Nostalgia Sunday: Kid's TV (CITV)

CITV was one of my favourite TV channels when I was growing up as a child. From weekend-long marathons of Horrid Henry and My Parents Are Aliens, to watching Jungle Run and being scared that the kids would get trapped, this, alongside CBBC, was the best kid's TV channel. Whether you were a kid growing up in the noughties like me, or are interested in what kid's TV was like in the noughties, you have come to the right place.

Horrid Henry

The kid all parents hated and all children loved, Horrid Henry was a staple of noughties children's TV viewing on CITV. A boy who hated homework, hated his teachers, and hated his worm of a brother 'Perfect Peter'. I can't remember whether I actually owned any of the Horrid Henry books, but I know I definitely read a lot of them and watched every single episode about a thousand times (it didn't help that pretty much every other weekend CITV would do a Horrid Henry marathon). It was even turned into a film back in 2011 (starting my crush on Theo Stevenson), starring: Dick and Dom; Jo Brand; Matthew Horne; and Tyger Drew-Honey; amongst many others. The episode that sticks out most in my head is the one where the family go to a French restaurant and Henry has to eat snails, which you can watch here.

My Parents Are Aliens

This show was quite possibly one of the weirdest shows to grace our screens (although quite a lot of noughties kid's TV shows were mental - @ Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow). The show focuses on Brian and Sophie, two aliens who crash into earth and whose ship turns into a house. They decide to foster three children (Mel, Josh and Lucy), which later extends to C.J. and Harriet (Harry). The children have to try and hide the fact that Brian and Sophie are aliens from others, which is often quite an impossible task - particularly as every time Brian eats ice cream he grows antlers. The biggest controversy to the show was when they got a new Sophie (shown in the picture above), who was originally played by Barbara Durkin and then Carla Mendonca. I never even realised this change (the show first aired in 1999 - when I wasn't even born) and only realised it when watching re-runs of the show. If you want to watch an episode, you can do so here.

Jungle Run

Did anyone else always want to be on this show? I did, but sadly it ended in 2006 (I was only six at the time so wouldn't have been able to go on it). One team of children would go on and they would have to complete different challenges to get silver monkey statues, which equate to time in the final challenge temple and each silver monkey statue was worth 10 seconds, with a ruby monkey worth 20 seconds. Upon getting to the temple, the team have the amount of time won in the challenges to go through each chamber in the temple and win all of the monkey statues (stone, metal/bronze, silver, and gold) before the time runs out. If they fail to get out of the temple by the end of time, they get locked in there (was anyone else convinced that these kids were locked in there indefinitely?). The show was hosted by Dominic Wood (off Da Bungalow fame), Chris Jarvis (who remembers that song involving something fluttering on Cbeebies?), and, probably the more well-known presenter of the show, Michael Underwood. You can watch an episode of the show here.

The Worst Witch

The original Worst Witch series (apparently there's a new version which I'm pretty sure is nowhere near as good as this one) was up there with some other top-tier television series and is definitely under-appreciated. It is about a Witch called Mildred Hubble who arrives at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches and is very awkward and soon makes an enemy out of Ethel Hallow, who is essentially the 'most popular' witch and bullies Mildred because of how clumsy she is. I'm pretty sure I also had the books for this series, and if not I do seem to remember reading them so maybe I got them from school. To watch the very first episode of this series, you can do so here.

Rosie and Jim

I'm fairly certain this show was filmed in Birmingham (my home city). I never even realised this was on CITV until I was doing a bit of research for this post. I am also very aware that it was on mostly in the nineties, but there were still new episodes during the early noughties and my Gran had a videotape of some of the episodes which I would always watch whenever I went to her house. They travel on a narrowboat on a canal and get up to all sorts of mischief without being detected. You can watch an episode of the show here.

Engie Benjy

This was 100% the show I would watch every morning before school. I'm not sure if any of you were aware of this, because I certainly wasn't until a few years ago, but Ant and Dec are actually some of the voices behind the characters in this show. Dec voices Engie Benjy and Ant voices his dog, Jollop. I was very young when this show aired and can't remember it as well as I can remember other shows on CITV, but I do remember he was a mechanic and had to try and fix things. You can watch an episode of the show here.

Tricky TV

Right, I couldn't do a blog post without talking about a show from my childhood that was on CITV without mentioning one starring my all-time weird? crush Stephen Mulhern (I would say it's only weird because of the age-gap, but he is good looking - don't fight me). This was a show that I loved but kind of dipped in and out of because I wasn't a massive fan of magic but found this show quite fascinating. You can watch part of an episode of the show here.

Angelina Ballerina

I used to LOVE this show and even had a load of different Angelina Ballerina books. Fun fact about me: I used to have ballet lessons when I was four but quit because I started crying because we were rehearsing for a performance and we had to wear red, so I cried because I wanted to wear pink and they had to call my mum and I never went back. The show was just so girly and was something that was very me and I would constantly be dancing along to it. You can watch an episode of the show here.

Tractor Tom

Moving away from the girly side of me and more to the tom-boy side, I used to always watch Tractor Tom. I think it was slightly more something my brother used to watch, but because he always used to have it on (still not over how he always got his turn and I hardly ever did unless it was something we both enjoyed watching) I would always end up watching it somehow. It was quite a good show though I won't lie and I guess being from a farming background means I was much more inclined to watch the show. You can watch an episode of the show here.

Finger Tips

I have a lovely treat for you guys because not only have I provided you with one show that Stephen Mulhern used to present in the noughties, I have provided you with two. Finger Tips was another show that I dipped in and out of, however I remember it was constantly one of the adverts at the start of a videotape or DVD. The show was essentially about teaching you to make different things with items you had around the house, such as food and fun science experiments. I did love this show and feel it is one of the shows that got me into creativity as I used to love arts and crafts and have recently found a new love for it. You can watch an episode of the show here.

Finders Keepers

I can just about remember this show. Upon researching it, it was originally a nineties show, hosted by Neil Buchanan (remember the Art Attack guy?), but was revived in 2006 and was hosted by Jeff Brazier. The show involved two teams having to search through different rooms in a house to find hidden objects. I'm guessing this show is the reason why whenever I am trying to find something I literally turn my entire room and house upside down, even though what I am looking for is often right in front of me. You can watch part of an episode of the 2006 revival of the show here, or to watch a full episode of one of the shows from the nineties, you can do so here.

So these are all the shows I can remember being shown on CITV throughout the noughties. It is also worth mentioning Britannia High, which was originally on ITV1, but repeats of the show were shown on CITV, and you can watch an episode of it here. Can you remember any of these? Were there any shows on CITV during the noughties that you watched that I have missed off this list? Or did you watch CITV before or after the noughties, and if so, which shows did you watch? I would love for you to let me know in the comments below.

As always, if there are any topics you would like me to cover in my Nostalgia Sunday series, please let me know in the comments below. And if you want to get in contact with me about absolutely anything and everything, you can get in contact with me either by going to the contacts tab at the top of the page, or by DMing me on Twitter or Instagram.

Love Beth xx