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There are people who’ll tell you that Japanese folklore fantasy Monkey airing at 6pm on Friday nights in the 1980s was the highpoint of post-school, pre-bedtime TV scheduling in the UK. Let’s not tell them that they’re wrong; let’s just pity them for having mistimed their childhood by a decade.
The 1990s were the real peak of the 6pm weeknight TV slot. As long as there was no Wimbledon, snooker, cricket, athletics or Horse of the Year Show, that’s where anyone too young to go to the pub found joy. While grown-ups were watching the Six O’Clock News, kids in households flush enough to have a second television switched on BBC Two or Channel 4. There, to quote Howard Carter upon breaking into Tutankhamun’s tomb, they found wonderful things.
Before the youth-oriented DEF II brought 1970s reruns to the slot, weekday teatimes on the BBC had all been about old movies. Then it was out with Elvis flicks and Margaret Lockwood in The Wicked Lady, and in with a new brand of US import aimed specifically at young people. Thanks to BBC Two and Channel 4, 1990s teens and and tweens had their own TV landscape – a patchwork of retro and new US comedies, classic sci-fi, YA drama and homegrown formats. Some of it was ropey, some of it was middling, some of it was stone-cold brilliant, but all of it is now able to induce nostalgic shivers in the right age group.
Let’s celebrate with a mostly comprehensive run-down of the top 30-ish shows, ranked (subjectively, obvs) from the rest to the best…
30. My Two Dads/Kate & Allie
These US 80s and 90s Channel 4 sitcom imports can be lumped together because, to the mind of a 10-year-old, they each provoked roughly the same amount of joy, namely: eh, some. My Two Dads had the fun – if judicially irresponsible – premise of two single, straight guys (Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan) living in different places but having shared custody of a teenage girl whose dead mother they’d both once dated. Kate & Allie was another blended family tale about two divorced straight women (Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin) who set up a household together. To a child, all were better than the news, but nothing to write in your lock-and-key diary about.
29. Home Improvement
Home Improvement was about Tim Allen grunting near power tools. See above regarding its attractiveness to a kid hopped up on Knightmare and Rugrats.
28. The Man From U.N.C.L.E./Mission: Impossible/Get Smart/The New Avengers
Yes, it’s sacrilegious to bundle these 1960s spy classics into one, especially on a site called Den of Geek, but what are you going to do? A child’s heart wants what it wants, and in the early 1990s, what mine wanted was American teenagers in denim with telephones in their bedrooms, not globe-trotting, action-packed peril and drama, sometimes in – horror of horrors – black and white.
27. TFI Friday
If the opening guitar riff from Ocean Colour Scene’s “The Riverboat Song” gives you an instant craving for Bernard Matthews’ Mini Chicken Kievs and a Cadbury’s Fuse bar, then you, friend, are a child of the 90s. Chris Evans and Danny Baker’s Friday night magazine show was reliable Channel 4 viewing for the post-school and pre-pub crowd. 2015 saw a one-off revival on Channel 4, and another return is rumoured but not confirmed.
26. Space Precinct
Gerry Anderson’s live-action, prosthetics-heavy sci-fi police procedural Space Precinct may have been short-lived, but its mid-1990s BBC Two run was fun while it lasted. Set on the planet Altor, it was the story of Lt. Brogan (Ted Shackelford), a NYC fish out of water in the crime-filled Demeter City.
25. Happy Days/Laverne & Shirley
Without these Channel 4 repeats of the Fonz’s adventures, how would UK children in the 1990s have even known what cool was, or, years later, been able to get excited every time Henry Winkler showed up in Parks and Rec or Barry?
24. A Different World
This The Cosby Show spinoff followed Huxtable teenager Denise (Lisa Bonet) to college, where she roomed with Marisa Tomei’s Maggie before the focus switched to supporting characters Whitley and Dwayne (Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison) later in the run. A sitcom that dealt with themes of US race relations alongside the usual college romance and study plotlines, it was an education in more ways than one.
23. Battlestar Galactica
Ranking the OG Battlestar below Blossom should technically result in having to hand in my geek badge and gun, and so be it. Little me didn’t love Cylons in the way that bigger me came to after Ron D. Moore’s excellent 2004 – 2009 remake.
22. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
And as for wooden Buck Rogers and “biddie biddie biddie biddie” robot Twiki? Not a personal high point on the repeat TV landscape.
21. The Invaders
Re-run as part of Janet Street Porter’s yoof-TV strand DEF II, this 1960s paranoid sci-fi thriller starring Roy Thinnes as a dishy architect trying to convince the world that aliens from a dying planet were hiding among us (and only identifiable through their lack of pulse and emotions) was creepily atmospheric.
20. The Addams Family
Black-and-white, yes, but also spooky and ooky, with a killer theme song. The popularity of these repeats of the 1960s sitcom was doubtless helped along by the timing of Barry Sonnenfeld’s 1991 feature film and excellent follow-up.
19. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons/UFO
Nostalgia-programming even back then, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s cult Supermarionation shows attracted a new following of young fans thanks to regular weekday morning and weekend broadcasts as part of children’s programming, but Captain Scarlet had the honour of occupying the 6-7pm slot, along with live-action series UFO.
18. Blossom
The hats, the waistcoats, Joey Russo saying “woah”, the “In my opinionation…” theme song, the idea of having a best mate named Six (a number!). For a child in the early 1990s, there was very little not to enjoy about Mayim Bialik-starring sitcom Blossom, Fridays on Channel 4. Yes, it was no Malcolm in the Middle (a 2000s entry, which just ages it out of this list) but a good time all the same.
17. Boy Meets World
Another Channel 4 US import, this one starring Ben Savage, Ryder Strong and Danielle Fishel as teens Cory, Shawn and Topanga. From the intro’s computer graphics to the parting in Shawn’s curtains hair, this one couldn’t feel more 1990s. It’s so well-loved, that in 2014, it sprouted reboot Girl Meets World.
16. Mork & Mindy
Technically a Happy Days spinoff, Mork & Mindy could be bundled up with its parent show and Laverne & Shirley in the entry above, but the presence of Robin Williams makes it stand apart. Thanks to Channel 4, the UK was able to enjoy Williams’ alien double act with Pam Dawber’s human carer/partner Mindy, making a Mork & Mindy day a good day on the teatime schedule.
15. The Ren and Stimpy Show
Memories of this anarchic animated Nickelodeon comedy are now hard to dissociate with serious allegations made in 2018 against its creator, but at the time, its goofy, unique style made this chihuahua/cat double act a favourite.
14. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Saturday teatimes on BBC One were the UK’s first chance to see Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher as Clark Kent and Lois Lane on terrestrial TV, but this Superman series made the perfect repeat in the BBC Two timeslot.
13. GamesMaster
Sir Patrick Moore as a giant floating cyborg head? What more did video game television need? For seven series, GamesMaster pitted young gamers against each other in an effort to win the Golden Joystick trophy, interspersed with game reviews and the antics of original presenter Dominik Diamond. It was revived in 2021, and announced as renewed, but the second series appears to have fallen by the wayside. We go into more detail on what made this Channel 4 show a classic, here.
12. Heartbreak High
The UK was already having a love affair with TV-Australians thanks to Neighbours and Home & Away, and with the mid-90s arrival of these Hartley High teens, our cup runneth over. This show was embedded in Sydney’s Greek and Italian immigrant communities, and went a little grittier than the UK’s other teatime Aussie imports. Here’s fun: say the name “Drazic” to a British woman in her early 40s and see if she gets a dreamy look in her eyes and starts wondering if it’s too late to get that eyebrow piercing.
11. The Wonder Years
A classic. Celebrated as much for its music (not all of which, thanks to rights issues, remained intact throughout its history) as for its drama and comedy, this terrific coming-of-age show followed Fred Savage’s 1960s teenager Kevin Arnold, his on-again-off-again gf Winnie Cooper, and his best pal Paul, who, despite the urban myth, thankfully wasn’t played by a young Marilyn Manson.
10. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Wednesdays at 6pm on BBC Two were all about The Next Generation, but Thursdays (before the days of Buffy and later, Roswell High, a 2000s show that just squeaks out of eligibility for this 1990s-based list) were for DS9. Captain Sisko, Dax, Odo, Quark and the DS9 crew, for life. Remember these?
9. Roseanne
Early Roseanne was a firecracker of a comedy. The story of a blue-collar family led by charismatic leads Roseanne Barr and John Goodman, it had a top cast, great jokes and something to say, and these Channel 4 early evening repeats cemented its reputation in the UK – a reputation now tainted by the later years of its creator Roseanne Barr, but undeniably great at the time.
8. Robot Wars
I mean, come on, it’s Robot Wars. The 2016 revival was good fun and did no harm at all to the legacy, but the OG 1990s series presented by Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester were what Fridays were all about. Teams of brainbox engineers welding axe-mechanisms and flame-throwers onto mobile VCRs and then siccing them on each other, for our entertainment? It was a hallowed time.
7. My So-Called Life
Not just another great TV drama from the makers of Thirtysomething, but a cult show so beloved that it spawned an entire demographics subset (Generation Catalano: if you know, you know), My So-Called Life was seminal. Claire Danes starred as high schooler Angela Chase, a girl who moved friendship groups and started hanging out with off-the-rails Rayanne (A.J. Langer) and her gay bestie Ricky (Wilson Cruz) and fell for dreamy, dyslexic Jordan Catalano (a pre-Joker Jared Leto). It was basically perfect, and so of course it was cancelled after its first season, but thanks to Channel 4’s 6pm and summer holiday airings, at least the UK got it while it lasted.
6. Eerie, Indiana
Another perfect US import. Everybody remembers the Tupperware episode (in which a 1960s Stepford-style mom sealed her baby boys up every night in plastic containers to keep them fresh), but that was just one of the freaky stories in this Twilight Zone-ish horror anthology for kids.
5. Star Trek: The Next Generation
On Wednesday September 26, 1990, BBC Two gave us the precious gift of terrestrial TNG. Before then, you either had to have Sky or have a good mate and a ready supply of blank VHS tapes to watch Captain Picard and co., but from that wondrous day onwards, it was Worf, Geordi and Data for everybody, every Wednesday at 6pm.
4. Quantum Leap
After debuting on BBC Two on Tuesdays at 9pm, these 6pm repeats of Dr Sam Beckett’s experimental time-leaping sci-fi became a fixture from 1994 onwards (as did later, its Sunday hangover slot). The story of Sam leaping from body to body and decade to decade in an attempt to fix the past while always hoping that his next leap would take him home? Unbeatable TV. You don’t need telling why this deserves a top-five spot; it’s a modern classic that spawned an actually decent revival.
3. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Clear your throat on any commuter train in the UK and intone the words “Now this is a story/All about how/My life got…” and see how many people join in. Not out loud, obviously – out loud, you’ll be ignored, tutted at and escorted off at the next station – but inwardly everyone in an age bracket ranging from 35 to 50 will be singing the theme tune to Will Smith-starring fish-out-of-water comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, that day, and for the rest of our lives.
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
A genuine revelation. Clever, funny and filled with action and pop culture references, this TV reboot of the 1992 horror-comedy remains one of the greatest shows ever to air. Top writing, a top cast led by Sarah Michelle Gellar with able support from Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter (who deserved far better treatment from the show’s creator and networks), David Boreanaz, James Marsters and Tony Head, plus a mythology for the ages, Buffy is practically unbeatable.
1. The Simpsons
Obviously, The Simpsons has the top position. It’s the king of this timeslot in the UK. After briefly starting out on BBC One on Saturday teatimes (followed by a Sunday lunchtime repeat), it got comfy post-1997 in the Monday and Friday 6pm slot for the rest of the decade and beyond, before moving over to Channel 4. A double-bill of Matt Groening’s masterpiece to mark the end of the school week? Unimprovable.
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