Short Change

1994–2005 British TV series


title: "Short Change" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["bbc-children's-television-shows", "consumer-protection-television-series", "consumer-protection-in-the-united-kingdom", "1994-british-television-series-debuts", "2005-british-television-series-endings", "1990s-british-children's-television-series", "2000s-british-children's-television-series", "british-english-language-television-shows"] description: "1994–2005 British TV series" topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Change" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1994–2005 British TV series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

FieldValue
genreConsumer affairs
presenterZoe Ball (1994–1995)
Andi Peters (1996)
Tim Vincent (1997–1999)
Ortis Deley (1999–2005)
Alex Leam (2000)
Rhodri Owen (2000–2005)
Angellica Bell (2001–2004)
Thalia Pellegrini (2005)
countryUnited Kingdom
languageEnglish
num_series13
num_episodes139
channelBBC One
CBBC
first_aired
last_aired
::

| genre = Consumer affairs | presenter = Zoe Ball (1994–1995) Andi Peters (1996) Tim Vincent (1997–1999) Ortis Deley (1999–2005) Alex Leam (2000) Rhodri Owen (2000–2005) Angellica Bell (2001–2004) Thalia Pellegrini (2005) | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = 13 | num_episodes = 139 | channel = BBC One CBBC | first_aired = | last_aired =

Short Change is a consumer affairs programme for children, broadcast on BBC One and later also the CBBC Channel. It is essentially a version of the prime-time show Watchdog except that it is aimed at children. The show was first aired on 20 February 1994. It had 13 series; the last episode was broadcast on 12 July 2005.

Transmission guide

::data[format=table]

SeriesEpisodesDurationPresenter(s)
1620 February 1994 – 27 March 1994Zoe Ball
219 February 1995 – 26 March 1995
3718 February 1996 – 31 March 1996Andi Peters
489 February 1997 – 30 March 1997Tim Vincent
5611 January 1998 – 15 February 1998
6127 January 1999 – 25 March 1999Tim Vincent & Ortis Deley
76 January 2000 – 23 March 2000Ortis Deley, Rhodri Owen & Alex Leam
84 January 2001 – 22 March 2001Ortis Deley, Rhodri Owen & Angellica Bell
91429 March 2001 – 28 June 2001
101318 April 2002 – 11 July 2002
1124 April 2003 – 17 July 2003
12158 April 2004 – 15 July 2004
135 April 2005 – 12 July 2005Ortis Deley, Rhodri Owen and Thalia Pellegrini
::

Specials

  • Series 3 compilation: 5 January 1997
  • Fan Clubs Special: 9 November 1997
  • The Fat Nation Challenge: 18 editions from 9 September 2004 – 7 November 2004

PriceBusters Competition

On each programme, viewers were challenged to find the cheapest and most expensive prices for a given product throughout the country. Two winners each week (one finding each extreme price) would win a boom-box stereo. Bill Bennett won the competition two weeks running, by finding the most expensive prices for the given products, and including Tesco.com's grocery delivery charge of £5. This made the cost of a Müller Rice around £5.40, much more expensive than prices found by any other entrant. Following the two consecutive wins, the rules were changed to omit delivery charges from the total cost for a particular product.

References

  • Source: BFI/BBC Motion Gallery

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

bbc-children's-television-showsconsumer-protection-television-seriesconsumer-protection-in-the-united-kingdom1994-british-television-series-debuts2005-british-television-series-endings1990s-british-children's-television-series2000s-british-children's-television-seriesbritish-english-language-television-shows