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.svg) Logo used since 2024 | |
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom Ireland Isle of Man Channel Islands |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (SDTV feed downscaled to16:9576i) |
| Timeshift service | U&DaveJaVu (formerly Dave +1 and Dave ja vu) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | BBC Studios |
| Parent | UKTV |
| Sister channels | U&Alibi U&Drama U&Eden U&Gold U&W U&Yesterday |
| History | |
| Launched | 2 October 1998; 27 years ago (1998-10-02) |
| Replaced | UKTV Bright Ideas (Freeview) |
| Former names | UK Gold Classics (1998–1999) UK Gold 2 (1999–2003) UK G² (2003–2004) UKTV G2 (2004–2007) Dave (2007–2024) |
| Links | |
| Website | u |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 19 Channel 74 (JaVu) |
| Streaming media | |
| U | Stream Free (UK and Ireland only) |
| Sky Go | Watch live (UK and Ireland only) |
| Virgin TV Go | Watch live (UK only) Watch live (+1) (UK only) |
| Virgin TV Anywhere | Watch live (Ireland only) |
U&Dave is a Britishfree-to-airtelevision channel owned byUKTV, a subsidiary ofBBC Studios. It is known for broadcasting modern comedy and factual programming, with both original production and repeats.
Launched in October 1998 as UK Gold Classics, the channel would undergo various identity and format changes before adopting the Dave branding on 15 October 2007. It was renamed U&Dave in July 2024 to mark the streaming service UKTV Play being renamed asU.[1]
U&DaveJaVu is its sistertimeshift channel. Unlike other commercial channels, it doesn't have a "+1" next to it and is named after the termdéjà vu.
UK Gold Classics was UKTV's first digital-only channel. It was launched on 2 October 1998, and was only broadcast from Friday to Sunday onSky Digital from 6.00pm to 2.00am.[citation needed] Around this time,UK Gold began to move away from older programmes and towards newer ones. Their 'classics' line-up included a number of early shows, and some black-and-white programmes, which had been acquired in the early years of the UK Gold service.[citation needed] While Gold Classics showed some recent shows from the main Gold channel, its main purpose was older shows from the early years of UK Gold.[citation needed] On weekdays, the channel was off air, showing a still caption of all the UKTV channels and start-up times.[citation needed]
Some of the programmes that aired on UK Gold Classics were a repeat run of theITV comedy seriesOh No It's Selwyn Froggitt,[2]BBC comedy seriesOpen All Hours,[citation needed] BBC soap operaEastEnders,[citation needed] ITV police drama seriesThe Bill,[citation needed] and ITV comedy seriesGingerbread Girl.[citation needed] Some of UK Gold's original commissioned programming that were recently aired on the main channel at the time (Wow-fab-Groovy,Tellystack,Sports Anorak of the Year, stand-up comedy showLive at Jongleurs,Rowland Rivron Bites The Bullet and music showGold Goes Pop) also received airings on Gold Classics[citation needed]
The 'Classics' format lasted just six months; ending on 28 March 1999. The following day, UKTV announced that the channel would be relaunched as UK Gold 2 from 2 April 1999, and eventually expand its broadcast hours.[3][4] UK Gold 2 essentially functioned as a secondary timeshift service, with the channel screening UK Gold's programmes from the morning of that day.[citation needed] On 24 May 1999, it was officially announced that the channel would start broadcasting daily from 1 June.[5]
On 11 February 2002, UK Gold 2's downtime within the day became home toUK Style +.[6] On 29 May, the channel launched onNTL.[7] and eventually onTelewest. On 1 August, the channel moved from 110 to 111 on the Sky EPG, to make room for UK Gold +1, which launched that day.[8] In July 2003, UK Style + vacated the downtime slot used by UK Gold 2 and extended its broadcast hours.[citation needed]
On 28 October 2003, it was announced that UK Gold 2 would be relaunched and rebranded as UK G2 (stylized as UK G²) on 12 November.[9] UK G2 was promoted as being an edgier alternative to UK Gold; airing programmes aimed at an 18-34 year-old youth audience. Some of the programmes that already aired on UK Gold moved to the new network, in addition to some programmes fromPlay UK (which had closed the year prior). The broadcast hours were also changed, with the channel now operating from 8:00pm to 5:00am.
On 8 March 2004, in-line with its sibling channels, the channel would adopt the full "UKTV" name, becoming UKTV G2. On 1 November, near the channel's first anniversary, a one-hour timeshift service, UKTV G2 +1, was launched on Sky[10] and Telewest.,[11] broadcasting from 9:00pm to 4:00am.
On 7 October 2005, it was announced that UKTV G2 would pilot a sports programming block titled "UKTV Sport". The block would include a new show by the same name, as well as its own logo anddigital on-screen graphic. The block was planned to be a pilot for a dedicated TV channel of the same name, which never came into fruition.[12]
On 10 December 2005, UKTV announced that UKTV G2 would expand broadcast hours to the daytime and begin operations at 9:00am beginning on 16 January 2006.[13][14] The expansion of hours was to prepare for the full launch of the UKTV Sport strand, which would fill out some of the daytime hours during sports events. Standard programmes featured included pre-watershed comedy programmes already seen on the channel, alongside the addition of popular-factual and magazine shows which were already running on UKTV People, such asTop Gear andAirport. The extended hours did not apply to UKTV G2 +1, which remained an evening-only service.[citation needed]
In February 2006, UKTV obtained the rights to show highlights of theSix Nationsrugby union championship, with a highlights show broadcast on the evening of the games previously shown live on the BBC. On 16 March 2006, they announced a deal to air extensive coverage of the2006 FIFA World Cup as a sub-licensing of the BBC's rights to the tournament.[15] UKTV G2simulcast the BBC's live matches, including the opening match betweenGermany andCosta Rica,England's game withParaguay and the final. The channel also showed highlights of every match in the tournament.
In April 2006, the channel acquired the rights to the quarter-finals of theEuroLeague Basketball[16] and in August, UKTV G2 also picked up rights to the2006 FIBA World Championship,[17] forming the programme 'UKTV Slam'.
In August 2007, UKTV announced they were considering on adding a planned relaunch of UKTV G2 to thedigital terrestrial platformFreeview, replacingUKTV Bright Ideas.[18] On 20 September 2007, UKTV officially announced that the relaunch of UKTV G2 would be called Dave; and that it would occur on 15 October, and would be added to Freeview on the same day. The channel's name was chosen with UKTV saying that "everyone knows a bloke called Dave".[19] To prepare for the launch,UKTV Bright Ideas was shut down permanently, withUKTV History taking over its timesharing bandwidth withVirgin1, while Dave would launch in UKTV History's former Freeview bandwidth.[20][21] To ensure that all Freeview viewers received Dave on channel number 19, UKTV briefly placed a re-tuning notice on the programme's information. The timeshift service UKTV G2 +1 was effectively renamed Dave +1 and expanded its own broadcast hours to match its parent network.[citation needed]
Dave used the tagline "the home of witty banter", and hadRalph Ineson as an announcer; along with David Flynn,Phill Jupitus,Iain Lee andBBC Radio 1 DJGreg James.[citation needed]
On 31 January 2008, the channel began broadcasting inwidescreen, along with the other UKTV channels.[22]
On 22 January 2009, following UKTV's acquisition of a furtherFreeview broadcast slot, Dave +1 was made available on the digital terrestrial platform. Dave +1 would be renamed Dave ja vu (a play on the phrasedéjà vu) on 24 February, in order to "strengthen the brand's positioning as the home of witty banter"[23] according to UKTV bosses. In April 2009, they aired three new instalments ofRed Dwarf, entitledBack to Earth. This marked the channel's first foray into scripted original programming. During the airing of theRed Dwarf mini-series, the DaveDOG in the top left corner of the screen had the word 'Lister' added after it in the same font, after the show's lead character; during the special it is even suggested that the station is named after him.Back to Earth brought record breaking viewing figures, not just in the context of the channel's past, but for digital television in general.[24] Subsequently, three full series ofRed Dwarf have been produced for Dave which aired in 2012, 2016 and 2017, along with a feature-length special in 2020. In June 2009, the logo was updated to incorporate the 'circle' logo branding of all the new UKTV channels.[citation needed] At the same time, the voice of Dave became Nigel Grover, aka Scott Saunders, who had previously worked at a number of local radio stations.[citation needed]
On 14 June 2011, UKTV announced thatReally would launch on Freeview on 2 August 2011.[25] To facilitate this, Dave ja vu's broadcast hours on the platform were reduced from 8.00 am-4.00 am to 2.00 am-4.00 am in order to keep the space for future use. On 29 July 2011,UKTV announced that it had secured a deal withBSkyB to launch three morehigh-definition channels onSky UK.[26] As part of Virgin Media's deal to sell its share of UKTV, all five of UKTV's HD channels would also be added to Virgin's cable television service by 2012.[27]
Dave HD launched on 10 October 2011 on Sky and Virgin Media,[28] two days beforeWatch HD, whileAlibi HD launched in July 2012. All three channels are HDsimulcasts of thestandard-definition channel.
In September 2012, the channel swapped its Freeview EPG number withYesterday, moving to channel 12. On 22 November 2012, UKTV confirmed that it had secured a deal for another 24-hour DTT slot and would use it for Dave ja vu until it firmed up permanent plans for the slot.[29] Dave ja vu began to broadcast its full schedule on the platform again from 3 January 2013.Drama permanently took the slot from 8 July 2013,[30] however Dave ja vu continued to broadcast between 2.00 am-5.00 am.[31]
On 29 April 2014, the 'circle' logo was removed and the original 2007 logo was restored, also updating the idents. On 20 November, Dave ja vu returned to 24-hour broadcasting on Freeview.[32]
Dave HD along with Good Food HD and Eden HD launched on BT TV on 3 October 2016.[citation needed]
In June 2019, Dave moved back to channel 19 on Freeview, a space previously occupied byYesterday.[citation needed] This was following ownerBBC Studios breaking up its joint venture withDiscovery, Inc., with Discovery acquiringGood Food,Home andReally.[citation needed]
In November 2020, following UKTV's purchase ofCCXTV, Dave ja vu moved to channel 23, whilst CCXTV moved to Freeview 73.[33]
After the relaunch ofBBC Three (and with BBC Four in Scotland taking the next slot), Dave ja vu moved down to channel 25. This lasted until March 2022, when UKTV revealed that Dave would be going back to the 70s section on the Freeview EPG, as the channel number was used by UKTV for their female-skewingW channel.[34][35][36][37][38] From 28 March 2022, Dave Ja Vu took Drama+1's slot on Freeview 74, with that one-hour timeshift of Drama moving up to channel 60.[39]
On 9 November 2022, Dave was given a on-air refresh, including a new logo, idents, and a new slogan ("Add a bit of Dave").[40]
On 16 July 2024, the channel was rebranded asU&Dave, as part of the realignment of UKTV's free-to-air networks under the new "U" masterbrand.[1]
Within just one month of its launch, Dave was the tenth most viewedtelevision channel in the UK. In November 2007, the broadcaster listed daily viewing averages at around 3 million viewers, although, much of the growth was attributed to its presence onFreeview; nonetheless, it was performing significantly better in pay TV homes than UKTV G2. Over the month since its launch, Dave averaged a 1.32% share in multichannel homes and a 3.2% share in the 16–34 male demographic.[41]
Dave received 4 million viewers throughout 18 November 2007 for its coverage of "Car of the Year", pushing it to second place in multichannel behindITV2.[41]
The first episode ofRed Dwarf: Back to Earth attracted 2,060,000 viewers on the first viewing,[42] though over 4 million viewed the episode at some point over its debut weekend.[24] The highest rating original commission before this had beenRed Bull X-Fighters (about 185,000).
| Name of show | Original run |
|---|---|
| Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled | 2014–2023 |
| Battle in the Box | 2024 |
| Big Zuu's Big Eats | 2020–2023 |
| Borderforce: America's Gatekeepers | 2018–present |
| British As Folk | 2021 |
| Cop Car Workshop | 2018–present |
| Guy Martin: Proper Jobs | 2025–present |
| The Hurting | 2017–present |
| The Island | 2022 |
| The Joy of Techs | 2017 |
| Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable | 2021–2024 |
| Red Bull Soapbox Race | 2013 –present |
| Silence Is Golden | 2025 |
| Sneakerhead | 2022 |
| Special Ops: Crime Squad UK | 2022–present |
| Used Car Wars | 2017 |
| Will & Ralf Should Know Better | 2024–present |
| Name of show | Original run |
|---|---|
| 24 Hours to Go Broke | 2014 |
| Beat the Internet with John Robins | 2018–2019 |
| Comedians Giving Lectures | 2019–2022 |
| Comedy Against Living Miserably | 2020–2021 |
| Crackanory | 2013–2017 |
| Dave's Advent Calendar | 2018 |
| Dave Gorman: Terms and Conditions Apply | 2019 |
| Dead Canny | 2022 |
| Expedition with Steve Backshall | 2019–2022 |
| Hoff the Record | 2015–2016 |
| Holier Than Thou | 2022 |
| Hypothetical | 2019–2022 |
| Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier | 2018–2019 |
| Judge Romesh | 2018–2019 |
| Just Jokes | 2022 |
| Late Night Mash | BBC Two 2017–2020 (as The Mash Report) Dave 2021–2022 |
| Live At The Moth Club | 2022 |
| Meet the Richardsons | 2020–2024 |
| The Other Half | 2022 |
| Outsiders | 2021–2023 |
| Perfect | 2022 |
| Porters | 2017–2019 |
| Question Team | 2021–2022 |
| Red Dwarf | BBC Two 1988–1999 Dave 2009–2020 |
| Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years | 2020 |
| Ronnie's Redneck Road Trip | 2017[43] |
| Rosie Jones's Disability Comedy Extravaganza | 2022–2024 |
| Ross Noble: Freewheeling | 2013–2015 |
| Sliced | 2019–2021 |
| Storage Hunters UK | 2014–2016 |
| Taskmaster | 2015–2019 Channel 4 2020–present |
| Undercover | 2015 |
| Unspun with Matt Forde | 2016–2018 |
| We Are Not Alone | 2022 |
| Zapped | 2016–2018 |
From 2008 to 2010, Dave showed highlights of theWorld Rally Championship.
On 6 January 2016, UKTV announced that Dave would show its first-ever live sporting event with aboxing match betweenDavid Haye andMark de Mori atthe O2 Arena on 16 January 2016 produced by Salter Brothers Entertainment.[44]
In late May 2016, Dave broadcast full live coverage of the2016 BDO World Trophy darts tournament.
In July 2016, Dave covered cricket'sCaribbean Premier League. It broadcast five matches live, including the final and showed the other games in full on a delayed basis.
In 2017, Dave started broadcasting live MMA with promotionBAMMA.
In its early years, Dave aired a mix of black-and-white films likeThe Lavender Hill Mob and 90s films likeThe Hudsucker Proxy.
In 2012, Dave introduced its 'film club' where a different film would be shown every week, includingBarton Fink,City of God,The Big Lebowski,Resident Evil: Apocalypse,Taxi Driver, andClerks to name a few.
In early 2016, Dave andYesterday airedWestern films during the daytime. From 2017, Dave mostly show films on Friday and Saturday nights, with Friday being a repeat of the film that was shown on a Saturday.
In 2019 and 2023, Dave showed a season ofQuentin Tarantino movies.
In August 2011, Dave launched a regular comedy podcast calledThe Dave Weekly hosted on joindave.co.uk and accessible via iTunes.[45] Presented byBen Shires, the podcast comprises interviews with comedians such asRussell Kane,Jo Brand,Adam Buxton,Paul Foot andAlex Horne along with occasional features.
Since 2008 the channel has given theFunniest Joke of the Fringe award. The award is voted on by the public from a shortlist and aims to highlight the best single joke told at theEdinburgh Fringe Festival.
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