ITV's 9.25 shows

Good morning from Central!

For a little bit more than a decade, the 9.25am slot on Britain's main commercial network was pretty much guaranteed to be filled with one glorified parlour game or another. Starting on 7 September 1987, when ITV managed to palm off its schools' programmes onto Channel 4, the slot was the natural home for cheap 'n' cheerful tat until 20 March 1998, when a no less cheap, and even more tacky, alternative was found in the form of US-style "discussion" shows fronted by Vanessa Feltz, Trisha Goddard and Jeremy Kyle.

There now follows a list of the shows which filled this nearly-hallowed slot. Dates are of course series start dates. Weeks do not necessarily add up to 52 as the game show slot would usually be replaced with cartoons during the school summer holidays and would also take two or three weeks' break over Christmas and New Year.

1987
7 Sep Chain Letters (5 weeks)
12 Oct Runway (10 weeks)
1988
4 Jan Give Us a Clue (11 weeks)
21 Mar Lucky Ladders (5 weeks)
25 Apr Crosswits (8 weeks)
20 June Password (6 weeks)
1 Aug Whose Baby? (2 weeks)
15 Aug What's My Line? (3 weeks)
5 Sep Runway (8 weeks)
31 Oct Lucky Ladders (7 weeks)
1989
9 Jan The Pyramid Game (9 weeks)
13 Mar Keynotes (9 weeks)
15 May Crosswits (9 weeks)
4 Sep Runway (7 weeks)
23 Oct Keynotes (7 weeks)
11 Dec Born Lucky (2 weeks)
1990
8 Jan Lucky Ladders (6 weeks)
19 Feb The Pyramid Game (7 weeks)
9 Apr Crosswits (7 weeks)
29 May Chain Letters (6 weeks and 2 days)
3 Sep Jeopardy! (8 weeks)
29 Oct Keynotes (8 weeks)
1991
7 Jan Runway (1 week and 3 days) (a)
4 Mar Lucky Ladders (8 weeks)
29 Apr Crosswits (8 weeks)
24 Jun All Clued Up (4 weeks)
29 Aug Runway (2 days and 6 weeks) (a)
14 Oct Jeopardy! (10 weeks)
1992
6 Jan Keynotes (7 weeks)
24 Feb Lucky Ladders (7 weeks)
13 Apr Crosswits (11 weeks)
29 Jun Your Number Please (4 weeks)
27 Jul Jumble (6 weeks)
7 Sep Win, Lose or Draw (5 weeks)
12 Oct Keynotes (10 weeks)
1993
4 Jan Runway (7 weeks)
22 Feb Jeopardy! (7 weeks)
12 Apr Lucky Ladders (5 weeks)
17 May Crosswits (5 weeks)
21 Jun Talkabout (5 weeks)
6 Sep Supermarket Sweep (15 weeks)
1994
3 Jan Win, Lose or Draw (13 weeks)
4 Apr Crosswits (14 weeks)
5 Sep Supermarket Sweep (15 weeks)
1995
2 Jan Chain Letters (17 weeks)
1 May Win, Lose or Draw (10 weeks)
4 Sep Supermarket Sweep (15 weeks)
1996
1 Jan Win, Lose or Draw (17 weeks)
29 April Supermarket Sweep (repeats, 10 weeks)
2 Sep Supermarket Sweep (new, 15 weeks)
1997
7 Jan Win, Lose or Draw (7 weeks)
4 Mar Chain Letters (8 weeks)
28 April Supermarket Sweep (repeats, 10 weeks)
7 Jul Win, Lose or Draw (repeats, 8 weeks)
1 Sep Supermarket Sweep (new, 16 weeks)
1998
6 Jan Win, Lose or Draw (8 weeks)
2 March Supermarket Sweep (repeats, 3 weeks)
  • (a) Series 4 of Runway was meant to run for 8 weeks (as Richard Madeley said at the start of the first show of the run) but it was pulled from the schedules after 8 days due to news coverage of the Gulf War. It returned on 29 August.

Subsequently, the slot would be filled by the eponymous talk shows of Vanessa Feltz (March to September 1998), Trisha Goddard (September 1998 to December 2004) and Jeremy Kyle (July 2005 to May 2019). There was a brief return to early morning games after the unfortunate death that ended Jeremy Kyle, when repeats of of Dickinson's Real Deal (4 weeks, from 13 May 2019) and Tenable (3 weeks, from 10 June) were thrown on as emergency cover, but after that it was back to talk as Judge Rinder took over the slot until the end of the year, and in January 2020 the 9.25 slot effectively disappeared as the extension of Good Morning Britain to three hours caused Lorraine to shift up and fill the hour from 9 to 10.

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