[Keith]

Wasn't it a bit of a tabloid myth that they bought Byker Grove to keep it off the air?

I think it had more to do with Zenith going bust. Potentially the back catalogue could have been brought from the administrators by anyone.

Given that they were probably two of the most famous people to start their careers on it they might not have wanted others to profit from reshowing clips of their scenes, and possibly outtakes. It also ensured that the episodes weren't completely lost, with the theoretical potential for them to be repeated in the future, and having some control over any rebooted series.