[Stooky Bill]

A big change from the late 80s, 90s and 00s, when viewers in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland opted out entirely from the network from around 7.30pm until 1am, with viewers there seeing their own local content, with those three regions placing some network comedy routines, musical numbers etc into their own schedule and not airing it at the same time as London. 

In fact BBC One Northern Ireland used to drop a lot of network content, with BBC One Northern Ireland viewers missing out on some key specials. One instance was a Paul McKenna Celebrity Hypnosis Special for 1996, viewers in Northern Ireland never saw it, as they had their own regional thing going on and they chose not to air it. When BBC One Northern Ireland handed back to London at around 1.20am, viewers were surprised in the "Highlights" of the night, that they missed out on a lot!

Yes, people have a very rose tinted view of old CiN. I've seen the some of an 80s North East  CiN where they opt out for the entire end of the programme and they're just sitting on sofas rabbiting on for ages. All very self indulgent. 

But in those days the regions were a bit more autonomous and could do more themselves. More importantly they could get away with anything as their output wasnt seen outside their region, not even within the BBC