Eat Your Words Eat Your Words was a game show created by Clive Doig in which kids had to solve challenges linked to words and food. The series started on 12 February 1994 with
Konnie Huq and
Mark Speight. In 1995, Simon Parkin become the presenter and was joined by Julia Binsted. The series ended on 24 February 1996.
Toonattik Toonattik was the
flagship children's strand of
GMTV (known as
CITV at weekends). It began on 5 February 2005 and was presented by
Jamie Rickers and
Anna Williamson. The strand aired on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:25 am until GMTV's closedown at 9:25 am. The original slot featured games, competitions and studio guests combined with the American imported cartoons. However, on 6 March 2010 it was reported that
Toonattik and
Action Stations! presenters Jamie and Anna would be made redundant, as part of
ITV plc's buyout of Disney's 25% share in GMTV. Threrefore, on 9 May 2010, Jamie and Anna departed and from the following weekend, the slot relaunched with out-of-vision presentation. From that point,
Toonattik also featured British cartoons. As of 12 March 2006, GMTV simulcasted
Toonattik on the
CITV channel during their allocated broadcast time, allowing younger
Sky Digital,
Virgin Media and
Freeview viewers to access the show through the children's section of the
EPG for the first time. Also, for the first time on the EPG, it gave details for the programmes broadcast in the
Toonattik time slot.
Action Stations! Action Stations! was the
flagship children's strand of the British
breakfast television station,
GMTV2 (branded as part of
CITV). The slot aired between 6:00 am and 8:40 am on the
CITV channel. It began broadcasting on 13 March 2006 and was simulcast on both the CITV channel and
ITV2; however, it moved to
ITV4 on 17 March 2008, meaning that ITV2 could broadcast 24 hours a day. From 7 June 2010, ITV4 ceased simulcasting, meaning that from early June 2010, GMTV2 could be seen on the CITV channel only, again allowing ITV4 to broadcast 24 hours a day. Originally,
Action Stations! featured the voices of
Toonattik presenters Jamie Rickers and Anna Williamson in the form of robots with pre-recorded links in between cartoons, and was later voiced by Mike Rance as a spaceship captain. Between September 2009 and May 2010, the slot had the presenters presenting links from the
Action Stations "space base".
''Diggit/Diggin' It'' '''''Diggit/Diggin' It''''' was one of GMTV's weekend children's programmes, which began on 14 March 1998 and replaced
Wake Up in the Wild Room. It also replaced
Disney Club on Sunday mornings. It was broadcast from 7:10am to 9:25am on Saturdays and 8:00am to 9:25am on Sundays. Additional editions on bank holidays and summer holidays were shown under the name
Diggit Extra. Initially, the show was presented by
Paul Ballard (known on screen as Des) and
Fearne Cotton. On Des's weekends off, the show was often co-presented by
Reggie Yates. In September 1998, the show launched a search for a new presenter (similar to the one that had discovered Fearne a few years earlier). Viewers had the chance to vote for a winner in December 1998; the winner was Jack Stratton. Jack co-presented with Des and Fearne on both shows for a time, before becoming a solo presenter of pre-recorded inserts on the Sunday show. He was asked to leave the show owing to end of contract, and in 2000 Fearne also left to concentrate on her other CITV series, the reins being handed over to
Laura Jaye and
Victoria Hickson. Des left the show in 2002 and GMTV relaunched the show as ''Diggin' It'' in January 2003, including a giant puppet named "It". Laura and Victoria also left and were replaced with
Liam Dolan (previously a presenter on
CBBC) and
Abbie Pethullis, with voiceovers from
Phil Gallagher. From 2003, for the first time ''Diggin' It'' was allowed to have its presenters discussing the weekend's line-up on
CITV every Friday afternoon. Liam Dolan was seen sending a Happy Birthday message to
CITV on 3 January 2003 on behalf of the ''Diggin'It
team. The show was dropped on 30 January 2005 to make way for the merger of Diggin' It
and Up on the Roof
into Toonattik''.
Saturday Disney Saturday Disney was GMTV's first children's programme, broadcast from 2 January 1993 to 30 March 1996 on Saturday mornings. Initially presented by
Stuart Miles and Pippa Ford-Jones, with other presenters including
Tara Lynne O'Neill, was a mixture of Disney cartoons old and new, celebrity guests, games and features. The set featured a wonky house, an "outside" area (which was in fact still the studio), a jail cell, and an area known as "the splatter dome". The entire set was deliberately cartoon-like in appearance. After around five months into the series, Ford-Jones was suddenly dropped from the show. The reasons surrounding her departure are not clear. At first, Miles told the audience that "Pippa isn't here this week" and introduced
Carmen Ejogo as a stand-in. Ford-Jones never returned and was soon removed from the opening title sequence. However, some pre-recorded location items featuring Ford-Jones were shown over the weeks after her departure. Ejogo remained as the female presenter on a permanent basis, and, after the departure of Miles, became the sole presenter until the show's demise. Disney cartoons were the main staple around which the show was built. GMTV came under criticism for extending the show's running time in early 1993. After just three months in April 1993, GMTV replaced
Teen Win Lose Or Draw, which ran from 8:50 to 9:25am, with a newly imported cartoon
Darkwing Duck, which ran under the
Saturday Disney strand. It was said that GMTV was putting ratings and advertising revenues before educational values. In May 1995, the series was reduced to finish at 8:50 am to allow
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to be shown.
Wake Up in the Wild Room Wake Up in the Wild Room was a children's programme broadcast from 13 April 1996 to 7 March 1998 on Saturday mornings. Produced in partnership with Disney, it was presented by
Dave Benson Phillips. The grand finale at the end of the show had a game in which contestants had to pick a number from the Big House (e.g., number 5 was a window, number 9 was a roof) but would have to watch out for traps that could result with a pie being thrown in their face by resident pie thrower Gary the Ghost, who wore white ghost makeup and a
milkman's uniform. Gary also pied various celebrity interview guests, most notably
Donna Air, who had uttered a word that had been deemed taboo for that episode's duration.
The Disney Club/Disney Adventures/Road Hog The Disney Club started on 3 September 1989 and was produced by
Scottish Television and
Buena Vista International Television, and went out on Sundays at 9:25 am. The programme mainly broadcast from September to April, taking a spring and summer break. Original presenters • (1989–1992):
Andrea Boardman,
John Eccleston Richard Orford • (1992–1993)
Andrea Boardman,
Paul Hendy,
Richard Orford In January 1993, the series was moved to also broadcast on
GMTV and overlapped past 9:25 am cut off time. It continued to be produced by Scottish Television, which was one of the owners of GMTV at the time. By September 1993, the series had moved back to 9:25 am, with Jenny Powell replacing Andrea Boardman. A new programme called
Disney Adventures with Andrea Boardman filled the time slot instead. When the series returned on 4 September 1994, the series had once again moved back to broadcast during
GMTV overlapped the 9:25 am cut off time, by starting at 8 am.
Philippa Forrester joined the team, alongside Richard Orford, with Andrea Boardman continuing with inserts films.
Disney Adventures returned on 6 May 1995 with Sally Gray, Jenny Powell,
Jocelyn Barker and
Yvette Fielding presenting instead of Boardman, continuing until October 1995.
Disney Club returned on 5 November 1995, with new presenters
Craig Doyle, Jenny Powell and Sean Maguire. The last series from September 1997 became two separate Disney blocks, but presented by the same people: Craig Doyle and Paul "Des" Ballard with a name change taking place on 25 September called
Road Hog. The series finished on 26 April 1998, replaced by
Diggit.
Up on the Roof Up on the Roof was one of GMTV's children's slots, presented by Jamie Rickers, broadcast from June 2001 to February 2005. It was regularly broadcast on only Sundays from around 8:15am straight after ''
Diggit/Diggin' It until 9:25am when GMTV handed over to CITV. The cartoon series that were shown were mainly those that featured such action animated programmes as He-Man, Spider-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Up on the Roof
ended on 30 January 2005 and was replaced by Toonattik'' from 5 February, broadcast on both Saturdays and Sundays.
''Parkin's In / Fun in the Sun'' '''''Parkin's In
and Fun in the Sun''''' was a children's programme block presented by
Simon Parkin. The series appeared during school holidays only, including half term, usually from 8:35 am to 9:25 am. It was filled with cartoons, guests and
Mr Motivator. During the early years, additional programmes were produced for Scotland only, owing to different holidays. The series had ended by 1996.
Programmes • ''
Maxie's World'' •
Alvin and the Chipmunks •
Tom & Jerry Kids •
Galaxy High •
Captain Planet and the Planeteers •
The Legend of Zelda •
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! •
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers •
V.R. Troopers ==Pre-school programmes==