Coming back from the pub and having missed eurotrash but then finding david duchovny voicing over soft core porn drama the red shoe diaries on 5 is a fond memory
Red shoe diaries .. ahh yes now you’re taking me back. As I remember it the late night stuff on Five was good. I think it’s where I discovered the sexy sci-fi LEXX.
Ashamed to say her face is burned into my mind as a teenager. I think I taped Animal Instincts 3 (or something like that) from C5 and that VHS got worn out!
I have memories of watching the Red Shoe Diaries on Live TV before it got onto Channel 5. That was such a great show for a young and growing boy to discover.
Didint this films have the triangle in the corner to warn you it was risqué?? I got my first vhs recording tv in my bedroom as a young teen when Chanel 5 was launched
That was [channel 4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_triangle_(Channel_4)) - and a very clever way to get far higher ratings for mostly foreign films that would never have been shown otherwise
I watched Betty Blue on Channel 4 when I was in High School. For very obvious reasons I was very happy to find my choice of wearing headphones (as I did most nights otherwise I'd get shouted at for having my TV on late at night) was very, very prescient. For some reason I began to really like French cinema after that, not entirely sure why though. Hmm...
I seem to remember the Spice Girls did a song to tie in to it as well - something with them counting to 5, and then shouting ‘the power of 5’
Edit: [it was called ‘The Power of Five’](https://youtu.be/sD1Uk9-CNVM?si=CBfWwVGADPhkdoGW)
UK premiere of Independence Day was their first movie. I'd had it on video for ages by then, but it was still pretty cool.
As soon as my mum found out about Red Shoe Diaries Channel 5 was banned lol.
Yeah a movie every night. Seemed amazing. For about 2 weeks. Then it was all just stuff you'd seen before or would never want to see.
And yes, the Friday night naughty movie. Always fun when you were in a pub and they forgot to change the channel before they started!
I do! What was that dreadful soap? Was it Sunset Beach?
I remember the movie every night. From what I remember the first few were ok and they went downhill from there!
I was in the same class as one of the cast from that. He disappeared mysteriously until we saw him on TV and our teacher could finally tell us where he’d gone.
Kinda fancied him.
Doctors was always BBC1.
Home and Away started on ITV and Neighbours started on BBC1. But around 2001 the BBC and ITV lost interest in them and Channel 5 moved in and swept them up.
I remember trying to get into it but I was also committed to Neighbours, Home and Away and Hollyoaks at the time. Sunset Beach had to be the one to go! It was definitely the weakest 😂
You missed out on evil twins, impregnation via turkey baster, murder, natural disasters, cursed gems and a haunted mansion. All filmed on a set that would wobble if anyone closed a door too hard.
I remember when Breakfast TV was a massive deal. TVAM . https://www.tv-am.org.uk/
And that weird hyper-80s building they had on camden lock. https://www.dezeen.com/2015/08/26/postmodern-architecture-tv-am-television-studios-camden-london-terry-farrell/
I also remember the warning that it would be the death of civilisation as we know it. Kids would be late to school, and people wouldn't go to work. Breakfast would be consumed by silent, square eyed families staring at the flickering box jn the corner of the room; or worse still we'd all need to get a TV in the kitchen.
In the end, we got Lorraine; so not all bad.
I thought that was Channel 5, too, but no it was live TV, as a teen I must have been flicking back and forth between that and red shoes diries like a mad man.
Was gonna say, I don't even remember Channel 5 launching, I think I'd left the UK by then, but Channel 4 was a big deal, and honestly it did fill that important "alternative" niche for a long time, no idea if it's still like that.
Remember it? I lived it. I was working in the Preston call centre where people would ring up to shout and complain that their telly was fucked because of the Channel 5 signal and we had to send out some signal blocker thing to plug into the ariel at the back of their telly.
Fun times.
Definitely! I tuned into it on the day it started broadcasting. Note this wasn't the first day of programmes as they started a test transmission some time before which was a rolling highlights repeat of what was coming - the only bit I remember being showing clips of Zena Warrior Princess.
This. There was a while campaign that made it sound like you had to either have special equipment or get your TV looked at by an engineer.
Was a huge con. I worked in an electrical shop at the time and my boss even thought it was necessary. I had an antiquated tv at the time, didn't even have a remote. I tuned it in myself, just as I would have done with any channel, was all set. Told my boss I could get it OK (I originally wondered as I thought I was on a relay mast, which wouldn't get Channel 5, hence me trying to tune it in). He thought my TV wouldn't get the channel due to it being old and you can't just tune it in as you normally do.
I remember that there was a comedian / talk show every night - The Jack Doherty Show. Started off quite funny but after the first week or two was clearly struggling for material.
I remember they had a film on every night at 9pm and if I remember right, the very first film was about a girl who was murdered and put in a wheelie bin
I was only seven years old when Channel 5 launched so I don't remember much of the actual launch apart from the Spice Girls being a part of it.
When it comes to the early days of the channel, I also remember Whittle, which I really liked.
I also remember their attempt to be part of the soap scene with Family Affairs along with it being the channel that showed a lot of porn and it being an extremely difficult channel to get a clear picture for.
Yes. My dad had to adjust the aerial and I remember my mother's panicking that he was going to fall off the ladder and die. The terrible reception was a conversation piece for most adults for ages.
Yep. Easter Sunday, I'd been playing in the garden all day while my dad fiddled with the telly trying to get the right signal. We all came in to see if it worked, telly still in the middle of the room, and got treated to the Spice Girls. My dad then phoned around all his brothers to see if they got it, and to have a little brag.
It was all tits from there really.
I remember it, I would have been 8 or 9 in 1997.
Gaining another channel on terrestrial TV was a huge deal back then.
The launch is the most 90s thing ever - https://youtu.be/RKNCEKDL6t0
I do. We actually got a decent reception of Channel 5 so I never really experienced the issues many others had.
My favourite C5 show from the early days was 100%. Such a simple idea for a gameshow - three contestants answering 100 questions, score tallied as a percentage, no host on screen but just an unseen voice, no celebrities or gimmicks.
That and discovering Major League Soccer at 3am.
Don't talk to me about channel 5. All the TVs had to be returned so the channel didn't clash with the video recorder. I tuned a lot of them personally!
I'm sure someone came round to retune the telly and video? So we could get Channel 5 ok. It was our student house though so we were probably drunk. I do remember the Spice Girls ident and some quiz show called "Whittle" ? "Ready to whittle? Whittle awaaay!" and the awesome Fort Boyard - was that C5 too?
Yep, I remember the spice girls and watching a lot of crap films simply because they showed a film every night
I don't think I've watched any of the trash on channel 5 in the 27 years since
To be fair it's come a long way and broadcast a wide variety of content these days. Yes, there's the shoddy air fryer documentaries and such like, but they air quality stuff like Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild and they're really trying to invest in some original British dramas which seem to be well received.
I remember the jack doherty show every night. A uk version of USA late night chat shows. It was actually quite good. It had potential but when they realised they couldn’t afford high profile guests they pulled the plug.
I live in kent and could only get a crap fuzzy picture and fucked up sound at best. Until digiboxes became a thing but by that time channel 5 was mostly irrelevant.
I remember Channel 5 launching and then in Manchester we got [Channel M](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_M) a few years later. So that was 6 channels I could watch in my bedroom on an old B&W TV. Only had 4 preset buttons though so I had to manually tune each time.
Yeah can remember the countdown and then the crappy talk show with a Scottish host and that shit soap they had Family Affairs or something. Nice way to launch your new channel.
I remember tuning it in on my bedroom TV and only getting a crappy signal for it. Which was normal for some reason, I think they had less transmitters or something?
I remember Jack Docherty (on his show) using a bit of sandpaper to try and remove the channel 5 branding from the corner of the screen (it was a new thing at the time).
I do remember it, best part I remember as a teenage boy was all the porn and this great sketch show I think was called We know where you live. I just remember the daleks that would go around shouting, "exsperminate! White wee wee, white wee wee!"
Aaah Channel 5. The best place to sneak downstairs and watch "Erotic Thrillers" with the volume low on a friday night.
Pre internet times were hard, yo.
I remember the advertising upto the launch.
Living in one of the most deprived towns in the country, it was at least, 2 or 3 years I think until we got it. All the wealthier towns locally got it relatively quickly. Was a glorious day when we got 5 channels instead of 4 (t’was simpler times).
I remember someone coming to the house to retune the freeview box for channel 5. He was a weird young man with wild hair who had quite aggressive views on the piece of rock from Mars that supposedly had fossils in it.
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Coming back from the pub and having missed eurotrash but then finding david duchovny voicing over soft core porn drama the red shoe diaries on 5 is a fond memory
Red shoe diaries .. ahh yes now you’re taking me back. As I remember it the late night stuff on Five was good. I think it’s where I discovered the sexy sci-fi LEXX.
Shannon tweed movies, probably seen her starkers more times than gene simmons
Ashamed to say her face is burned into my mind as a teenager. I think I taped Animal Instincts 3 (or something like that) from C5 and that VHS got worn out!
How many times have you seen Gene Simmons naked?
I have memories of watching the Red Shoe Diaries on Live TV before it got onto Channel 5. That was such a great show for a young and growing boy to discover.
I remember watching it and then the first advert in the first break was for chanel no 5, not hard to remember that one.
We used to call them non erotic, non dramatic, erotic dramas. Now it seems like a long winded way of saying, shite.
And they swiftly went downhill when they stopped showing the softcore porn. Naked Keith Chegwin I could have done without though.
Didint this films have the triangle in the corner to warn you it was risqué?? I got my first vhs recording tv in my bedroom as a young teen when Chanel 5 was launched
That was [channel 4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_triangle_(Channel_4)) - and a very clever way to get far higher ratings for mostly foreign films that would never have been shown otherwise
Hmmmm, I'd of only been 3 then
I watched Betty Blue on Channel 4 when I was in High School. For very obvious reasons I was very happy to find my choice of wearing headphones (as I did most nights otherwise I'd get shouted at for having my TV on late at night) was very, very prescient. For some reason I began to really like French cinema after that, not entirely sure why though. Hmm...
Oh yes, the little warning triangle was a sure sign that you should stay tuned in case you missed a glimpse of nipple.
I seem to remember the Spice Girls did a song to tie in to it as well - something with them counting to 5, and then shouting ‘the power of 5’ Edit: [it was called ‘The Power of Five’](https://youtu.be/sD1Uk9-CNVM?si=CBfWwVGADPhkdoGW)
They sang 5-4-3-2-1 by Manfred Mann didn't they? But backwards as 1-2-3-4-5 or have I totally made that up? It was a long time ago
They had some good movies iirc. It was where I first saw (and taped) Lindsay Anderson's *O Lucky Man!*
I love that film. Discovered it one night when I worked late shifts. Pig boy is nightmare fuel.
🎵welcome to a brand new station… ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE
UK premiere of Independence Day was their first movie. I'd had it on video for ages by then, but it was still pretty cool. As soon as my mum found out about Red Shoe Diaries Channel 5 was banned lol.
Yeah a movie every night. Seemed amazing. For about 2 weeks. Then it was all just stuff you'd seen before or would never want to see. And yes, the Friday night naughty movie. Always fun when you were in a pub and they forgot to change the channel before they started!
I do! What was that dreadful soap? Was it Sunset Beach? I remember the movie every night. From what I remember the first few were ok and they went downhill from there!
Family Affairs. Don’t ask me how I remember that.
Idris Elba was in that, wasn’t he?
Oh yes. Was that the one that was kind of trying to be Brookside?
I was in the same class as one of the cast from that. He disappeared mysteriously until we saw him on TV and our teacher could finally tell us where he’d gone. Kinda fancied him.
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Doctors was always BBC1. Home and Away started on ITV and Neighbours started on BBC1. But around 2001 the BBC and ITV lost interest in them and Channel 5 moved in and swept them up.
How did you remember that?
I know a lot of useless and pointless information. For instance, the bassist of The Feeling is married to Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Hans Zimmer was in Buggles.
Didn't he also write the theme tune for Going For Gold?
Sunset beach was a god damned masterpiece! It knew what it was and leaned into it, hard.
I remember trying to get into it but I was also committed to Neighbours, Home and Away and Hollyoaks at the time. Sunset Beach had to be the one to go! It was definitely the weakest 😂
You missed out on evil twins, impregnation via turkey baster, murder, natural disasters, cursed gems and a haunted mansion. All filmed on a set that would wobble if anyone closed a door too hard.
Man, I remember the evil train. Not the haunted mansion though.
Cursed gems, core memory from my childhood!
Proper student telly. The Student Union even had a Sunset Beach party night and we got a load of branded freebies
Aren't you thinking of Eldorado? Seem to remember that being launched with ch5
Eldorado was BBC wasn't it? So bad it was almost good
Eldorado was definitely BBC but I do have vague memories of C5 trying to bring it back?!
This was my first thought when I read this post, it was soooo bad but I loved it!
I remember the launch of Channel 4.
Ditto!
I remember when Breakfast TV was a massive deal. TVAM . https://www.tv-am.org.uk/ And that weird hyper-80s building they had on camden lock. https://www.dezeen.com/2015/08/26/postmodern-architecture-tv-am-television-studios-camden-london-terry-farrell/
It was a masterpiece that building. Mostly ripped down now but the egg cups still exist!
I also remember the warning that it would be the death of civilisation as we know it. Kids would be late to school, and people wouldn't go to work. Breakfast would be consumed by silent, square eyed families staring at the flickering box jn the corner of the room; or worse still we'd all need to get a TV in the kitchen. In the end, we got Lorraine; so not all bad.
Do you remember sitting up to 1am to watch the first showing of the 'Thriller' video?
Red triangle, amirite?
It'll always have a special place in the hearts of those of us who were teenage boys at that time. Friday night porno, we were there 🫡
Sat through some dogshit films just on the off chance of some boobs
🤣🤣
Good times
Topless Darts too? Or did I dream that.
Wasn't that Live!TV?
I don’t even remember that 🤷🏻♂️
And Cheggers naked.
For the love of god…not this close to bedtime. Don’t have nightmares, do sleep well.
Naked Jungle.
*Andy Fordham topless...MmMm*
Glad I’m not alone then 🤣
I thought that was Channel 5, too, but no it was live TV, as a teen I must have been flicking back and forth between that and red shoes diries like a mad man.
Red Shoe Diaries was also on Live TV, if I recall correctly.
Yeah I went to the boss of Channel 5's wedding. The service was okay, but the reception was terrible.
I’m old enough to remember that joke about Radio Luxembourg!
Yup, and channel 4. And BBC closing down at night with the national anthem...
Was gonna say, I don't even remember Channel 5 launching, I think I'd left the UK by then, but Channel 4 was a big deal, and honestly it did fill that important "alternative" niche for a long time, no idea if it's still like that.
Ah yes, I remember the girl playing noughts and crosses with the creepy doll late at night. Nightmare fuel. Thanks for that beeb.
Back when the BBC motto used to mean something. “Nation shall speak peace unto nation” as opposed to “Nation shall speak clickbait unto nation”
The game show Whittle. It was only about 8 or 9 when it was launched so teatime TV was my prime time
With Tim Vine
Pretty sure there was a Chanel No 5 advert right near the start. Probably the classiest thing they've ever done.
Remember it? I lived it. I was working in the Preston call centre where people would ring up to shout and complain that their telly was fucked because of the Channel 5 signal and we had to send out some signal blocker thing to plug into the ariel at the back of their telly. Fun times.
Definitely! I tuned into it on the day it started broadcasting. Note this wasn't the first day of programmes as they started a test transmission some time before which was a rolling highlights repeat of what was coming - the only bit I remember being showing clips of Zena Warrior Princess.
I remember that test transmission too.
The opening presenters were Tim Vine and Julia Bradbury.
Has the time come to discuss Eldorado?
No. That time will never come.
I had to look this up on wikipedia. Apparently I was born on the day it launched lmao
I was born on the day Channel 4 launched.
Sadly yes I do remember the spice Girls song and all
I remember unscrupulous people going round and selling people a box to receive it when all they needed to do was re tune!
This. There was a while campaign that made it sound like you had to either have special equipment or get your TV looked at by an engineer. Was a huge con. I worked in an electrical shop at the time and my boss even thought it was necessary. I had an antiquated tv at the time, didn't even have a remote. I tuned it in myself, just as I would have done with any channel, was all set. Told my boss I could get it OK (I originally wondered as I thought I was on a relay mast, which wouldn't get Channel 5, hence me trying to tune it in). He thought my TV wouldn't get the channel due to it being old and you can't just tune it in as you normally do.
Remember wondering how we would ever decide what to watch with 5 channels to choose from!
Lucky you - couldn't get it in my area for a year or two.
Lucky you
Still feels weird thinking how we went from that, to a couple of decades later a huge selection of broadcasting and streaming options.
Still find it difficult to find anything to watch with so many channels!
Too much choice is a real issue.
I remember that there was a comedian / talk show every night - The Jack Doherty Show. Started off quite funny but after the first week or two was clearly struggling for material.
I do indeed. I enjoyed it immensely as it brought back Prisoner: Cell Block H.
Channel 4 yes very vividly. Channel 5 not at all.
I remember they had a film on every night at 9pm and if I remember right, the very first film was about a girl who was murdered and put in a wheelie bin
Michael Sam’s and the kidnapping of Stephanie Slater. Sylvester McCoy played Michael Sams
I swear my mum said you had to pay for it so we didn’t have it lol
I was only seven years old when Channel 5 launched so I don't remember much of the actual launch apart from the Spice Girls being a part of it. When it comes to the early days of the channel, I also remember Whittle, which I really liked. I also remember their attempt to be part of the soap scene with Family Affairs along with it being the channel that showed a lot of porn and it being an extremely difficult channel to get a clear picture for.
Yep. We were on a family holiday in the arse end of Wales that week. Channel 5 launched, we had no TV signal.
Tim Vine!
Whittle!
Yes. My dad had to adjust the aerial and I remember my mother's panicking that he was going to fall off the ladder and die. The terrible reception was a conversation piece for most adults for ages.
Yep. Easter Sunday, I'd been playing in the garden all day while my dad fiddled with the telly trying to get the right signal. We all came in to see if it worked, telly still in the middle of the room, and got treated to the Spice Girls. My dad then phoned around all his brothers to see if they got it, and to have a little brag. It was all tits from there really.
I remember it, I would have been 8 or 9 in 1997. Gaining another channel on terrestrial TV was a huge deal back then. The launch is the most 90s thing ever - https://youtu.be/RKNCEKDL6t0
Yup and it was a really bad signal. All other channels were perfect except 5. I never watched 5 until I got some form of digi box.
I do. We actually got a decent reception of Channel 5 so I never really experienced the issues many others had. My favourite C5 show from the early days was 100%. Such a simple idea for a gameshow - three contestants answering 100 questions, score tallied as a percentage, no host on screen but just an unseen voice, no celebrities or gimmicks. That and discovering Major League Soccer at 3am.
Shut up, I’m not old, you are old, I’m not listening, la la la
Until the digital switchover happened. You could never receive C5 in my part of the world. Unless you had sky.
Don't talk to me about channel 5. All the TVs had to be returned so the channel didn't clash with the video recorder. I tuned a lot of them personally!
Not in Northern Ireland! We didn’t get the pleasure
Don't remember the launch but remember watching red hot diaries as a kid 😈
Late night Friday porn. What an age we lived in.
Yes. They got The Spice Girls to do the initial idents.
Channel 5 went down hill after the first 6 months
Alternatively, channel 5 was always shit but the novelty wore off after 6 months
I'm sure someone came round to retune the telly and video? So we could get Channel 5 ok. It was our student house though so we were probably drunk. I do remember the Spice Girls ident and some quiz show called "Whittle" ? "Ready to whittle? Whittle awaaay!" and the awesome Fort Boyard - was that C5 too?
Yep, I remember the spice girls and watching a lot of crap films simply because they showed a film every night I don't think I've watched any of the trash on channel 5 in the 27 years since
To be fair it's come a long way and broadcast a wide variety of content these days. Yes, there's the shoddy air fryer documentaries and such like, but they air quality stuff like Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild and they're really trying to invest in some original British dramas which seem to be well received.
I remember the hype, the trailers they ran for a few weeks and the launch.
Yep, there was like a whole campaign on how to tune your tv to get the channel
Yep. Spice Girls
I remember the jack doherty show every night. A uk version of USA late night chat shows. It was actually quite good. It had potential but when they realised they couldn’t afford high profile guests they pulled the plug.
Xena Warrior Princess, Hercules... I want to say Teletubbies but it may be a false memory.
Didn't they do topless darts?
1 2 3 4 5. Yes. I think it was the last time I watched 5 too. I remember fuzzy service and crap programming.
First thing that came to mind were the spice girls. Couldn't tell you anything else but I remember them being involved with the launch.
I live in kent and could only get a crap fuzzy picture and fucked up sound at best. Until digiboxes became a thing but by that time channel 5 was mostly irrelevant.
Hell yeah!
Vaguely. I was on holiday in wales at the time and considered it a big event. Can’t remember anything about it otherwise.
Night Fever with Suggs was great.
Yeah, loved it too. Kirsty reading the news, Sammo in Martial Law, soft core porn on an evening. Kids have no idea what they missed out on.
Yes and my French teacher at 6th form taught himself Norwegian so he could write to the weather girl. He's one of a kind.
I remember the launch of channel 4!
I remember Channel 5 launching and then in Manchester we got [Channel M](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_M) a few years later. So that was 6 channels I could watch in my bedroom on an old B&W TV. Only had 4 preset buttons though so I had to manually tune each time.
I remember a man coming round pre launch to tune the tvs so you could get it.
All I remember is that my region never got access to it until Freeview. So for years all Channel 5 was to me was distorted lines and mumbled audio.
Apparently, Adam Faith's last words were, "Channel 5, it's shit, isn't it."
Yeah can remember the countdown and then the crappy talk show with a Scottish host and that shit soap they had Family Affairs or something. Nice way to launch your new channel.
I remember tuning it in on my bedroom TV and only getting a crappy signal for it. Which was normal for some reason, I think they had less transmitters or something?
I definitely remembered the launch, and I remember it just being a bit shit, and has never really gotten any better.
No, according to Wikipedia I was 4 at the time. It's always been a bit shit in my experience. It's been years since I watched anything on channel 5.
I wear corduroy pants
I remember Jack Docherty (on his show) using a bit of sandpaper to try and remove the channel 5 branding from the corner of the screen (it was a new thing at the time).
The retuners of video recorders.
I do remember it, best part I remember as a teenage boy was all the porn and this great sketch show I think was called We know where you live. I just remember the daleks that would go around shouting, "exsperminate! White wee wee, white wee wee!"
Aaah Channel 5. The best place to sneak downstairs and watch "Erotic Thrillers" with the volume low on a friday night. Pre internet times were hard, yo.
My family were obsessed with Suggs-fronted evening quiz show Saturday Night Fever. I feel like we were watching it when it went midnight on Y2K.
of course I do, I was there for the launch with the spice girls
I remember a man came round to ‘instal’ channel 5. Not sure what he did. It never really worked.
Gutted that the rumours that Independence Day was going to be the first film they showed turned out to be lies! It took two years.
Yes and it was terrible.
I could never tune my TV into channel 5 properly it was always a lil fuzzy.
Yep. The awful Spice Girls singing about girl power or some such nonsense whilst flashing their tits.
I remember getting home from school and watching the countdown to channel 4 starting, then programs started... And it was countdown.
I retuned about 400 tellys. Good money at the time.
I remember the lunch of channel 4 and 5.
I remember the launch of channel four.
I used to live in one the areas where the signal didn’t fully transmit, cue much tuning to get a fuzzy at best look at red shoe diaries
Yes the spice girls
I don't remember the day of the launch, but I do remember staring at the test card that appeared in the run up to it.
I remember the advertising upto the launch. Living in one of the most deprived towns in the country, it was at least, 2 or 3 years I think until we got it. All the wealthier towns locally got it relatively quickly. Was a glorious day when we got 5 channels instead of 4 (t’was simpler times).
I remember someone coming to the house to retune the freeview box for channel 5. He was a weird young man with wild hair who had quite aggressive views on the piece of rock from Mars that supposedly had fossils in it.
Free view was about 2003+, even On Digital didn't launch until.well after 5 did.