Xchange (TV Series)

Xchange (TV Series)

Xchange was a factual entertainment BBC television programme for children. It was broadcast initially on BBC Two and later the CBBC Channel. The programme was (mostly) transmitted live from studio TC2 at BBC Television Centre. Towards the end of the show, it was recorded the day before broadcasting.

The first era of the programme came in 1998 when it was designed as a programme shown on BBC Two in the summer holidays. This format was repeated annually until the launch of the CBBC Channel in 2002. As a result, 1,040 episodes over two years were initially ordered. At that time, it was the BBC's biggest ever single in-house commission. On the CBBC Channel, it was a continuous, daily, hour-long format broadcast from 7:30am. Although, by the time the programme ended in March 2006, it was being broadcast twice daily in thirty minute durations.

The show featured a website where users can sign-up to collect points, and also could gain points for being a caller on the show. People who obtained 1000 points could enter a draw to appear on the show and be a "Gold X-IDer" in the studio. In a later series, the 1000 points could also be traded in to have a presenter host a part of the show from an X-IDer's house for a week.

Xchange featured celebrities, music performances, comedy and games. Featured celebrities included Girls Aloud, Daniel Bedingfield, Hilary Duff and Verbalicious . A weekly discussion point, branded sequentially as "The Big One" / "Backchat" / "Sticky Situations", was where viewers gave their thoughts and opinions on a topic. The "Xperts" item featured viewers who reviewed new movies, games, books and music. The "Dream On" strand endeavoured to make the dreams or ambitions of some of the programme's viewers come true.

The last edition of Xchange was broadcast on 31 March 2006 ending with Vinnie J Ferret's (the "J" initial was also revealed to be "Jebadiah") own version of classic song "My Way" as "Our Way" with a little vocal help from the presenters of the show. Michael "Abs" Absalom, Ade Adepitan, Ortis Deley, Jez Edwards, Gemma Hunt and puppet "Vinnie" the ferret (Dave Chapman) were the show's last presenters. The programme was replaced by Sam and Mark's Level Up.