Tonight’s TV… in 1999 

25 December 2014 tbs.pm/5400

J 19991225 All channels

TTTV dayFrom the Radio Times for Saturday 25 December 1999 comes this run down of what you could be watching on TV. Things worth noting:

  • The pattern of the time was that daytime Christmas Day was filled with programmes for children, and this year is no different.
  • It might be a Saturday Christmas Day, but BBC-1 in peak looks like any Sunday from the period
  • ITV is in the process of milking Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to death
  • Channel 5, almost 2 years old, still has little point to it
  • Sky 1 carries the Queen’s Christmas message, but otherwise presents a typical schedule of the time
  • UK Gold breaks away from its scheduling straitjacket a bit with 6 episodes of Porridge rather than the usual run of 70s comedy
  • BBC Choice is a strange mix of the later CBBC and BBC Three channels
  • ITV2 exists, but for what purpose isn’t yet clear

You Say

3 responses to this article

Retrogadget 26 December 2014 at 11:09 pm

A whole page given to the daytime (terrestrial) listings rather than the single column we get nowdays!

Des Elmes 14 December 2016 at 3:18 pm

“ITV is in the process of milking Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to death”

Is it? At this point, 15 months into Millionaire’s life, the show is still being aired over ten or twelve consecutive nights, and only when ITV has a good reason. Plus no-one has yet answered the £500,000 question correctly, and no celebrity editions have yet been made.

And, of course, the show is still pulling in 10 million viewers and more… ;)

Terminal 12 March 2020 at 6:27 pm

I’m here to note much of the primetime lineup on Sky1 is made up of animated series.

7pm-midnight consists of The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Dilbert, King Of The Hill, The PJs and Futurama.

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