BBC Video/Production Logos: Difference between revisions

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1st Logo (6 October 1980-31 October 1988)	2nd Logo (6 June 1988-11 November 1991)	3rd Logo (1 July 1991-26 November 1997)	4th Logo (September 1992-1998?)	5th Logo (3 November 1997-2009)

1st Logo (6 October 1980-31 October 1988)

Normal
Black and white version
Variant seen on widescreen releases
Superimposed version
"VIDEO TASTIES" version
Rare closing
1981 closing
1983 closing
1984 closing
1985 closing
1988 closing

Logo:

Opening: Against a black background, many coloured parallelograms come from the top and bottom of the screen towards the middle, where a white four-pointed star is being drawn, with the smaller one starting with the top spire, while the large one starts with the left. The coloured shapes stop coming from the bottom as an orange line with a "V" shaped bend in the middle arrives, accompanied by a "shadow" effect. It stops below the star, and the parallelograms return from the bottom as the letters "BBC" and "IDEO" are drawn in white at either side of the "V", with the outsides first, then the insides on the left, then the reversed happening on the right. The line with the "V" is also traced over with white. After the logo forms, all the parallelograms eventually stop as a light shines inside the star and leaves a blue after-shadow.
Closing: The rainbow parallelograms are flying towards "BBC VIDEO", which disappears as if it was being played backwards; that is, it's sort of being "drawn away". The parallelograms stop and the 4-pointed star remains. As a copyright notice appears (in the Futura typeface) reading "© BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION and BBC ENTERPRISES LTD. (year in Roman numerals)", the star "shines" and is drawn away too, leaving a small light which flashes a few times and then fades.

Variants:

The amount of time between the words finishing drawing in and the parallelograms stopping may vary.
On 101 Great Goals, the logo is superimposed onto a football match. At the end, a still of the normal opening logo with a copyright stamp is used.
On widescreen releases, the words "This is a wide screen film" fade in shortly before the star stops shining.
The copyright date (in Roman numerals) may be in a different font other than Futura. It also appears that the 1981 and sometimes 1982 versions are the only ones that appear to be "natural" as the rest appear with some kind of video effect.
Starting in 1985, a shadow effect was added while the star is being drawn away.
On a small number of tapes, such as Wildlife Specials, the 1988 UK VHS release of The Young Ones, as well as Dad's Army tapes from the era, it cuts to the copyright notice whereas the whole thing is silent.
On Watch With Mother, the logo turns grey-scale when the "V" comes in; the closing starts in grey-scale but turns into colour before the text is drawn away. Another version of this exists where it fades to the B&W effect as well on some other releases.
On a promo variant, the logo seems to fly backwards as it finishes.
On a trailer/promo VHS, we see the regular logo for a few seconds until we cut to a black background with a blue book sideways with the print logo of the time. In the bottom (or in the end of the tape, the top), we see "NEW VIDEO TASTIES" in yellow. The closing logo starts when the text is drawn away, and the copyright date uses a 1982 version at its base, with an extra "I" added to the end of the copyright date to read instead as "MCMLXXXIII", and it fades out.
On rock concert releases, we see the text "ROCK FLASHBACK" appear in black, with a white outline. Another version has this in an orange Revue font with a yellow outline. The latter variant has an extra copyright added reading "Original recording © Deep Purple MCMLXXIV" below the normal copyright in a Helvetica font.
A shortened version of the closing variant exists, starting from the small light flashing.
On most U.S. video releases distributed by CBS/Fox Video or Playhouse Video, the copyright disclaimer in the closing version is blacked out due to legal reasons.

Technique: Advanced Scanimation.

Music/Sounds: There were six versions each for both opening and closing variants:

Opening:
- (1980-1984) A big band marching band-type tune, with kettle drums, in B♭ major. Used from the beginning until 1984.
- (1980-1984) A Moog synth tune with a marching-band flair (sounding similar to the first tune), also in B♭ major. Used in tandem with the first tune.
- (1981) An orchestrated version of the first and second tunes in a different key (C major), led by violins.
- (1981-1984) A laid-back rock version of the first and second tunes in a different key (D♯/E♭ major).
- (1984-1988) A bouncy synthesized theme that ends with drawn-out synth notes and a 3-note synth-horn fanfare. A "whoosh" is also used to mark the appearance of the "V". This is the one you are most likely to find and has been composed to match the animation as close as possible. Used from 1984 until the end, and was composed by Peter Howell, who also arranged the 1980's version of the Doctor Who theme.

Closing:
- (1980-1984 variant 1) A re-arranged version of the marching band-type tune with a powerful flourish.
- (1980-1984 variant 2) A re-arranged version of the Moog synth tune with a longer beginning and more grand ending.
- (1981) A slower re-arranged version of the string-led tune.
- (1981-1984) A slower re-arranged version of the rock tune with an electric guitar strum.
- (1984-1988) Ascending synth notes and chimes that lead into a shorter version of the opening logo's music with an extended, rather sombre ending.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On the Mister Smith's Garden trilogy, an extended version of the first track plays.
On The Queen's Birthday Parade, the end theme to the feature (a marching band) plays instead. The opening uses the first track.
On Watch with Mother, a music-box tune plays at the beginning and end.
On the closing variant for Col. Culpeper's Flying Circus, it's silent.

Availability:

Original Tracks: Rare. All of these tracks appeared on a majority of Laserdiscs released by BBC Video and very early pre-cert VHS releases.
- First Track: Mister Smith's Vegetable Garden, Mister Smith's Flower Garden, Mister Smith's Indoor Garden, Great Railways 1: Flying Scotsman (opening only), Sea Power, The Queen's Birthday Parade (opening only), Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon Kings, Snooker Century Breakers, The People's Champion, Botham's Ashes, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 1, Fundamental Frolics, The Good Life, Deep Purple: California Jam - Rock Flashback, Animal Magic Presents Keeper Johnny Morris, Play Golf with Peter Alliss, Harry Carpenter's Videobook of Sport: Volume 1, The Goodies and the Beanstalk, The Gillette London Marathon,
- Second Track: BBC Children's Favourites, Beebtots, Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (also found on the DVD release as an Easter Egg), Toyah At the Rainbow, Toyah: Good Morning Universe, Eric Clapton on Whistle Test, John Martyn: In Vision 1973-1981, Play School, The Magic Roundabout, Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius (pre-cert release),
- Third Track: The Story of British Furniture, Delia Smith's Home Baking, Treasures Of The British Crown, Lyn Marshall's Everyday Yoga, All Creatures Great and Small, High Noon, Sky at Westminster Abbey,
- Fourth Track: The BBC Videobook of British Garden Birds, Falklands - Task Force South, Open All Hours, Abigail's Party, Great Railways: Flying Scotsman (closing only)
1984-1988 Track: Much more frequent that the last four.
- It appears on the original Fawlty Towers tapes, and the three Postman Pat 1986 VHS releases too.
- The opening and closing logos appear on the 1986 Playhouse Video issues of the BBC Video release of Doctor Who.
- Strangely, the 5th closing variant also made a surprise appearance on early Netflix prints of the BBC version of The Secret Garden, possibly due to using an old video master, however it was then later taken out of later Netflix prints with the 2009 logo appearing at the start of the programme instead.
- It also appears on early releases of Series 1 of Last of the Summer Wine, including the first DVD releases (which have the episodes as compilation films for some reason).
- The shortened closing variant can be spotted at the end of the UK VHS release of Col. Culpeper's Flying Circus.
- This logo was used concurrently with the next one from June to October 1988.
- It also appears on the 1988 UK VHS releases of Fireman Sam: The Hero Next Door and Fireman Sam 2: Lost Cat, respectively.

2nd Logo (6 June 1988-11 November 1991)

Logo:

Opening: On a black background, the text from the warning screen flies in. After several seconds, the text flies out as we fade to a map of the world, metallic gold (land) on blue (sea), which waves up and down. The map then folds into a rotating globe (which is a modified version of the BBC1 "Computer Originated World" ident from 1985-1991). The reverse of the globe can be seen through the "sea" of the globe. From the front and bottom of the screen, "BBC VIDEO" in a copper Times-like font flies in. When it stops below the globe, two of the letters sparkle before the programme starts.
Closing: The sequence reverses, with the "BBC VIDEO" text flying out and the globe unfolding back into a map. The same copyright text from the previous logo appears.

Variants:

On Australian releases, the tape's OFLC rating certificate appears in place of the copyright info.
Starting in late 1990, the copyright text is in a different font other than ITC Avant Garde Gothic.
A rare extended variant was seen on some UK VHS releases, in which the globe turns for longer.
On BBC Video World tapes, the warning text has a different layout, and the "BBC Video" text is replaced with "BBC Video World".
On certain UK VHS releases such as Bill & Ben Flower Pot Men, as the text finishes sparkling, it would cut to a promo card.

Technique: All CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Calm synth music with tribal beats. For the closing version, each section of the opening logo's music plays in reverse order. The music samples "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by Isao Tomita while the beginning may also sound like the song "Hallelujah" by "Enigma".

Music/Sounds Variants:

The closing variant could rarely have the music from the 1984-1988 version of the 1st logo.
A stereo mix version exists, but is rarely used. This version has been spotted on Blackadder Goes Forth as well as some 1990-1991 UK VHS tapes, including Fireman Sam 5: Norman's Pitfall, Fireman Sam 6: All in a Good Cause and Pingu: Barrel of Fun, respectively.
On some UK VHS releases such as Captain Pugwash: Seafaring Tales and the 1988 UK VHS release of Postman Pat's Big Video, among others, the music would continue playing throughout the tape's title card.

Availability: Uncommon. Not as common as the previous logo, but still appears on BBC material from the time, and also appears on some older CBS/Fox releases in the United States.

Blackadder Goes Forth is one video that has this logo.
The 2020 Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 26 (UK/Australia)/Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy Complete Season Three (US) Blu-ray box set also retains this logo on the alternate 1991 VHS cut of the Doctor Who serial "The Curse of Fenric".
On the logo's final four months, it was used in tandem with the next one.
It also appears on the 1988 UK VHS releases of Postman Pat's Big Video, Rupert, Stoppit and Tidyup, and Play School: Replay, the 1990 UK VHS release of Edd the Duck: Awesome Dood! and the 1991 UK VHS release of Pingu: Barrel of Fun, respectively, as well.
It also appears on the Fireman Sam UK VHS releases from Fireman Sam 3: Sam's Day Off to Fireman Sam 6: All in a Good Cause as well.
It also appears on the UK VHS releases of Fantastic Max and The Further Adventures of SuperTed, respectively, as well.

3rd Logo (1 July 1991-3 November 1997)

Logo:

Opening: On a black background, a blue streak comes in from the right of the screen and a green streak comes in from the left of the screen. The two streaks then intersect to form a red line in the middle of the screen and they leave behind green and blue lines afterwards. The BBC boxes fade in above, first rather dimly before fully brightening up, forming a CGI version of the 1988 BBC logo used at the time. The letters also appear to have shadows underneath them and the lines have glows on the bottom of the blocks.
Closing: Same as the opening, except with the BBC Enterprises copyright disclaimer appearing on the bottom. Starting in 1995, "BBC ENTERPRISES" is replaced with "BBC WORLDWIDE".

Trivia:

Before going onto usage for BBC Video, the logo was created by designers Sue Worthy and Brendon Norman-Ross in 1989 as an ID for the end of BBC trailers and promos at the time. As the streaks animate inwards, the words "TELEVISION" and "RADIO" in the then-current BBC corporate font (Futura Bold Condensed Italic) fade in and out above the smaller 1988 logo as it appears. Said ID can be viewed here, if you're in the UK; for people outside the UK, said ID can be viewed here.
The 1988 BBC logo (which was designed by Michael Peters) first appeared on-air the very same year on the BBC Sport titles and some regional news programmes. The logo then appeared on copyright tag of television programmes and radio station in 1990 and appeared on the rebranded BBC1 and BBC2 on 16 February 1991.

Variants:

On the 1996 UK VHS release of Bottom Fluff, a tape containing outtakes and unused footage from the sitcom Bottom, silhouettes of the show's stars, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson can be seen messing around at the bottom of the screen during the second half of the logo.
On the 1995 UK VHS release of the Doctor Who episode "The Five Doctors", the logo is snatched up by the Time Scoop (the device that kidnapped the Doctor's incarnations and his companions at the beginning of the story).
Early releases with this logo have the copyright disclaimer in a different font (e.g. Helvetica or Gill Sans).
Starting in mid-1997, the closing variant has a different caption, saying "Distributed under licence by BBC Worldwide Ltd." and underneath there is an copyright date saying "© BBC (in its print logo) (year in Roman numerals)".
On They Think It's All Over: No Holds Barred, the closing logo had a different copyright notice reading:

© TALKBACK PRODUCTIONS LIMITED/
BBC TELEVISION
(year in Roman numerals)

At the end of the 1997 UK VHS release of BBC TV Cooks - Rick Stein Cooks Fish, the copyright stamp below the BBC Worldwide disclaimer reads "© BBC Worldwide (year in Roman numerals)".
On The Best of The Mrs. Merton Show: Series One and Two, the closing logo has the "BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION" caption removed.
At the end of The Wrong Trousers on the 1997 USA laserdisc of all three Wallace & Gromit short films, the closing variant is still.

Technique: Simple CGI.

Music/Sounds: A sombre 9-note piano piece followed by the sound of a choir holding the final note, sometimes extended. This was composed on a Korg M1 synthesiser.

Music/Sounds Variants:

A low tone version of the music exists. On this version, the music comes in when the green and blue streaks merge.
On the "Five Doctors" variant, a spinning whirl sound is heard when the Time Scoop steals the BBC logo.
At the start and end of the 1997 UK VHS release of Diana: A Celebration (one of the last tapes to use this logo), it is completely silent, which is likely to pay respect to Princess Diana, who died a few weeks prior. This also occurs with Poldark Series 1 Volume 1.
- This also happens at the end of the former's USA VHS release due to the next logo appearing at the start instead.
On some re-releases (mainly from those that originally contained the 1984 version of the 1980 logo) such as the 1994 UK VHS re-release of Arsenal 1886-1986, if you listen very closely, you might hear the 1984 music from the 1980 logo playing faintly over the logo and warning screen, due to poor plastering.

Availability: Common.

Appears on some BBC programmes on UK VHS releases from the era, like Series 1 of Yes Prime Minister and The Animals of Farthing Wood, among others.
The Doctor Who variant is also included on the 2008 DVD release of "The Five Doctors", not as the opening logo, but as an Easter egg. To find it, go to "Special Features" on Disc 2, then highlight "Nationwide" and go left.
This logo is intact on the DVD release of Wallace and Gromit in Three Grand Adventures from DreamWorks Home Entertainment (around 2004, but not seen on the later HiT Entertainment reprint).
This also appears on former Netflix prints of A Blackadder Christmas Carol, possibly due to using a video master; presumably, it also appeared on PBS broadcasts of the same, as the CBS/Fox release followed this with the 1991 BBC Lionheart Television logo.
It can also sometimes plaster previous logos on re-releases, and is seen on all Pingu VHS releases at the time in the UK (Barrel of Fun used the last logo though, although a rare print contains this logo instead which also exists).
A silent variant (with the 1993 (MCMXCIII) copyright date) is also included at the end of the UK DVD of Poldark Series 1 Volume 1 released by Playback in 2003 due to it coming from the 1993 video master.
The closing logo (with the 1994 (MCMXCIV) copyright date) is also included at the end of the DVD of Doctor Who: More Than 30 Years in the Tardis from the Doctor Who: The Legacy Collection DVD box set released in 2013.
The closing logo (with the 1995 (MCMXCV) copyright date) is also included at the end of Red Dwarf Smeg Outs on the Red Dwarf: Just the Smegs UK DVD released in 2007.
Both the opening and closing variants are also left intact on "The Colin Baker Years" when it was re-released in full as a special feature on the Doctor Who Season 22 Blu-Ray boxset released in 2022.
This logo also appears three times on the 1997 USA Laserdisc release of all three Wallace & Gromit short films, both before and after A Grand Day Out (albeit in low tone), one with the still variant mentioned above, and one at the end of A Close Shave.
- However, the next logo appears instead at the beginning of the latter.
It also appears on the 1995 UK VHS release of Felix the Cat: The Leprechaun King as well.
So far, the only known appearance of this logo on DVD during its lifespan was at the end of a UK promotional DVD for A Close Shave, released by Panasonic in June 1997.
In the logo's final month, it was used in tandem with the 5th one.
It was also used in tandem with the next one on North American tapes, with North American tapes using this at the end of tapes that have the next one at the start.

4th Logo (September 1992-1998?)

Logo: Against a white marble background, three black boxes swing in from the right. As they turn sideways, the letters "BBC" enter each one. Once the 1988 BBC logo is formed, three coloured streaks (one blue, one red, and one green) pass under it and leave similarly coloured lines under the boxes. Finally, the word "VIDEO" in grey appears under the completed logo.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Music/Sounds Variant: At the start of the US VHS release version of Diana: A Celebration, it is completely silent.

Availability: Rare.

It appears on some CBS/Fox and Fox Video North American home video releases of BBC programmes, such as Absolutely Fabulous.
This logo was used in tandem with the previous one.
The only known UK VHS release to use this logo was of Red Dwarf V.
In the logo's final months, it was used in tandem with the next one.
This logo also doesn't appear at the end of those releases as the previous one with the copyright notices appears instead.
One of the last tapes to contain this logo was volume 3 of To the Manor Born.

5th Logo (3 November 1997-2009)

Rare "VIDEO" variant

Logo:

Opening: On a navy blue background, there are several ribbons moving from top right and top middle of the screen and the bottom middle of the screen highlighted in red, blue, and green. The 1997 BBC logo (in white) fades in.
Closing: Same as above, except when the BBC logo fades in, the BBC Worldwide copyright disclaimer and copyright date fade in. This was used on DVDs and VHS's until 2005.

Trivia: The background and colours of the ribbons are based on the flag of the BBC between 1997 and 2021.

Variants:

Sometimes, the logo can be in widescreen; also, the ribbons move differently. This is mostly seen on DVDs of shows with the widescreen format.
An extremely rare Italian variant (presumably a prototype) exists, where the ribbon is thicker and only moves a little bit before looping. The background is also black and the BBC logo is slightly different, with shorter squares and black text.
On The Best of BBC Comedy, the text "BBC Worldwide & The Sunday People Present The BBC Comedy Collection" appears on the background in Gill Sans. BBC Worldwide and The Sunday People have their logos represented instead, and they, along with "BBC Comedy Collection" are much larger.
- At the end of the tape, we see a line-up of BBC Comedy videos of the time being shown on the animated ribbons background. After a while, the line-up fades over to the closing version of the BBC Video ident.
Sometimes around 2004, the BBC copyright stamp doesn't have "BBC" in its print logo anymore.
There is a slightly altered variant where the ribbons are further away; this can be seen on blue and black backgrounds.
On the Polish VHS release of The Incredible Adventures of Wallace & Gromit, the logo is shortened so that only the remaining animation (with the BBC logo) is shown. At the end of the tape, the logo is static.
On a promo for Walking with Dinosaurs, found on the US VHS release of Lake Placid, a rare variant appears with "VIDEO" written below the logo.

Technique: Computer animation, quite modern for the time.

Music/Sounds: A calm synth-string/harp theme with a hi-hat clash that's actually a slightly more upbeat arrangement of the 1991 theme.

Music/Sounds Variants:

For the logo's first year, the music was slightly different.
The "prototype" variant is silent.
On The Best of BBC Comedy variant, an announcer says "You're watching The Best of BBC Comedy, a hilarious compilation prepared exclusively for readers of The Sunday People."
- At the end of the tape, the same announcer says "We hope you enjoyed this selection of The Best of BBC Comedy, specially compiled for the readers of the Sunday People. Why not watch them in full with your very own collection of BBC comedy videos? Available from all good video retailers." After he finishes, the BBC Video theme plays out over the closing.
On the Polish VHS release of The Incredible Adventures of Wallace & Gromit, the Wallace & Gromit theme plays over the logo. At the end of the tape, it is silent.

Availability: Common. Seen on VHS tapes and DVDs released by the company from 1997 to 2009. One example being the 2003 DVD of Great Wildlife Moments with David Attenborough.

One of the last releases to use this logo was the Warner/2 Entertain Region 1 DVD of Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection - Remastered.
The 2000 closing variant is strangely seen on the 2005 Region 4 DVD Release of Wallace and Gromit: 3 Cracking Adventures (possibly because the master is likely taken from the original 2000 UK DVD release, it is also likely a reprint of the original 2001 region 4 DVD).
The 2020 Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 26 (UK/Australia)/Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy Complete Season Three (US) Blu-ray box set retains this logo on the alternate 1998 VHS cut of the Doctor Who serial "Battlefield".
Surprisingly, the closing version of the logo (with the 2006 (MMVI) copyright date) appears on BBC Children's Favourites DVD, released in 2005.
The "prototype" logo was seen on DeAgostini releases of Teletubbies in Italy.
The altered ribbon variants were found in the game files of the PC version of Play With the Teletubbies!.
It also makes an appearance on the 2013 DVD release of the Doctor Who episode "The Ice Warriors" as part of the "VHS Links" bonus feature, due to it being taken from the 1998 VHS master.
The 2000 closing variant was also seen on a 7 November 2022 airing of the Only Fools and Horses episode "The Longest Night" on GOLD as well.

BBC Video

BBC Home Entertainment

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 *It also appears on the UK VHS releases of ''Fantastic Max'' and ''The Further Adventures of SuperTed'', respectively, as well.
-===3rd Logo (1 July 1991-26 November 1997)===
+===3rd Logo (1 July 1991-3 November 1997)===
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