Draft:ITV Night Time

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

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Background

Night time broadcasting wasn't done by any TV networks in the UK until 1987, when LWT began broadcasting Night Network. Eventually, all other regions followed suit and by 1989, every ITV region had their own versions of night time broadcasting. Granada however were able to broadcast to most of the region, which eventually led to Night Network being cancelled in favour of it in the same year. Night time idents on ITV were unique until 2000, when the generic ITV look replaced them. In 2002, any sort of night time branding was dropped entirely when the ITV rebranded.

Night Network

1st ID (August 28, 1987-March 31, 1989)

Visuals: On a black background, at the bottom is bars (mostly green, with red on the right side), then some of the green bars flash a few times, then continue flashing faster, going into the red side, and the background changes to some clouds floating off to the left, and some lightning flashes. The clouds float away, revealing the logo, a multi-colored circle with inner-facing small triangles in red, green, yellow and blue, and a stylised NN in the middle. An owl flies to the top right, and some of the bars clear away for the changing words "NIGHT" in a horizontally stretched green font, and "NETWORK" in a vertically stretched white font. They change for a while, and finish with "NIGHT" horribly placed in the middle of "NETWORK", then all fades to black.

Technique: Unknown.

Audio: It starts with some beeping sounds, with a heavenly sounding synth hum fading in after a few seconds. Then, a rock-style tune plays before fading out, although the beeps can be heard for a few seconds afterwards.

Availability:

  • These were the opening titles to Night Network, which was broadcast on LWT and Anglia, and there is a chance that it may be kept on some tapes.
  • However, Night Network has never been repeated, so it won't be too easy to come across.

2nd ID (19??-19??)

Visuals: Unknown.

Technique: Unknown.

Audio: Unknown.


Night Time

1st ID (1989-1990s)

Visuals: There is a British city at sunset, with the sun going down and the sky getting dark. While it darkens, the ITV Night Time logo (the ITV logo with the giant words "NIGHT" and "TIME" in all-caps below) becomes visible with a transparent watery filling.

Technique: Live-action and 2D computer animation.

Audio: A dreamy, ominous theme beginning with 4 notes.

2nd ID (1988-1995)


Visuals: Against a blue and white misty background, the text:

NIGHT
TIME

is seen at the centre of the screen. Then, a black cat walks in from the right side of the screen, before sitting at the bottom half of the text. It then turns its head to look at the viewer.

Technique: Mostly live action.

Audio: An ominous piano stinger (Unseen Danger by Steve Gray) which is often followed by a demonic sounding voice that says "Night Time".


  • It could initially be seen in the Granada and Border regions before it was used by every region in 1989 except for Scottish, Grampian, UTV and TVS (which became Meridian in 1993).
  • For its last year of existence, it was used in tandem with the 3rd logo while the regions which were still using this package at the time were preparing to use the next one below.

3rd ID (1995-2000)

Visuals: Each variant consisted of people moving about on the screen in various ways, dressed up in neon lights. This took place against a purple background and was slowed down.

Technique: Mostly live action.

Audio: A twinkling and dreamy sounding synth tune.

Availability: Every ITV region used these during the night (except for Scottish, Grampian and Meridian) until it was eventually phased out.

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