A trio of soap stars looked almost unrecognizable in a throwback snap shared on Instagram on Sunday.
Two familiar Coronation Street faces and an iconic EastEnders star hide in the background of the unearthed group photo.
And all three starred in a CITV classic, Children’s Ward.
With the news that the beloved channel is about to close its doors, after four decades on the air, a star decided to reminisce.
Corrie’s Samia Longchambon shared the photo on her social media, lamenting CITV’s closure by sharing an epic retrospective of the kids’ show, pointing out to her followers that a number of other famous faces started their careers on the iconic kids’ show.
Can you see them? A trio of soap stars looked almost unrecognizable in a throwback snap shared on Instagram on Sunday to mark the end of CITV
Samia, 41, is best known for her role as Maria Connor in the ITV soap opera, but one of her first acting roles was in the CITV classic.
She wrote: ‘It is sad to hear that CITV is closing as a channel. I have special memories of working on some of his shows.
This #throwback is from #TheWard 1995 (formerly children’s section).. how many of you are old enough to remember that?! Can you spot @realjanedanson @officialdannydyer and myself??’
Jane – who stars alongside Samia Leanne Battersby in Coronation Street – replied: ‘Absolutely heartbreaking. It would be such a brilliant platform for us as young actors and make for some amazing shows. Such a pity.’
While Samia can be seen second left in the front row, Jane, 44, is the first child on the left in the second row.
Meanwhile, Danny – who played Mick Carter in EastEnders until the beginning of this year – is first left in the back row.
Children’s Ward ran from 1989 to 2000 and other famous faces featured on the show include Will Mellor, William Ash, and Tim Vincent.
CITV will cease broadcasting at 9pm on 1 September to make way for a new channel, ITVX Kids.
Reminiscing: Samia Longchambon of Corrie shared the photo on her social media, lamenting the closure of CITV by sharing an epic look back at the kids show, pointing out to her followers that there were also a number of other famous faces in the photo
Star: Danny – who played Mick Carter in EastEnders until the beginning of this year – is first left in the back row
Familiar face: Jane – who stars alongside Samia Leanne Battersby in Coronation Street – replied: ‘Absolutely heartbreaking. It would be such a brilliant platform for us as young actors.”
In a statement to Sky newsITV said the decision to close the channel is a result of declining viewership.
“As a result of this new streaming approach and in response to the changing ways in which children and their parents increasingly access content,” it reads, “the CITV broadcaster will close after the summer break on September 1.”
Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern’s Saturday Showdown was the first program to air on CITV.
The channel was also home to iconic shows such as Jungle Run, Horrid Henry and Art Attack.
ITV’s new home for children’s programming will be ITVX Kids, which launched in July and will replace the long-running CITV.
Rather than a traditional channel, this is the dedicated space of the pre-existing ITV children’s television streaming service.
Content from CITV has already been moved to the site in preparation for the channel’s closure.
ITVX replaced ITV Hub in December 2022, which had previously replaced ITV Player.
The platform aims to help the broadcaster compete with streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
However, unlike those platforms, users can watch for free – but with ads – or sign up to ITVX Premium for £5.99 a month to watch ad-free.
Axed: CITV finally stops broadcasting on September 1, with no direct replacement for children’s programming