CITV Presenters

Matthew Kelly and Samantha (from animated series Telebugs) present an invision link for Children's ITV in 1986. At this point links were still being pre-recorded in advance, so at the end of the link a long pause has to be left in order to allow for playout of the programmes to start from the relevant ITV contractor.

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This is one of the earliest recordings I have of in-vision CITV presentation. The bad-hair-day guy in it is Tommy Boyd, who used to present Wacaday on TV-AM (with Thanks to Geoff Cox for that info). He returned to present CITV in 1991, after having last done the job back in 1983. After the generic look fell through, CITV was dumped back in this 'broom cupboard' studio, with loads of strange objects in the background presumably swept off someone's desk in a hurry!

In-vision presentation disappeared for several years, before Danielle and Stephen were brought back to the station in 1998 to front the new CITV. This is an example showing Steven in 2001.

... and now for a 2001 example of Danielle Nicholls, one of the launch presenters for the return of in vision to CITV.

Thomas Darvill was an extra presenter brought in in 2000. There was another female presenter Andrea (who appears in a file on the mistakes page of the site), but she quietly disappeared not long after starting. Thomas himself wasn't at CITV for long... although he was to more famously reappear many years later under a different screen name as part of the cast for a certain well-known Saturday night BBC TV sci-fi show...

Fearne Cotton joins Danielle Nicholls to make up an infrequent pairing for this CITV link from April 2001. Giving a rundown of Tuesday's shows, before introducing their phone in studio guests for the day.

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The original dreamteam of Stephen and Danielle together again for this 2001 link for CITV. And Danielle gets a bit tongue-tied again.

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Tom and Danielle present another CITV link in 2001. No competition this time, but instead why not phone in to ask questions to their guest in the studio.

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Nigel Mitchell from then airing series Twister joins Tom and Danielle in the studio to answer phone in questions. And if you've not already phoned in with some phone in questions, why not phone in to vote for which episode of Sabrina you'd like to see instead? Ah... those innocent and carefree days before the phone-in competitions scandal hit!

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In September 2001, a vote was launched to try and find 2 new presenters. At the end of it, they actually appointed 3 of the 4, but never mind. Here is the first appearance of Leah, David and Leigh in the studio, shortly after the results had been announced. In December, Danielle and Tom suddenly left, leaving Stephen and these new 3 to present.

The studio takes on a slightly festive slant for Christmas 2001, as Leah and David present.

With the relaunch in 1998, ITV included budgeting for competitions nearly every day. Often funded through deals with the companies supplying them. Here are just a few of the competitions from 2001, with different rhymes to accompany them. Some say this was when CITV was at its creative peak.

This version is done by Tom.

Here we have Danielle doing the chant. But this also shows her getting a bit tongue-tied trying to read out the question.

...and just so he doesnt feel left out, here is a short version by Stephen.

A fifth example of the competition with Danielle and Stephen presenting over the top again.

Tom Darvill providing some real dad-dancing at a very young age for this competition link.

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A different name and some festive presentation over the top now as we introduce a competition from Christmas 2001 on CITV.

Andy Jaye and Gail Mckenna present a link from the final invision set at Birmingham, alongside an amazing bit of puppetry with a Spongebob cuddly toy.

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Competitions still feature on the last set from CITV. Now assisted by a puppet bag named 'Swag' to describe the prizes, here the main presenters and Swag introduce a Spongebob-themed competition and invite people to call in.

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Following on from the last link, Andy Jaye is out of the studio and into a swimming pool for the pre-recorded competition segment.

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The remaining CITV team present another link from right near the end of In-vision Continuity from Birmingham. By this time the cutbacks to the budget had become very obvious with a massively cutdown set compared to what had been seen in previous years. After the end of July, the studio was dropped completely with links done 'on-tour' throughout August, before the out-of-vision service began from Manchester at the end of that month.

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