The 8:15 from Manchester

The 8:15 from Manchester is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 on Saturday mornings from 21 April 1990 to 14 September 1991. The show took its name from the train departing from Manchester Piccadilly station for London Euston,^[2] which was, and still is at 08:15. It was presented by Ross King and Charlotte Hindle. BBC Radio 1 and subsequently BBC North West weather presenter Dianne Oxberry joined for the second series.

The 8:15 from Manchester
Genre	Children's
Presented by	Ross King Charlotte Hindle Dianne Oxberry (1991)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	43
Production
Production location	New Broadcasting House[1]
Running time	160 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	21 April 1990 (1990-04-21) – 14 September 1991 (1991-09-14)

The format was very similar to Going Live!, with imported cartoons (Rude Dog and the Dweebs, The Jetsons and Defenders of the Earth) punctuating items, such as games, music performances and interviews. A regular segment in the first series was "It's Tough At The Top", a Snakes & Ladders game where two teams of two contestants had to win the game without landing on a "snake" and sliding down into a pool of Gunge. This was replaced in the second series with The Wetter The Better, a game show based in a swimming pool (filmed in Blackpool) and hosted by Ross King with the scores being kept by Sonia. A weekly drama was shown, in which the short episode ended in a dilemma of some sort (e.g. should x tell her sister that y has been cheating on her). Two endings had been filmed and viewers telephoned to vote which ending would be shown.

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	21 April 1990[3]	15 September 1990[4]	22
2	20 April 1991[5]	14 September 1991[6]	21

References

1. "Old BBC Regional Production Studios". TV Studio History. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
2. Scheerhout, John. "The 8:15 From Manchester: The 90s kids' TV show that helped launched the careers of Dianne Oxberry and Ross King". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N Media. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
3. "The 8:15 from Manchester - BBC One London - 21 April 1990". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
4. "The 8:15 from Manchester - BBC One London - 15 September 1990". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
5. "The 8:15 from Manchester - BBC One London - 20 April 1991". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
6. "The 8:15 from Manchester - BBC One London - 14 September 1991". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 3 January 2021.

External links

• BBC portal
• 1990s portal

• The 8:15 from Manchester at IMDb
• Summer Replacements at Saturday Mornings
• The 8:15 from Manchester on Paul Morris' SatKids