Draft:E4

Credits

Background

E4 is a sister channel to Channel 4, launched in the UK on January 18, 2001. It airs programming for younger audiences than the main channel, such as reality TV, American imports, and youth-oriented dramas, most notable being the long-running soap opera Hollyoaks. In the past, the network also aired lots of comedy, but most of the comedy has been moved to another sister channel, E4 Extra, that was launched in 2022.

Note: This page only covers the channel's main idents. For the many E-Stings made for the network, go to this page instead.

1st Ident (January 18, 2001-2004)

• 

  "Breakdown"

• 
  "Race"
• 
  "Gravy"
• 
  "Coloured Bars"
• 
  "Rabbits"
• 
  "Factory"
• 
  "Escape"
• 
  "Puzzle"
• 
  "Shattered"
• 
  "Car"
• 
  "Burgers"
• 
  "Bullets"
• 
  "Treasure"
• 
  "Lab"
• 
  "Ambulance"

Visuals: Depends on the variant, though CGI, sapient E4 logos with squeaky voices and mischievous personalities, as well as the destruction of Channel 4 idents, are two very common themes.

Variants:

• Breakdown: The teal variant of the 1999 Channel 4 "rectangles" ident starts as normal. Suddenly, a purple "E4" leaps out through the lines. It halts their movement, and holds the lines open like an elevator, revealing the room behind it. Other colorful "E4"s, in red, blue, yellow, and green, leap over the purple "E4" as it struggles to keep the rectangles open. The purple "E4" strains itself, causing one of the rectangles to fall to the ground and the Channel 4 logo in its square (which was suspended to the mechanism) to burn out its light. The purple "E4" falls over, taking the rectangle to its left with it. It looks around alarmed as the whole Channel 4 ident mechanism breaks down, with most of the rectangles collapsing and the Channel 4 light flickering in and out. The other "E4"s hop by from from left to right, and the purple "E4" joins them.
  • An extended cut exists where the "E4"s continue to hop around the room.
• Race: Two slot race cars, a red one numbered "6" and the other one in yellow and marked "E4", start to race. They zoom past the plastic scenery, including figures of the pit crew. A police car gets involved and halts the race. An aerial shot reveals that the track is in the shape of the E4 logo.
• Gravy: A mother prepares mashed potatoes and sausages in a kitchen. At the table, her three daughters are remarkably impatient, screaming at her for the food and loudly banging their forks and knives against the table. The mom pours gravy over the dish, which takes the shape of the E4 logo. Exhausted, she yells "coming!" After a bit, she lifts the plate.
• Coloured Bars: SMPTE color bars are shown. The bars are zoomed into, revealing that they are made of monochrome E4 logos and that two "E4"s, a purple and a blue, are standing in the wrong places. The two "E4"s swap spots. The screen zooms out again.
• Rabbits: Inside a house, plants grow taller in time-lapse photography. Various mail and a telephone are thrown into the plants. Three white rabbits, a New Zealand, an English lop, and a smaller lop (either a Holland lop or mini lop), are dropped in. They hop around munching on the plants. An overhead shot reveals that they ate an "E4" into the plants.
• Factory: The blue 1999 Channel 4 "rectangles" ident starts as normal. The camera pans over it as the Channel 4 square logo slides out of the way like a sliding door, revealing an orange light. 1982 Channel 4 logos line up to fall into the light, moved forward by the top of the rectangles functioning as a conveyor belt. As they fall, the blocks of the "4"s separate and form into multicolored individual E4 logos. The "E4"s then fall into packing peanuts within "E4"-marked boxes on a conveyor belt.
• Escape: The orange 1999 Channel 4 "rectangles" ident starts as normal. A pan underneath the ident reveals that the rectangles are lasers that five "E4"s (green, red, blue, purple, and yellow) are trying to dodge. While the others escape, the yellow "E4" lags behind, touches a laser, and gets caught. The lasers turn off to reveal a spotlight on the terrified yellow "E4". It turns around, only to get gunned down and fall on the floor. It turns out, however, that bullet holes only formed around the "E4", leaving the impression of the E4 logo on the ground. The yellow "E4", happy to be immune to bullets, gets up and skips away.
• Puzzle: On a bare hospital bed in a dark, grimy room, a blue "E4" wakes up in a cold, panicked sweat. It watches in horror as the other "E4"s hop around it. The camera zooms out and flips upside-down to reveal that the other "E4"s are exploring the stairs from "Relativity" by M.C. Escher. The blue "E4" becomes even more frightened when it realizes that its bed is upside-down. It falls a long way through the stairs to its hospital bed, again in a cold sweat as the cycle repeats itself.
• Shattered: The 1982 Channel 4 logo starts as normal. It falls over and shatters. From the shattered pieces, many "E4"s are born, gleefully hopping away. The others outside of a single purple "E4" leave, and the purple "E4" takes the place of the Channel 4 logo.
• Car: A man drives along a countryside road, with a air freshener in the shape of the E4 logo, coming along a man pushing along his bike. The man rudely insults the man by saying "Oy! Oy, mate! Mate! Push your bike, mate! (Laughs) Oy, your wheels going around! (Laughs rudely)" as he passes along, before cutting to the car on the side of the road with cows in a nearby pasture.
• Burgers: The camera pans up to the sign of a restaurant named Franco's Take Away. Inside, a man orders 2 burgers to go as the camera shows shots of the menu, a worker mopping the floor, and the burger being made with "E4"-shaped patties. After the burgers are made and given to the man, he thanks them and walks off, cutting to a different outside shot of the restaurant.
• Bullets: At a shooting range, a row of targets rotate into place as a hand pulls out a pistol. Making his marks on a target with the E4 logo on it, he shoots a barrage of shots into the paper before stopping, of which the camera then fades to the paper showing the bullet holes in the shape of the E4 logo, blue light passing through the back.
• Breasts: A shot of a woman putting on a blue bra is shown, pulling in a close up shot that shows the clasp in the shape of the E4 logo. The woman then bounces her breasts about, jiggling the clasp in a far and close-up shot on her cleavage.
• Treasure: A group of 4 "E4" logos are shown entering an old abandoned temple, with the blue "E4" being scared and hesitating to go through. As they venture through the temple, the blue "E4" watches in horror as the red "E4" is killed by multiple darts shot from the mouths of stone heads and the yellow "E4" is bisected by twin axes. The purple "E4" hops across a rickety bridge, but the blue "E4", being hesitant, goes slowly and ends up falling into the bottomless pit below, as the bridge breaks. The purple "E4" shrugs it off as nothing before finally arriving at the treasure: a golden "E4" seemingly frozen in horror. The purple "E4" pushes it off the pedestal, breaking it into a green "E4", who then distracts the purple "E4" as a mechanism activates above it. The mechanism pours molten hot gold over it, covering the purple "E4" in a new golden coat as the green "E4" wanders out with a evil chuckle.
• Lab: A group of 5 "E4" logos hop around a chemistry lab, with the blue "E4" coming in from behind a test tube filled with green liquid and landing on a makeshift lever made of a test tube and ruler. The orange "E4" then leaps onto the lever, launching the blue "E4" into a coiled tube. The green "E4" launches the orange "E4" onto a hot plate, which combusts it into flames. The red "E4" then launches the green "E4" into a plate of liquid nitrogen, freezing it near-instantly. The purple "E4" watches as the blue "E4" is dropped into a plate of nitric acid, flinching from the splash, and they discover the blue "E4" is liquified but still screaming. The red and purple "E4"'s then push the plate onto a microscope and the latter looks into it, revealing hundreds of microscopic blue "E4"'s in pieces floating about, with sounds of soft screaming coming from it.
• Dog: A dog (unknown breed) is shown chewing on a yellow E4 logo, and a man tries to grab it from the dog but gets barked at. After a few seconds of trying, the man then grabs a bone and gives it to the dog to chew on, cutting to said dog with the E4 logo set off to its side.
• Ambulance: Various "E4"-shaped lights flash across the screen. It is revealed, in drivers-view, that they are the light of an ambulance in front of a car shining through the same "E4" air freshener from "Car".
• Tin: There is a tin with the Channel 4 logo on it. The foil seal rolls itself open as the five "E4"s come out of its compartments. They shake water off themselves.
• Apartment: Inside an expensive modern apartment, the "E4"s hop back and forth together.
• Christmas: 4 "E4" logos sweep in on a frozen lake, watching a red "E4" logo skate across them tracing a pattern. After watching the red "E4" logo skate off, the group then suddenly notice the ice beneath them split off from them and look around in befuddlement before the ice drops with them into the icy water. The camera then pans up that the hole is revealing to be in the shape of the "E4" logo (without the "E") as the 4 "E4" logos bob up frozen into ice cubes. The red "E4" logo skates in to view its work and then laughs happily.
• An obscure ident, possibly only partially found, is in green-shaded night vision. Three "E4"s are sleeping on three beds, when two of them have a fourth and fifth "E4" fall into their beds from the sky. They wake up in a cold sweat.

Technique: Depends on the variant.

Audio: Depends on the variant.

2nd Ident (2004-December 9, 2007?)

Visuals: A pair of idents involving an "E4"-branded band in purple suits, consisting of three guitarists, a drummer, and a man on the marimba, playing Muzak. The E4 logo appears in white in the corner.

Variants:

• In one ident, the band is playing on the balcony outside of an apartment where a mother, father, and baby live. The family completely ignores them.
• The other ident has the band playing on a sandy beach at sunset, with two parasailers in the background.

Technique: Live action.

Audio: The Muzak (elevator music) played by the band, which is heavy on marimba.

3rd Ident (December 10, 2007-October 30, 2013?)

Visuals: In various ordinary settings, the E4 logo is visible amidst strange phenomena. All of these idents involve stuffed yellow pigs that end up dying on-screen. Other common themes include levitating objects, sudden appearances of live animals at or near the end, CRT televisions, cardboard, Christmas lights, circling sharks, krakens, robots, and wars.

Variants:

• Barn: There is a pan through a barn, with a large blue vacuum, a crate marked "FRAGILE", and a wagon covered in purple tarp just outside. The vacuum (which has the E4 logo on it) and a pink toy tractor driven by a yellow stuffed pig come to life. Insects and two duck decoys followed by rubber duckies flee from a bomb the vacuum dropped, which causes the wall behind them to erupt into cardboard flames. The wagon pulls into the barn as its tarp falls off to reveal it is full of produce, while outside, two other yellow pigs flying through the air with a red and blue balloon are visible. An overhead shot shows more of the barn, including its chandelier and checkerboard-patterned wall. The ducks run around in a panic as a purple carpet is laid out for them. The vacuum drops a bomb onto the pig, turning him and his tractor into dust. Two LED light displays rise up from the wagon, showing many copies of the E4 logo in red scrolling downward. The scene cuts to a purple velvet table with a candelabra and many spinning "E4" cans to its right. A teapot and teacups on the table start to levitate upwards. Behind the table, a large LED sign drops into view and changes to show "E4". In the middle of all the chaos, a dog with an Elizabethan collar glances around in confusion.
  • There are two short break bumper variants, both focusing on the large "E4" LED and the floating teacups and teapot. One has the sign initially flash a downward arrow before the logo, while the other has it flash the general prohibition symbol instead.
• Beach Hut: Three huts by the beach are shown, with yellow, red and blue doors and a wicker storage container and purple-and-white striped beach chair in front of them. Two yellow pigs are "floating" on a purple-and-yellow inflatable boat in the sand, one reading a catalog and the other fishing. The fishing pig suddenly gets pulled overboard by a big catch. As the pig still on the boat panics for his friend struggling in the water, the doors to the beach huts open up. The beach hut with the yellow doors contains a purple room with a red couch and a CRT television. A golden ceiling drops down, and the E4 logo appears on the wall behind the couch in glittery purple. The opening of these doors prompts the storage container to spin in a circle, then let out floating cupcakes on plates. The beach hut with the red doors contains many striped beach chairs as well as a purple kraken underneath them, which lifts up the floor and steals the beach chair outside of its lair. The beach hut with the blue doors lets out two salon hair dryer chairs, which zap E4 logos out of their dryers. A red curtain opens to reveal that inside the hut, a yellow pig is riding a green mechanical seahorse attached to a pipe organ. In front of the kraken's hut, the E4 logo formed from white roses rises from a hatch in the floor. LED lights shine withing the "E4", the kraken's hut releases floating inner tubes, beach chairs, buckets, and other beach supplies from its now-opened roof, and two kittens in purple-striped hot air balloons descend from the sky. Meanwhile, the boating pigs are surrounded by sharks. The fishing pig appears to succumb to the fish, followed by the pig's friend falling in.
  • The short break bumper variants of this ident show two separate close-up angles of the E4 roses, kraken, and objects floating out the roof.
• Hotel/Hotel Room: The scene starts with a typical two-bed hotel room, deceptively calm. Suddenly, the curtains to the windows close, and are covered further by purple stage curtains. Papers on a desk fold themselves into origami cranes and fly away as purple goop floods from the drawers and a chair starts to levitate. A yellow pig is on one of the beds with two velvet hatboxes in yellow and magenta. The hatboxes open to reveal they contain two security robots, while the pig gets grabbed by the purple kraken from "Beach Hut" behind the bed. The security robots shoot at the origami cranes, vaporizing one. On the other bed, a yellow floral pillow is crawling up the wall, while the blankets and a pink pillow quickly slide themselves off the bed. As yellow nails roll out from underneath the frame of the now-bare bed, a refrigerator next to three CRT televisions opens to let out a large amount of purple goop filled with white E4 logos and the now-dead yellow pig on a plate with garnish, surrounded by a swimming shark. As the robots continue their war against the cranes, a briefcase opens, letting out a structure of cardboard boxes that folds itself into "E4". Christmas lights string themselves out from the wall, a lamp levitates with the chair, and a flock of two Embden geese and two ducks (Pekin and Khaki Campbell) waddle through the room.
  • The break bumper variants are at a low angle, where only the bottom half of the E4 boxes are visible. One shows the security robots firing at the origami cranes, while the other shows a crane flying past unharmed.
• Living Room/Sitting Room: Per usual, the living room starts as normal. Suddenly, the CRT television turns on to show the band from the 2004 idents. Green grass flows like liquid outside of the fireplace, covering the floor. Trees, flowers, and purple mushrooms grow from the grass (including, as seen when the window opens, outside), while the walls are colored in purple with a white E4 logo and an orange toy UFO lights up. A yellow pig falls off the couch, cupboards open to reveal more E4 logos, and a chair moves closer. A security robot similar to the ones in "Hotel" but with the body of a mecha anime figure fires a shot, as the house's record collection, including an E4 record, flies off the shelves. A war starts between the robot and pig, with the former successfully blowing up the latter in a cardboard explosion with missiles (the couch behind the pig now inexplicably reads "SIT ON ME"). The final shot shows a large E4 logo made of white blocks, the chair sinking in a swampy part of the indoor forest, and a pair of sheep in purple party hats glancing around.
  • The break bumpers give a better view at the blocks being built, with one of the variants also including a missile from the robot.
• Loading Bay: The camera pans through a warehouse with garages marked "01" and "02". Garage 01 opens to free six purple "E4" crates. After sliding into position, the crates open. One contains a yellow pig that runs away, many charger cords, and a levitating pitcher, toaster, and fan. The other crates also contain cords and floating appliances. Garage 02 opens as various wallpaper and a taxidermy deer head that gets covered in Christmas lights lowers, revealing a purple room with expensive furniture and three chickens, a rooster and two hens. A white van with an E4.com license plate pulls in and opens its trunk, rolling out an expensive carpet with a royal crest-bearing bass drum rolling over it. Following the drum are more Christmas lights, a bass pedal, two poodle knick-knacks, and two amps. The floating appliances have formed the E4 logo. A robot sets up a screen beside it reading "SHOVE IT UP YOUR TELLYHOLE". More chickens and garden gnomes gather around the concert. Just when it appears that this is the first ident where he doesn't get hurt, the yellow pig returns only to get grabbed by the robot.
  • The break bumpers give a better view of the appliances floating into place, with the deer behind them.
• In addition to the break bumpers derived from longer idents, two generic break bumpers also exist. These show two different angles of an "E4" sticker getting pasted onto a purple surface.

Trivia:

• According to this Creative Bloq interview with Noah Harris, the pig was made by his grandmother. As cute as he is, the pig is an alcoholic.
• These idents won a D&AD Yellow Pencil in 2008.

Technique: A combination of stop motion, CGI, and live action by Noah Harris.

Audio: Depends on the variant.

4th Ident (Eefer) (October 31, 2013-2018)

Visuals: These idents star Eefer, a rather depressed-looking E4 logo-shaped robot, and his dog Ackaboosi, a Jack Russell terrier wearing a purple helmet and bandana, as they go about their day together. Each ident has many variants for text on signage, be it part of the scenery or purple ones held by Eefer himself to communicate (a la Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes).

Variants:

• Hill Walking: On a trail through the hilly countryside, Eefer, with Ackaboosi running far ahead of him, hikes past two hikers near a directional signpost, holding a purple sign of his own. He and his dog continue hiking through the wilderness, past another signpost and with occasional close-up shots. The duo reach the top of the mountain, where the text on Eefer's sign is finally revealed. The two stand at the edge of the cliff and take in the beautiful view below.
  • "My Name Is Eefer": The signposts point to "Mole Trip", "Beaver Falls", and "-mbles", with the first signpost having a photo of a woman attached. Eefer's sign introduces him: "MY NAME IS EEFER".
  • "Sex Appeal": The signposts point to "Happytown", "Merry Place", and "-terville", with the first signpost having a photo of a different, older woman attached. Eefer's sign reads "SEX APPEAL - PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY".
  • "Eat My Baps": The signposts point to "Kneedeep", "Clunge", and "-mder", with the first signpost having a photo of a man attached. Eefer's sign reads "EAT MY BAPS".
  • "Mountains Are Lame": The signposts point to "Boring", "Rubbish", and "Good", with the first signpost having a photo of a creepy man doing a bizarre hand gesture attached. Eefer's sign reads "MOUNTAINS ARE LAME".
  • "No Twerking Allowed": The signposts point to "Jump", "Left", and "Thrust", with the first signpost having a photo of someone in an inflatable sumo wrestler costume attached. Eefer's sign reads "NO TWERKING ALLOWED".
• Student Digs: The first shot is of a refrigerator covered in magnets, which include many scattered letter magnets, letters arranged to read "E4 IN uR FACe", a photo held up by a sheep magnet, a black magnet that reads "BE NICE OR LEAVE - THANK YOU", and a pink magnet reading "A friend in need is a pest." holding up a photograph of a blue roan horse and her foal running. Eefer opens the fridge, which is dirty inside and contains a single slice of pizza, to take one of four cans of E4-branded beer. Eefer walks through his dorm, which is filled with crowded shelves of books and knick-knacks, to take a seat, passing one of his purple signs. A hatch opens up on the side of Eefer's head, which he pours his beer into. Ackaboosi is sitting in a purple bed next to his owner. Eefer balances his empty can on Ackaboosi's helmet. The two are watching, on five separate TVs, several E4 idents, including "Hill Walking" from this set and "Hotel/Hotel Room" and "Living Room/Sitting Room" from the prior one. Behind the duo as they enjoy their idents are the same purple sign, a sign that reads "NO BALL GAMES", a werewolf-like monster model wearing a top hat, a giant bowling pin, a ceramic penguin, and a traffic cone.
  • "He's Behind You": The photograph held up by the sheep magnet is of three people embracing, while the sign reads "HE'S BEHIND YOU".
  • "Blah Blah Blah": The photograph held up by the sheep magnet is of a man in a suit, while the sign reads "BLAH BLAH BLAH".
  • "Sex Appeal": The photograph held up by the sheep magnet is of a group of ladies at a party, while the sign reads the same phrase as the Hill Walking "Sex Appeal" variant.
• Cafe: Eefer walks through a cafe filled with people eating. He walks up to the desk and looks up at the menu, where all items - "Sausage Egg, Chips", "Bacon, Egg, Chips", "Egg, Chips", "Extra, Baked Beans", "Extra, Tomatoes", "Sausage Sandwich", "Sausage Roll", "Egg Sandwich", "Egg Roll", "Tea Mug", "Tea Cup", "Coffee", and "Cold drinks" - cost £4. A lady behind the desk offers him a coffee, which he accepts (a CRT TV above them plays a 2004 E4 band ident). Eefer walks out of the cafe, revealing the cafe's name on orange banner signage above, where Ackaboosi is waiting for him. "Eat in and take away" is printed on the glass storefront. A man slowly drives past on a mobility device. Eefer waves his hand to signal Ackaboosi out of his sit-stay, and the dog runs ahead of him.
  • Cafe Blimey: The bottom of the menu reads "DO NOT RIP OFF THE SIMPSONS CHALKBOARD GAG". The cafe itself is Cafe Blimey.
  • Cafe Burke: The bottom of the menu reads "DO NOT BOTHER READING THIS GUFF". The cafe itself is Cafe Burke.
  • Cafe Chunder: The bottom of the menu reads "DO NOT GO THERE GIRLFRIEND". The cafe itself is Cafe Chunder.
  • Cafe Jellybotty: The bottom of the menu reads "DO NOT EAT ANYTHING BIGGER THAN YOUR HEAD". The cafe itself is Cafe Jellybotty.
  • Cafe Mingalot: The bottom of the menu reads "DO NOT ASK TO BE TEABAGGED". The cafe itself is Cafe Mingalot.
  • Cafe Spoon Grease: The bottom of the menu reads "DO NOT PUT BABIES ON THE COUNTER". The cafe itself is Cafe Spoon Grease.
  • Cafe Misery: The bottom of the menu reads "TODAY'S SPECIAL: JEDWARD PIE". The cafe itself is Cafe Misery.
  • Cafe Stink: The bottom of the menu reads "TODAY'S SPECIAL: AVOID". The cafe itself is Cafe Stink.

Trivia:

• Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the design process for Eefer. He started out as a cute robot, but gained the shape of the E4 logo and became more grotesque over time.
• Ackaboosi's name wasn't revealed until the final ident broadcast on September 26, 2018, where announcer Pete Nottage called him by name.

Technique: A combination of live action and CGI. The project was lead by Neil Gorringe at 4Creative, with ManVsMachine helping creatively and MPC providing special effects.

Audio: