Noddy
* Oakie Doke
* Open a Door
* Pablo the Little Red Fox
* Paddington Bear
* Penny Crayon
* Philbert the Frog
* Pigeon Street
* Pingu
* Playschool
* Playdays
* Poddington Peas
* Polka Dot Shorts
* Postman Pat
* Radio Roo
* Romauld the Reindeer
* Rupert
* Sheeeep
* Simon and the Witch
* The Songcatcher
* Spider
* Starhill Ponies
* Superbods
* Tales of Aesop
* Tales of the Tooth Fairies
* Teddy Trucks
* Teletubbies
* Toy Symphony
* Tweenies
* Two by Two
* Wallace and Gromit
* Wiggly Park
* The Wild Bunch
* Wildlife
* William's Wish Wellingtons
* The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends
* Yoho Ahoy!

## Special themed-section strands

Gremlyn TV (4th September 2000-30th March 2001)

* Brum (Series 2)
* Charlie Chalk
* Mr Benn
* Pigeon Street
* Postman Pat

Gremlyn in the Works (9th September 2000-25th March 2001)

* Bitsa

Wacky Weekend (31st March-24th June 2001)

* Mortimer and Arabel (Saturday)
* Simon and the Witch (Sunday)

Choosy Bits (2nd April 2001-8th February 2002)

Various programmes under the viewer's request.

Wild Weekend (30th June 2001-28th October 2001)

* The Animal Magic Show
* Caterpillar Trail
* Two by Two
* The Wild Bunch

Make It Magic (3rd November 2001-10th February 2002)

* The Animal Magic Show
* Bitsa
* The Artbox Bunch
* Morph TV with Tony Hart