6 /10 1 Votes
6.4/10 TV First episode date 25 October 1998 | 5.7/10 IMDb Country of origin United Kingdom Final episode date 29 December 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Location(s) Channel 4 Headquarters (1998–2006)Riverside Studios (2006–09)Princess Productions Studios (2009–12) Running time 350 minutes (T4 Saturday)480 minutes (T4 Sunday) Production company(s) Channel Four Television CorporationAt It ProductionsEyeworksPrincess Productions Picture format 4:3 (1998–2000)16:9 (2001–12) Original release 25 October 1998 (1998-10-25) – 29 December 2012 (2012-12-29) Original network Channel 4; E4 (2001, 2012) Cast Similar Popworld, Freshly Squeezed, Shipwrecked, CD:UK, Let's Sing and Dance Profiles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T4 was a scheduling slot on Channel 4 (T4 Saturday usually 9 am until 2 pm) and E4 (T4 Sunday usually 9 am until 5 pm). It also aired on weekdays in the school holidays. The slot had a separate station identification on screen graphic from Channel 4 and E4. The logo of T4 is noticeably the top right segment of the standard Channel 4 logo. Channel 4 originally produced the strand in-house until 2002, when production was passed onto independent companies. The slot was targeted at the 16-34 age group.
Contents
Until 25 March 2012, T4 aired on Channel 4 both Saturday and Sunday, however, to make way for the introduction of Sunday Brunch in March 2012, T4 Sunday was moved to run on E4; T4 Saturday remained on Channel 4, and some programmes that previously appeared within the T4 block, such as The Simpsons, remained on Channel 4 on Sunday afternoons.
On 12 October 2012, Channel 4 announced that they would be axing T4 at the end of December 2012. The show ended on 29 December 2012.
Early history
Early on in T4's run, programmes aimed at children often aired in addition to the content aimed at older viewers, with shows such as CatDog and 2 Stupid Dogs appearing in the early schedule of the strand. Around 2001, this was dropped and the strand refocused entirely towards the teen/youth market. For the first few months of T4's life, its idents consisted of an animated spaceman like character. In 1999, this character instead appeared on the idents during the early morning pre-school shows, in addition to the weekend children's programmes that fell outside the T4 strand. These idents continued in use until 2004.
T4 on E4, 2001
After E4's launch in 2001, T4 initially also had a slot on the channel. However, this was short lived. They also had an equally short lived Friday evening slot on Channel 4. Following the sale of Quiz Call by Channel 4, it was rumoured that a T4 channel was one of the proposals to fill the vacant slot on Freeview (and subsequently on satellite and cable). However, the plan is also thought to have been rejected by director of television Kevin Lygo, as the slot was filled by Film4 +1 (now replaced, in turn, by Channel 4 +1).
Later years
Initially broadcast only on Sundays, the success of T4 saw the strand subsequently extended to include a Saturday block.
In more recent years, T4 had provided Channel 4 a broadcast window of programmes that are also broadcast in primetime slots on E4, such as The Big Bang Theory. In addition, following Channel 4's acquisition of terrestrial broadcast rights to The Simpsons, the series began to feature regularly within T4. Friends featured regularly within T4 until Channel 4 relinquished the rights to the sitcom in 2011.
Vernon Kay, Dermot O'Leary, Miquita Oliver and Alexa Chung returned for the last show on 29 December 2012 alongside current presenters Matt Edmondson, Nick Grimshaw, Jameela Jamil and Georgie Okell.
T4 on the Beach
T4 also staged an annual summer festival, T4 on the Beach, in the resort of Weston-super-Mare (for its first two years in 2003 and 2004, it was held in Great Yarmouth under the name Pop Beach), and previous musical acts that have appeared include McFly, Calvin Harris, Little Boots, and The Zutons. The concert in July 2010 was the sixth year running that the event had taken place in Weston-super-Mare which featured Dizzee Rascal and Florence and the Machine, among others.
T4 Stars of...
Normally bookended at the tail end of the year, T4 ‘Stars Of…’ broadcast live from Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The event was first held in 2009 and since then had become an annual fixture in the T4 events calendar. The Stars Of... title usually preceded the year in which it was being held e.g. Stars of 2010, as it was widely regarded as the replacement show for the now defunct Smash Hits Poll Winners Party that T4 broadcast from 2001 to 2005.
Executive staff
T4's executives were Henrietta Conrad (executive producer) and Sebastian Grant (series producer) for Princess Productions, and Cath Lovesey (series editor) and Sangeeta Bhaskar (Channel 4 executive) for Channel 4.