ATV in Colour!!

It's a toughie - I love 'em both, but despite growing up with Thames and its gorgeous skyline and Old Father Jingle, ATV's still my favourite - colourful, brassy, and lovingly animated - my favourite bit occurs when the vertical stripes spring out and form the double elipse.... Can anyone confirm the rumour I heard about a year ago, that the man who composed it had a sex change operation and now lives in LA?
You can tell I'm bored at the office right now, can't you!

Yeah, I like the way they go all multicoloured. And you're right Simon, that fact was mentioned on (I think) ATV night on BBC2.

But come on guys, could these really hope to compete with LWT's ident (that tune plays over and over again in my mind every time I think about it) or HTV's wibbley wobbley LSD-a-thon?

And then there's Ulster's shiny silver revolving trophy. Or Anglia's shiny silver revolving knight...

Or Border's "B" logo - a classic in itself:) Until it decided to adopt the generic branding:(

Tyne Tees's 'gate' logo (as my house mate from London used to call it) was another classic piece of design. So imaginative what with its T, its T, its T and not forgeting the V all morphed into one.

>Could these really hope to compete with LWT's ident (that tune plays over and over again in my mind every time I think about it)

Mine too! I see rainbow stripes and then visualise Patrick Moore at his xylophone, for surely it was he who played the first few notes of that tune?

Much though I love ATV's, the clever simplicity of Thames's gets my vote. The use of the reflection, the landmarks of London unfolding. Unmistakable. Not just a stylised initial or initials (unlike Border, Granada, Yorkshire, London Weekend, Central [a kind of C], Tyne Tees).
The Thames skyline's big problem was that it wasn't easily shrunk to be used with programme publicity slides, on clocks etc.
It didn't date too badly, either. Unlike the ribbon LWT (or LW at the start of its life). Very early seventies in appearance, although it might actually have been created in the late 60s after the exceptionally boring "From London Weekend" logo. When did the ribbon logo start?

>When did the ribbon logo start?
I'd hazard a guess at 1972. I've a tape of "Aquarius", the arts show precursor to the South Bank Show, featuring Russell Harty's seminal film about Salvador Dali, from 1973, and it's on that.
But yes, it is rather dated, which is why it's fab!

What about the old ABC ident, downwards arrows merging into triangle accompanied by 6 musical notes. Was it ever seen in colour?

>What about the old ABC ident, downwards arrows merging into triangle accompanied by 6 musical notes. Was it ever seen in colour?

I don't think so. After The Avengers in colour there was a completely different style of logo, with the letters A, B and C in different colours horizontally. They moved to be placed vertically. And then in white the rest of the words appeared, so it read Associated British Corporation.
However, this was on the C4 repeats of The Avengers, which was sold to America. Perhaps this was a special version, to differentiate it from the American Broadcasting Company. Anyone know?

If I remember rightly, the ABC logo was produced in a colour version. I wasn't alive at the time, but I remember seeing a blue-background with cyan-coloured logo and yellow/orange lettering, a slide-version only, one time. Hope that helps. ABC did produce some colour programming before the demise of the name. The logo I saw was the same as the b/w one but with colour added.

Do you ever sing along with the ident music?
ATV goes A-T-V, ATV, A-T-V, ATV!

And the ribbon LWT goes Plinky, plinky, plink London Weekend, London Weekend

The white-background LWT went Ell Double-u Tee, El Doubleyou T.

You can make the YTV one say Yorkshire Televisi-on

Thames wasn't very good for that. Although when Morecambe and Wise was signed by Thames, the words "Here they are now, Morecambe and Wise" were actually sung to the Thames tune before the show.

>Do you ever sing along with the ident music?
>ATV goes A-T-V, ATV, A-T-V, ATV!
>
>And the ribbon LWT goes Plinky, plinky, plink London Weekend, London Weekend
>
>The white-background LWT went Ell Double-u Tee, El Doubleyou T.
>
>You can make the YTV one say Yorkshire Televisi-on
>
>Thames wasn't very good for that. Although when Morecambe and Wise was signed by Thames, the words "Here they are now, Morecambe and Wise" were actually sung to the Thames tune before the show.
>
Mmm, some interesting concepts there.... Have you ever visited the Planet Earth?

I'll be trying that all weekend!

# UTV, UT, U-T-V !!!!

Oh, and there was La, la, la Central

...which I think has to win the prize for best ITV logo, especially in the "coloured cake" phase. Although it does have an advantage, being one of the first companies to do lots of idents at one time, rather than showing the same one all the time. Pitty Carlton came along and ruined it...

>...which I think has to win the prize for best ITV logo, especially in the "coloured cake" phase.

It was a shame it was so derivative of C4's. It was introduced just under three years after C4's and broke up and re-assembled on screen in a whizzy 80s 3D multi-coloured kind of way, just like C4's. But it did have groovy music.

The introduction of the cake (1985, often using the phrase "The One to Watch") coincided with Central dumping all network trailers, the first company to do so.

The cake replaced the stripes, seen only locally. The six colours were shown diagonally over the word CENTRAL behind the on-screen announcer and on publicity. You could even buy mugs with the stripey logo.

Central News kept the traditional mint-imperial style logo during the stripes and much of the cake phase.

The mint imperial was kept on network logos and trailers until about 1988 when the cake replaced it.

It was the first ITV logo that moved AFTER the programme. Although YTV did one that was very short-lived until the ITV generic branding was introduced in 1989 and everyone went static again.

>...which I think has to win the prize for best ITV logo, especially in the "coloured cake" phase.

It was a shame it was so derivative of C4's. It was introduced just under three years after C4's and broke up and re-assembled on screen in a whizzy 80s 3D multi-coloured kind of way, just like C4's. But it did have groovy music.

The introduction of the cake (1985, often using the phrase "The One to Watch") coincided with Central dumping all network trailers, the first company to do so.

The cake replaced the stripes, seen only locally. The six colours were shown diagonally over the word CENTRAL behind the on-screen announcer and on publicity. You could even buy mugs with the stripey logo.

Central News kept the traditional mint-imperial style logo during the stripes and much of the cake phase.

The mint imperial was kept on network logos and trailers until about 1988 when the cake replaced it.

It was the first ITV logo that moved AFTER the programme. Although YTV did one that was very short-lived until the ITV generic branding was introduced in 1989 and everyone went static again.

Although I hate them for all they stand for, something is to be said for the new style Carlton idents. The star device is quite funky and some of the ways they work the heart theme into the picture are good - it all works well as an integrated thing, unlike the rest of the ITV heart idents, which lack something.

However, I have to put in a word for the "growing flower" TVS ident of my childhood, all those pretty colours! And Coast-to-Coast! Do Meridian still do that? And does it still have Fred Dineage?

The stripes were only used on things such as "next" screens, and never became a full logo (with the smudge being used at this time).

The beauty of the Central logo is that it could be animated in many different ways (and yes, the music did make it). I remember one Saturday afternoon when a programme broke down they had a looping tape of logos that went round to a mix of the music used - it was brill. It is one of my greatest regrets that I did not get to video it! This would have been in the early 90's.

What those of you may not know who are from outside the Central region is that before it moved to having the same written logos as Carlton the cake changed from being multicoloured. They did a lot of single colour versions (for example all made out of pine) which were animated by being filmed from different angles (as I recall) before ending up in the usual formation. Many different versions in different colours and "textures" were used, althoguh the "Central Productions" logo kept the colours (as it did when it was used in the titles of some of the sub-regions news at some points).

>the new style Carlton idents... it all works well as an integrated thing, unlike the rest of the ITV heart idents, which lack something.

It certainly does. As sad as I am to see the Central name go the Carlton look is far better than the generic [itv] version (although the littlest region, Channel, seem to have made the best job of using it). However, I did feel that the old Central logo could have glinted off the heart where the star does and therefore it could all be linked in together...

>... Coast-to-Coast! Do Meridian still do that? And does it still have Fred Dineage?

Meridian do the dully named "Meridian Tonight" (they haven't gathered that regional news programmes in the south need a repeated word i.e. DAY by DAY, COAST to COAST) but yes, Fred Dineage is still there (If you are in the "south" of the region anyhow).

the littlest region, Channel, seem to have made the best job of using it).

They have, although I'm sceptical of how well it works on screen, you see, the little Channel logo is animates, I think the globe revolves and the heart twists round like the gold heart Ident ITV used when they first got the new logo, It might looka bit cluttered is all.

However, I did feel that the old Central logo could have glinted off the heart where the star does and therefore it could all be linked in together...


Except that, sadly, the old Central logo was retired on the quiet way before the new Carlton name came in - there were the hit-and-miss Carlton-style idents with the word doing strange things - remember?

>Except that, sadly, the old Central logo was retired on the quiet way before the new Carlton name came in - there were the hit-and-miss Carlton-style idents with the word doing strange things - remember?

In the Central South region we were actually informed that it was going. The Friday before it changed (and the news did too) it was said on a monthly TV roundup they did (mainly promoting things coming soon to ITV) that from Monday there would be a new look and that they were saying goodbye to an old friend (i.e. the logo). Having said that, we were probably told because Wesley Smith (the presenter) seems to be a bit of a TV fan and was probably sad it was going. Judging from other packages he has done for the programme he would probably enjoy sites like this...

So yes, I do remember the logo had gone - I was possibly just trying to forget (apart from the A as a transmitter logo, which was OK). A man can dream that it could work, can't he?

Talking of the Carlton style idents, does anyone else think that they were probably introduced as a "stop-gap" measure to try and reduce loyalty to the Central name by first removing the logo. I imagine there would have been even more outcry in the region if they went straight from classic Central to being Carlton.

>Talking of the Carlton style idents, does anyone else think that they were probably introduced as a "stop-gap" measure to try and reduce loyalty to the Central name by first removing the logo. I imagine there would have been even more outcry in the region if they went straight from classic Central to being Carlton.



Almost certainly, I'd say

>The beauty of the Central logo is that it could be animated in many different ways (and yes, the music did make it). I remember one Saturday afternoon when a programme broke down they had a looping tape of logos that went round to a mix of the music used - it was brill. It is one of my greatest regrets that I did not get to video it! This would have been in the early 90's.
>
>What those of you may not know who are from outside the Central region is that before it moved to having the same written logos as Carlton the cake changed from being multicoloured. They did a lot of single colour versions (for example all made out of pine) which were animated by being filmed from different angles (as I recall) before ending up in the usual formation

Wow, you'd never know from down here. The only time I saw it animate must have been a childhood memory from the 80's (cos how long has it been since you saw ITV logos animate outside thier region, right?) and it had lots of balls bouncing into the sections on the edge and bringing them colour.

I always thought that'd have boring idents but now I know I was wrong.

cos how long has it been since you saw ITV logos animate outside thier region, right

They dropped idents at the start of programmes New Year 1988, although they'd been dropped for children's programmes some time before

>They dropped idents at the start of programmes New Year 1988, although they'd been dropped for children's programmes some time before

I was hoping in October 1998 when they drop the 'for ITV' on the end captions that they would reinstate animated logos at the start. But I wasn't really surprised when it wasn't to be.

I never understood why they dropped the 'for ITV' bit on the end captions. I was an ideal bit of branding for the channel.

The reason the "for ITV" bit was dropped was partly to do with the introduction of the new [itv] logo but also in preparation for the start of [itv2]. Since quite a few [itv] progs are repeated on [itv2] (under the dubious banner of "Unmissable [itv]"), it was easier to drop the "for ITV" bit so as not to confuse it with the [itv2].

In reply to Ben about Meridian Tonight and Fred Drainage (no-one else can spell his name so why should I?) along with David C, the programme really differs very little from TVS's Coast-to-Coast. The titles and music may have changed a bit. The simulcasts may have increased from two (Southampton and Maidstone) to three (same places plus Newbury). But you still get the chatty section leading up to weather forecast (placed within the programme, not plonked after it with sponsor caps on it) and in Southampton you get the ritual piss-take by Fred and Debbie Thrower (another old name) of the weather forecaster, be it Carl Tyler (mizzzdeee 'n' murrrkeee ...) or occasionally Martyn Davies (who usually does ITV National Weather). Maidstone and Newbury have to make do with handing over to a recording of CT or MD as they don't have their own in-house forecasters.

But it does work ... and it still beats the Beeb in the ratings!

The new STV idents are excellent & no mention of ITV at all during continuity announcements...same goes for Grampian which is exactly the same look.

Nice to hear Meridian sticks to the old ways like Tyne Tees, with it's theatrical fits of laughter between Bob Johnson (weatherman) and Mike Neville (presenter). The programme wouldn't be the same without them. Although as Andrew Bowden points out on his site, nothing beats Paul Frost's 5-minute monologues about what he did on holiday, nutters he met on Middlesbrough high street etc. Brilliant.

Best current ident? God that's a toughie, there's so many good ones about (not). Probably Channels local ident, because it is a modern version of the old standard of something forming into something. Definitely beats the boring live-action crap we all have to put up with normally...

Would I be contraversial if I said that one of the best idents has to be Yorkshire's from the mid 1990's (certainly was around in 1995)? The one I am thinking of is where you have a narrow abr across the middle of the screen, with different (changing) images in, depending on what logo it was (daytime/evening/drama...) and the Y in the centre. I think it, and the music, worked well and felt very modern and effective. Pitty it was not around for that long as it soon became Channel 3 Yorkshire.

Channel 3 Yorkshire - I though that madness only went as far as TTTV? And I think the ident you describe sounds like one of the 1989 corporate ITV idents, they had the bar and the changing images - as well as quite a groovy cornet solo if I recall!

>Channel 3 Yorkshire - I though that madness only went as far as TTTV? And I think the ident you describe sounds like one of the 1989 corporate ITV idents, they had the bar and the changing images - as well as quite a groovy cornet solo if I recall!

C3Yorkshire never technically happened, although as the revolving ident went round the Y changed to a 3 and back again.

The ident David is thinking of came after the ITV generic ident where a Y came slowly from the centre of the screen and positioned itself and images moved behind it. I actually have a copy on my computer somewhere if you want to see it. Nice jingle too.

Andrew -- I have lost that ident, when my computer's HDD crashed. As you got it off me is there any chance of having a copy of it back (I will be making that YTV site sometime soon...)?

Cheers matey...

Yep - that's the ident I was thinking of, Andrew. For those of you who have not come across it before (and it is often missed out on various web pages) the daytime version is on the TV Ark site (http://www.tv-ark.co.uk). It is listed at 1996 on the Yorkshire page.

It's not missed out on my website!

I've got it, and the clock to match on my YTV pages (not to mention a real video of the Channel 3 Yorkshire ident - announcers did occasionally refer to the channel as such). My apologies to L�am, who I know can't see my website(!)

http://members.xoom.com/roundthe/regions.html

>Andrew -- I have lost that ident, when my computer's HDD crashed. As you got it off me is there any chance of having a copy of it back (I will be making that YTV site sometime soon...)?

I'll try to remember to dig it out. Do you want the other, rotating Y one as well? (1998 i think). Oh and the red email address is correct isn't it?

If anyone else wants any of Jase's AVIs... :)
Now that I've found out who actually sent them to me :)

>It's not missed out on my website!
>
>I've got it, and the clock to match on my YTV pages (not to mention a real video of the Channel 3 Yorkshire ident - announcers did occasionally refer to the channel as such). My apologies to L�am, who I know can't see my website(!)
>
WatchGuard firewall: Response denied from http://206.132.163.167:80/roundthe/regions.html: Can't parse HTTP header


If that makes any sense, this is why the site is blocked.....

BEST IDENTS:
GRAMPIAN 3D FLAG USED FROM OCT 98-FEB 2000
LWT NEW STYLE LETTERS USED FROM 1996/7-NOV 1999, RE-EDITED HEART OF LIFE MARCH 2000-
THAMES REFLECTION 1969-1989, 21 YEARS 1989, & TRIANGLE IN THE CLOUDS 1991-1992
ATV IN COLOUR 1969-1981
TVS FINAL IDENT 1989-1992
HTV FIRST COMPUTER GRAPHIC 1986-1989
UTV NEW FOR 2000 3D THING 2000-

THESE ARE JUST WHAT I PERSONALLY LIKE I AM NOT DERANGED OR ANYTHING