ITV's 9.25 shows
Good morning from Central!
For a little bit more than a decade, the 9.25am slot on Britain's main commercial network was pretty much guaranteed to be filled with one glorified parlour game or another. Starting on 7 September 1987, when ITV managed to palm off its schools' programmes onto Channel 4, the slot was the natural home for cheap 'n' cheerful tat until 20 March 1998, when a no less cheap, and even more tacky, alternative was found in the form of US-style "discussion" shows fronted by Vanessa Feltz (March to September 1998), Trisha Goddard (September 1998 to April 2005), The People's Court (April to June 2005), Jerry Springer (June to July 2005) and Jeremy Kyle (July 2005 to May 2019). Repeats of Dickinson's Real Deal (4 weeks, from 13 May) and Tenable (3 weeks, from 10 June) filled the slot for a few weeks after an unfortunate death that ended Jeremy Kyle, before Judge Rinder took over the slot until December 2019. In January 2020, the 9.25 slot disappeared as a result of Good Morning Britain being extended to 3 hours up until 9.00, Lorraine being moved from 8.30 to 9.00 and This Morning beginning half an hour earlier at 10.00, with Loose Women retaining its slot.
There now follows a list of the shows which filled this nearly-hallowed slot. Dates are of course series start dates. Weeks do not necessarily add up to 52 as the game show slot would usually be replaced with cartoons during the school summer holidays and would also take two or three weeks' break over Christmas and New Year.
| 1987 | |
| 7 Sep | Chain Letters (5 weeks) |
| 12 Oct | Runway (10 weeks) |
| 1988 | |
| 4 Jan | Give Us a Clue (11 weeks) |
| 21 Mar | Lucky Ladders (5 weeks) |
| 25 Apr | Crosswits (8 weeks) |
| 20 June | Password (6 weeks) |
| 1 Aug | Whose Baby? (2 weeks) |
| 15 Aug | What's My Line? (3 weeks) |
| 5 Sep | Runway (8 weeks) |
| 31 Oct | Lucky Ladders (7 weeks) |
| 1989 | |
| 9 Jan | The Pyramid Game (9 weeks) |
| 13 Mar | Keynotes (9 weeks) |
| 15 May | Crosswits (9 weeks) |
| 4 Sep | Runway (7 weeks) |
| 23 Oct | Keynotes (7 weeks) |
| 11 Dec | Born Lucky (2 weeks) |
| 1990 | |
| 8 Jan | Lucky Ladders (6 weeks) |
| 19 Feb | The Pyramid Game (7 weeks) |
| 9 Apr | Crosswits (7 weeks) |
| 29 May | Chain Letters (6 weeks and 2 days) |
| 3 Sep | Jeopardy! (8 weeks) |
| 29 Oct | Keynotes (8 weeks) |
| 1991 | |
| 7 Jan | Runway (1 week and 3 days) (a) |
| 4 Mar | Lucky Ladders (8 weeks) |
| 29 Apr | Crosswits (8 weeks) |
| 24 Jun | All Clued Up (4 weeks) |
| 29 Aug | Runway (2 days and 6 weeks) (a) |
| 14 Oct | Jeopardy! (10 weeks) |
| 1992 | |
| 6 Jan | Keynotes (7 weeks) |
| 24 Feb | Lucky Ladders (7 weeks) |
| 13 Apr | Crosswits (11 weeks) |
| 29 Jun | Your Number Please (4 weeks) |
| 27 Jul | Jumble (6 weeks) |
| 7 Sep | Win, Lose or Draw (5 weeks) |
| 12 Oct | Keynotes (10 weeks) |
| 1993 | |
| 4 Jan | Runway (7 weeks) |
| 22 Feb | Jeopardy! (7 weeks) |
| 12 Apr | Lucky Ladders (5 weeks) |
| 17 May | Crosswits (5 weeks) |
| 21 Jun | Talkabout (5 weeks) |
| 6 Sep | Supermarket Sweep (15 weeks) |
| 1994 | |
| 3 Jan | Win, Lose or Draw (13 weeks) |
| 4 Apr | Crosswits (14 weeks) |
| 5 Sep | Supermarket Sweep (15 weeks) |
| 1995 | |
| 2 Jan | Chain Letters (17 weeks) |
| 1 May | Win, Lose or Draw (10 weeks) |
| 4 Sep | Supermarket Sweep (15 weeks) |
| 1996 | |
| 1 Jan | Win, Lose or Draw (17 weeks) |
| 29 April | Supermarket Sweep (repeats, 10 weeks) |
| 2 Sep | Supermarket Sweep (new, 15 weeks) |
| 1997 | |
| 7 Jan | Win, Lose or Draw (7 weeks) |
| 4 Mar | Chain Letters (8 weeks) |
| 28 April | Supermarket Sweep (repeats, 10 weeks) |
| 7 Jul | Win, Lose or Draw (repeats, 8 weeks) |
| 1 Sep | Supermarket Sweep (new, 16 weeks) |
| 1998 | |
| 6 Jan | Win, Lose or Draw (8 weeks) |
| 2 March | Supermarket Sweep (repeats, 3 weeks) |
- (a) Series 4 of Runway was meant to run for 8 weeks (as Richard Madeley said at the start of the first show of the run) but it was pulled from the schedules after 8 days due to news coverage of the Gulf War. It returned on 29 August.
