Border Television

This article is about the TV idents. For the production logos, see ITV Border Productions.

Credits

Editions by
Michael Kenchington

Background

Border Television was launched on September 1, 1961 as the ITV franchise holder for the Cumbria region in England, as well as the southern regions of Scotland. It also served the Isle of Man from 1965 onwards. As an independent station, Border was best known for the news programme Lookaround and the coupler game show Mr and Mrs. Capitol Radio owned the station for a short time in 2000, before selling it to Granada in July 2001, and after the Carlton-Granada merger in 2004, Border ceased to exist as a separate brand.

1st ID (September 1, 1961-August 31, 1971)

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Visuals: On a black background is a symbol that looks like a stylized "B" but which also supposedly represents the station's broadcast area (Cumbria and southern Scotland), with the words "Border Television" in Helvetica below.

Trivia: The symbol (referred to by locals as "the chopsticks") was selected from over 100 designs submitted to the station. It was drawn up by one of Britain’s leading industrial designers who, among many other designs, produced the then-present BBC-tv symbol.

Variant: At the beginning of some shows, "presents" can be seen below.

Technique: A still, printed image.

Audio: Usually none, though sometimes there is an announcer reading out official ITA information.

2nd ID (September 1, 1971-September 1, 1989)

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Visuals: On a blue background is the Border symbol and the words "BORDER TELEVISION", again in Helvetica, in a rectangular box with rounded corners.

Accompanying clock ident: The clock has a white colour to it and has dots to represent the hours (larger ones for the cardinal hours), while on a black square. The top is dominated by a blue rectangle with the Border symbol on the left, the text "Border Television" on the top, and a underline extending from the symbol's own line.

Variant: Initially, the word "COLOUR" would be present below the box.

Technique: A still, computerized graphic.

Audio: None.

3rd ID (September 1, 1989-September 1992)

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Visuals: On a black background, a dark blue "river" is seen. On top of the river, is a light blue CGI rendition of the "B" from before and below it is "BORDER" in the Palatino font. The logo then wavers and disperses into the river, and in its place, various images of ITV shows fly by from the right to the left, such as the Elizabeth Tower, a white bird, a basketball player, etc. As these images fly by, the letters "I" and "T", followed by half of the letter "V", fade in one by one. Finally, a vertical triangle appears in place of the other half of the "V", containing part of the "B" in the Border logo in white, against a blue background. The river fades out.

Variant: A still version with both the 1989 ITV logo (except for the triangle) and the BORDER text in white exists for some junctions.

Technique: A mix of live-action and computer animation effects, designed by English Markell Pockett.

Audio: A rather airy synthesised flute theme that culminates in a 5-note trumpet fanfare, sometimes with the flute echoing at the end. Composed by David Dundas as an ITV jingle. A continuity announcement may be used, as well. The jingle was adopted from the full theme.

Legacy: This logo is a favourite of many UK logo enthusiasts.

4th ID (September 1992-September 4, 1994)

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Visuals: On a cloudy grey background, the "B" symbol from before (now tinted light blue) unfolds horizontally. The word "BORDER" in Book Antiqua Italic then unfolds in a similar fashion, letter by letter.

Technique: 2D computer animation by Liquid Image in Glasgow.

Audio: Same as the previous logo, but edited slightly.

5th ID (September 5, 1994-November 7, 1999)

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  1994 version
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  1995 version
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  1995 version (alternate)

Visuals: The "B" symbol, now in 3D, flies onto the centre of the screen. The "BORDER" text, in the same font as before, zooms into view letter by letter.

Variants: The ident featured several backgrounds during its run:

• 1994-1995: A blue, rocky background.
• 1995-1999: A rippling water background. From this point onwards, the "BORDER" text is rendered in 3D.
• 1995-1999: An abstract blue background with rotating gears.

Technique: CGI by Liquid Image.

Audio:

• 1994-1995: Same as the previous logo.
• 1995-1999: A more soothing rearrangement of the 1989 ITV logo's music.
• 1995-1999: A formal sounding tune played on a horn.

6th ID (November 8, 1999-October 27, 2002)

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  1999 version
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  2001 version

Visuals: A short film plays, which culminates in the appearance of a heart. The heart flashes, which transitions to a blue background with spinning heart panels segmented in three. The yellow text "BORDER", in the Palatino font is shown with a blue border surrounding it (the symbol is not shown here), and at the bottom of the border in a blue square are the letters "itv".

Variant: Starting on August 11, 2001, during the switch to ITV1, a "1" inside a yellow square was added next to the ITV logo, which has been made significantly larger.

Technique: A combination of live-action and computer animation, designed by English & Pockett.

Audio: A tense orchestrated fanfare during the initial short film/logo animation culminating in a 5-note piano fanfare and a dramatic synth fanfare, the ladder plays when the logo is fully formed. The continuity announcements sometimes accompanied the synth fanfare.

Legacy: This was an unpopular logo among many, due to the consolidation of the unique visual identities of ITV into one.

External Links

• Border Television on TVARK