This Easter we’re welcoming some new friends to the Bedtime Hour, alongside some old favourites.
Here at CBeebies, we know that bedtime is a really important time for you and your little ones. We aim to create a calm and consistent television schedule at bedtime that will be a helpful part of this routine, so that you can set key points around the programmes for your child to get ready for bed, or use the Bedtime Hour as wind-down time before they go to sleep.
We know that children (and parents and carers!) form very strong attachments to particular programmes between 6pm and 7pm, so it’s important to try and keep programming consistent. Because we understand this, we don’t change the line-up in Bedtime Hour all that often.
So why do we change it at all? The truth is that not all children like the same programmes. We have a very broad audience that we have to appeal to, from newborn babies right up to 6 year olds who may have been at school for two years.
With this in mind, every so often we alter the programme line-up so that as much of our audience as possible get the opportunity to see their Bedtime favourites in the hour from 6-7pm.
This time around, Charlie and Lola return to the Bedtime Hour, alongside shorter episodes of Waybuloo, from Sunday to Thursday. Melody and Old Jack’s Boat will join the Bedtime Hour for the first time on Fridays and Saturdays, while In The Night Garden and the Bedtime Story will remain at the end of every day.
Abney and Teal aren’t going very far – they will lead us into the Bedtime Hour on weekdays, and you can always catch up on programmes you’ve missed on the CBeebies iPlayer.
As mentioned above, we really don’t make these changes lightly. We’re very aware of the role that the Bedtime Hour plays in getting children ready for bed, which is why we always try to implement any changes where they will be least disruptive.
This year, we feel that the Easter weekend is the best time to make this change. It falls shortly after the clocks go forward at the end of March, and is a time when children’s routines can be a little less structured due to the long holiday weekend, Easter travel and visitors.
The new Bedtime Hour will begin on Good Friday (3rd April).
We always try to alert grown-ups to the changes a number of weeks beforehand so that you can start to prepare your child, and make the transition as smooth as possible (this is also your cue to record any old favourites that you think you might need!).
We hope this outlines our carefully thought-out reasons for the upcoming change, and that your little ones will enjoy the new Bedtime Hour line-up!
