This article timelines children's programming on the British network ITV and ITV Digital Channels. Following several decades of unorganised broadcasts of programmes for children on ITV from the earliest years of the network, the timeline fully commences in 1980, with the launch of its first dedicated branding for children's programming, Watch It!, which was replaced by Children's ITV in 1983; this name continued to be used as CITV until 10 April 2026, when its final block on ITV2 concluded before the debut of the Kids Special Edition of The 1% Club.
1950s and 1960s 1955 22 September – ITV is launched when the first contractor, Associated-Rediffusion, goes on air, broadcasting to London on weekdays. 23 September – Associated-Rediffusion starts airing its first regular children's programme, Small Time, at 12:15pm, catering to an audience of preschoolers; at 5pm, Tea-V Time airs as its regular children's strand, with an introductory programme explaining the structure of each edition. 24 September – ABC, which was forcefully renamed ATV to avoid confusion with the then-upcoming ABC Weekend Television two weeks later, broadcast its own afternoon strand on Saturday afternoons, ABC Club. This also included a series of television adaptations of works of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the first of which being The Emperor's New Clothes. 25 September – Adventures of Noddy, the first television adaptation of Enid Blyton's character Noddy, airs on ATV London.
1956 17 February – Associated Television starts its weekday service in the Midlands; in its early months, Rediffusion's service Tea-V Time was networked to the region. June – Tea-V Time is replaced by a generic children's strand.
1959 11 January – Debut of Gerry Anderson's first puppet show on ITV by AP Films Torchy the Battery Boy.
1961 28 January – Debut of Gerry Anderson's puppet show Supercar following the success of Torchy the Battery Boy. The first ITV programme by AP Films featuring a roman numeral copyright from the previous year (MCMLX) on the programme's intro credits. Torchy the Battery Boy ends after 52 episodes.
1962 29 April – Supercar ends after 39 episodes. 28 October – Debut of Gerry Anderson's puppet show Fireball XL5, the last ITV children's programme produced in black and white by AP Films.
1963 27 October – Fireball XL5 ends after 39 episodes.
1964 4 October – Debut of Gerry Anderson's puppet show Stingray ("Standby for Action!"), ITV's first children's programme produced in colour by AP Films and the second programme featuring a Roman numeral copyrighted the previous year or previous two years on the programme's intro credits.
1965 27 June – The final episode of Stingray was broadcast; 39 episodes were shown and broadcast in total. 30 September – Debut of Gerry Anderson's puppet show Thunderbirds ("5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Thunderbirds Are Go!") ITV's second children's programme produced in colour by AP Films and featuring a Roman numeral copyright from the previous year (MCMLXIV) on the programme's intro credits.
1966 25 December – Thunderbirds ends after 32 episodes.
1967 29 September – Debut of Gerry Anderson's puppet show Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons following the success of Thunderbirds, Stingray and other shows. ITV's third children's programme produced in colour by AP Films.
1968 4 April – Southern Television's Freewheelers makes its debut. 14 May – Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ends after 32 episodes. 30 July Magpie makes its debut on ITV. Sooty moves to ITV, transferring from the BBC after its cancellation the previous year.
1969 21 September – Debut of Gerry Anderson's final puppet show The Secret Service, ITV's fifth children's programme produced in colour by AP Films. It ends after 13 episodes broadcast by 14 December.
1970s 1970 13 November – The Colour Strike begins when ITV staff refuse to work with colour television equipment following a dispute over pay with its management.
1971 3 February – After nearly three months, the ITV Colour Strike ends and programmes resume being produced in colour.
1972 16 October – The first edition of Rainbow airs. It would run for the following 20 years.
1973 1 January – Pipkins makes its debut. 5 May – Southern Television's Freewheelers ends.
1974 5 January – The first edition of Saturday morning children's magazine show Tiswas is broadcast. It ran throughout the morning on ITV.
1975 2 September – Children's game show Runaround begins on ITV.
1976 5 September – ITV airs the first episode of Jim Henson's family puppet sketch comedy The Muppet Show, hosted by Kermit the Frog, and produced at ATV Elstree Studios. 26 September – Stop-motion animated children's programme Chorlton and the Wheelies makes its debut on ITV.
1979 10 August – ITV suspends broadcasting for eleven weeks due to a technicians' strike. 24 October – ITV resumes broadcasting.
1980s 1980 6 June – The final edition of Magpie airs on ITV. The magazine format show ends after twelve years. 29 December – ITV launches its first branded children's block when it launches Watch It!. The programmes broadcast on weekdays between 4:15pm to 5:15pm and despite the block being produced by ATV, the links were presented live by the duty continuity announcer in each ITV region.
1981 7 September – The game show Runaround ends. 29 December – Pipkins ends.
1982 5 January – Let's Pretend, the replacement programme for Pipkins makes its debut. 3 April – The final edition of Saturday morning programme Tiswas is shown on ITV a week after the series finale of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop was shown on BBC1. It had aired, albeit originally as a regional programme made by ATV, since 1974.
1983 3 January – Children's ITV is launched, replacing Watch It!. Programmes begin fifteen minutes earlier, at 4pm, the extra time being filled by a repeat of one of the pre-school programmes shown at lunchtime the same day. The slot was presented on a national basis and programmes were linked by an in-vision presenter. The links were pre-recorded in advance in a small studio at a London facility called Molinare, using a single locked-off camera and the presenter, usually from the world of children's television, changes on a monthly basis. 1 February – ITV's breakfast television service TV-am launches, with children's programmes being a major part of the service, especially at the weekend. 1 April – Roland Rat first appears on TV-am. Created by David Claridge and launched by TV-am children's editor Anne Wood to entertain younger viewers during the Easter holidays. Roland had been generally regarded as TV-am's saviour, being described as "the only rat to join a sinking ship". April – No. 73 launches nationally as ITV's Saturday morning children's show. It had launched the previous year as a regional programme by TVS.
1984 9 October – The children's series based on the books by Wilbert Awdry and narrated by Ringo Starr, Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, begins on ITV, becoming one of the most successful children's television programmes of all time since Postman Pat debuted on the BBC three years earlier. The show would move to Cartoon Network in the mid-1990s, before returning to terrestrial television in 2003, and moving to its new permanent future station Channel 5 three years later. 13 October – TV-am launches a new Saturday morning children's series called the Wide Awake Club. The live programme replaces pre-recorded shows such as Data Run and SPLAT.
1985 14 September – Wide Awake Club is extended and now runs for almost two hours, from 7:30am until 9:25am. 3 October – Roland Rat, one of TV-am's most successful characters, transfers to the BBC. With only a week until the October half-term was due to start, TV-am launches Wacaday, a spin-off of the existing and successful Saturday morning programme, Wide Awake Club.
1986 3 May – The first edition of the Saturday morning programme Get Fresh airs. It alternates with No. 73 as ITV's Saturday morning children's magazine series for the following two years.
1987 1 June – Live presentation of Children's ITV is launched and is presented by former Central announcers Gary Terzza and Debbie Shore.Timeline: CITV from start to finish 7 September – The Halloween-themed and medieval-set game show Knightmare makes its debut.
1988 27 March – 7T3 (which was formerly known as No. 73 until January 1988) ends. 3 September – Motormouth launches as ITV's new Saturday morning children's programme.
1989 24 February – Debut of the children's game show Fun House on Children's ITV, presented by Pat Sharp. April – The Wide Awake Club is renamed WAC '90. It was broadcast from Granada's studios in Manchester rather than from TV-am's London studios. 3 April – The independent production company Stonewall Productions are hired to produce Children's ITV presentation. They choose not to use a fixed set, but instead present links from various areas of Central's headquarters at Broad Street in Birmingham, utilising a rotating team of presenters. 3 September – The Disney Club airs for the first time. Produced by Scottish Television and aired on Sundays at 9:25am and broadcast mainly between September and April.
1990s 1990 15 June – The long-running children's arts and crafts series Art Attack makes its debut on Children's ITV, presented by Neil Buchanan. July – Hey, Hey, it's Saturday! replaces Wac '90 as TV-am's flagship Saturday morning children's programme.
1991 9 April – Central is rehired to produce the continuity links, choosing to revert links back to a small in-vision studio and using one regular presenter, Tommy Boyd. 12 April – Debut of the Neil Buchanan-hosted game show Finders Keepers, which would run until 1996 and briefly revived in 2006. September – TV-am's Hey, Hey, it's Saturday! ends. It is replaced the following week by TV Mayhem. November – After losing its franchise, TV-am drops all of its original children's programming, replacing it with a new Saturday morning block for children called Cartoon World, which as the name suggests, only showed cartoons.
1992 6 March – After twenty years and 1002 episodes, the final new edition of Rainbow airs. The long-running series ends due to its producer Thames Television having lost its ITV franchise. Repeats continue to be shown until the end of the year. 4 April – The final edition of the Saturday morning show Motormouth airs. The programme ends following the announcement that TVS's ITV franchise would end in 1992. 5 September – The first edition of ITV's new Saturday morning show What's Up Doc? airs. It alternates with Gimme 5 as its Saturday morning children's show. 30 November – The Sooty Show ends after 24 years (with an earlier twelve year run on the BBC), due to the loss of Thames Television's ITV franchise. December – Cartoon World on TV-am ends.
1993 1 January – Good Morning Television (GMTV) replaces TV-am as the new breakfast television licence holder for ITV and like its predecessor, children's programmes dominate weekend programming. Among the programmes are Saturday Disney, which usually aired before the Saturday morning block ends at 9:25am. It continued to be produced by Scottish Television which was one of the owners of them at the time. Also, a programme for younger children, Rise and Shine airs from 6am until the start of Saturday Disney. 15 February – In-vision presentation is dropped by the first Network Centre controller of children's and daytime programming Dawn Airey (a former Central management trainee) with Steve Ryde providing live out-of-vision continuity links featuring a variety of animated characters. 6 September CITV's afternoon slot is extended to start at 3:30pm, moving the pre-school children's slot from 12:10pm. Around the same time, the Children's ITV name is changed to CITV, which has been used in some form or another for the previous year.