Programme thought to have helped find killers of James Bulger and Toni-Ann Byfield to make way for new shows.

It has been credited with helping solve some of the country’s most notorious crimes. But, after 33 years, Crimewatch has served its time, the BBC has announced.

The programme is being cancelled to make way for other programming, the corporation said, though it will broadcast more of the daytime sister edition, Crimewatch Roadshow.

“We believe the successful Crimewatch Roadshow format in daytime is the best fit for the brand going forward and we will increase the number of episodes to make two series a year,” a spokesperson said.

“We are incredibly proud of Crimewatch and the great work it has done over the years and the work Crimewatch Roadshow will continue to do, and this move will also allow us to create room for new innovative programmes in peak time on BBC One.”

The show, which reconstructs unsolved crimes in an attempt to gather information from the public, was relaunched in September 2016 and was most recently presented by Jeremy Vine and Tina Daheley.

Sue Cook and Nick Ross hosted the first show in 1984, which featured the murder of 16-year-old Colette Aram, who disappeared as she walked to her boyfriend’s house in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, in October 1983.

Among the crimes its broadcasts are thought to have had a hand in solving are the murders of the toddler James Bulger and Bertram and Toni-Ann Byfield.

In 1993, Crimewatch broadcast the grainy CCTV footage of two 10-year-old boys at a shopping centre in Bootle. After the show, two witnesses rang in and confirmed they had seen Robert Thompson and Jon Venables with James Bulger. They were later convicted over his abduction and murder.

Following another appeal on the programme, Joel Smith was turned in and is serving at least 40 years in prison for the murders of the Byfields. Smith shot Bertram three times in his living room and then shot seven-year-old Toni-Ann in the back as she tried to escape.

An appeal on Crimewatch was also a factor in the wrongful conviction of Barry George for the murder of the programme’s former presenter Jill Dando. Calls made to the programme in 1999 led police on a new line of inquiry that resulted in George’s arrest. He was eventually acquitted in 2008.

Other crimes to have featured on the show over the past 33 years have included the murders of Rhys Jones and Damilola Taylor, as well as the disappearances of Madeleine McCann, Suzy Lamplugh and Claudia Lawrence.