BBC Video/Warning Screens

Main

1st Warning (October 6, 1980-1981)

VHS variant
Laserdisc variant

Visuals:On a black background, the white text "THIS VIDEO CASSETTE MAY NOT BE PERFORMED IN PUBLIC BROADCAST, HIRED, LOANED, COPIED OR REPRODUCED IN ANY WAY" in seen in Futura.

Variant: On Laserdisc releases, "VIDEO CASSETTE" is replaced by "VIDEODISC". The text is also larger.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on BBC Video's first Laserdisc and VHS releases.

2nd Warning (1981-1984)

Normal variant
BeebTots variant

Visuals:On a black background, the following text is seen:

"THE RECORDING, COPYING, LOAN,
UNAUTHORISED HIRE, PUBLIC SHOWING
OR BROADCASTING OF THIS
BBC VIDEOGRAM, IS PROHIBITED."

The text is in a Arial font and spaced out further than the previous warning.

Variant: On the children's video BeebTots, the background is green. This reveals a black outline around the text.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on BBC Video VHS, Laserdisc, and Betamax releases from the period.

3rd Warning (1984-1988)

Normal variant
Early variant

Visuals:On a black background, the following text types in:

The recording, copying, loan, unauthorised hire, public showing or broadcasting of this BBC Videogram is prohibited. This videogram was produced on behalf of BBC Enterprises Ltd.

Variants:

Earlier tapes had the text still, all in white, and spaced further out.
The closing variant just has the warning fading in and out.
A closing variant has the opening variant playing in reverse. This appears on the 1985 release of Doctor Who: The Five Doctors.
On Children's Favourites (a video produced in conjunction by Marks & Spencer), the text is thinner, is all yellow, and the bottom section was altered to credit Marks & Spencer.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: None. On some tapes however, if you listen really closely, you can hear the 1984 version of the BBC Video logo music playing over it.

Availability: Seen on BBC Video tapes from 1984 until 1988. The early version is seen on early 1984 BBC Video tapes, including the original pre-cert release of Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius and Abigail's Party.

4th Warning (June 6, 1988-November 11, 1991)

Normal variant
WHSmith Video variant (Rupert and Friends, start)
WHSmith Video variant (Rupert and Friends, end)
WHSmith Video variant (All Creatures Great and Small: The Homecoming, start)
WHSmith Video variant (All Creatures Great and Small: The Homecoming, end)

Visuals:On a black background, the text "The recording, copying, loan, unauthorised hire, public showing or broadcasting of this BBC Enterprises videogram is prohibited." flip in from darkness in. After several seconds, it flips out, segueing into the BBC Video "COW Globe" logo.

Variants:

Like the previous warning, a still version with the warning fading in and out was used at the end of tapes.
On BBC Video World tapes, "unauthorised hire" is replaced by "hire of any kind".
On the WHSmith Video VHS of Rupert and Friends, the warning takes place on a white-black gradient, with the words in black. At the end of the tape, it takes place on a red gradient, with the words in white.
On the WHSmith Video VHS of Postman Pat and Friends, the normal colours are used, but with the BBC Enterprises reference removed.
On the WHSmith Video VHS of All Creatures Great and Small: The Homecoming, the above variant is used, but with the same colors from the Rupert and Friends variant (although the opening variant has the text in white with a black outline instead of being in black).

Technique: Possibly CGI.

Audio: None, until the end, where the bass drone from the BBC Video "COW Globe" music starts playing.

Availability: Seen on BBC Video tapes using the "COW Globe" logo.

On Australian releases, the tape's OFLC rating certificate appears in place of this warning.

5th Warning (1991-June 7, 2010)

1991 variant
1995 variant
1997 variant
DVD variant

Visuals:On a black background, white text in Futura scrolls up and stops at the center. It reads "THE RECORDING, COPYING, LOAN, UNAUTHORISED HIRE, PUBLIC SHOWING OR BROADCASTING OF THIS BBC ENTERPRISES VIDEOGRAM, IS PROHIBITED."

Variants:

Beginning in 1995, the words "BBC ENTERPRISES" were replaced with "BBC WORLDWIDE"
At the end of pre-1997 BBC videotapes, the warning fades in and fades out. However, this does not happen on post-1997 videotapes.
From November 1997 onwards, the font in the text is changed to Gill Sans.
On DVD releases, the word "VIDEOGRAM" was replaced by "DVD-VIDEO"
A 16:9 widescreen version of the DVD warning was introduced in 2000.
A 14:9 version of the tracking control and VHS warnings was introduced in 2001. In this variant, the text on both also scrolls up slightly faster.
On the BBC Active DVDs, "BBC WORLDWIDE" is replaced with "BBC ACTIVE".

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: None.

Audio Variants:

On 1990s-era reprints of 1980s BBC Video releases (especially reprints of tapes that originally used the 1984-1988 version of the 1980 BBC Video ident), you can briefly hear the faint music from the previous BBC Video logos.
At the end of some 1992-1997 tapes however, if you listen really closely, you can hear the end of the 1991 BBC Video logo's music playing over it.

Availability: Seen on BBC Video releases from the era, including all three Wallace and Gromit shorts.

Also seen on American BBC releases by CBS-Fox Video/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment until 2000, including Blackadder's Christmas Carol and Warner Home Video starting in 2000.
While the 2 Entertain warning would replace it, the DVD variant continued to appear on children's DVD releases, with it's final appearance being on LazyTown: Football Crazy!.
The 1997 VHS variant 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.

6th Warning (June 25, 1997)

Visuals:On a black background, white text appears fading in reading "The recording, copying, loan, unauthorised hire, public showing, or broadcasting of this DVD is strictly prohibited.". After a few seconds, it fades out.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: This can only be seen at the beginning and at the end of the Panasonic promotional UK DVD of A Close Shave.

Final Note

After BBC Video merged in 2004 with Video Collection International, it used the 2 Entertain warning.