Idents you like

[JesusAndYourBush]

That one always freaked me the fuck out.

Yeah I found the OU one a bit unsettling (I'm remembering one where 2 lines appeared, one from either side of the screen and form the logo, but may be misremembered) and the Anglia plastic horse as well.

One of my old housemates (he's dead now) went to school with a lad who's grandfather was one of the Rank gong men.

Fun fact: The gong was made of plaster of Paris and the sound effect was added on afterwards.

[Twed]

Further to the above, you may want to listen to Mordant Music's Dead Air, a concept album about a bombed-out TV station with Thames TV announcer Phillip Elsmore as the narrator (or rather, continuity announcer). I mention this because one of the track features a quick yet brilliant use of one of the above ident jingles.

Thanks for this!

[BlodwynPig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzq3nlYlLFQ&frags=pl%2Cwn

...and now on Southern, just before the 6 O'Clock News, we bring you a tale of ghosts, ghouls, and things that will ruin your childhood and send scars of sadness and horror through your adult life...it's "Terror Tales Before Supper"

[Chriddof]

Shit. Too much pomp. Bargain basement 80s shite. Kwik-Save. Fine-Fare. Shite.

Wasn't saying it was classy or anything. I like it because of how chintzy it is, with that demented tinfoil synth line.

[Neomod]

So 80's it hurts. Vestron Video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovV5hSn7wCA

[Keebleman]

I used to love this as a kid.  The visuals are like a tuppence-ha'penny Star Gate from 2001 and the music is a relaxing cross between Popcorn and Carl Orff's Gassenhauer.  The guy's voice is great too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C63FUQkbI54

[boki]

Yeah I found the OU one a bit unsettling

Same, but then I even found the Thames ident a bit eerie.

[Twed]

This is The Video Collection ident I remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nnLynXXr-E

I've just noticed this has a glitch about three seconds in! Marvelous.

[Head Gardener]

the classic Anglia TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u02ZP0TiNU
and the megamix version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byHwRRYse9Q

[gilbertharding]

I'm an Anglia kid too.

The sting they used at the beginning of their productions seems quite lengthy by today's standards, but the full version lasted what seemed an eternity, and they played it every day at the start of transmission (about 9am, I guess, in the days before there was Breakfast TV).

[the]

This OU one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZrLVF_8SkE

That is a knowingeye.

I like this one, there's a minor malfunction with the mechanical model that causes it to be slightly malformed.

Wonkyeye

If you shuttle between the ident from before and after the programme you can see the difference.


The full length OU theme is the bollocks by the way:

Leonard Salzedo - Divertimento, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (first movement ends at 2:00)

[Enzo]

Me too! Even 28 years later... OK, they moved on from them for a while, but have come back to them; it's amazing they've been using the same set of idents (albeit on and off) for nearly 3 decades. I doubt there can be many TV channels anywhere that can say the same.

EDIT: OK, so reading more in the Wiki they were retired in 2001, but brought back in 2014. Still a long time though.

BBC2 are going through a "revamp" from Thursday. The old idents will be gone and replaced by some shite.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/25/bbc-two-first-full-rebrand-25-years

[mothman]

Yeah, I saw. It's supposed to be the most complete revamp since 1990...