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BBC Three

BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including particularly new comedies, drama, programmes related to LGBTQ+, music, fashion, documentaries, brief news, adult animation, and drama series. The television channel closed down in 2016 and was relaunched in 2022 after being replaced by an online-only BBC Three streaming channel. The channel broadcasts daily from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am, timesharing with CBBC (which starts at 7:00 am)

BBC Three is the BBC's youth-orientated television channel, its remit to provide "innovative programming" to a target audience of viewers between 16 and 34 years old, leveraging technology as well as new talent. Unlike its commercial rivals, 90% of BBC Three's output originated from the United Kingdom. Notable exceptions were Family Guy and American Dad (both of them originating in the United States). It and sister channel BBC Four also carry occasional BBC Sport programming as an overflow for the BBC's other channels.

Following budget cuts at the BBC, the first iteration of BBC Three ceased operations on 16 February 2016, despite public opposition, moving to a BBC Three-branded streaming channel on the iPlayer. It returned to broadcast television in the form of a late-night strand on BBC One on Monday to Wednesday nights since 4 March 2019. On 2 March 2021, the BBC confirmed that it planned to relaunch BBC Three's linear television channel in 2022 subject to regulatory approval, which was approved in November that year.

Original run
In mid-2000, the BBC decided to reposition and rebrand their two digital channels so that they could be more closely linked to the well established BBC One and BBC Two. Their plan was for BBC Knowledge to be replaced with BBC Four (which took place in 2002) and for BBC Choice to be replaced with BBC Three. However, questions were raised over the proposed format of the new BBC Three, as some thought the new format would be too similar to the BBC's commercial rivals, namely ITV2 & E4 at the time. It would be unnecessary competition. Whilst BBC Four, the BBC's proposed children's channels and digital radio stations all received approval, the BBC Three plans were rejected in September 2001.

The channel was eventually given the go ahead, eleven months after the original launch date on 17 September 2002, following a change to the remit of the channel where a 15-minute news programme and an altered target age range of 25-34 audiences. BBC Three was launched on 9 February 2003. The channel was launched by Stuart Murphy, who previously ran BBC Choice, and before that UK Play, the now-discontinued UKTV music and comedy channel. At 33, Murphy was still the youngest channel controller in the country, a title he had held since launching UK Play at the age of 26; although on 20 October 2005 it was announced that Murphy was soon to leave the channel to work in commercial television. On 12 May 2011, BBC Three was added to the Sky EPG in the Republic of Ireland on channel 229. It was later moved to channel 210 on 3 July 2012, to free up space for new channels.

For the duration of the 2012 Summer Olympics, BBC Three increased its broadcasting hours to 24 hours to provide extra coverage of Olympic events. Broadcast hours were extended again for the 2014 Commonwealth Games with BBC Three broadcasting from 9:00 am to 4:00 am for the duration of the games. On 16 July 2013 the BBC announced that a high-definition (HD) simulcast of BBC Three would be launched by early 2014. The channel launched on 10 December 2013.

The former controller of the station, Zai Bennett, left to join Sky Atlantic in July 2014, at which point BBC Three commissioner Sam Bickley became acting controller.

Replacement by Internet service
In February 2014, BBC Director-General Tony Hall announced that cuts of £100 million would have to be made at the corporation; Hall stated that the corporation could be forced to close one of its television services as a cost-savings measure. On 5 March 2014, Hall announced a proposal to convert BBC Three, discontinuing it as an "open" television service and turn it into an over-the-top Internet television service with a smaller programming budget and a focus on short-form productions. These changes formed part of a package of proposals from the BBC, including extending CBBC's hours, reallocating £30 million on BBC One audiences for drama, and launching a one-hour timeshift channel of BBC One. There was notable backlash against the measures, with celebrities including Greg James, Matt Lucas and Jack Whitehall speaking out. A petition against the move on change.org has gathered over 300,000 signatures. However, there was some support from media commentators, and those who backed a "slimmer" BBC.

When the BBC revealed the full detail in December 2014, it admitted there was widespread opposition from BBC Three viewers but said there was support for the wider package of proposals. They believed the public welcomed a BBC One +1 as it admits "a vast majority of viewing still takes place on linear channels". The "Save BBC Three'" campaign pointed out this was a contradiction to what the BBC said about BBC Three. The BBC Trust began a 28-day public consultation regarding the plans on 20 January 2015 and it ended with a protest outside Broadcasting House. As part of the consultation a letter of 750 names against the move from the creative industry was sent to the BBC Trust, and this had the backing of a number of celebrities including Daniel Radcliffe, Aidan Turner, Olivia Colman and Lena Headey. The polling company ICM concluded a "large majority" of those that replied to the consultation were against the move, with respondents particularly concerned about those who cannot stream programming online, the effect of the content budget cuts, and the BBC's own admission the audience numbers would drop.

Despite significant public opposition, the proposal was provisionally approved by the BBC Trust in June 2015, and nonetheless the BBC Trust issued its final decision to approve the transition in November 2015, citing the fact that younger audiences have increasingly migrated to online television content as opposed to linear television channels, and the BBC's ability to "deliver more distinctive content online, while bearing down on costs". Conditions were imposed on other BBC properties to complement the changes; BBC One and Two will be required to develop "distinctive programmes designed for younger audiences", as well as air encores of all full-length programmes that originally premiere on the BBC Three online service. The Trust also approved related proposals to allow first-run and third-party content on iPlayer, as well as extend CBBC's broadcast day to 9:00 p.m. The BBC One timeshift service was rejected, citing "limited public value". Jimmy Mulville and Jon Thoday of independent production companies Hat Trick Productions and Avalon reportedly considered legal action against the Trust if it went ahead with the closure of the channel. They had previously offered to buy the channel to keep it on television, but the BBC said the channel was not up for sale.

BBC Three ended regular programming during the early morning of 16 February 2016. Its final programme was an episode of Gavin & Stacey, introduced by co-star James Corden from the Los Angeles studio of his U.S. talk show The Late Late Show. The channel space carried promotional information regarding the BBC Three online service as well as limited programming until it officially shut down on 31 March.

From March 2019, programmes from the new service were carried by BBC One from Monday to Wednesday after the BBC News at Ten under the name BBC Three on BBC One.

Return to linear television
In May 2020, the BBC submitted its annual general plan for 2020–2021. It stated that the broadcaster was considering reinstating BBC Three as a linear channel with a doubled budget, citing that its content "now has the potential to reach a wider audience on a linear channel, as well as the key demographic which will continue to watch online." A number of series carried by the service, including Fleabag and Normal People, had achieved strong critical acclaim, with Fleabag in particular winning multiple Primetime Emmy Awards.

On 2 March 2021, the BBC officially announced plans to reinstate BBC Three as a linear channel by January 2022, subject to approval by Ofcom. As before, it will timeshare with the CBBC channel and broadcast from 7:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. nightly. There will be pre-watershed programming targeting teenagers as part of the schedule.

On 16 September 2021, the UK media regulator Ofcom announced provisional approval for allowing BBC Three to return as a broadcast channel in 2022. As a public service channel it has the right to appear in the top 24 channels on EPGs. Sky complained that this would cause other channels to be bumped down the list to a less prominent position. On 25 November 2021, Ofcom announced it had given final approval for BBC Three to relaunch as a broadcast channel with a set period of February 2022, one month later than originally expected. A final logo of BBC Three as a streaming service was handled over the relaunched linear service; however, instead of pink, it uses a lime green colour.

On 5 January 2022, CBBC returned to its pre-2016 hours and BBC Three began test broadcasts on 10 January 2022 ahead of its relaunch on 1 February 2022. Following an introduction by Bimini Bon-Boulash, the relaunched channel's first programme was The Launch Party, a preview special hosted by BBC Radio 1's Clara Amfo and Greg James. This was followed by news programme The Catch Up, an Eating With My Ex celebrity special, and the premieres of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World, Lazy Susan, and the documentary ''Cherry Valentine: Gypsy Queen and Proud. ''

On 8 September 2022, BBC Three, Four, and one of the BBC Red Button channels were suspended due to the death of Elizabeth II, in order to preserve bandwidth for the broadcast of news coverage and tribute programming on BBC One and Two.

BBC Three HD

A high-definition version of BBC Three launched on 10 December 2013 along with high-definition versions of BBC Four, BBC News, CBBC and CBeebies.

Closed in 2016, BBC Three HD was relaunched in 2022 to coincide with the channel's return to linear television. However, since the channel's closure and eventual re-launch, its bandwidth had been reallocated in Scotland (to BBC Scotland HD) and Wales (to a HD simulcast of S4C). As a result, BBC Three HD is only available on Freeview in England and Northern Ireland. The SD variant is freely available in all regions and BBC Three HD is universally available on Sky, Freesat, cable and online via BBC iPlayer.

Controllers of BBC Three

 * 2003–2006: Stuart Murphy
 * 2006–2007: Julian Bellamy
 * 2007–2010: Danny Cohen
 * 2010–2014: Zai Bennett
 * 2014: Sam Bickley
 * 2014–2019: Damian Kavanagh
 * 2019–present: Fiona Campbell

Programming
"The remit of BBC Three is to bring younger audiences to high quality public service broadcasting through a mixed-genre schedule of innovative UK content featuring new UK talent. The channel should use the full range of digital platforms to deliver its content and to build an interactive relationship with its audience. The channel's target is 16–34-year-olds."

The channel's target is 16–34-year-olds, and it faces heavy competition from rivals including ITV2 and E4, for an audience that the BBC has traditionally had difficulty in attracting. In 2008 it reached 26.3% of 16–34-year-olds in digital homes—the channel's highest ever such reach and above that of E4, ITV2, Dave and Sky 1.

On average, nine million people watched BBC Three every week, and it had a 2.6% share of the 15–34-year-old audience and 1.4% of the whole population, according to the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB). These ratings by BARB, the official ratings agency, average out BBC Three's viewing figures over a 24-hour period even though the channel only broadcasts in the evening, giving a distorted sense of the channel's viewership. Despite several official complaints from the BBC, BARB continued to publish figures which the BBC argues are unrepresentative.

BBC Three's programming consists of comedy, drama, spin-off series and repeated episodes of series from BBC One and BBC Two, and other programmes that attempted to alert others of their actions through a series of programmes challenging common beliefs.

An example of BBC Three's comedy output includes the award-winning comedy Little Britain, which in October 2004 broke its previous viewing record when 1.8 million viewers tuned in for a new series. Little Britain was later broadcast on the BBC's terrestrial analogue channels BBC One and BBC Two. The channel's longest-running comedy programme is Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, which ran for ten years, eight of which were on BBC Three (having previously aired on BBC Two and BBC Choice) and continues to be repeated on the channel every week. Some of the most popular comedy programmes on the channel in its original incarnation featured stand-up comedians performing their own take on a subject, usually the news, examples of which include Russell Howard's Good News (which later transferred to BBC Two, partly due to its success, and partly to BBC Three's move to online only) and Lee Nelson's Well Good Show.

Comedy and drama
The channel airs various comedies and dramas; one of its most popular sitcoms is Gavin & Stacey, which first aired in May 2007 and was written by and starred James Corden and Ruth Jones. The sitcom was an instant hit, with subsequent series being moved to other BBC channels and the show being granted a Christmas special. Another example is Being Human, a drama in which a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf share a flat, which has become a success and heralded several new series. American programming also features, with American Dad! and Family Guy being the notable examples.

Numerous popular series were either repeated on the channel or have spin-offs created from them. In early 2003, viewers could watch episodes of popular BBC soap opera EastEnders on BBC Three before they were broadcast on BBC One. This programming decision coincided with the relaunch of the channel and helped it break the one million viewers milestone for the first time. An episode of EastEnders Revealed, which was commissioned for BBC Three and looking behind the scenes of the programme, attracted 611,000 viewers. In 2005, BBC Three commissioned the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential, which was shown immediately after episodes of the new series of Doctor Who had been screened on BBC One. This was followed up in July 2005, when it began to screen repeats of both programmes.

In October 2005, it was announced that BBC Three had commissioned a spin-off drama series from Doctor Who, Torchwood, designed as a post-watershed science fiction drama for a more adult audience. Torchwood launched with 2.4 million viewers in October 2006. Torchwood is the first science fiction programme ever to have been commissioned by the channel, and its popularity led to it being broadcast on BBC Two for the second series, and on BBC One for subsequent series. In 2010, BBC Three began airing episodes of the fifth series of BBC drama series Waterloo Road after they had aired on BBC One as part of its 'catch-up' programming. From January 2015, BBC Three aired the remaining episodes of Waterloo Road before being repeated on BBC One later the same day.

Among its original programming, the channel also gave viewers the comedy drama Pramface, which was written by Chris Reddy and comprised 19 episodes over three series, broadcast between 2012 and 2014.

Documentaries
BBC Three also aired several youth-focused documentaries, including the BAFTA-winning Our War, Blood, Sweat and T-shirts (as well as its subsequent sequels), Life & Death Row and a season of films focused on mental illness. BBC Three also aired specialist factual documentaries, such as How Drugs Work and How Sex Works.

Stacey Dooley, since her appearance on Blood, Sweat and T-shirts in 2008, presented documentaries including Stacey Dooley in the USA (2012–14), Coming Here Soon (2012), The Natives: This is our America (2017), Beaten by My Boyfriend (2015), Stacey Dooley in Cologne: The Blame Game (2016), Sex in Strange Places (2016), Stacey Dooley: Hate and Pride in Orlando (2016), Stacey Dooley on the Frontline: Girls, Guns and Isis (2016), Brainwashing Stacey (2016), Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with Isis (2018), and several other titles under the umbrella title Stacey Dooley Investigates (2009–present).

BBC Three also commissions a number of one-off documentaries, including Growing Up Down's (2014), My Brother the Islamist (2011), Small Teen Big World (2010); Stormchaser: The Butterfly and the Tornado (2012) and The Autistic Me (2009). Many were commissioned through BBC Three's FRESH scheme which provided an opportunity for 'the next generation of directors' to make their first 60-minute documentaries for the channel.

In July 2022, a number of documentaries from the regional We Are England strand (featuring celebrities such as Bimini, Jayde Adams  and Jassa Ahluwalia)  were repeated on BBC Three, alongside a number of similarly formatted 30 minute documentaries, now made to get a premiere showing on BBC Three. However, rather than being grouped under a master brand, like BBC One's We Are England or Our Lives programmes, these new documentaries are now just being listed under one off titles such as Filthy Business  and Queen of Trucks  on the BBC iPlayer and in programme guides.

News and sport
In its original incarnation, BBC Three featured 60 Seconds, an hourly summary of news, sport and entertainment headlines. They were presented in a relaxed style in keeping with the rest of the channel. As part of the BBC's discussions with the government regarding the founding of the channel, a longer news programme had been promised to provide a daily section of news and current affairs. The News Show, as it came to be called upon launch, was a Newsbeat-style fifteen-minute bulletin, later rebranded and reformatted as the more satirical and frivolous half hour The 7 O'Clock News. However, the BBC discontinued the bulletin in December 2005, following a recommendation made in the 2004 Barwise Report, which found that the channel's target audience sought news from elsewhere. Upon the 2022 relaunch of BBC Three, a new summary of news, sport and entertainment was launched under the name The Catch Up. This programme is also broadcast on the BBC News channel.

The channel has also shown sports programming. Match of the Day Live broadcast international football matches featuring Wales, often when an England match was being shown on BBC One. The channel also showed some matches of England's Women's team. The 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments were shown on the channel, while it is scheduled to air the semi-finals and final of the 2021 edition.

In 2022, The channel along with BBC Four was suspended, following the death of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This was done, so that the bandwidth could be used on BBC One and Two for the tribute progammes.

General comedy

 * Brain Candy (2003)
 * 2004: The Stupid Version (2004)
 * Three's Outtakes (2005–2010)
 * Welcome To My World: Funny Business (2006)
 * Conning The Conmen (2007)
 * It's Adam and Shelley (2007)
 * Two Pints of Lager: The Outtakes (2008–2011)
 * The Wall (2008)
 * Russell Howard's Good News (2009–2013)
 * Special 1 TV (2010–2011)
 * World's Craziest Fools (2011–2013)
 * The Pranker (2011)
 * World Series of Dating (2012)
 * Unzipped (2012)
 * BBC Comedy Feeds (2012–2015)
 * Impractical Jokers UK (2012–2014)
 * People Just Do Nothing (2014–2015)

One-off comedy pilots/specials

 * Sort-It-Out-Man (2003)
 * The Bunk Bed Boys (2004)
 * Sweet and Sour (2004)
 * From Bard to Verse (2004)
 * Killing Time (2004)
 * Hurrah for Cancer (2004)
 * AD/BC: A Rock Opera (2004)
 * 10:96: Training Night (2005)
 * Marigold (2005)
 * Cubby Couch (2006)
 * Bash (2007)
 * Living With Two People You Like Individually... But Not As A Couple (2007)
 * Under One Roof (2007)
 * Green (2007)
 * Moonmonkeys (2007)
 * Be More Ethnic (2007)
 * Biffovision (2007)
 * Splitting Cells (2007)
 * Placebo (2008)
 * Delta Forever (2008)
 * Torn Up Tales (2008)
 * Barely Legal (2008)
 * MeeBOX (2008)
 * LifeSpam: My Child Is French (2009)
 * Ketch! And HIRO-PON Get It On (2009)
 * Vidiotic (2009)
 * Things Talk (2009)
 * Brave Young Men (2009)
 * Mark's Brilliant Blog (2009)
 * May Contain Nuts (2009)
 * The Site (2009)
 * Above Their Station (2010)
 * This Is Jinsy (2010)
 * Laughter Shock (2010)
 * Stanley Park (2010)
 * Dappers (2010)
 * The Inn Mates (2010)
 * The Klang Show (2010)
 * The Adventures Of Daniel (2010)
 * D.O.A. (2010)
 * Chris Moyles' Comedy Empire (2012)
 * The Comedy Marathon Spectacular (2012)
 * An Idiot's Guide To Politics (2015)
 * The Totally Senseless Gameshow (2015)

Sketch comedy

 * 3 Non-Blondes (2003)
 * Monkey Dust (2003–2005)
 * Little Britain (2003–2004)
 * The Comic Side of 7 Days (2005)
 * High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman (2005)
 * Tittybangbang (2005–2007)
 * Man Stroke Woman (2005–2007)
 * The Message (2006)
 * Touch Me, I'm Karen Taylor (2006–2008)
 * Little Miss Jocelyn (2006)
 * Comedy Shuffle (2007)
 * Rush Hour (2007)
 * Marc Wootton Exposed (2008)
 * Scallywagga (2008–2010)
 * The Wrong Door (2008)
 * Horne & Corden (2009)
 * La La Land (2010)
 * Lee Nelson's Well Good Show (2010–2011)
 * Wu-How: The Ninja How To Guide (2010)
 * One Non Blonde: Down Under (2010)
 * The Revolution Will Be Televised (2012–2015)
 * Lee Nelson's Well Funny People (2013)
 * Boom Town (2013)
 * Lazy Susan (2022–present)

Comedy gameshow

 * Celebdaq (2003)
 * HeadJam (2004)
 * Stars in Fast Cars (2005–2006)
 * Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (2006–2007)
 * The King is Dead (2010)
 * 24 Hour Panel People (2011)
 * Sweat the Small Stuff (2013–2015)

Sitcom

 * Swiss Toni (2003–2004)
 * Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2003–2011)
 * Grass (2003)
 * Nighty Night (2004)
 * 15 Storeys High (2004)
 * Catterick (2004)
 * Cyderdelic (2004)
 * Coupling (2004)
 * The Mighty Boosh (2004–2007)
 * The Smoking Room (2004–2005)
 * My Life In Film (2004)
 * Ideal (2005–2011)
 * I'm with Stupid (2005–2006)
 * Snuff Box (2006)
 * Grownups (2006–2009)
 * Live!Girls! present Dogtown (2006)
 * Pulling (2006–2009)
 * Thieves Like Us (2007)
 * Gavin & Stacey (2007–2008, 2022–)
 * Coming of Age (2007–2011)
 * The Visit (2007)
 * How Not to Live Your Life (2007–2011)
 * Lunch Monkeys (2008–2011)
 * Trexx and Flipside (2008)
 * Massive (2008)
 * Clone (2008)
 * Off the Hook (2009)
 * We Are Klang (2009)
 * The Gemma Factor (2010)
 * Mongrels (2010–2011)
 * Him & Her (2010–2013)
 * White Van Man (2011–2012)
 * Pramface (2012–2014)
 * Dead Boss (2012)
 * Bad Education (2012–2014;2022-present)
 * Cuckoo (2012–2014; 2022)
 * Some Girls (2012–2014)
 * Way to Go (2013)
 * Bluestone 42 (2013)
 * Badults (2013–2014)
 * Uncle (2014–2015)
 * Siblings (2014–2016)
 * Crims (2015)
 * Murder in Successville (2015)
 * Top Coppers (2015)
 * Fried (2015)
 * Together (2015)
 * Josh (2015)
 * Peacock (2022–present)
 * PRU (2022–present)

Comedy drama

 * Grease Monkeys (2003–2004)
 * Spine Chillers (2003)
 * Outlaws (2004)
 * Twisted Tales (2005)
 * Casanova (2005)
 * Funland (2005)
 * Drop Dead Gorgeous (2006–2007)
 * Sinchronicity (2006)
 * Phoo Action (2008)
 * Being Human (2008–2013)
 * The Last Word Monologues (2008)
 * Personal Affairs (2009)
 * Mouth to Mouth (2009)
 * Becoming Human (2011)
 * Wreck (2022–present)

Live music and stand-up comedy

 * Paul and Pauline Calf's Cheese and Ham Sandwich (2003)
 * Glastonbury Festival (2003–2015)
 * The Fast Show Farewell Tour (2003)
 * Eurovision Song Contest Semi-finals (2004–2015, 2022)
 * 28 Acts in 28 Minutes (2005)
 * MOBO Awards (2006–2013)
 * The Mighty Boosh Live (2008)
 * Russell Howard Live (2009)
 * Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live (2010–2014)
 * Russell Howard Live: Dingledodies (2010)
 * Three@TheFringe (2011)
 * Simon Amstell: Do Nothing Live (2011)
 * Stand Up For Sport Relief (2012)
 * Live at the Electric (2012–2014)
 * Chris Ramsey's Comedy Fringe (2012)
 * Greg Davies Live: Firing Cheeseballs At A Dog (2012)
 * Russell Howard: Right Here, Right Now (2012)
 * Russell Kane: Smokescreens & Castles (2012)
 * Lee Nelson Live (2013)
 * Seann Walsh's Late Night Comedy Spectacular (2013–2014)
 * Kevin Bridges – The Story Continues (2013)
 * Jack Whitehall Live (2013)
 * Nick Helm's Heavy Entertainment (2015)

Drama

 * Burn It (2003)
 * Bodies (2004–2006)
 * Conviction (2004)
 * Torchwood (2006)
 * West 10 LDN (2008)
 * Dis/Connected (2008)
 * Spooks: Code 9 (2008)
 * Personal Affairs (2009)
 * Lip Service (2010–2012)
 * Frankenstein's Wedding (2011)
 * The Fades (2011)
 * In the Flesh (2013–2014)
 * Orphan Black (2013–2015)
 * Murdered by My Boyfriend (2014)
 * Our World War (2014)
 * Waterloo Road (2015)
 * Tatau (2015)
 * Red Rose (2022)
 * Mood (2022–present)
 * Life and Death in the Warehouse (2022–present)

Documentary

 * Appleton On Appleton (2003)
 * Dreamspaces (2003–2004)
 * Liquid Assets (2003–2004)
 * Fatboy Slim: Musical Hooligan (2003)
 * Body Hits (2003)
 * Posh & Becks' Big Impression: Behind the Scenes & Extra Bits (2003)
 * Mind, Body & Kick Ass Moves (2004)
 * Destination Three (2005)
 * Spendaholics (2005–2008)
 * Doctor Who Confidential (2005–2011)
 * Generation Jedi (2005)
 * Forty Years of F*** (2005)
 * Kick Ass Miracles (2005)
 * F*** Off I'm Fat (2006)
 * Japanorama (2006–2007)
 * The Indestructibles (2006)
 * Torchwood Declassified (2006)
 * Most Annoying People (2006–2011)
 * Freaky Eaters (2007–2009)
 * Body Image (2007)
 * Castaway: The Last 24 Hours and Castaway Exposed (2007)
 * Kick Ass in a Crisis (2007)
 * The Bulls**t Detective (2007)
 * Say No to the Knife (2007)
 * Pranks Galore (2007)
 * The Most Annoying TV We Hate to Love (2007)
 * The Most Annoying Pop Songs We Hate To Love (2007)
 * Find Me the Face (2008)
 * The Mighty Boosh: A Journey Through Time and Space (2008)
 * Blood, Sweat and T-shirts (2008)
 * Alesha: Look But Don't Touch (2008)
 * The Most Annoying Couples We Love to Hate (2008)
 * Gavin and Stacey 12 Days of Christmas (2008)
 * Two Pints: Fags, Lads and Kebabs (2009)
 * Comic Relief's Naughty Bits (2009)
 * Two Pints: The Love Triangle (2009)
 * Blood, Sweat and Takeaways (2010)
 * The Autistic Me (2009)
 * Stacey Dooley Investigates (2009–2015)
 * My Life as an Animal (2009)
 * Great Movie Mistakes (2010–2012)
 * Blood, Sweat and Luxuries (2010)
 * Small Teen Big World (2010)
 * Great TV Mistakes (2010)
 * Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents (2011–2015)
 * Pop's Greatest Dance Crazes (2011)
 * My Brother the Islamist (2011)
 * Stormchaser: The Butterfly and the Tornado (2011)
 * Stacey Dooley in the USA (2012–14)
 * Coming Here Soon (2012)
 * Unsafe Sex in the City (2012)
 * Websex: What's the Harm? (2012)
 * People Like Us (2013–2014)
 * Hotel of Mum and Dad (2013–2014)
 * Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time (2013)
 * Doctor Who: Greatest Monsters & Villains (2013)
 * Tough Young Teachers (2014)
 * Growing Up Down's (2014)
 * Junior Paramedics (2014)
 * Life and Death Row (2014)
 * Invasion of the Job Snatchers (2014)
 * My Brother the Terrorist (2014)
 * Tyger Takes On... (2014–2015)
 * Excluded: Kicked Out of School (2015)
 * Bangkok Airport (2015)
 * Beaten by my Boyfriend (2015)
 * Traffic Cops (2016)
 * Sex in Strange Places (2016)
 * We Are England (2022)
 * Doctor Who: Unleashed (2023–present)

Chat show

 * This Is Dom Joly (2003)
 * The Graham Norton Effect (2005)
 * Lily Allen and Friends (2008)
 * Comic Relief's Big Chat With Graham Norton (2013)
 * Backchat with Jack Whitehall and His Dad (2013–2014)
 * Staying In With Greg & Russell (2013)

Repeats

 * The Murder Game (2003)
 * Angry Kid (2003)
 * Absolutely Fabulous (series 5) (2003)
 * EastEnders (2003–2016, 2022–)
 * Spooks (2003–2009)
 * Doctor Who (2005–2016, 2023–)
 * Top Gear (2006–2016, 2022–)
 * The Apprentice (2006, 2011-2013, 2024-present)
 * That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006–2010)
 * Giving You Everything (2008)
 * Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions (2008–2009)
 * The Voice UK (2012–2015)
 * Live at the Apollo (2015–2016)
 * Fleabag (2022–present)
 * This Country (2022–present)
 * Killing Eve (2022–present)
 * Back to Life (2022–present)
 * Waterloo Road (2015, 2023–present)
 * Champion (2023–present)
 * Planet Earth (2023–present)

Unscripted and reality

 * The 7 O'Clock News (2003–2005)
 * Re:covered (2003)
 * Liquid News (2003–2004)
 * The Bachelor (2003–2005)
 * 60 Seconds (2003–2016)
 * Little Angels (2004–2006)
 * Slam Poets (2004)
 * The House of Tiny Tearaways (2005–2007)
 * The Real Hustle (2006–2012)
 * Anthea Turner: Perfect Housewife (2006–2007)
 * The Apprentice: You're Fired! (2006)
 * Celebrity Scissorhands (2006–2008)
 * The Baby Borrowers (2007)
 * Kill It, Cook It, Eat It (2007–2010)
 * Comic Relief Does Fame Academy (2007)
 * Last Man Standing (2007–2008)
 * Don't Tell the Bride (2007–2014)
 * Bizarre ER (2008–2011)
 * Snog Marry Avoid? (2008–2013)
 * Britain's Missing Top Model (2008)
 * Make My Body Younger (2008–2009)
 * The World's Strictest Parents (2008–2011)
 * Undercover Princes (2009)
 * Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum (2009–2011)
 * Freak Like Me (2010)
 * I Believe in UFOs: Danny Dyer (2010)
 * Hotter Than My Daughter (2010–2011)
 * Dancing on Wheels (2010)
 * Nicola Roberts: The Truth About Tanning (2010)
 * Undercover Princesses (2010)
 * Are You Fitter Than a Pensioner? (2010)
 * Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands (2011–2013)
 * The Call Centre (2013–2014)
 * Sexy Beasts (2014)
 * Hair (2014)
 * Killer Magic (2014–2015)
 * Life Is Toff (2014)
 * South Side Story (2015)
 * I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
 * Asian Provocateur (2015)
 * RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World (2022–present)
 * The Catch Up (2022–present)
 * The Fast and the Farmer(ish) (2022–present)
 * Hungry For It (2022–present)
 * The Drop (2022–present)
 * Gassed Up (2022–present)
 * Love In The Flesh (2022–present)
 * Charlotte in Sunderland (2023–present)
 * I Kissed a Boy (2023–present)
 * I Kissed a Girl (2024–)

Imports

 * 24 (2003)
 * American Dad! (2007–2016)
 * Assy McGee (2006–2008)
 * Family Guy (2006–2014)
 * Jonah from Tonga (2014)
 * Devin (2010)
 * The Next Step (2022)
 * Ghosts (airing as Ghosts US) (2022–present)
 * Top Gear (airing as Top Gear America) (2023–present)
 * The Traitors (airing as The Traitors Australia) (2023)
 * Love, Victor (2023)
 * Crazy Fun Park (2023)
 * Gremlins: Secrets of The Mogwai (2023)

Most watched programmes
The following is a list of the ten most watched broadcasts on BBC3 since launch, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB. Number of viewers does not include repeats.

Presentation
The channel's original idents were conceived by Stefan Marjoram at Aardman Animations and were used from launch until February 2008. Stuart Murphy was touring Aardman Animations looking for new programming ideas for BBC Three when he spotted the cone shaped creatures, he then took the idea back to the Lambie-Nairn agency, responsible for the BBC Three identity package. A feature of this identity is also the music "Three Is The Magic Number", based (only the lyrics are copied) upon Schoolhouse Rock!.

BBC Online provided a number of downloads and activities based on the channel's identity, these included "BlobMate", screensavers, wallpapers and also games such as BlobLander and BlobBert. The idea used by both Lambie-Nairn, who had developed the branding for CBeebies and CBBC, and Aardman, was to create the BBC Three blobs as a relation to the green and yellow blobs of the children's channels. Kieron Elliott, Lola Buckley, Gavin Inskip and Jen Long provided out-of-vision continuity.

On 22 January 2008 a new channel identity was unveiled, which went to air on 12 February. Rebranding was carried out by Red Bee Media, along with agencies MPG and Agency Republic with music and sound design by creative audio company Koink.

In October 2013, BBC Three introduced a new series of idents with a theme of "discovery". Designed by Claire Powell at Red Bee Media, the idents utilised projection mapping effects. The soundtrack for the idents was composed by Chris Branch and Tom Haines at Brains & Hunch.

On 4 January 2016, alongside the announcement of the date for BBC Three's relaunch as an online-only service, a third logo was unveiled. Inspired by the iconography of mobile applications, the new logo incorporated the Roman numeral for the number 3, with the third bar replaced by an exclamation mark. Marketing head Nikki Carr explained that the three bars represented the three principles of BBC Three as a service; making viewers "think", "laugh", and have a voice.

The "tricon" was used as the service's primary logo until 2020, when a more conventional logo box was adopted—connecting and modifying the "T" and "H" in "Three" to resemble the tricon emblem. In October 2021, this wordmark was replaced with one in the BBC's corporate font "Reith Sans" as part of a larger rebranding of the BBC's television channels. The tricon remained in use as a secondary logo, such as in an ident used to present BBC Three programmes on BBC One after the rebrand.

The rebrand in 2021 proved to be short-lived, as with the service's linear relaunch in February 2022, BBC Three adopted a new identity developed by Superunion and BBC Creative, with idents featuring three animated, pink and purple-coloured hands named "Captain", "Spider", and "Pointer" interacting in a lime green backdrop. The channel's presentation features the hands "irreverently [observing] what's going on in popular culture and young people's lives".

Awards
The channel has had critical and popular successes. Most recently, it won Broadcast Magazine's Digital Channel of the Year Award for Best General Entertainment Channel, and MGEITF Non Terrestrial Channel of the Year.

It won more awards in its eleven-year broadcast history than its commercial rivals (Sky 1, Sky Living, E4, ITV2, Channel 5 and Comedy Central) have won in their combined 25-year history. In total BBC Three has won 7 BAFTA awards, 5 British Comedy Awards, 15 Royal Television Society Awards and 5 Rose d'Or Awards since the channel was launched in February 2003.

In 2008, BBC Three's Gavin & Stacey won the BAFTA audience award and the best comedy performance award was awarded to James Corden for his part.

Criticism
The channel came in for criticism from several corners, the most prominent of which came from some of the BBC's long-standing presenters. These included John Humphrys, who argued that BBC Three and BBC Four should be shut down in the face of budget cuts to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, which he presents, as well as Jeremy Paxman.

In July 2010 a UK music magazine printed a letter from the pressure group Friends of Radio 3 that criticised BBC Three for having 'comedies, game shows, films and documentaries, but no arts programming at all'. In a later issue another correspondent endorsed this assessment on the basis of a search through issues of the Radio Times, and cast doubt on the BBC's claim (in the document Performance Against Public Commitments 2009/10) that the channel broadcast '54 hours of new music and arts programming' in that year. Two months later the same correspondent wrote in to inform readers that the BBC had refused his 'Freedom of Information' request concerning the titles of the programmes used in calculating the '54 hours' total.

title: BBC Three


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Black Boy

Black Boy (1945) is a memoir by American author Richard Wright, detailing his upbringing. Wright describes his youth in the South: Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, and his eventual move to Chicago, where he establishes his writing career and becomes involved with the Communist Party. Black Boy gained high acclaim in the United States because of Wright's honest and profound depiction of racism in America. While the book gained significant recognition, much of the reception throughout and after the publication process was highly controversial.

Background
Richard Wright's Black Boy was written in 1943 and published two years later (1945) in the early years of his career. Wright wrote Black Boy as a response to the experiences he had growing up. Given that Black Boy is partially autobiographical, many of the anecdotes stem from real experiences throughout Wright's childhood. Richard Wright's family spent much of their lives in deep poverty, enduring hunger and illness, and frequently moving around the South, and finally north, in search of a better life. Wright cites his family and childhood environment as the primary influence in his writing of the book. Specifically, Wright's family's strong religious beliefs imposed on him throughout his childhood shaped his view of religion. Similarly, the considerable distress—physical, mental, and emotional—that Wright experienced while growing up hungry is documented throughout much of Black Boy.

Most generally, Wright credits the public influence of Black Boy to his description of the racial inequalities he was subjected to throughout his travels in America. Wright recognized the power of reading and writing to stimulate "new ways of looking and seeing" at a young age. When he was seventeen, he left Jackson to find work in Memphis where he became heavily involved in literary groups and publications and expanded on his use of words as the weapon "to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for the life that gnaws in us" that is seen in Black Boy. Wright claims that he chose to write about the experiences referenced in Black Boy in an effort to "look squarely at his life, to build a bridge of words between him and the world".

Plot summary
Black Boy (American Hunger) is an autobiography following Richard Wright's childhood and young adulthood. It is split into two sections, "Southern Night" (concerning his childhood in the south) and "The Horror and the Glory" (concerning his early adult years in Chicago).

"Southern Night"
The book begins with a mischievous four-year-old Wright setting fire to his grandmother's house. Wright is a curious child living in a household of strict, religious women and violent, irresponsible men. After his father deserts his family, young Wright is shuffled back and forth between his sick mother, his fanatically religious grandmother, and various maternal aunts, uncles and orphanages attempting to take him in. Despite the efforts of various people and groups to take Wright in, he essentially raises himself with no central home. He quickly chafes against his surroundings, reading instead of playing with other children, and rejecting the church in favor of agnosticism at a young age. Throughout his mischief and hardship, Wright gets involved in fighting and drinking before the age of six. When Wright turns eleven, he begins taking jobs and is quickly introduced to the racism that constitutes much of his future. He continues to feel more out of place as he grows older and comes in contact with the Jim Crow racism of the 1920s South. He finds these circumstances generally unjust and fights attempts to quell his intellectual curiosity and potential as he dreams of moving north and becoming a writer.

"The Horror and the Glory"
In an effort to achieve his dreams of moving north, Wright reluctantly steals and lies until he attains enough money for a ticket to Memphis. Wright's aspirations of escaping racism in his move North are quickly disillusioned as he encounters similar prejudices and oppressions amidst the people in Memphis, prompting him to continue his journeys towards Chicago.

The youth finds the North less racist than the South and begins understanding American race relations more deeply. He holds many jobs, most of them consisting of menial tasks: he washes floors during the day and reads Proust and medical journals at night. At this time, his family is still suffering in poverty, his mother is disabled by a stroke, and his relatives constantly interrogate him about his atheism and "pointless" reading. He finds a job at the post office, where he meets white men who share his cynical view of the world and religion. They invite him to the John Reed Club, an organization that promotes the arts and social change. He becomes involved with a magazine called Left Front and slowly immerses himself in the writers and artists in the Communist Party.

At first, Wright thinks he will find friends within the party, especially among its black members, but he finds them to be just as timid to change as the southern whites he left behind. The Communists fear those who disagree with their ideas and quickly brand Wright as a "counter-revolutionary" for his tendency to question and speak his mind. When Richard tries to leave the party, he is accused of trying to lead others away from it.

After witnessing the trial of another black Communist for counter-revolutionary activity, Wright decides to abandon the party. He remains branded an "enemy" of Communism, and party members threaten him away from various jobs and gatherings. He does not fight them because he believes they are clumsily groping toward ideas that he agrees with: unity, tolerance, and equality. Wright ends the book by resolving to use his writing as a way to start a revolution: asserting that everyone has a "hunger" for life that needs to be filled. For Wright, writing is his way to the human heart, and therefore, the closest cure to his hunger.

Genre and style
The genre of Richard Wright's Black Boy is a longstanding controversy due to the ambiguity. Black Boy follows Wright's childhood with a degree of accuracy that suggests it exists as an autobiography, although Wright never confirmed nor denied whether the book was entirely autobiographical or fictitious. None of Wright's other books follow the truths of his life in the way Black Boy does. The book's apparent tendency to intermix fact and fiction is criticized because of the specific dialogue that suggests a degree of fiction. Additionally, Wright omits certain details of his family's background that would typically be included in an autobiographical novel. While Wright may have deviated from historical truths, the book is accurate in the sense that he rarely deviates from narrative truth in the candidness and rawness of his writing.

The style in Black Boy is so highly regarded because of the frankness that defied social demands at the time of Black Boy’s publication. Wright negates the racially based oppression he endured through his ability to read and write with eloquence and credibility as well as with his courage to speak back against the dominant norms of society that are holding him back.

Analysis
Given Black Boy’s emphasis on racial inequality in America, many of the motifs refer to the lingering aspects of slave narratives in present day. These motifs include violence, religion, starvation, familial unity and lack thereof, literacy, and the North Star as a guide towards freedom. The depictions of lingering racial animosity are at the core of the arguments in favor of censorship for many critics. The prevalence of violence amidst and against Blacks in America ties back to the violence exerted upon slaves generations before. The theme of violence intermixes with the notion of race as Wright suggests that violence is deeply entrenched into a system where people are distinguished based on their race. Regardless of Wright's efforts to break free from this violent lifestyle, a society based on differences will always feed on an inescapable discourse. Wright's skeptical view of Christianity mirrors the religious presence for many slaves. Throughout Black Boy, this skepticism of religion is present as Richard regards Christianity as being primarily based on a general inclusion in a group rather than incorporating any meaningful, spiritual connection to God. The general state of poverty and hunger that Wright endures reflects, to a lesser degree, similar obstacles that slaves faced. Wright's portrayal of hunger goes beyond a lack of food to represent a metaphorical kind of hunger in his yearning for a better, freer life. In his search for a better life in the North, Richard is seeking to fulfill both his physical and metaphorical hungers for more. The cyclical portrayal of poverty in Black Boy represents society as a personified enemy that crushes dreams for those who aren't in command of high society. The strong attempt at maintaining family unity also relates to the efforts amidst slaves to remain connected through such immense hardship. Wright's longing to journey North in search of improvement embodies the slaves longing to follow the North Star on the freedom trains in search of freedom. Despite the harsh reality upon arrival, throughout Black Boy, the North is represented as a land of opportunity and freedom. Lastly, Wright's focus on literacy as a weapon towards personal freedom also reflects the efforts of many slaves hoping to free themselves through the ability to read and write. The emphasis on literacy complicates the notion of finding freedom from a physical space to a mental power attained through education.

The most general impact of Black Boy is shown through Wright's efforts to bring light to the complexities of race relations in America, both the seen and unseen. Given the oppression and lacking education for blacks in America, the raw honesty of their hardships was rarely heard and even more rarely given literary attention, making the impact of Black Boy’s narrative especially influential. The book works to show the underlying inequalities that Wright faced daily in America.

Original publication
Wright wrote the entire manuscript in 1943 under the working title, Black Confession. By December, when Wright delivered the book to his agent, he had changed the title to American Hunger. The first fourteen chapters, about his Mississippi childhood, are compiled in "Part One: Southern Night," and the last six chapters, about Chicago, are included in "Part Two: The Horror and the Glory." In January 1944, Harper and Brothers accepted all twenty chapters, and was for a scheduled fall publication of the book. Black Boy is currently published by HarperCollins Publishers as a hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Partial publications
In June 1944, the Book of the Month Club expressed an interest in only "Part One: Southern Night." In response, Wright agreed to eliminate the Chicago section, and in August, he renamed the shortened book as Black Boy. Harper and Brothers published it under that title in 1945 and it sold 195,000 retail copies in its first edition and 351,000 copies through the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Parts of the Chicago chapters were published during Wright's lifetime as magazine articles, but the six chapters were not published together until 1977, by Harper and Row as American Hunger. In 1991, the Library of America published all 20 chapters, as Wright had originally intended, under the title Black Boy (American Hunger) as part of their volume of Wright's Later Works.

The Book-of-the-Month-Club played an important role in Wright's career. It selected his 1940 novel, Native Son, as the first Book of the Month Club written by a black American. Wright was willing to change his Black Boy book to get a second endorsement. However, he wrote in his journal that the Book-of-the-Month-Club had yielded to pressure from the Communist Party in asking him to eliminate the chapters that dealt with his membership in and disillusionment with the Communist Party. In order for Wright to get his memoir really "noticed" by the general public, his publisher required that he divide the portions of his book into two sections.

Reception
Upon its release, Black Boy gained significant traction—both positive and negative—from readers and critics alike. In February 1945, Black Boy was a Book-of-the-Month-Club selection, bringing it immediate fame and acclaim. Black Boy was also featured in a list compiled by the Lending Section of the American Library Association labeled "50 Outstanding Books of 1945". The list, which was compiled by numerous individuals and institutions, acclaims Black Boy as "the author's account of his boyhood [that] is a grim record of frustration, race tension, and suffering". From 1996 to 2000, the Round Rock Independent School District board in Texas voted 4–2 against a proposal to remove Richard Wright's Black Boy from reading lists at local schools, eventually deciding the content of the book was worthy and necessary in schools. In numerous cases of attempted censorship for Black Boy, Richard Wright's widow, Ellen Wright, stood up and publicly defended the book, claiming that the censorship of Black Boy would be "tantamount to an American tragedy". Black Boy was most recently challenged in Michigan in 2007 by the Howell High School for distributing explicit materials to minors, a ruling that was quickly overruled by a prosecutor who found that "the explicit passages illustrated a larger literary, artistic, or political message".

Black Boy has come under fire by numerous states, institutions, and individuals alike. Most petitioners of the book criticize Wright for being anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, overly sexual and obscene, and most commonly, for portraying a grim picture of race relations in America. On 1945, Theodore G. Bilbo denounced this book on the floor of the Senate, describing this book as "obsene" and aiming to excite Blacks against Whites, closing his statement with a "but it comes from a Negro, and you cannot expect any better from a person of his type." In 1972, Black Boy was banned in Michigan schools after parents found the content to be overly sexual and generally unsuitable for teens. In 1975, the book was challenged in both Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Tennessee, both places claiming the book was obscene and instigated racial tension. Black Boy was first challenged in New York in 1976 by the board of education of the Island Trees Free School District in New York. It was soon the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case in 1982. Petitioners against the inclusion of Black Boy described the autobiography as "objectionable" and "improper fare for school students." The book was later challenged in Lincoln, Nebraska on accounts of its "corruptive, obscene nature". In May 1997, the President of the North Florida Ministerial Alliance condemned the inclusion of Black Boy in Jacksonville's public schools, claiming the content is not "right for high school students" due to profanity and racial references.

According to the American Library Association, Black Boy was the 81st most banned and challenged book in the United States between 2000 and 2009.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Black Boy


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User:Fluffmuffin

Go HERE: Talk Page

title: User:Fluffmuffin


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Talk:Second-generation programming language

The idea of "generations" of programming languages appears to have arisen as a bit of marketing jargon particularly around the epoch of the so-called "fourth-generation" languages. The proposed distinctions imply that trends in language popularity are progressive rather than being driven by a combination of marketing fads and shifting requirements.

It is increasingly obvious, however, that this is the case: while there is a broad general trend towards greater abstraction from the hardware, it is not monotonic. For instance see the decline in popularity of the more-abstract language Lisp in favor of the closer-to-hardware C and C++ in the 1980s and '90s. Nor is there a determined trend towards application specificity; see, for instance, the demise of special-purpose COBOL for general-purpose Java in business applications.

Of course, changes in language popularity are not driven entirely by marketing. COBOL lacks standard libraries to talk to Internet clients; Java has them. As talking to the Internet becomes more important for the problem domain, usage migrates to a language where it is natural: Java. Likewise in other domains: biological science programming, once dominated by Fortran, acquires a need for text processing due to the rising importance of genomics, and begins to migrate to Perl. These changes are not toward greater application specificity, but rather toward closer fit to changing application requirements.

(Indeed, the newly adopted languages often lack underlying application-specific features the old ones have: Java does not have fixed-point decimal numbers, a COBOL feature valuable for business applications.)

What's my point? The idea of successive "generations" of programming languages replacing one another at higher levels of abstraction and application specificity is not historically accurate after, say, 1960. (COBOL, Fortran, and Lisp all existed in 1960.) Wikipedia should not present it uncritically, but rather note it wherever it appears as folk-history and marketing jargon rather than historical reality. --FOo 15:23, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I'll add another confuser -- I don't think you can separate language from era. We could also look at the term being languages of second-generation programming; where both the knowledge and the tools are advancing which enables and changes how everything is done. First generation programming is wires or toggle switches and the language is thus machine language; second generation goes to keyboards and memory and thus assembly can be and is done; third generation has punched cards or tape and computers with discs that can compile so compiled languages;  then we get video editing and floppies in the 80s and languages come with callable libraries extending the language with basis of programming books like Knuth so there's common algorithm and architecture ideas to procedural work, and linguistic concept languages like LISP APL, ADA, C++ object-oriented and so on. Then 5th generation programming could be considered the cell phone and app store era, with collaboration and multi-language CM tools in play and more about glue code between or extending large foundation products. 71.88.51.20 (talk) 13:31, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Scope/accuracy of this article
This article, the other articles in the programming language generation series, and the first comment on this discussion page, all characterize language generations in a way that seems strange to me.

In particular, the idea of calling C a second generation language is bizarre. Its relatively low level notwithstanding, this flies in the face of how the term has always been used. Just the fact that it is possible (important!) to write optimizers for C, and that assembly language programmers shake (or rather, shook) their heads about the inefficiencies of C code generation, would seem to bear this out.

My understanding of the history of this term – but one for which I am as yet unable to find good sources – is as follows:
 * First generation languages are simply the numerical machine code of a particular processor. In general-purpose computing, machine code was only used on the very first computers. Those computers themselves were termed "first generation" hardware, and were based on vacuum tubes or mechanical relays.
 * Second generation languages are symbolic assembly languages that provide a mnemonic sugaring for machine language. By the 1950s, as second-generation (transistorized) hardware became dominant, essentially all processors were shipped with assemblers.
 * Third generation languages were first developed in the 1950s. They originally were just called "higher level languages", in contrast to "assembly language"; "generations" was still primarily a term applied to hardware. Important early HLL efforts, as everybody knows, included FORTRAN, COBOL, PL/I, ALGOL, and LISP.
 * The term fourth generation language was introduced became popular in the 1970s to describe nonprocedural languages – languages with significant processing that occurred "behind the scenes", instead of being directly specified by the programmer. [update: Though according to a citation on the 4GL article, James Martin asserts that the term was in use in the 1960s.] These included constraint-based languages, output-oriented languages (e.g. report writers), application generators, and database languages, among others. A few random names include RAMIS, NOMAD, FOCUS, QUEL, SQL [update: some object to considering SQL and other query languages as 4GLs, but these were in fact archetypes of the concept at the time; note that they were called fourth-generation languages, not fourth-generation programming languages], Smalltalk, and the programming languages associated with most database systems of the day, as well as domain-oriented systems like SPSS. Most were attempts to allow end users to specify processing requirements in the language of their fields – bringing the computer to a subject matter expert, rather than forcing such users to become computer experts. Many of these languages were interpreters. The distinction between fourth generation and third generation languages increased the sense that assemblers were second-generation languages. Note that powerful earlier languages such as LISP, Simula, and even FORTRAN and Algol (when considered alongside their function libraries) were capable of great complexity and sophistication; but that the term 4GL was generally reserved for languages that were geared to an end-user problem space.
 * The term fifth generation language was invented to describe various approaches to language design after – well, after the term 4GL came into wide use. It emerged around the time of Japan's famous fifth generation computer project of 1982. It has been variously applied to the language concept du jour since then. [update: Its value would seem to be in identifying languages that aren't like the 3GL procedural languages nor the 4GL nonprocedural/domain-oriented languages.]

I present this for what it's worth. Having programmed using languages in all generations, fought the good fight to introduce higher-level languages into second-generation shops, and participated in the development of so-called fourth-generation and fifth-generation languages, I would hope this description isn't too far off.

I agree with the comment above that we need to distinguish the historical use of nth-generation language from neologisms based on programming complexity/hierarchy. However, since the latter seems to be the current trend in practice, perhaps both views need to be presented, on these pages and on a new article about programming language generations that all of these should use as a main article. Trevor Hanson 18:18, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

 * I'm not sure exactly when these terms were coined. I'm quite certain that machine code and assembler language were both developed without the inventors realising that these terms applied (a bit like World War One not being known by that name until after WWII) and that they have come about from an historical perspective, probably when people starting looking at languages like COBOL and needed a way to distinguish them from what had come before. As far as I am concerned, these are abstract terms which attempt to characterise a language by the proximity of its syntax to the underlying machine code. I can see the point of view that compares C with a 2GL because there is often a one to one relationship between a command and a machine instruction - but I think the portability of C definitely makes it a 3GL. I'm sure that a case can be made for specific languages falling between generations, or having attributes which make it difficult to say which it truly belongs to. However, I don't think this is the point of the series of 1GL, 2GL, 3GL ... articles because they are, or should be, discussing abstract concepts, rather than categorising individual programming languages.

 * Potentially you could merge this whole series into a single programming language generations article. SilentC 03:33, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Something worth considering: It may well be that these terms are ill-defined; that they are inconsistent, self-undermining, and ultimately nonsense.

As I understand it, these terms were largely advanced by software marketing folks. They wanted their own companies' software tools considered to be of a higher "generation" than other people's tools -- particularly database companies pushing "fourth generation languages", meaning "report generators" ... with the implication of higher generation being, of course, that these were newer, more advanced, more powerful, more productive tools.

Naturally, these terms caught on with people who like to think of themselves as expert in the newest, coolest tools. But that's precisely because they aren't very descriptive terms. They're mostly wind. --FOo 05:23, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Nevertheless, these terms have been used for a long time – if Martin is correct, the term 4GL dates from the 60s – and not just for marketing purposes, and NOT simply to describe the proximity of a language to the hardware. They largely paralleled the generations of hardware, which really DID have generations in a measurable sense; though this no doubt made it harder to be precise about what exactly constituted a 3GL versus a 4GL. There are assertions here and elsewhere that these were primarily marketing terms – and "mostly wind" – and there is no doubt there was plenty of wind on the topic. Yet I don't think the terms are devoid of meaning; and they certainly are not devoid of history. Our primary focus here should probably be on historical usage, with a nod to whatever currency they may have in contemporary academic taxonomy of programming languages. Does somebody have Jean Sammet's book? What does she say about language generations? Trevor Hanson 07:53, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

 * And just to remind everybody, the term is 'nth generation language' rather than, say 'nth-ring meta-level language'. This would intrinsically seem to refer to an evolutionary process of language design over time, rather than a measure of complexity or abstraction. Later generations have built on their predecessors. In this view, a later language that is radically different from its predecessors would be described as a different generation; if s not different, then it's the same generation. I think this is how the term has primarily been used. But again, we probably need to defer to how contemporary educators teach computer languages and computer science history. It doesn't matter so much what we may individually remember or believe about this hierarchy – or its non-existence. Trevor Hanson 08:05, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Well sorry but no I disagree with that. The terms might have been derived from the terminology used in hardware, but every definition of language generation that I have ever seen discusses the languages encompassed in terms of the relationship to machine code. Yes each generation builds on the one before, but the building has little to do with the underlying hardware and everything to do with the layers of abstraction between the machine and the programmer. 1GL = machine code. 2GL = human readable mnemonics for machine code. 3GL = abstraction from the machine layer. 4GL = syntax understood by non-programmers. 5GL = visual tools which create underlying code. You can waffle and pontificate as much as you like, but that is the simple definition of the concept that these articles should describe. I'm not debating that the evolution of hardware has enabled these latter generations to come to be, but that is not the point. As a pure abstract concept, language generation is simply about how detailed a knowledge the programmer has to have of the actual machine instructions that underlie his or her code. SilentC 23:38, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. Of course what you're describing is how we tend to use these terms today (and your summary is good); and moreover, the terms are probably only useful in terms of that hierarchy. And I also agree that the focus of these articles should be on levels of abstraction. However, I submit that a Wikipedia article about these terms needs to be very clear on their historical use; and I don't believe that their reflection of levels of abstraction away from the hardware became explicit until relatively recently, i.e. the 80s. I think some languages that today we'd consider fourth-generation languages were originally considered third-generation, strictly because of the time at which they were developed. APL and Simula, and perhaps Lucid, Clu, SNOBAL, and Smalltalk, might be examples. At any rate, any taxonomy that might call C a 2nd generation language would seem to fly in the face of historical usage, and this fact needs to be clear. Trevor Hanson 00:56, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Fair enough. Apologies if I came on a bit strong. This is why I think it would be better if the articles were all merged into an article on generations of programming language: there's obviously some historical context that needs to be wrapped around the whole topic and it probably wouldn't be out of place to mention that the terms have been 'misappropriated' by marketing departments. So it could start out by explaining what we mean by a language generation, and how the term came into common use. Then it could expand on the 5 generations. I think any statement along the lines of 'some people consider C to be a 2GL' can either be omitted, or if kept, require an academic reference. I believe it is generally accepted that C is a 3GL. SilentC 02:25, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Yes, I think we're actually on the same page, or would be if I could get some sleep. My starting point was the condition of the current articles, and the need to get some eyeballs on them. (Though there is one thing I like about them: that nice little template on the bottom. I have to agree with you about merging the five into a single article. But the template looks so...logical. :) Maybe we could keep the template, if we cut them all down to little stublets that link to the main article, mostly existing for the purpose of animating the template. Each could show a code snippet of the same algorithm, programmed in languages with different levels of abstraction. James Martin did that in a 4GL book back in the 70s.) Anyway, I would argue that your crisp description of language abstraction levels (modulo a little hand waving about how to describe 4GL and 5GL) is a good counterargument to the position that these terms are either meaningless or not useful. Abstraction seems like a very helpful way to view language relationships. Trevor Hanson 09:16, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

 * "Each could show a code snippet of the same algorithm, programmed in languages with different levels of abstraction." Now that is a nice idea. But please, not Hello World! I don't see an issue with keeping the sub-articles. Some editors have a thing about stubs but I believe they often serve a purpose. Bit busy at the moment, but can probably help out in the next couple of weeks if someone else doesn't get to it first. SilentC 23:01, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

My handful of Eurocents: I agree with the characterization of these terms; they were invented in the 1970s and popular in the 1980s, they haven't really been updated since, and they were never more than a very rough, informal characterization of the languages (over 5000) that already existed at the time. I think it would be best to merge all of these articles into a single one, ("Generations of programming languages"?) and include the above text there. Rp (talk) 14:57, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Historical Accuracy
I'm finally getting a bit of time to deal with this material, which worries me because it appears to be a modern attempt to re-define old terminology rather than an accurate description of the way the terms were defined and used in their time. I've been working with programming languages since the early 1960's and lived through most of this. It is my recollection that the terms "first-generation" and "second-generation" programming languages were not in any real use until the "marketing" need arose to indicate that "third-generation" languages were an improvement. Prior to that time, the terms "assembler language" and "high-level language" were in use, with assembler language having the usual meaning in which the programmer wrote on a symbolic but more-or-less one-to-one equivalent to the machine's language. I say "more or less" because assemblers like FAP even then started to include macro facilities. "Higher level" languages included FORTRAN, COBOL, MAD, IAL etc. Contrary to some claims (occasionally made elsewhere), these languages had constructs for data type declaration that was weakly enforced, subroutines/functions, flow of control, shared (global) storage, and were automatically mapped to assembler or machine code without the programmer having to manage issues like: general layout of memory for data and program, choice of machine-specific instructions and sequences, and use of machine registers and storage, and establishment of machine-level linkage conventions. "Third-generation" languages appeared with ALGOL and PL/I, and were seen as a great improvement because they could be described with context-free grammars, they automatically managed dynamic storage (especially through the use of a "stack"), and therefore permitted recursive programs, they enforced a stronger type-checking discipline (although one that generally allowed for explicit, planned exposure of memory layout) AND introduced many, varied enhancements of capabilities like: array operations, complex interplays of automatic type conversions, task-management, and references to explicitly managed data objects. This generation of languages reached its "peak" with ADA.

LISP, APL, and other "non-commercial" languages were never really included within the "generational" terminology, although LISP was sometimes talked about as "second-generation" because of the era of its introduction. Many practitioners of the main-line saw the way forward as languages that would include data-structure choice, like SETL, and those were called "very-high-level languages".

After that, the story meanders. "Fourth generation" language was term used in a catch-all attempt to market languages that integrated general algorithmic languages with other kinds of language, such as data base manipulation languages. But it never caught on as a useful technical or marketing term, and "fifth-generation" languages encoded the promise that non-determinism would be practical, emerging in languages like PROLOG and its descendants and synergizing with the AI-oriented "fifth-generation computing" of its time. And since then, languages seem to be "functional", "oriented", or domain-specific rather than "generational".

That's history as I saw it pass, and I have programmed in all those languages, (well, ... except IAL), and written compilers or interpreters for many. I've worked with and listened to stories of many of the people involved in creating Fortran and provided an occasional listening ear to Jean Sammet while she was writing her book on the history of programming languages. I know of no-one working in the field before 1970 who would have considered “second-generation” programming languages to be assembler languages. So, I would like to undertake to revise this page (and related pages) along these lines. I'm fairly sure I can find contemporary material to document the progression, but memories are always individual so if someone has a reference (other than to a new article attempting to guess what happened - and I've seen a couple), I'm happy to try to find a wider view.

I'm not sure that separate pages for the "generations" is the right way to do things, especially with the meandering away from "generations" since 1980, but I don't myself propose to change this overall structure, just the content.CSProfBill (talk) 14:28, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

 * So, it seems the issues are settled ... who is going to do the editing? I can hav a go, but not in the coming weeks. Rp (talk) 18:29, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
 * As I recall from an early 1980s magazine (I think either Practical Computing or Personal Computer World), the terms first-, second- and third-generation were used in the 1970s by a computer historian to describe what had already happened regarding both hardware advancement and programming language sophistication. These terms were later noticed by some advertising/marketing types, who then rushed to describe their product as "fourth-generation" or even "fifth-generation" when they represented no significant advance over third-gen. In my view, 1-3 have historic credibility; 4 & 5 have not. Afraid that's POV though.
 * Second-generation languages described in that magazine included the autocodes; these are not mentioned in this talk or the article. They resembled assembly languages in that for many instructions there was a 1-1 relationship between the source code and object code; however they also had an expression parser which could produce several object code instructions from one source line. --Redrose64 (talk) 16:41, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Reorganization
Pursuing the suggestions to reorganize this material, I have created a page called Programming language generations, using this and additional material, as explained on its discussion page. If interested, please go there and make further improvements. Thanks CSProfBill (talk) 14:33, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I would much prefer to have all pages on n-th generation programming language redirect to that page and use Trevor Hanson's excellent summary above as the core of the article text. If nobody objects I'm going to issue a merge proposal to do it. Rp (talk) 08:33, 8 August 2011 (UTC)


text:
CBeebies

CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged six years and under. Its sister channel, CBBC, is intended for older children aged six to twelve. It broadcasts every day from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, timesharing with BBC Four.

History
On 20 November 2001, the CBeebies name was officially revealed as part of the split of the already-existing CBBC block and would be used as both a children's block and a digital channel.

The CBeebies channel launched on 11 February 2002 alongside the CBBC channel, as a spinoff from the BBC's children's television strand. The first four shows to air on the channel were Teletubbies, Binka, Step Inside and Bits and Bobs. CBeebies domestically broadcasts from 5:30 am to 7:00 pm, broadcasting seven days per week. From the launch of the channel until 1 March 2002, CBeebies timeshared with fellow BBC channel BBC Knowledge but since 2 March 2002, it now timeshares with BBC Four, which is on air after CBeebies shuts down for the night at 7:00 pm.

CBeebies was joined in March 2007 by its own radio station, aptly named CBeebies Radio, which broadcast for three hours each day on BBC Radio 7 until April 2011. CBeebies Radio, however, has continued as a feature on CBeebies' website since 2013, and as a station on BBC Sounds broadcasting from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. A CBeebies Weekly magazine, now named just CBeebies Magazine, was first published in 2006.

Since March 2013, CBeebies has been carried by the British Forces Broadcasting Service, sharing a channel with BFBS Extra. CBeebies is also available in Ireland.

In September 2018 as part of a branding strategy, BBC Alba's unbranded two-hour children's block was split into CBeebies Alba and CBBC Alba, with the former airing during the first hour and the latter airing during the second hour. This block features its own presentation, presenters and shows in Scottish Gaelic. The only presenter shared between the CBeebies Alba block and CBeebies channel is Dodge T. Dog, who appears on an occasional basis.

On 15 March 2023, CBeebies rebranded its channel identity, in line with a wider corporate rebranding across the BBC starting in 2021. This was CBeebies' first rebrand, retiring the logo that the channel had used since its launch 21 years earlier. The new style featured a new logo in line with the BBC's 2021 logo, as well as a revamped appearance of the "Bugbie" characters that had been part of the channel's identity since launch.

On 1 April 2024, Viper, from Gladiators was announced as a presenter. It was revealed it was an April Fool's Joke.

International and non-English versions
BBC Studios owns and operates the international CBeebies feeds, with most of them operating on a 24-hour schedule (compared to the UK version).

The first international launch for the CBeebies channel was in India in May 2007, although the channel was withdrawn at the end of November 2012 due to "commercial considerations". The Polish CBeebies channel was launched on 2 December 2007, while feeds in Latin America, East, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Australia were launched in late 2008. In March 2011, an on demand version of the network was launched in the United States and is available on Xfinity.

On 13 May 2011, CBeebies was launched as a programme block on the channel BBC Kids in Canada, available on weekdays between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. It served a similar schedule to the main channel. The block ceased alongside its main channel on 31 December 2018, with some programmes moving to Knowledge Network.

In April 2015, BBC Worldwide signed with South Korean broadcaster KBS and Japanese broadcaster Kids Station to launch CBeebies blocks on both channels.

In April 2016, a channel for the MENA region was launched.

On 10 March 2017, CBeebies Asia was launched in Taiwan, replacing BBC Entertainment. CBeebies Asia has already launched in Hong Kong, South Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, Mongolia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Maldives, Macau, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. On 13 April 2017, the localised CBeebies feed for Latin America ceased operations along with BBC Earth and BBC Entertainment.

On 5 April 2018, a feed was launched on Digiturk in Turkey.

On 1 December 2019, the Australian feed launched in New Zealand on Sky.

In July 2020, it was relaunched in India, but with pan-Asian feed in English audio track only.

On 31 October 2020, CBeebies and CBeebies en Español were removed from all cable and satellite providers in the United States.

On 11 January 2022, BBC Kids launched as a FAST channel on Pluto TV in the United States, which airs select CBeebies and CBBC shows from the BBC Studios catalogue. A version of the channel that airs Spanish-dubbed programming titled "Niños por BBC" was launched on the same day. Both channels have since been removed. BBC Kids continues to be available on The Roku Channel and Samsung TV Plus in the United States.

In 15 December 2022, the Asian feed of CBeebies replaced BabyTV on the TV provider Astro.

A planned rebrand for the Polish version of CBeebies was cancelled in March 2024 after the departure of presenter Aneta Piotrowska.

In 31 July 2024, CBeebies is closing on Foxtel and Binge in Australia.

Management
In the UK, CBeebies is operated by the BBC Children's and Education division and part of BBC North. The division is also responsible for CBBC and overall strategic responsibility for all of the BBC's domestic services for children rests with the Director of Children's and Education, Patricia Hildago Reina (since 2020). The direction of the domestic CBeebies channel itself rested with Kay Benbow, the last Controller of the channel commissioning all CBeebies content across BBC television, online, interactive TV and radio. She took over from the first controller Michael Carrington in 2010. In 2017 it was announced that the CBeebies controller post would close in December 2017 and all content for the CBeebies brand would be commissioned by a new, pan BBC Children's role entitled Head of Content. In January 2021 it was announced that the decision would be reversing and a new Head of Commissioning and Acquisitions for preschoolers (0–6) would be appointed.

Internationally, CBeebies is owned by BBC Studios, which operate the brand.

Presentation
The links between programmes on CBeebies are primarily achieved through the use of in-vision continuity, using presenters to interact with the children. In the UK, links are recorded rather than broadcast live, as is the case on sister channel CBBC. They were originally recorded from studio TC0 at BBC Television Centre in London, but moved out in 2008 to Teddington Studios, and returned briefly in 2010. From September 2011 onwards, the links have been based at the BBC's northern base at studios HQ5 and HQ6 in Dock10 studios at MediaCityUK following the move of the BBC Children's department there.

As is with the rest of the BBC's channels, there is a lack of advertisements and programmes are occasionally broken up by trailers for new shows, new seasons of said shows or events.

Logo and identities

CBeebies uses many identities throughout the day during the breaks in between shows. Most of these idents feature the mascots, named the Bugs, also known as the Bugbies. The Bugbies are yellow blobs with faces, and are similar to the ones used by CBBC between 2002 and 2005, with the only difference being the colour: green for CBBC and yellow for CBeebies with both using purple as a similarity. Most idents before the late 2010's feature children saying the channel name twice once the logo appears except the Bedtime idents. The idents have used a moving blobby, slimy-like background or rounded shapes in any colour. Each block has its own ident, and the Bedtime Hour has a few different idents. In 2016, new idents were made for each block, replacing the old ones and the slimy moving background idents were rarely shown. Idents featuring the CBeebies House with it changing to effect the current season have been used from 2016 to 2023.

On 15 March 2023, CBeebies underwent a rebranding by Blue Zoo to fully-adopt the BBC's new corporate branding, with the Bugs reimagined in a rounded square-shaped form to evoke the BBC logo, and a new suite of idents and animated scenes incorporating two- and three-dimensional elements.

Presenters
Live presenters have been on CBeebies since the channel's launch. They are used to fill the gaps between the shows that air on the channel, speaking directly to the child, doing certain activities such as arts and crafts, leading activities based on a topic from the website, showing viewers' birthday cards, and introducing the shows, well as hosting some of the shows. Many of the presenters have histories as characters in other services or on children's programmes.

International Presenters
The international variants feature different personalities per broadcast region.
 * The Australian feed is the only non-UK service to feature more than one presenter, as this feed features three presenters. Tara Colegrave has presented since the channel's launch in 2008 and when the continuity links moved from the UK to Australia, she was joined by Robbie Harding and Duncan Fellows in 2011.
 * The Asian feed shown in countries like Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore has Nisha Anil as the main presenter.
 * The now-defunct Latin American feed variant had Roser Cabañas as the presenter.
 * The Polish channel had Aneta Piotrowska as main presenter from its launch in 2008 until 2024. On some occasions between November 2014 to 2016 Aneta appeared on the UK channel.
 * The South African feed uses former UK presenter Sid Sloane. Cat Sandion also presented on this feed before becoming a presenter on the UK version.
 * The CBeebies Alba block on BBC Alba uses Bard Cornark, Ben Cajee and Carrie Macneil as the presenters.
 * The Turkish feed uses the UK presenters (e.g., Cat Sandion and George Webster) dubbed over with Turkish voice actors.

Stranded segments
In the UK, the CBeebies channel uses stranded segments throughout the day.

On 10 March 2003, the Bedtime Hour was introduced. It aired shows such as Rubbadubbers, The Story Makers, and Andy Pandy.

From 3 April to 19 December 2004, each weekend afternoon was divided into five segments, which were presented by one of each of the then-current presenters, namely Chris Jarvis, Nicole Davis, Pui Fan Lee, Sidney Sloane and Sue Monroe. Each was given a core theme (for instance Sid's segment included "building and making" programmes such as Bob the Builder, Sue's included arts and crafts related programmes and so on). The five segments aired from 1:00 pm until 6:00 pm; and the segmentation was later dispensed in December 2004, although the presenters still wore their respective colours for several months afterwards. They also cropped up in props used in links, such as coloured plates.

The five coloured room sections ran from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm and included:
 * Pui's Exploring Hour (Red Room), which includes Come Outside, Teletubbies, Tots TV, Boo!, Bits and Bobs, and Fab Lab
 * Sid's Fix-It Hour (Green Room), which includes Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam, Little Robots, and Postman Pat
 * Chris's Singalong Hour (Blue Room), which includes Tweenies, Zingalong, and Balamory
 * Sue's Make and Do Hour (Pink Room), which includes SMarteenies, Big Cook, Little Cook, Pingu and Tikkabilla
 * Nicole's Furry Friends Hour (Orange Room), which includes Clifford the Big Red Dog, Binka, The Koala Brothers, Angelmouse, Becky and Barnaby Bear, The Magic Key.

A new strand entitled the Carrot Club was introduced in 2003, which had a female voiceover presenting where we are shown to toddlers running around and playing with toys. A new strand entitled Pick and Play was shown for the first time in June 2004, in which viewers contacted CBeebies via the website and other means to suggest programmes they would like to see. Also, in September 2005, a new strand called Bear and Butterfly launched, showing on weekend mornings. Presented by a cartoon bear (voiced by Chris Jarvis) and butterfly (voiced by Sue Monroe), and with an occasional appearance from a caterpillar, the characters interacted in an animated environment. They also showed pictures that had been sent in on their Message Tree.

New strands were introduced on 3 April 2006; Get Set Go from 7.00 am (currently 6.00 am) to 9.00 am, Explorers from 9:00 am to 10:00 am and 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, Busy Beebies from 10:00 am to 11:45 am and 2:00 pm to 3:45 pm, Story Corner from 11:45 am to 12:00 pm and 3:45 pm to 4:00 pm, and Little Lunchers from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. The Bedtime Hour was retained, though.

On 19 March 2007, these segments were dropped (apart from Get Set Go and Bedtime Hour) and modified to denote the time of day and the levels of activity, including:
 * Get Set Go – Early morning schedule between 6:00 am (originally 7.00 am until 18 March 2007) and 9:00 am; and given longer hours. Includes programmes such as Postman Pat, Bing, Hey Duggee, Justin's House, Octonauts, Love Monster, Bluey, Numberblocks, Alphablocks, Colourblocks, and Go Jetters.
 * Discover and Do – Late morning and early afternoon, weekdays between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. The strand is aimed at young children who would not be attending school or pre-school. It often contains programmes that give a learning opportunity to viewers, such as Something Special, Messy Goes To OKIDO, Teletubbies (the 2015 reboot), Let's Play, Spot Bots, Topsy and Tim, Alphablocks, Twirlywoos, Olobob Top, Numberblocks and Yakka Dee. The hour between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm is branded as Lunch Time and features shows such as My World Kitchen, Molly and Mack & Patchwork Pals.
 * Big Fun Time – Late afternoon weekdays between 3:00 pm and 5:45 pm. This strand is notable for aiming at the higher end of its remit, airing programming for children who have recently returned from school. Programmes include ZingZillas, The Furchester Hotel, Swashbuckle, Maddie's Do You Know?, Andy's Safari Adventures, Pablo, Apple Tree House, Grace's Amazing Machines, Bitz & Bob, Waffle the Wonder Dog & Gigglebiz.
 * Bedtime – The final hour and 15 minutes of CBeebies broadcasting between 5:45 pm and 7:00 pm. Being the original stranded section of the channel (and the only to still air to this day), it helps to prepare children for bed and features calm-natured programming. It always starts with the song "Goodbye Sun, Hello Moon" and programmes include Clangers, Moon and Me, Charlie and Lola, Tee and Mo, Sarah & Duck, Waybuloo and In the Night Garden...(which always comes last before the bedtime story). Story-telling is often told during the programmes. The final programme is always the Bedtime Stories slot (see below) and is followed by a final song, "The Time Has Come to Say Goodnight", before the channel closes for the day and BBC Four starts up. CBeebies Bedtime was renamed from the Bedtime Hour as of 4 February 2019.

When these segments were initially introduced, each segment featured its own presenting team and set, with Chris Jarvis and Pui Fan Lee (Alex Winters and Cerrie Burnell after they left in 2009) presenting Discover and Do in the CBeebies house's living room, Lunch Time in the kitchen, and Bedtime Hour in the bedroom; and Sidney Sloane (plus Andy Day when he joined the channel later in 2007) presenting Get, Set, Go! in the living room and Big Fun Time in the garage. However, since moving production to Manchester this is no longer the case, with the exception of Bedtime Hour which is presented from the area nearest the house's bed.

Storytimes
While the lunchtime story is usually read by one of the regular presenters at about 1:00 with an often repeated story, the final show of each day, known as Cbeebies Bedtime Stories (known as Stòiridh in Scottish Gaelic and airing on BBC Alba) is read by a guest storyteller, including well known actors, comedians, singers/musicians and past presenters of BBC children's television, including Chris Evans, Tom Hardy, Chris Hemsworth, Steve Carell, Ryan Reynolds, Josh Hartnett, Reese Witherspoon and Jack Black.

CBeebies HD

The channel launched on 10 December 2013, though was rolled-out nationwide up to June 2014 (as did BBC News HD, CBBC HD and BBC Four HD). The channel broadcasts on a commercially operated HD multiplex on Freeview, with limited geographic coverage compared with other multiplexes, and shares its stream with BBC Four HD as they air at different times. Prior to launch, the majority of CBeebies' HD output was broadcast on BBC HD before its closure on 26 March 2013.

CBeebies website
The CBeebies website coincided with the launch of the UK channel in February 2002 and showcases a child friendly site with activities themed to various CBeebies programmes, past and present, with games, songs and print-outs featuring for nearly all the shows. The UK version also features links to CBeebies iPlayer, a child friendly version of the BBC iPlayer site or app featuring CBeebies programmes only, to CBeebies radio player and a dedicated micro site containing advice for raising children and toddlers called CBeebies Grown-ups, which was relaunched in 2011.

The international channels and associated websites are run by BBC Studios. As a result, not all of them are the same and some channels have less extensive websites than other services. CBeebies channels in Asia, Australia, Poland, South Africa and the USA all have their own international variant.

VHS and DVD releases
BBC Video (and later 2Entertain) have released several VHS/DVD compilations featuring shows airing on CBeebies at the time. As of 2014, Abbey Home Media releases the compilations.

Album releases
Five CBeebies-branded CDs have been released, 'CBeebies: The Official Album' in 2002, 'My CBeebies Album' in 2006, 'My CBeebies Album (Christmas Edition)' in 2007, 'CBeebies: Song Time' in 2010, and 'CBeebies: The Album' in 2012.

CBeebies Land
CBeebies Land opened in May 2014. Designed as a retheme of the previous Storybook Land and Old McDonald's Farmyard areas of the Alton Towers theme park, it contains a range of themed rides, attractions and live entertainment based around various popular CBeebies programmes. It offers various indoor and outdoor activities aimed at making an immersive and interactive world for children and young families.

The site based within Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire includes some of the more popular characters from the original channel for guests to meet. Described as a 'fun environment for pre-schoolers to play and learn' by critics. Before CBeebies Land, Alton Towers did not have enough rides suitable for young children and since opening, CBeebies Land now makes visiting the amusement park exciting for younger children.

At the start of the year, the theme park sporadically released information on the characters involved in the development via their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
 * On 4 January, Mr Tumble was the first character confirmed – featuring in the Something Special Sensory Garden and 5 January saw Mr. Bloom confirmed as featuring in the development in the form of Mr Bloom's Allotments.
 * On 6 January, the park revealed an In the Night Garden... redesign of their existing Riverbank Eyespy. It features many characters from the show, like Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka.

The fourth reveal on 7 January was that of Nina and the Neurons It was an interactive science lab.

The latest additions to CBeebies Land were in Spring 2022. In December 2021, it was confirmed that Alton Towers were adding three new attractions to CBeebies Land, there was Hey Duggee: The Big Adventure Badge which had replaced Tree Fu Tom Training Camp, Andy's Adventures Dinosaur Dig which replaced Mr Bloom's Alloment and JoJo and GranGran at Home which replaced Charlie and Lola's Moonsquirters & Green drops.

Awards
The UK channel and the programmes it has broadcast have received a number of awards throughout the years. In 2002, the CBeebies Interactive TV Services were nominated in the Best Interactive Service category and CBeebies Online was nominated in the same category in 2005 at the BAFTA Children's Awards. The channel was awarded Best Children's Channel and Highly Commended at the Broadcast Digital Channel Awards 2006, however only achieved a nomination in 2007 and 2008. The channel was also named Children's Channel of the Year at the BAFTA Children's awards in 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2019 and was nominated for Channel of the Year in 2008.

The CBeebies UK website was nominated Best Interactive Site at the 2007 BAFTA Children's awards, and the brand as a whole also won the Best Design and Innovation award by the Royal Television Society, whose awarding panel said "Its website is an integral part of the brand, with its TV production and online teams working together to create innovative game play and immersive web experiences."

title: CBeebies


text:
Ricky Wilde

Ricky Wilde (born Ricki Steven Reginald Smith, 6 November 1961, sometimes credited as Ricki Wilde) is a British songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is the younger brother of singer Kim Wilde (the two are "Irish twins", having been born slightly less than one year apart); their father is singer-actor Marty Wilde.

Career
At the age of eleven, Wilde was signed by record producer Jonathan King to King's UK Records label, and released his first single in November 1972, called "I Am an Astronaut". King became his mentor and had great faith in Wilde and groomed him for stardom as the teenybopper star of 1973. The children's magazine Look-in featured Wilde and Donny Osmond on the cover in June 1973 with the headline "Is Ricky Wilde the new Donny?". Subsequent singles were "Do It Again, a Little Bit Slower", "I Wanna Go to a Disco" and "Teen Wave". However, the singles were not successful in the UK, although he was featured in youth magazines at the time and appeared with his father alongside eleven years old pop rival Darren Burn in BBC Television's Man Alive documentary film Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, made in July 1973. He had some hits in Scandinavia and Spain at the time.

Recordings of new material in 1980 led to the 'discovery' of his sister Kim. Ricky's new role was that of producer and co-writer, a role he has fulfilled up until now. By his own admission, he was happy to be more in the background as of that moment. After Kim Wilde paused her career in pop music, Ricky Wilde continued to work in the music industry. In 2005 he was one of the initiators of the band, Sonic Hub, and of the record label Sonic Hub Records.

He co-directed the film Shoot The DJ, released in 2010.

"I Am an Astronaut" was covered by Snow Patrol for the Save the Children compilation album Colours Are Brighter; it also featured as a B-side to their single "Open Your Eyes". It was translated into Swedish, and recorded by nine-year-old Linus Wahlgren in 1985. The Swedish version was later covered by Wahlgren's nephew Benjamin Ingrosso in 2007, also at nine years of age. Ricky started a podcast with famous blogger Lee Bennett and Eastenders soap star Jake Wood called 'Unsung Heroes', talking to songwriters and producers behind the scenes in the music industry.

Influences
Wilde has named Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) as "heroes" and a key source of inspiration. Other influences have included Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Skids, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Kraftwerk and the Stranglers.

title: Ricky Wilde


text:
List of museums in Hong Kong

The following is a list of museums in Hong Kong.

(LCSD) indicates a museum managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (EPD) indicates a museum managed by the Environmental Protection Department * indicates government-run museums

title: List of museums in Hong Kong