BBC Children's and Education
BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC is aimed at children aged between 6 and 12, and CBeebies offers content for younger viewers.
Unlike CBeebies, the CBBC brand predates the launch of these channels all the way back to when it was just a children's block on the main channel BBC, when it was also the brand name used for all of the BBC's children's programmes. CBBC broadcasts from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and CBeebies broadcasts from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, respectively timesharing with BBC Three for CBBC and BBC Four for CBeebies. The brands also have dedicated websites, social media channels, and over-the-top media services on BBC iPlayer.
History
1930–1952
The BBC has produced and broadcast television programmes for children since the 1930s. The first children-specific strand on BBC was For the Children, first broadcast on what was then the single 'BBC Television Service' on Saturday 24 April 1937; it was only ten minutes long. It lasted for two years before being taken off air when the service closed due to the Second World War in September 1939.Following the war, For the Children recommenced on Sunday 7 July 1946, with a 20-minute slot every Sunday afternoon and the addition of programmes for preschool children under the banner For The Very Young, and over the years they became an established feature of the early afternoons on the BBC's main channel BBC1.
1952–1964
In 1952, the "For the Children" / "For the Very Young" branding was dropped; older children's programmes were introduced by regular continuity announcers, while younger children's programming was broadcast under the Watch with Mother banner.Significant series for older children that began in the 1950s included The Sooty Show and Blue Peter.
1964–1985
The 1964 launch of BBC2 allowed additional room for young children's programming. On 21 April 1964, Play School became its first official programme after a power outage meant the opening night launch programmes were never broadcast.Away from the screen, in 1964, the Children's department was briefly amalgamated with Women's Programmes to form Family Programmes until it was reinstated in 1967. Around this time, the production offices moved to the newly developed BBC Television Centre in White City with most offices being based in the East Tower where they remained until its closure in 2011.
Other significant series that began in the 1960s include The Clangers and in 1965, the long running story telling format, Jackanory.
Significant series that began in the 1970s included the long-running children's news service, Newsround. In 1975, The Watch with Mother branding was dropped. In 1976, Saturday Morning television began in earnest with the launch of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. In 1978, Grange Hill, a contemporary drama series set in a comprehensive school, began.
Roger Gale, later an MP for the Conservative Party, was head of children's television from 1976 to 1979.
Significant series that began in the 1980s include Postman Pat. On 1 October 1980, See-Saw was launched, which was moved to BBC2 in June 1987, before ending in 1990.
In 1983, a Diamond Jubilee Festival Exhibition commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of BBC Children's Programmes at the Langham Hotel in London. The exhibition then moved to the Liverpool Garden Festival in 1984.
1985–2002
Until 1985, children's programmes on BBC1 were introduced by the usually off-screen continuity announcer, though often specially designed menus and captions would be used. In September of that year, the block rebranded as Children's BBC, and for the first time had a dedicated Children's BBC logo. It was described in a BBC press release as, "a new package of programmes specially gift-wrapped for children." Early graphics and idents were generated by a BBC Micro computer, with which the BBC had been increasingly been experimenting with and utilising in their children's programming continuity for a year or so prior to the rebrand.The most significant change was that the continuity announcer was seen on screen. Rather than use the existing BBC1 announcer, a new presenter was selected. The launch presenter was Phillip Schofield, presenting the slot for the first time at 15:55 BST on 9 September 1985. Remaining in the small continuity booth at Television Centre, during the first few days of these broadcasts, Schofield began to refer to the space as "The Broom Cupboard", due to its very small size, and supposedly due to the BBC only sparing a small broom cupboard for him to host from. This quickly became an established name for the space, even appearing in billings as such. A list of CBBC presenters shows that many more followed and this style of presentation continued and remains on the CBBC channel as of 2025.
During the 1990s, Children's BBC began to be informally referred to on-air as CBBC. The official billing name and on-air branding of Children's BBC remained in place, however, until the BBC's network-wide branding refresh on 4 October 1997, when the official billing name and on-air branding changed to CBBC.
From 1996 to 1999, CBBC programmes were also shown on the channel Nickelodeon, as part of the CBBC on Nickelodeon programming block. The CBBC on Nickelodeon block was originally hosted by Otis the Aardvark from its launch until 4 October 1997, when he was replaced by Marvin P. Porcevark, who unlike Otis, never appeared on the original CBBC block.
The launch of digital channel BBC Choice in 1998 saw the channel broadcasting children's programming in a Saturday afternoon slot which was subsequently replaced by the daily 6 am to 7 pm service CBBC on Choice, which aired archive preschool programming and was itself the precursor of the current CBBC and CBeebies channels.
2002–2012
In 2002, the launch of the CBBC and CBeebies channels saw a wide variety of programmes, both new and archive, being shown again on the new channels from 6 am or 7 am until 7 pm.In 2005, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, was questioned in the House of Commons as to whether a public service broadcaster should really be broadcasting "lavatorial" humour. Ms Jowell responded that it was the government's job to develop a charter for the BBC; and then the BBC's job to determine standards of taste, decency, and appropriateness.
BBC Children's relocated to BBC Bridge House, MediaCityUK in Salford Quays in May 2011. In September 2011, the flagship magazine show Blue Peter began live broadcasts from its new home, with daily news programme Newsround joining it in November 2011.
2012–present
Following the decline in viewing on BBC One and BBC Two and as part of the Delivering Quality First proposals submitted by the BBC in October 2011 and approved by the BBC Trust in May 2012, it was announced all children's programming on BBC One and Two would be moved permanently to the CBBC and CBeebies channels following the digital switchover. It was found that the majority of child viewers watched the programmes on these channels already and that only 7% of these children watched CBBC programmes on BBC One and Two. Children's programming on BBC One ended on 21 December 2012 with the CBeebies' morning strand on BBC Two ending on 4 January 2013.In November 2015, as a further aspect of the Delivering Quality First plan that resulted in the replacement of BBC Three with a branded digital presence, the BBC Trust approved a proposal for CBBC to extend its broadcast day by two hours, using bandwidth previously reserved for BBC Three. The two new hours are aimed towards an older youth audience.
On 14 March 2016, CBBC unveiled a new logo and on-air presentation, featuring an abstract, multicoloured wordmark enclosed in a box. CBBC controller Cheryl Taylor stated that the new brand was designed to be "fun and unpredictable" and would "appeal to both ends of our broad age spectrum". The logo was also meant to be suitable for use across digital platforms. On 11 April 2016, CBBC officially extended its broadcast day to be from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm.
Throughout the decade, changes in viewing patterns had an impact on BBC Children's services. Ofcom research showed that between 2010 and 2017, television viewing dropped by 40% for children aged 4–9 and by 47% for children aged 10–15.
On 4 July 2017, the BBC announced as part of its inaugural Annual Plan for 2017–18, that it would invest an additional £34 million into children's content for digital platforms over the next three years, in an effort to counter changes in viewing habits.
In 2019, it was announced that the Children's and Education departments would merge to become BBC Children's and Education.
In March 2021, the BBC announced that the CBBC channel's broadcast hours would be reduced, closing at 7 pm instead of 9 pm each day from January 2022. This is a return to the channel's broadcast hours before their extension in 2016. The move is to make way for the return of BBC Three to linear broadcast television.
In May 2022, it was announced that CBBC would eventually be discontinued as a linear channel, along with BBC Four and BBC Radio 4 Extra, but also that this would not happen for "at least the next three years".
Management
BBC Children's and Education is part of BBC North. Management of the division, in-house production and broadcast and production of presentation links for CBBC and CBeebies is based there.Overall strategic responsibility for all of the BBC's services for children rests with the Director of Children's, Patricia Hidalgo Reina, with commissioning decisions made by a Head of Commissioning and Acquisitions for the 0–6 age group and 7–12 age group, respectively. The 7–12 age group is commissioned by Sarah Muller since Feb 2021, with the 0–6 age group post waiting to be filled.