Harlech Television/HTV/Television Idents

Credits

Descriptions by
mr3urious

Captures by
mr3urious

Editions by
Mr. Logo Lord

Video captures courtesy of
matipionki, emh16, TvTimes1966, BelfastGav, jkmac1973, matipionki, dragonarchive, wrmorrell, paulhatfield69

Background

Harlech Television won the ITV franchise for Wales and the West of England in the 1967 franchise round and began broadcasting early, on May 20, 1968, after Television Wales and the West (TWW) had quit in bitter circumstances in March and a temporary service, Independent Television Service for Wales and the West, had been run in the meantime. The name change to HTV came with the introduction of colour in 1970, when "Harlech" was deemed to be too Welsh for viewers in the England part of the region. Despite promising a fresh approach when it first came on air, the channel proved to be little different to TWW, even after all Welsh-language programming transferred to the newly-created S4C network in 1982. After suffering financial problems in the early 1990s, the company was acquired by United News and Media in 1996 and sold on to Granada in 2001 (though for competition reasons its broadcast facilities and license passed to Carlton). Subsequently, HTV lost its on-air identity on October 28, 2002 when all the ITV franchises in England and Wales adopted a single "ITV1" brand, and in 2006, the HTV name disappeared altogether, when the company was renamed ITV Wales & West.

1st Logo (May 20, 1968-1970)

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Nicknames: "The Moire Pattern", "Harlech Moire"

Logo: We see two sets of lines, one black and one white, turning at opposite directions. The lines then zoom-out as they turn parallel and form the word "HARLECH" in a Helvetica Inserat font.

Trivia: The logo was designed for the 405-line television broadcast system that predated the 625-line PAL system (lines being the resolution of television broadcasts). When viewing this on a 405-line television set, the moiré effect did not appear, while it appears on a 625-line television set.

Variants: There are two known variants:

• There is a extended version which was simply a slower version of the logo.
• There was a nighttime variant which was simply a negative of the logo.

FX/SFX: The turning lines (the Moire pattern). Amazing animation, but the effect is more or less eye-grating.

Music/Sounds: A warbly Moog synthesizer tune that culminates in a two-note synth-horn fanfare, being in some cases slightly high pitched.

Music/Sounds Variants: In the extended version, the music plays as normal. Then two long horn notes play into the music, then the synth plays again and at the end is a cut version of the two-note synth-horn fanfare ending.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: The music can be ominous, but it's mainly the animation that will be a big problem here.

2nd Logo (1970-1987)

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Nicknames: "The Aerial", "The Antenna"

Logo: Against a navy blue background, we see two slanted white lines coming in from the top and bottom of the screen; the left one going up, and the right one going down. They stop moving, and a third horizontal line "unfolds" vertically in the center. The lines retract and grow into a conjoined, italic "HTV", resembling a TV aerial/antenna. The logo also noticeably becomes thinner after they form the logo. For Wales, the words "CYMRU WALES" appear below the T (or just "CYMRU" for Welsh-language programs), and for the West of England, "WEST" appears above.

Variants:

• A generic variant is sometimes used, lacking either of the sub-text.
• There does exist a long version, where the 3 lines remain on-screen for longer before condensing into the logo.
• Following the transfer of all Welsh-language programs to the S4C network in 1982, HTV Wales removed the word "CYMRU" from its logo and placed "WALES" at the top (though the Cymru Wales tag was briefly revived for use in the 4th logo). At the same time, the background on both this logo and HTV West's was changed to royal blue.
• The HTV logo may also appear in a pale shade of blue.
• An in-credit variant with the text "Produced by" above the logo and "In association with PRIMETIME TELEVISION LTD." and the copyright notice below it. This was seen on the 1986 Disney Channel mini-series Return to Treasure Island.
• Another in-credit variant has the logo and the word "LIMITED" next to it to make it read "HTV LIMITED" under the Hemisphere Productions Limited and the Sidney Glazier Productions text, superimposed in the background of a man praying. This can be seen in the 1973 TV movie Catholics.
• Another in-credit version has the "Produced by" text on the side of the logo with "A NEWLAND-RAYNOR PRODUCTION" above it and "in association with The Callender Company" below it. This was seen in the 1984 TV movie Arch of Triumph.
• At the end of The Great Little Trains of Wales, the words "colour production" appear below the words "CYMRU WALES". This variant may have been seen on other programs too.
• There does exist a version of the generic version, in which the animation is more cohesive and the logo remains thick.
• A rare production variant had the HTV logo beside the text "LIMITED", in which "and" can be seen below. There's another one with "Ltd" in a much plainer font located beside it.

FX/SFX: The lines drawing in, which were primitive Scanimate effects that were starting to become dated by the mid '80s.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1st logo, except the pitch is lower.

Music/Sounds Variant: The long version has the long version of the previous logo.

Availability: Rare, can be seen on some VHS and DVD releases of HTV programming. It can be seen on the VHS of Robin Hood... the Legend.

Editor's Note: The animation is a lot tamer than before, but the presence of the music may still cause some scares.

3rd Logo (September 1987-September 1989)

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Nicknames: "(CGI) Flying Blocks", "CGI Aerial", "CGI Antenna"

Logo: We see a time-lapsed image of a cloudy sky. Then, the picture rotates to the left and becomes a "screen", as three large reflective blocks emerge from it (reflecting the cloudy sky image), followed shortly by three small blocks. As the screen folds out of view, the blocks revolve around to the right and zoom out to a blue background, forming the HTV logo as seen before. The logo shines several times as the word "WALES" or "WEST" zooms-out and stops in its usual place.

Variants:

• A generic version, which was used for both regions, simply reads "HTV".
• An version with "CYMRU" does exist on co-productions with S4C. It's unknown if an animated version of this actually exists.
• A still, silent variant at the end of programs has the HTV logo places slightly higher with "AN HTV CYMRU WALES PRODUCTION FOR" and the ITV logo below.
• Another end variant had "Presentation" or "TRANSMITTER INFORMATION" displayed below.
• An in-credit variant exists with the word "LIMITED" next to it.
• Another version of the "LIMITED" variant could be seen with the HTV logo, a bit more blocky than before, casting a shadow on a blue background, and "LIMITED" is seen with a shadow under the logo. "AND" can also be seen with the same look.

FX/SFX: The flying blocks; very impressive CGI for the time. The production variant is still.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized horn/string fanfare, ending with three synthesized notes. The production variant is silent.

Availability: Extinct for the main ident. The production variant can be found on shows from the era.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1989-December 31, 1992)

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Nickname: "ITV Generic"

See ITV for description.

5th Logo (January 1, 1993-February 1995)

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Nickname: "Glass HTV"

Logo: Against a shimmering background of colors (mostly blue), the letters "HTV", now made out of glass, and written in a font similar to that of the '80s ITV logo with the "V" composed of a smaller triangle protruding from a slightly larger triangle, slowly zoom-out and flip around from the bottom-left corner of the screen. They stop at the center of the screen.

FX/SFX: The shimmering background and flipping letters; beautiful CGI that holds up very well today.

Music/Sounds: A calm fanfare with a wind chime sound.

Music/Sound Variant: Before commercial breaks, a much more soothing re-arrangement was used, sometimes accompanied by a continuity announcement.

Availability: Extinct. Was used as an ident.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (February 1995-March 1999)

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Logo: Against a watery green/blue background, several gold lines are drawn downwards and to the right, and form a series of triangles. They are then filled in and begin zooming-out, revealing themselves to be the HTV logo from before.

Variants:

• For commercial breaks, the logo would quickly fade in via a rippling effect.
• In 1995, a number of genre-specific idents were used, including “Comedy”, “Entertainment”, “Film”, “Factual”, and “Drama”.
• During 1997, a Kaleidoscope version was used: one orange and one blue in a colored background.
• A still version exists with "Production" or "Production for ITV" under it.
• Another still version has "An" above the logo and "Programme for ITV" under it.

FX/SFX: The lines forming triangles.

Music/Sounds: A calm woodwind jingle or none.

Music/Sounds Variant: The Kaliedoscope ident used an upbeat, beachy theme

Availability: Ultra rare; survives on earlier VHS prints of the Kipper episode "The Visitor". Also used as a production logo on the second and third seasons of Wycliffe.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo (March-September 1999)

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Logo: We pan across a blue HTV logo against a shimmering yellow background from one angle. Then we fade to a gold HTV logo from another angle against a purplish-red background, Then the same HTV logo zooms-out against the yellow background and turns blue.

FX/SFX: The logo and shimmering background; nice CGI once again.

Music/Sounds: A calm majestic fanfare.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Logo (1999-2001)

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Nickname: "TV From the Heart"

See ITV for description.

Trivia: UNM was sold to Granada in 2001, however HTV was sold to Carlton for competition reasons. Once the sale was completed, Carlton revamped their identity, which resulted in the 9th logo.

9th Logo (2001-2002)

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Nickname: "Carlton/ITV Generic Mix"

Logo: One of the animations used in Carlton's ident used at the time plays. The heart on the center flashes, which transitions to the HTV logo, with the flash forming the V on the logo. The logo is placed on the same background as the ITV generic look.

FX/SFX: See above.

Music/Sounds: The fanfare used in Carlton's idents.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

External Links

• HTV on Wikipedia
• HTV on TVARK