Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Nickelodeon UK Timeline


Nick UK is 10 years young this September and we've got together some of the highlights and best bits of the last 10 years with our Nick timeline...

So check it out and here's to another 10 years!





1993


Nick first started broadcasting on 1st September 1993 on Sky. We promised "to be the channel that defend the cause of kids and to make a better world for kids everywhere in this United Kingdom!"
The first program we showed was James The Cat and the only show that's still in schedule now from that first day was Clarissa Explains It All!




Other shows from that first day included Roobarb, Nickelodeon Guts, David The Gnome, Fraggle Rock and Mr Magoo...





When we started there were only THREE kids channels. Now there are TWENTY!





The first live presenter was Malcom Bird with the early morning show Dawn Patrol...





1994


1994 saw our first live presenters, even though these were only during the school holidays! At first we came direct from Sky's studios, but we soon moved to the Trocadero Centre in the middle of London. Our first presenters were Rick Adams (that's him left), Malcolm, Lucy Alexander, Mounya and a certain Yiolanda! They were soon joined by Bogey and Rude!




1994 also saw us start our now legendary Watch Your Own Wednesday and Weekends.

The first WYOWs were hosted by boyband Take That, including Robbie Williams and Mark Owen!


We also showed the first episodes of Rugrats, Doug, Aaahh! Real Monsters on Halloween. Other shows that we were showing included Denver The Last Dinosaur, The Monkees, Ultraman, Alvin & The Chipmunks and Speed Racer!



We also launched the first ever Kids Only text service NickText.

Which is still going today!




1995


Mounya and Yiolanda were still coming live from the Trocadero and were now starting to get tired of people calling in and asking if they were twins (for the record they're not twins, just very good mates!)

Nick also expanded, with Pirate TV, this came on for an hour after Nick had finished, where Mou and Yio took an hour of calls...



Other Nick presenters at the time include Bert The Fish, Rick Adams, James Gilby, Nigel Mitchell, Mike McClean, Sarah Cawood and Helen Chamberlain.




Show highlights included the first ever showing of our original and favourite twins Tia and Tamera in Sister Sister!





Other shows included the Nick debut of Ren & Stimpy, Duckula, Biker Mice From Mars AND The Secret World Of Alex Mack!




1996


Nick kids were waking up to Nick AM with Mike McClean and his early morning tomfoolery, such as Guess The Gargle, Ready, Steady, Brekkie and Show Us Your Draws!







This year also saw the appearance of a Nick website, viewers of Nick AM were asked to send in their messages to Mike McClean...




1996 saw the debut of Hey Arnold, even after all this time Helga still hasn't revealed her true feelings to him...





Popping into the studio we had a pre-Angels Robbie Williams AND The Spice Girls!





1997


This year saw us become the UK's Number One kids TV channel and we've held this position for the last SIX years!

We also started showing Sabrina The Teenage Witch, which since we started showing has been our number one for six years...




This year also saw the two fearsome twosomes start on Nick, first up Kenan & Kel and then Angry Beavers!





Mou and Yio were doing the afternoons and they were joined by Elvis, Lisa B and Matt Brown!





Elvis was one of the world's first totally computer generated presenters and used similar computer that was used to do the special effects in Jurassic Park!




1998


As the whole World was going crazy for the World Cup in France, we made our first fully fledge series with The Renford Rejects. A show all about a hapless football team, guest stars through out it's run included the 1966 World Cup winning team, Ian Rush, Gianfranco Zola and Martin Keown.





We started giving a whole block in the mornings to Nick Jr., including UK produced Blue's Clues with Kevin!





May was a big month with our first Watch Your Own WEEK! A full FIVE days of multi-choice TV that put YOU in total control.





Other shows that we started showing included CatDog and The Wild Thornberrys.

We also started broadcasting in crystal clear digital on Sky.



1999


We started showing Nick News! Nick News was a news show that was presented by kids that had written in. The show also had a fancy website where you could apply to be on it AND you could actually watch the show too! Not only that, but Nick News was the first ever satellite programme to win a BAFTA (very important TV award!). It didn't just win one, but two!



Big shows in '99 included Cousin Skeeter, Three Friends & Jerry and Rocket Power. We also introduced the UK to Mary-Kate and Ashley.





Simon Amstell joined the Nick Live crew and we also went on the Red Hot Lobster Tour. This basically involved a lot of gunging and kids going for the Golden Claw...




As well as all that we launched the Nick Jr and Nick Replay channels. Michael Owen won the first Kids Famer award AND the Rugrats Movie opened in UK cinemas!




2000


We started the 21st Century with a brand new Nicktoon, SpongeBob SquarePants and by the summer he'd be presenting the Summer Splash direct from Bikini Bottom...







We also held our first-ever Sabrina September, including the episode that co-starred Britney Spears...





Thank Nick It's Friday started with Simon, Matt Brown, Mou and You offering prizes such as Your Height In Videos...





Also this is how the website looked back in 2000 too. Not very many games on it, but we did do a couple of webchats with Kenan & Kel AND Tia & Tamera!




2001


We launched N-List and unlike any other chart at the time gave you total control of the chart. It was first presented by Kelle Bryan, and she was soon joined by our new presenter Dave Berry. Acts that aperformed on the show included Liberty X, S Club 7, Ronan Keating, Hear'Say and A1.





Sabrina won the first ever Head to Head Championship, we she's since gone on and won a every year since...





New shows to start on Nick this year included Saved By The Bell, Tucker, Brothers Garcia and The Amanda show.





We also relaunced the website, it included a load of games, plus we also streamed an ENTIRE episode of The Renford Rejects before it was broadcast! An internet first...




2002


In 2002 Rani started waking everyone up with You're Nicked! She's now passed the alarm clock to Michelle, who is now Nicking kids every weekday morning...







We also started making kids dreams come true with Reach For The Stars with Steve Wilson. Lucky kids got to sing with A1, play football with Trevor Sinclair and give Yolly a haircut!




We launched Nicktoons TV, a WHOLE new channel for all your top Nicktoons, including new additions Jimmy Neutron and Fairly Odd Parents! We also made a toon out of a real life family in Meet The Moores!




Other show highlights included L.O.L, which introduced us to the Truthful Farting Granny and Innuendo Kid, and Raising Dad, All That and Invader Zim...





2003


Ten years on Nick UK is still THE number one kids channel, with more than 3.5 million kids tuning in every month!

This year saw Aidan and Nigel join Rani, Yolly and Michelle as presenters...





We've still got a load of great new shows, now including What I Like About You, Spider-Man, Gilmore Girls AND the seventh and final series of Sabrina.




We also just had our biggest and best On The Road and also got kids to do dares like mucking out elephants to make their dreams come true with Dare U?




We're also the number one channel for getting you involved with our new U-Pick Live weeks and earlier this year with our revolutionary quiz show Off The Hook!




What are your favourite memories of Nickelodeon UK? Let NickALive! know on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+ and/or Facebook!

The Nickelodeon UK Timeline above was archived from the official Nickelodeon UK 10th Birthday Celebrations website, which was created in 2003 to mark the anniversary of Nickelodeon UK's tenth year of broadcasting.