How to use the online alarm clock
Nine in the evening is a legal boundary on British television. The watershed sits at nine o'clock: material unsuitable for children should not be broadcast before it, and the transition back the other way happens at half past five in the morning. It is one of the few points in the day where a rule, rather than a habit, changes what the country is doing.
Broadcasters have built their schedules around it for decades, which is why the main drama slot begins on the hour. For households with older children it doubles as the actual bedtime, later than the little ones and firmly enforced on school nights.
Adults trying to protect their own sleep often set an alarm here as a wind-down prompt — screens down, kettle on, and an honest attempt at a consistent bedtime. The minute pages below cover the hour in full, and like everything else on the site they need the tab left open to sound.
Cookie policy