The news was announced last week that ITV is to axe its children's TV channel CITV after nearly two decades.
A sign-of-the-times, perhaps, that ITV's children's TV channel is to make way for an online streaming service, ITVX Kids, in July 2023. Children's ITV first launched as a block in the station's programming schedule in 1983 before ITV launched CITV as a channel in its own right in 2006.
Some of CITV's most popular shows through the years include Art Attack, The Worst Witch, Grange Hill and Thunderbirds Are Go. And it was back in the '90s and early Noughties, children's TV on both CITV and its BBC rival, CBBC, served as springboards for some young actors to go on and have stellar careers.
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Of course it wasn't just drama, budding presenters also had the chance to shine on both channels with sketch shows, news presenting, and Saturday morning shows such as Live and Kicking and SM:TV. So as an era comes to an end with the passing of CITV, the MEN have done a round-up of Greater Manchester's former stars of kids telly to see where they went next.
Jane Danson
Best known for playing Leanne Battersby in Coronation Street, Bury-born actress, Jane Danson, 44, was first brought to national TV attention as assertive Paula in CITV’s Children’s Ward in 1996. Paula went through quite a dramatic time, after recovering from a leg disease that left her in a wheelchair, she was then involved in a climbing accident.
Throughout her career, Danson seems to be drawn to dramatic characters, having played Leanne Battersby on the cobbles since 1997 (including a break between 2000 and 2004).
Danson is a regular nominee and sometimes winner in various TV and soap awards. In 2019, she took part in the 11th series of Dancing on Ice alongside professional partner Sylvain Longchambon but was eliminated in week seven following a skate-off.
Timmy Mallett
If you're of a certain generation, the delight experienced watching CITV presenter Timmy Mallett bashing kids over the head with a foam hammer on the Wide Awake Club in the mid-'80s will be a cornerstone of your childhood. Born in Stockport, the presenter has also had a long career in radio, including a stint at Manchester's Piccadilly Radio.
Since the Wide Awake Club ended in 1992, the 67-year-old has run his own production company, appeared as a contestant on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, and even had a UK number one hit in 1990 with a cover of Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.
While more recently you might find Mallett treading the boards in his stage show or panto, he is also a keen cyclist and artist selling his oil and acrylic paintings online.
Tina O'Brien
Like Danson, O'Brien rose to fame on Coronation Street but also began her career on the CITV drama Children's Ward, playing a character called Clare. She made her Corrie debut in 1999 playing Sarah-Lou Platt, who infamously feel pregnant at 13.
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The 39-year-old from Rusholme took a seven-year hiatus from the soap returned as Sarah-Lou in 2015. with her now 14 year-old daughter, Bethany. During her break from the cobbles, the actress starred in several hit dramas including Waterloo Road, Casualty and Call The Midwife.
O'Brien also appeared as a Strictly contestant in 2010 alongside Jared Murillo but both were eliminated in week five.
Chris Bisson
Wythenshawe born Bisson, 47, completes the trio of Corrie stars to make the move from the children’s hospitals to The Rovers Return. His TV debut came as J.J. in Children's Wards which he starred in for 13-series.
Between 1999 and 2002 he played Vikram Desai in Coronation Street before travelling over the Pennines to Emmerdale in 2009 starring as as Jai Sharma, a role he plays to this day. The actor has also appeared in Shameless as Kash Karib and starred in the hit British film East is East in 1999.
Geoffrey Hayes
One of the original children's telly icons, Hayes was the presenter of kids TV classic Rainbow from 1973 to 1992. Born in Stockport in 1942, Hayes had various non-TV jobs before attending drama school in Manchester to train as an actor.
Before becoming a children's TV presenter, he worked as an actor and even appeared as a recurring character in the ground breaking BBC police drama, Z-Cars. Of course, Hayes was best known for appearing alongside Zippy, George and Bungle entertaining generations of children on Rainbow.
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Following ITV cancelling Rainbow in the early '90s, Hayes struggled to find TV work and took a job stacking shelves at his local Sainsbury's and later as a taxi driver. Following retirement, Hayes spoke about his working life after TV, saying: "I didn’t do it for the money – it was just that I’d been out of work for five months and was hanging around the house becoming a pain.
"My wife told me to do something to take my mind off it. I also did a stint taxi driving. Now I’m retired and when I look back at my TV career, I feel very lucky.
"I’ll always be grateful for Rainbow and the life it’s given me." The much-loved presenter died in 2018 aged 76.
Paul Nicholls
Another one to start their career on CITV who went on to soap stardom was Bolton's own Paul Nicholls. The now 43-year-old made his TV debut aged 10 in - you guessed it - Children's Ward in 1990.
In 1994, he also appeared in the BBC children's dramas Earthfasts and The Biz before securing the role of Albert Square heartthrob, Joe Wicks, in Eastenders. Since leaving the show in 1997, Nicholls has continued to work in TV and film, including Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, and TV work playing roles in Holby City, Midsomer Murders and most recently, Ackley Bridge.
Phillip Schofield
We may now be more used to seeing Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby presenting ITV's This Morning, his career on British TV began talking to a puppet called Gordon the Gopher who could only communicate using high pitched squeaks.
Born in Oldham but grew up in Cornwall, he was the first regular 'Broom Cupboard' presenter for Children's BBC in the mid-'80s. He left in 1987 to present Saturday morning TV kids TV classic, Going Live.
In the early 1990s, Schofield moved to adult-orientated television presenting various programmes for ITV, such as Schofield's Quest and Schofield's TV Gold. However, it's his 20-year plus stint of hosting ITV's daytime show This Morning, that has made him one of the most recognisable faces in Britain today.
As well as his TV work, the 60-year-old presenter has also starred in the West End playing the lead role in Joseph And The Technicolour Dreamcoat following Jason Donovan's departure in 1991. He also performed and toured in another musical, Doctor Doolittle, in 2000.
Yvette Fielding
Born in Stockport, Fielding, 57, grew up in Bramhall. Her first major TV role came in 1983 when she was cast in the children's BBC series Seaview. Aged just 18-years-old, Yvette Fielding became the youngest ever presenter of British children's TV institution, Blue Peter.
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After five years as a presenter, Fielding left Blue Peter in 1992 and went on to present and appear in several other TV shows. However, it was after establishing a production company with her husband in 2002, that Fielding cemented her cult TV status presenting Most Haunted - a paranormal investigation reality show for Living TV.
More paranormal themed shows followed with Most Haunted Live and Ghosthunting With... In 2010, Fielding announced she was stepping down as presenter of Most Haunted, however she continued to appear in other ghost-hunting related TV shows, including an episode of Olly: Life On Murs in 2012, in which she and Olly Murs visited a haunted house.
The presenter also ran and co-owned a tea shop in Manchester called 'Propertea' until 2016 and was a contestant on the ITV reality series I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2015. Since 2019, Fielding has written and published several children's books of ghost stories.
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