What are people memory's or thoughts on C5 which will be 20 years old next year?

Will the Spice Girls come back for the 20th anniversary?

For me despite all the owners it's still very much the 5th service and has never been able to compete with ITV. And still none of there digital channels are HD and C5 HD remains in pay tv.

I reckon they should offer there better us imports on a sepetate rebranded channel as there home grown shows like Big Brother are poor.

Low rent domestic programming has always worked best for this channel as in first wave C5 and Richard Desmond's takeover. The CSI/NCIS years when it was called Five were not all that distinctive.

Is there anything to celebrate? Does Channel 5 contribute anything of worth to the UK? Does it contribute to the culture of the UK?

People watch Big Brother so yes it seems so. I've yet to see Viacom do anything decent with this channel.

It's the power of 5.

1 2 3 4 5.


The lineup on the first night:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_5_(UK)

It's been mostly rubbish for twenty years. The (very) occasional programme has been okay, the news output was initially quite innovative, and the erotic thrillers they used to schedule on a Friday night were mildly diverting - but apart from that it's been utter crap, to be honest.

I remember just after it launched trying to drag a signal in from god knows where (not officially available around here) and noting we actually got some color in the fuzzy mess when the weather was bad.

Fore some reason I always remember 'Yan can cook'

I just like that nice weathergirl Sian Welby on the news. Other than that, it has been pretty rubbish. Big Brother is just a farce.

I fully remember the channels utter arrogance after they brought and messed up Big Brother by turning into and fake reality show for kiddies whose advertising income they were after.
Rude, vile arrogance was given to anyone wanting answers.

The same happened when they decided to just pull the plug on their FTV HD version of their PSB channel and take it fully behind the pay wall. Plus their messing about bringing Ch5HD to Freeview - they kept stringing everyone along and pulling out so many times that everyone got pissed off and they didn't give two figs about it or how disgusting they came across.

Why would they want to? Surely they'd want people to watch?


I'm struggling to think of anything.....

They have produced the occasional decent programme but on the whole they haven't really contributed anything memorable to broadcasting history. Their ongoing obsession with shows about people on benefits is very odd.

100%, Whittle, Fort Boyard, Red Shoe Diaries, Boxing, Chelsea and Aston Villa in Europe with Jonathan Pearce when he used to scream, Keith Chegwin...

BBC Television is 80 years old this year

They do have some surprisingly good factual series if you look beyond Big Brother and benefits.

I've enjoyed Loch Lomond (nature documentary), Britain's Bloody Crown, and Alex Polizzi’s Italian Islands recently.

Not a big fan, but it did introduce me to Castle, so can't moan too much...

Although with the way the story is now......😭😱😩😩

I hate channel 5

Outside of when they had football and some boxing absolutely nothing on that channel has made me want to watch Oh and before i had the internet some of those friday evening films!! .

I only watch Brits abroad on Channel 5 recently. Of all the terrestrial channels, I watch Channel 5 the least.

C5's channels get more viewers than BBC2, so obviously some people like it.

20 years of low-rent benefits nonsense and (recently) Big Brother. What a history worth celebrating! /s

The only good things about C5 are/were Police Interceptors, Suspects and that they were the UK broadcasters of CSI. And yes, it is a coincidence that all those are police-related.

It started off wrong-footed and slid downhill rapidly.
Today, 20 years on, it's not on free view hd, and shows wall to wall crap- usually cheap American fodder. I never bother to look at its listings as when on the rare occasion I do, it's always showing crap.
A total waste of what could have been an excellent archive channel, for instance.

There are some worthy programmes on C5 but they're very often overlooked due to the stereotypes associated with the channel.

The recent Loch Lomond nature series was a surprise ratings hit and won a lot of praise, even from The Guardian who are usually first to stick the knife into C5.

20 years of Channel 5 and I've undoubtedly watched less than 20 hours of TV on there in that time.

Full of tacky sensationalist crap as per anything that Dirty Desmond owns.

Now that's worth celebrating. Are the Beeb planning a party for the nation?

In terms of share Ant:

BBC One
ITV
BBC Two
Channel 4
Channel 5

I can't remember any show I have watched on Channel 5 in the 20 years.