Children's ITV (later known as CITV) was the children's strand of British terrestrial television network ITV, where Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends was originally broadcast in the UK. One of the ITV franchises, Central Independent Television, commissioned Clearwater Features to produce the first two series which premiered in 1984 and 1986 respectively. It repeated episodes of the first two series between 1987 and 1991. The channel later picked up with the third series in 1992 and 1993 (which was commissioned by Thames Television who also provided post production services), before Thomas left terrestrial television for satellite channel Cartoon Network.
Thomas & Friends returned to terrestrial television on 6 January 2003, when ITV began broadcasting repeats of the sixth series (which had premiered on Nick Jr. the year before). CiTV continued to broadcast Thomas with the seventh and eighth series until 28 July 2006.
On 10 March 2023, ITV announced the CITV channel was closing in favour for an expanded streaming service on ITVX. At 9:00pm on 1 September 2023, the channel ceased broadcasting with a loop informing viewers of the move to ITVX.[1]
When Series 8 was broadcast on CITV in 2005-2006 and repeated on the CITV Channel in the same year, the episodes were shown with a different theme arrangement, excluded the Engine Roll Call sing-along at the end and used a Nick Jr. endboard.
Whenever the end credits to Series 6 episodes in 2003 were not cut off by the address for CITV headquarters, the Nick Jr. endboard was revealed.
The video Trust Thomas features a caption on the front cover, "As Seen On ITV." The caption on Brave Little Engines was slightly different, reading "AS SEEN ON CITV." The Chocolate Crunch also had a sticker with this newer caption on the cover at one point.
Gallery[]
1983-1989 logo, used when the first two series aired
1989-1991 logo, used when Thomas & Friends' sister show TUGS aired
1989-1993 logo, used when the third series first aired
1991-1998 logo, used when later third series episodes aired
1998-2003 logo, used when the sixth series aired
2003-2006 logo, used when the seventh series and the half of the eighth series aired
2006 logo, used when the other half of the eighth series aired.