A review of Children's ITV in 1987, particularly the autumn months when Knightmare Series 1 was broadcast.
About Children's ITV
The Children's ITV studios were based at Central Television in Birmingham. Central had delivered Children's ITV for most of its run since January 1983.
In 1987, a live service with regular presenters were introduced for the first time. The two new presenters were Gary Terzza and Debbie Shore.
The role of the presenters included engaging with fans (e.g. reading fan mail) and driving interest in competitions.
Sample the show
We have some sound clips from Children's ITV on the day that Knightmare began - Monday 7 September 1987.
DownloadBefore the commercial break (35.38kB)
DownloadIntroducing the first episode (110.54kB)
Debbie gets slightly tongue-tied while saying: "The Dungeon Master leads four friends through the hazards of the perils of the castle of confusion..."
She is interrupted by Gary so they can cut to the break.
After the adverts, there are a few teaser trailers:
- Teddy Ruxpin (a cartoon)
- A 'lobster mobile' that travelled the country
- Scooby Doo
- Splash! (a magazine programme shown on Friday at 4:40pm).
You can also watch a trailer for Knightmare, broadcast two days before the first episode.
Adverts from 1987
What sort of commercials were shown around the time of Children's ITV in 1987?
They include the Oracle Teletext and Look In magazine, which ran two double-page spreads on Knightmare in 1991 and 1993.
Iconic presenter Timmy Mallet introduces the current edition of 'Look In' magazine.
"TV and sports stars. BRILLIANT competitions. Terrific picture strips." And Kylie Minogue on the cover. All for 30p.
DownloadAdverts, followed by Debbie in the studio (1.58MB)
TV Schedules
See the TV schedules from Monday 7 September 1987, the date of the first ever episode of Knightmare.
It was also the first day of morning programmes on ITV, as the usual schools' programmes were moved to Channel 4.
How did CITV look in 1988 during Series 2 of Knightmare?
Further credits:
- Sound clips: Neil Jones
- Advert clips: Nicholas Lam
