Disney Junior (British and Irish TV channel)

During the re-brand of Disney Channel UK in 1997, a block titled "Disney Channel Underfives" was added, featuring programming aimed towards a young audience. On 28 September 1999, it was rebranded as Playhouse Disney with the introduction of live presentation. On September 29, 2000, Disney Television International launched a standalone Playhouse Disney channel alongside Toon Disney and Disney Channel +1 on the Sky Digital platform.[2] Since the channel was exclusive to Sky Digital at this time, the Playhouse Disney block continued to broadcast on Disney Channel during school-term weekdays. The channel was later launched on NTL and Telewest in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The block on Disney Channel later reduced it's hours of programming featured and was eventually disposed of in July 2004. In June 2006, a Playhouse Disney block was added to the morning schedule of free-to-air network ABC1.[3] It was removed after Disney ceased transmission of ABC1 in September 2007. ABC1's slot itself on Sky would be used to launch a 25-minute timeshift (currently 1-hour) of Playhouse Disney, called Playhouse Disney + in October 2007.

The Playhouse Disney brand, which existed as 22 channels or blocks in 156 countries and territories, rebranded as Disney Junior in 2011.[4] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Disney Junior began on Saturday 7 May 2011 with its first show as Handy Manny. At the same time the channel started broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen. The last show that aired on Playhouse Disney UK before it became Disney Junior was JoJo's Circus. A high-definition simulcast of Disney Junior was made available to Sky+ HD subscribers on 9 April 2013.[5] Throughout September 2017, Disney XD +1 was turned into a pop-up channel titled Mickey and Pals, which aired various programming from this channel.

When Playhouse Disney originally launched in the United Kingdom, it used live presentation and links, being set in a large "Playhouse" featuring different rooms and areas. This presentation format was also used for Playhouse Disney in Australia, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany and several other territories outside North America.

Playhouse Disney UK's main live presenters were Dave Benson Phillips and Alex Lovell, who were referred to as Big Dave and Little Alex. In addition to presenting the "Playhouse", both Dave and Alex presented "Music Time", where they sang mostly Disney songs, with the original recordings of the songs. Dave also presented the children's cookery show, Bite Size, alongside Sophie Aldred and Karl Woolley and puppet Mitzi the Oven Glove.

Two other segments were also featured. The first was "Circle Time", presented by Jason Canning, where he alongside a few children, made up stories from animated drawings that viewers sent in. The other was "Art Play", presented by Sara-Louise Harper, which featured her and a few children creating a piece of artwork based on a popular Disney movie.

New graphics and a new logo were introduced in March 2003, coinciding with the debut of the main Disney Channel's new look. Along with this, came a refreshing of the format. the 'Circle Time' strand was removed without a replacement presenter after Jason Canning left to pursue other work, and Art Play's presenting role was taken by Olivia Bonnici after Sara-Louise Harper became pregnant. While the "Playhouse" format would remain for the next few years, the channel's presentation gradually began to focus more on out-of-vision links, like what its American counterpart would use.

In 2004, A dedicated nighttime block called "PJ's Bedtime" was introduced, being presented by Olivia and Big Dave alongside the titular puppet PJ Mole.

On 27 August 2006, Dave Benson Philips and Alex Lovell left the network, while the Art Play and Music Time strands were removed around the same time. The two remaining strands, PJ's Bedtime and Bite Size, were removed in November 2007 and May 2008, respectively. By then, the channel featured a format and identity in-par with its American counterpart.

In September 2007, the channel logo in the external promotionals (programme press releases, promos for terrestrial television) were changed to include the inscription "Channel" as in all Playhouse Disney Europe channels, but on the channel itself the logo was not changed. This move was to differentiate the channel from the "Playhouse Disney" block, shown all mornings on the american Disney Channel.

Presenters were re-added to the channel in September 2009, with new presenters Samantha Pearl and James Sherwood presenting on air between 6pm and 8pm.

On 11 February 2019, Disney Junior UK was re-branded and the logo colour changed from red to yellow, to match the other international Disney Junior channels. In Christmas 2019-2 Jan 2020, the logo color changed from yellow to light blue with snowflakes on screen.

A one-hour timeshift service of the channel, Disney Junior +, launched on 29 October 2007 as Playhouse Disney +, replacing the now defunct channel ABC1. It launched on the same day that the Disney Channels were reshuffled on Sky, involving Disney Cinemagic and Disney Cinemagic +1 moving down the EPG, to enable Playhouse Disney to move up the EPG to allow Playhouse Disney + to launch next to it on Sky 611 and 612 respectively. Playhouse Disney + was initially a 25-minute timeshift service until 11 April 2011 when it became a 1-hour timeshift service. It was renamed as Disney Junior +1 on 11 Feb 2019.

A live tour took place in Aug 2007-Late 2010. It was shown in several cities, across the United States and Europe. In the United Kingdom, the tour included Bristol, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Brighton.

• Official site