UK Transmission Break in 2000/2001

[Martin2013]

Something I'm rather curious about, I'm aware that ITV had an 'exclusivity clause' stating that no other broadcaster could show the series for 12 months after they stopped, hence the series going off air in the UK after 8th June 2000 but Channel 5 didn't begin broadcasting until 14th July 2001.

Has it ever been explained why Five had to wait until July 2001 rather than June 2001 to start showing the series?  Did ITV take it off earlier than planned (so June rather than July) or did they have the rights to more episodes after Episode 2840 but choose not to show them?

[Dan F]

Yes, I believe ITV cut the episodes off early. The batch that they had the rights to went up to Episode 2875, which was the ep that Peta and Edward left.

So C5 would have had to negotiate a separate deal for those six weeks of episodes if they wanted to ensure UK viewers didn't miss out. A deliberate move from ITV? More than likely.

Though even if ITV had aired it Mon-Fri from May onwards, then 2875 would have aired on Thursday 20th July 2000, so I guess the exclusivity contract came down to a fixed date in July (as was cited in reports at the time) rather than the eventual TX date of that final ep.

[Martin2013]

Can I just apologise sincerely for my delayed reply and can I also say thanks ever so much for providing me with this interesting information.

I never knew that ITV stopped the show holding the rights to additional episodes.  

[James Martin]

I never knew this!  So ITV could well have ended up with Sally's non wedding and the start of the Sutherland era.

ITV missed out on some epic s**thousery there though, as they could have sold the Nashes and alumni leaving SBH as The Final Episode, ending their transmissions there, and a lot of people would have bought it.

I also wonder if there was a feeling in ITV at the time that Seven would do similar to what they've done for Channel 5 at Christmas more recently and deliberately plot a major cliffhanger for ITV's final episode and by coming off early, they could ruin that party.

It's certainly true that ITV were furious at losing the show - it took years for them to get their daytime lineup back on track and the fact the Crossroads reboot and Night & Day both flopped hard must have really rubbed salt in the wound.

[Martin2013]

Guess we'll never know for absolute certain the full extent of what went on.

I only found out that ITV had stopped showing H&A the day after they aired their last episode.  I remember consulting the TV guide and the entry for Thursday 8th June 2000 simply said "ITV's Final Episode" which made me think the show had ended.   Remember having a friend round that day who told me she'd watched H&A the previous evening and 'the Policeman's wife had a baby' which got me thinking it had been a final episode with a 'happy ending'.  About a week later I read in 'Inside Soap' about the circumstances behind H&A going off air.

I'm pretty sure the final episode aired by ITV didn't involve anyone having a baby.  But as I haven't ever seen it I'm not sure.
 

Edited 53 minutes ago by Martin2013