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CD:UK
Title card, used between September 2001 and September 2005.
Presented by	Ant & Dec Cat Deeley James Redmond Dave Berry Myleene Klass Holly Willoughby Lauren Laverne Johny Pitts
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	8
No. of episodes	397
Production
Executive producer	Conor McAnally
Producer	Blaze Television
Production locations	The London Studios (August 1998–January 2003) Riverside Studios (2003–06)
Running time	60 minutes (including adverts)
Production company	Blaze Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	29 August 1998 (1998-08-29) – 1 April 2006 (2006-04-01)

CD:UK (CountDown:United Kingdom), stylised ascd:uk, was a music television programme that ran in the United Kingdom from 29 August 1998 to 1 April 2006. Originally run in conjunction withSMTV Live, the programme aired onITV as a rival to the BBC'sLive & Kicking and was the replacement forThe Chart Show, which had been airing on the network for nine years.

In contrast to its predecessor, which only showed music videos,CD:UK was broadcast live on Saturday mornings with astudio audience and featured live performances, as well as star interviews and competitions. It also featured theSaturday Chart, which although was unofficial, usually reflected the new chart positions a day beforethe official chart was announced onRadio 1. This made the BBC's long-runningTop of the Pops, which aired only the night before, seem very out-of-date broadcasting the previous week's chart.CD:UK later utilised aninteractive chart based on viewers' votes, called theMiTracks Countdown. The show was sponsored byTizer from 1999 until 2003, thenRibena from 2003 until 2005, and finallyRimmel from 2005 until its demise.

In 2002, the programme was criticised for showing "raunchy" performances in a slot aimed at children, sparked by a performance of "Dirrty" byChristina Aguilera. In response, a spin-off programme entitledCD:UK Hotshots, featuring music videos which could be considered unsuitable for daytime viewing, was launched in January 2003 and broadcast overnight.

CD:UK was originally fronted by the same presenting team forSMTV Live –Ant & Dec andCat Deeley. It directly aired after its sister show, usually at around 11:30am, and like its predecessorThe Chart Show, it was also repeated in a late night slot.

Ant & Dec left both programmes on 1 December 2001 ahead of presenting thePop Idol live shows. This left Deeley to presentCD:UK solo. As time went on, due to her popularity with viewers, Deeley was offered more and more television work and went on to presentStars in Their Eyes andFame Academy. This meant that she was absent from the show more and more and was frequently replaced by either a celebrity guest orHolly Willoughby fromSMTV's successorMinistry of Mayhem. Deeley chose to leave the programme for good in March 2005.TRL presenterDave Berry presented the programme for several weeks before Holly Willoughby became the new regular host presenting each fortnight with guest presenters such asKelly Osbourne,Rachel Stevens,Brittany Murphy,Girls Aloud, Natalie Brown andJayne Middlemiss filling in for the weeks when Willoughby was absent.

In August 2005,Myleene Klass was hired as main presenter alongsideXFM DJLauren Laverne andTrouble TV presenterJohny Pitts as part of a major revamp of the programme, which was duly unveiled on 17 September 2005 with new titles, a redesigned studio and a new chart, theMiTracks Countdown, which allowed viewers to vote for their favourite and least favourite songs on theCD:UK website.

Although it was initially reported that the relaunch had helped double viewing figures, audiences soon dropped below 1 million.

On 28 December 2005, it was announced thatCD:UK was to cease production due to budget issues within the broadcaster.^{[original research?]} The final regular edition of the show was aired on Saturday 18 March 2006, followed by two compilation programmes on 25 March and 1 April, respectively.

On 20 April 2006, it was announced that production companyBlaze Television had reached a deal withFive to revive the programme. However, Five announced on 2 June that Klass, Laverne and Pitts would not return to present the show, and that Berry would instead host the show alongside a yet to be decided female presenter, later announced asCaroline Flack. It was also announced thatCD:UK would air at 17:30 on Saturday afternoons, and that the show should be back on air, initially by Autumn 2006, later pushed back to some time in 2007. However, nothing on the subject had been heard in several months and it seemed uncertain as to whether the show would return at all. It was officially announced on 17 April 2007 thatCD:UK would not be returning.^[1]

There have been two compilation albums released between 2 October 2000 and 20 January 2001, featuring many of the bands and singers who have performed on the show. Classic artists include:Westlife,Fatboy Slim,Samantha Mumba,S Club 7,Ronan Keating,Five,Steps,Girls Aloud,A1,Britney Spears,Shanks & Bigfoot andCraig David.

CD:UK Hotshots was a spin-off programme, aired on theITV network overnight. Introduced in January 2003, the show was initially presented byCat Deeley, but she left to make way for MTV presenterDave Berry who left in the summer of 2005 and was replaced by a rotating presenting team ofMyleene Klass,Lauren Laverne andJohny Pitts.

As opposed to the main show,Hotshots consisted of presenters' links and music videos – some of which had been considered unsuitable for broadcast onCD:UK.

Although the original UK version has ended, an American version of the programme,CD USA, began onDirecTV'sThe 101 on 21 January 2006. Australian broadcasterFoxtel also air a local version of the show, renamedCD Live, on theFox8 channel every Saturday evening.

In Italy, the public television channelRai Due has aired from 2003 to 2007 an Italian version of the show, renamedCD: Live, which replaced Top of the Pops, every Saturday afternoon at 15:00. In Croatia, the public television channelHRT 2 aired a Croatian version of the show, renamedT-Mobile CD Live, from 2007 to 2008 every Friday afternoon at 18:40.

• 1990s British music television series
• 2000s British music television series
• 1998 British television series debuts
• 2006 British television series endings
• British music chart television shows
• ITV (TV network) original programming
• Pop music television series

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