Children's BBC Presentation
# Children's BBC Presentation

Children's BBC Presentation was the BBC's presentation of its programmes for children and which was the only part of BBC One and BBC Two's television presentation where the continuity announcer appeared on the TV screen rather than as a voice over.

The services for children on BBC One and BBC Two (apart from on BBC Two on Saturday mornings) have now ended but similar presentation now takes place on the CBeebies and CBBC channels.

## History

In-vision presentation is old as the first children's programme on the BBC which began on Saturday 24 April 1937. For the Children would go on to be most famously presented live by Annette Mills with her sidekick Muffin the Mule. These early shows were live performances but as the television service became more sophisticated, with the development of pre-recorded programmes and series, children's programmes went on to be introduced by the offscreen continuity announcer announcing the next programme from a small continuity booth with the usual BBC1 or BBC2 branding appearing on screen although some special branding was put in use to reflect better the audience they were serving.

In 1984, a BBC Micro B 3D Collage was introduced to generate computer generated stings for the children's strand. Such animations were used to introduce programme, such as a spider spinning down onto a detonator triggering the words Hello from BBC1, and to link into promotions for further programmes, such as a group of sky divers falling from a plane to spell out a 'Later' caption. However, despite the graphics, programmes were still directly introduced by the BBC1 globe symbol, albeit occasionally accompanied by a choice of two different 14-note synthesized tunes.

In September 1985 a BBC press release announced the arrival of, "a new package of programmes specially gift-wrapped for children." This involved the afternoon programmes on BBC1 being rebranded as Children's BBC, along with the continuity announcer appearing on screen (in-vision). Rather than use the existing BBC1 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.

It was not until 1994 that presentation for children's programming got its own studio space.

In 2002, when BBC Children's divided its services into CBBC and CBeebies, programmes for younger children were rebranded under the name CBeebies and the same production department began CBeebies Presentation.

## Studios

1985 - 1994

From its launch in 1985 until 1994, Children's BBC was presented from the regular continuity announcer's booth in the BBC1 network control area (NC1), which had a fixed camera so that the presenter could appear in vision; as it remained an operational continuity booth, the presenter would partly direct their own links by way of vision and sound mixers built into the studio desk.

The NC1 booth became known as 'the Broom Cupboard' due to its small size (the term was first used to refer to a smaller temporary booth, but was later retroactively applied to the main booth). The plain booth wall behind the presenter would be livened up with elements of set dressing, VT monitors and pictures sent in by viewers.

Occasionally, when Children's BBC was going out on BBC2 rather than BBC1 due to events coverage, the presenter would be located in the BBC2 continuity booth, which was not set dressed for Children's BBC, for transmission purposes.

There were two presentation studios – larger than the Broom Cupboards but smaller than full programme studios – known as Pres A and Pres B. It was not initially thought economically viable to use these for daily Children's BBC links, hence the use of the Broom Cupboard. However, by 1987 these studios were being used for the mid-morning 'birthday card' slots and weekend and holiday morning strands such as But First This. The main afternoon strand remained in the Broom Cupboard.

Initially, Children's BBC Scotland did not have a presentation studio upon launch in 1992 - instead it was presented upon various locations across Scotland for the school summer holiday programming block The Ice Cream Van at the beginning, presentation studios were eventually used for the regional breakfast and mid-morning shows when BBC Scotland opened their kids department around the mid-1990s before finally reverting to the roof top of BBC Scotland's Queen Margaret Drive headquarters for another summer holiday children's programme Up For It in the late 1990s.

In 1994, Pres A was refurbished and became the regular home for all Children's BBC presentation including the weekday afternoon block; the presenters no longer had to operate the broadcast equipment, although a broom cupboard-style area in the corner of Pres A containing its own mixer was used for the birthday slot and weekend mornings to save on crew, and the larger set allowed for more dynamic presentation, with more presenters, characters, features, games and guests. A new 3D version of the then logo of Children's BBC was commissioned to mark the move.

1997 TC9

In 1997, Children's BBC moved again when 'Pres A' was decommissioned and CBBC moved to the purpose-built Studio TC9, adjacent to the Blue Peter garden at BBC Television Centre. The first broadcasts from Studio 9 were in June 1997 and this was followed in October by the launch of the new-look CBBC branding. TC9 continued to be the regular home of CBBC broadcasts on BBC One and Two until 2005 and was also used to record CBBC on Choice links between 2000 and 2002.

In 2002, TC2 became the home of CBBC Channel links, plus the channel's XChange and UK Top 40 programmes, whilst CBeebies operated from the smaller TC0.

In Autumn 2004, the studio arrangements for CBBC were changed again. The CBBC Channel moved from TC2 to TC9, with BBC One / Two links and the UK Top 40 show moving to TC1, located on the sixth floor of TV Centre. BBC One and Two links then moved back into TC9 alongside CBBC Channel in March 2006 as the number of studios available to CBBC was reduced.

In December 2006, there was a further reduction in CBBC facilities. A chroma key set was assembled in TC12, becoming the home of all CBBC links on BBC One, BBC Two and CBBC Channel until September 2007. There was also a reduction in the team of on air presenters. The last live CBBC links from TC9 were broadcast on Friday 1 December 2006; the studio was then mothballed but was later brought back into use for individual programmes including TMi and SMart.

2007 TC12

On 3 September 2007, the CSO studio was dropped in a relaunch which saw a small studio set built in TC12. As part of the relaunch, new logos, presenters and idents were introduced. The design of the new 'office' set has been compared to the original 'broom cupboard', though unlike the 'broom cupboard' the 'office' is not a functioning continuity suite.

2011 HQ5

CBBC presentation originated from Studio HQ5 at Dock10, MediaCityUK in Salford Quays for the first time on Monday 5 September 2011 as part of the relocation of the BBC's Children's department (incorporating both CBBC and CBeebies).

In 2015, the CBBC Office set received a new futuristic look, with much darker colours and tones, the light and dark greens colours replaced with purple and dark grey. Also, a new 'up next' screen was placed behind the presenter, and a post chute was installed in the new set where viewers send post to get read out live on air. There was also a new desk, larger than the previous one with multi-coloured blocks on its front.

In 2016, the CBBC Office became the CBBC HQ, incorporating a mostly orange and blue colour scheme, but later it changed to cyan and blue in 2023.

## Nations Opt-Out

The Scottish school holiday opt-outs started off on BBC Scotland way back in the mid-1970s - where the summer holiday children's schedule (seen across the BBC network for the final three weeks between mid-late August) would be time-shifted to air throughout the first three weeks of the holidays between late June and mid July to only viewers in Scotland due to school holiday differences across the UK, Those opt outs were initially aired on BBC One Scotland from the beginning in June 1974 until October 1996, whilst BBC Two Scotland picked up Scottish school holiday opt-out programming for the first time in October 1994 and continuing in this medium for a further six years, ending altogether in July 2000.

Furthermore, BBC One Scotland started up their summer holiday opt out schedules for the very first time on Monday 24 June 1974 where the programmes transmitted in the mid-morning slot were introduced out-of-vision by the Scottish continuity announcer behind the BBC 1 Scotland globe idents back then, the yearly opt-outs continued in this medium for a further eleven years before finally ending on Friday 19 July 1985 by which point the BBC were planning to revamp their children's output by launching a newly branded children's block due to launch on the network the following September, known as Children's BBC which would be broadcast live from the Broom Cupboard at Television centre in London starting from 9 September 1985, Despite the national Children's BBC being aired on BBC One and BBC Two across the UK since the beginning, BBC Scotland would go one to air their regional version of CBBC in the Scottish school holidays (in the first week of July and second week of October) whilst no such regional versions of CBBC were aired in Wales and Northern Ireland areas, only the network version has been aired in the forementioned regions to date.

Meanwhile, BBC Scotland launched their new weekday children's programme for the Scottish school summer holidays in the mid-1980s, the new show was billed as C.T.V.1, presented by Ross King and Rhoda McLeod that aired in the mid-morning slot on BBC One Scotland between 9:20am and 10:20am for three weeks between 7 and 25 July 1986, displacing Pages from Ceefax that was seen elsewhere around the UK at the time., this was followed by a few years of Dòtaman repeats and another children's series called The McMeanies airing prior to the national Children's BBC throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, by which point BBC Scotland started up another live children's magazine programme called Breakout that was initially aired as a couple of one-off shows in the February half-term break (18 February) and Easter holidays (29 March) between 9.05am - 10am then finally aired a week-long series over the summer holidays of 1991 (1 - 5 July), Breakout was aired at 11.05am - 11.55am on BBC One Scotland, the show was presented by Ashley Jensen and Bill Petrie.

In June 1992, BBC Scotland finally launched their own regional version of Children's BBC with a brand new school Summer holiday programming block called The Ice Cream Van presented by a team of three lively and enthusiastic hosts consisting of Dotaman's John Urquhart, Di Christie and Steve McKenna who alternated with each other every three days by taking a trip around Scotland in the show's Ice Cream Van to introduce a sparkling line-up of TV entertainment for Scottish youngsters to brighten up their break from school, including eight episodes of Harry and the Hendersons that were yet to be screened in Scotland at the time, The Ice Cream Van was aired live in the mid-morning slot on BBC One Scotland at 9:05am–10:35am for a fortnightly period between 29 June until 10 July, the only year Children's BBC Scotland was run for the first two weeks in July respectively.

Children's BBC Scotland returned the following summer of 1993 on BBC One Scotland, now presented by Grant Stott and Di Christie in the same mid-morning slot (9.05am - 10.35am) for the first week of the Summer holidays between 5 and 9 July and again in the second week of the October half-term holidays (18 - 22 October) - featuring a brand new teen magazine programme called MegaMag (with Steve McKenna and Mairi McHaffie) airing its first series across the holidays at 9:30am.

Grant presented solo the following summer of 1994, where Scottish CBBC was aired in the same timeslot (9.05am - 10.35am) on BBC One Scotland between 4–8 July, with Grant Stott returning to host a series of week-long breakfast shows airing live on BBC Two Scotland in the second week of the October half-term holidays of 1994 between 7.00am - 8.00am respectively (17 - 21 October) - The October holiday mid-morning slot on BBC One Scotland was presented out-of-vision by the continuity announcers between 9.05am - 10.00am throughout the same week.

In July 1995, Children's BBC Scotland returned to BBC One Scotland as Gail Porter joined Grant Stott to co-host the week-long mid-morning slot in the first week of the Scottish school holidays between 9.05am - 10.35am, this would be the last year of Scottish CBBC school holidays mid-morning slot being presented in-vision to viewers around the region, the CBBC Scotland breakfast show with Grant and Gail returned to BBC Two Scotland for another week-long stint in the October half-term holidays between 7.15am - 8.25am (16 - 20 October) followed by the mid-morning slot being presented out-of-vision by the continuity announcers again between 9.05am - 10.00am on BBC One Scotland across the same week.

Grant and Gail returned to present breakfast shows on BBC Two Scotland throughout the opening weeks of the Scottish school Summer holidays in early-mid July 1996, airing between 7:30am–8:35am on an alternating period with the network breakfast show (mostly seen in Scotland like the rest of the UK) beginning 3 July until 12 July then returning for a further week at the same timeslot between 14 and 18 October, The mid-morning slot was aired on BBC One Scotland between 9.20am - 10.20am, albeit still out-of-vision and the CBBC breakfast show hosts Grant and Gail were now hosting the final series of Megamag throughout this short-term period, Mairi McHaffie and Steve McKenna had gone onto pastures new by this time.

In summer 1997, BBC Scotland opt out of the network schedule to air episodes of Harry and the Hendersons during Saturday Aardvark initially in a later time slot of 8:35am on Saturday mornings on BBC One Scotland for only four weeks between 24 May ending on 14 June, Pages from Ceefax is aired in the 7am slot in Scotland whilst episodes of The Flintstones were aired at 8.35am elsewhere in the UK throughout this short-term period, marking the first time ever BBC Scotland used Ceefax as an opt-out filler programme.

Two weeks later, Children's BBC Scotland underwent a revamp as they dropped their weekday morning breakfast show and mid-morning opt-outs (that been ongoing since the mid-1990s) and launched a brand new Summer holiday children's programme called Up For It! airing directly after the national CBBC breakfast show on BBC Two Scotland between 8:35am and 9:30am for the first three weeks of the Scottish school holidays between 29 June until 18 July, the brand new show is presented by Gail Porter and featured episodes of the Smurfs' Adventures that aired to Scottish viewers a month earlier compared to the rest of the UK, For the first time, no Children's BBC Scotland opt outs were screened on BBC One Scotland in the Scottish school holidays, since they moved to BBC Two Scotland for the remainder of the late 1990s.

Throughout August, BBC Scotland opt out of the network schedule for the second time to air episodes of Harry and the Hendersons during Children's BBC H.O.T on BBC Two Scotland at 10.00am - 10.25am instead of airing the Smurfs' Adventures for the last three weeks of the month, beginning on 11 August and ending on 29 August, Pages from Ceefax opt out is aired at 7am in Scotland once again for the next three Saturday mornings until the end of August whilst one episode was aired on Bank Holiday Monday (25 August) at 7.35am - 8.00am on BBC One Scotland due to Children's BBC H.O.T being aired on the main channel as it was a Bank Holiday, Classic comedy series The Phil Silvers Show is aired in Harry and the Hendersons timeslot in Scotland throughout the first week of September at 9.00am - 9.25am.

BBC Two Scotland opt out of the network schedule to air an episode of The Raccoons instead of airing Harry and the Hendersons that was already aired in Scotland earlier on in the year, Raccoons is aired at 8.45am - 9.10am on Monday 27 October 1997 prior to Daytime on Two' school programmes. Warner Brothers Cartoons was then aired in the same timeslot exactly two weeks later at 8.45am - 9.10am on Monday 10 November 1997 prior to Daytime on Two schools programmes once again, Harry and the Hendersons is aired in the slot prior to Daytime on Two school programmes across the UK, except Scotland since viewers in the region already saw the episode back in August.y

Up For It! returned for another run the following Summer of 1998 with Marsali Stewart on hosting duties to introduce episodes of Kenan & Kel, Sweet Valley High, Ocean Odyssey and The Simpsons that were aired in Scotland a month earlier to the network, the second series of Up For It aired between 29 June - 17 July 1998 at the same timeslot (8.35am - 9.35am) airing directly after the national CBBC breakfast show on BBC Two Scotland then was axed altogether after two series

In August 1998, BBC Two Scotland opt out of the network schedule to air classic films, US imported shows, New episodes of certain BBC shows that were yet to be screened in Scotland and some children's series in the mid-morning slot between 9am - 12pm for the final three weeks of the month (17 August - 3 September) - pre-school programming Teletubbies, Spot the Dog, Teddy Trucks, Secret Life of Toys and Barney the Dog were amongst the shows aired along with some other programmes including X-Men, Ocean Odyssey, The Flintstones and 1990s Australian TV series Sara that was displaced from the network schedule earlier on in the year, also omitting shows Kenan & Kel, Sweet Valley High and some episodes of Ocean Odyssey that was already aired in Scotland on their regional programme Up for It! the previous month.

Bananaman was also aired on BBC Two Scotland on Tuesday 7 July 1998 at 12 noon, after being displaced from the network schedule the previous month due to the 1 O'clock news and Reporting Scotland moving to BBC Two Scotland to make way for World Cup football coverage in mid-June, The summer holiday mid-morning opt out was aired on BBC One Scotland on Bank Holiday Monday (31 August - Bank Holiday Monday) due to children's programmes and the 1950s film Anastasia being aired on the channel for one day only.

And finally, there was no opt out in 1999 however CBBC Scotland was aired on BBC Two Scotland for the final time as a summer holiday opt-out from the network, airing with an out-of-vision presenter between 10.50am and 12.00pm until 7 July, by which point CBBC Scotland opt outs were now discontinued at this point onwards.

