To celebrate 10 years of Buzzjack, let's take a look at what UK TV and Soaps looked like all the way back then!

 

DEBUTS

 

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In 2006, we saw the debuts of many popular series, some of which are still airing today! In terms of drama, the critically acclaimed Life on Mars started in January along with the critically despised Hotel Babylon. Following the success of Doctor Who, the BBC looked at producing more drama for Saturday nights which led to the start of Robin Hood. We also the the start of the school drama Waterloo Road which has only just recently finished after 10 series. Another series that just ended last year but debuted in 2006 is Lewis, a spin-off from Inspector Morse. Torchwood was another successful spin-off that made its debut 10 years ago, this time a spin-off to the aformented Doctor Who. Channel 4 also introduced two shows that would go on to be extremely popular. These were The IT Crowd and How to Look Good Naked, the latter helping to kickstart a TV career for Gok Wan. David Dickinson moved on from Bargain Hunt by creating a successful show for ITV: Dickinson's Real Deal. Another popular daytime show, Something for the Weekend started in 2006. After its axe, it became Sunday Brunch for Channel 4 and is still ongoing. BBC One's daily magazine show The One Show also saw a four week trial run before becoming an all year round programme in 2007. All Star Family Fortunes also made a return as a celebrity series.

 

CHANNELS

 

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Advances in technology meant that we saw a number of HD channels emerging, including BBC HD and Sky One HD. ITV also created a specialist channel for CITV as well ITV Play, a phone-in game channel. Channel 5 also advanced into further channels with Five Life, now named 5Star, and Five US, now 5USA.

 

PROGRAMME MOVES

 

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The popularity of Lost led to Sky One gaining the rights over Channel 4 after two series. The Paul O'Grady Show moved from ITV to Channel 4, although it would later move back. Family Guy changed its first run rights from BBC Two to BBC Three, although this would change back in 2015 before the rights were then bought by ITV 2. The World's Strongest Man also moved from BBC One to Channel 5, where it continues to be broadcast.

 

PROGRAMME CANCELLATIONS/ENDS

 

 

Every child's favourite, but every parent's nightmare, Dick and Dom in da Bungalow ended after 5 series and a discussion in Parliament. CD:UK was another popular Saturday morning children's TV show that ended in 2006. The year also brought the end of the even longer running popular music show, Top of the Pops, much to every music fan's disgust. Stars in Their Eyes also ended. After 15 years of event television, 2006 saw the final Prime Suspect. 2006 also brought an end to Footballer's Wives, The Kumars, My Hero, They Think It's All Over, Where the Heart Is, Bad Girls and Pingu.

Waterloo Road! :heart: The first three series were incredible - I can't fault the show in its early days. The rest of the Rochdale series were ok but not the same standard as the first three. I stopped watching when the show moved to Scotland because that was just a ridiculous move and came across really ridiculous on screen as well.

 

Torchwood is another fave there. I didn't watch it as it broadcast, I only started when Children of Earth was airing. I was probably a little too young to be watching it in 2006/7 anyway :lol:

Never really watched any of these unfortunately.

You can look at the BBC1 schedule for that day here.

 

The other BBC channels can be seen using the menu from that page.

Excellent read through!

 

I loved Waterloo Road and Hotel Babylon :wub:

The year Bad Girls ended :cry: I loved that show and have them all on DVD but the last couple of series got a bit stupid imo.

I first started watching Waterloo Road exactly half way through Series 5 which was when it was coming to the end of its Golden Era. I've since watched the series I missed and Series 1-3 in particular rank among the best TV I've watched! Gripping storylines, tackling delicate issues, strong characters that you really cared about etc. - all you could wish for in a TV drama and more!

 

I remember How to Look Good Naked! :') Huge guilty pleasure at the time!

 

In regards to the soaps, I know 2006 was a disappointing year for Eastenders, particularly after a successful 2005 (all this is speaking in hindsight, I enjoyed it enough at the time). Probably didn't help that a lot of the key characters (Kat, Alfie, Chrissie, Sam, Dennis, Sharon) had left and, even though they were replaced with strong characters like Shirley and Denise who are still present today, a lot of the storylines weren't up to scratch. The hyped Get Johnny Week wasn't as impressive as promised, the minor characters were at the forefront but weren't strong enough to carry the show, Pauline's character was ruined before being killed off as part of a half-hearted whodunnit and of course Kathy was infamously killed off-screen. Not to mention the show hit an all time low in the ratings with only 4.1m watching an episode aired in July.

 

Corrie, on the other hand, was still going strong. The comedy was at its best with the banter/fueds in Underworld and of course Cilla Battersby-Brown! :') For Emmerdale, I got quite into it from Christmas Day onwards with the Who Killed Tom King? story, and who could forget the The Kings River Explosion?

Lmao I remember ITV Play, for some reason me and my mum would watch it despite her never phoning in :')

Waterloo Road & The IT Crowd were two shows I loved from there, the former got a bit too ridiculous for me eventually (this school would totally close down if all these events actually happened :')), but it was very entertaining for the first few seasons at least. The latter was brilliant, one of the few really good British comedies from the 2000s!

 

It didn't debut in 2006, but I do remember this year for Series 2 of new Doctor Who, best season for me easily <3 (Indeed, what made me blindly love like everything about those early series ha)

 

Pingu & Top of the Pops ending too :'(

Edited March 8, 20169 yr by chart wizard