[Neil Jones]

As for BBC3 - let's face it, pre-2016, what was the main reason people watched that channel? Family Guy. Which is now doing the exact same job for ITV2 that it did for BBC3 (and isn't it funny? ITV couldn't wait to get their hands on that show once BBC3's closure was confirmed). That was the main hook for BBC3 - the 'gateway drug', if you like - that encouraged viewers to try its other programmes. Now it has nothing. Except 20-year-old Two Pints repeats. (If only the Beeb still had the rights to The Simpsons...)

Family Guy wasn't the be all and end all for BBC Three, it was a feeder output for content that was later promoted to the main networks and occasionally further beyond (the obvious example here is Russell Howard) with a few success stories of its own (Two Pints and Little Britain are the two obvious examples) and some Top Gear repeats. FG was quite often paired with American Dad on Three and it was a scheduling pattern that Fox (former FX) channel later copied.

Must of course be remembered Family Guy on BBC Three was BBC Two's cast off in the first place. Presume it was moved to free up the 10pm slot for... stuff. And then when BBC Three closed it was always going to lose it, with the budget cut it was a no brainer it was off to another network, though I believe they've since lost first air rights to Disney+. Not withstanding that it isn't as good as it used to be, the same of which could be said about a certain other animated show that's now in its 34th season...