Mentorn Media

Credits

Compiled by
Camenati

Background

Mentorn Media is a British television production company, initially established in 1985 by Tom Gutteridge as Mentorn Films. They would go on and produce many documentaries and several successful programmes for various networks such as Robot Wars, Question Time, Traffic Cops, and An Idiot Abroad. In 1996, the company purchased and merged with Barraclough Carey Productions, becoming Mentorn Barraclough Carey from 1996 to 2000, when it was sold by Gutteridge to The Television Corporation in which it became simply Mentorn. The Television Corporation would later by purchased by Tinopolis.

Mentorm Films

1st Logo (November 16, 1988-1994)

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Logo: On a black background, a blue "M" is on the center of the screen while a large chunk of it, masked in a circle, rotates counterclockwise and flashes multiple colors. Simultaneously, the cursive white text "films" draws in from the right side of the spinning circle cut-out and the gray letters "ENTORN", each inside a white box, flies in from the top and lands next to the top right of "M". After they are all together and the cut out stops spinning, "a" and "production", the former to the left of the logo and the latter to the bottom right of it all, fades in, followed by a copyright notice underneath.

Variants:

• On series 4 of Challenge Anneka, "a" and "production" are in a slightly different font.
• On I Drew Roger Rabbit, Thames' name appear within the copyright info, reading "© Mentorn Films / Thames T.V. 1988".

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Seen on series 1-4 of Challenge Anneka and the documentaries Radical Radio: The Story of Kiss FM and I Drew Roger Rabbit.

2nd Logo (September 3, 1994-1997)

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Logo: On a black background, several objects fly into the shot: four blue curved corners zoom out, a circular cut out of the letter "M" spinning counterclockwise from the left, and "MENTORN" from the right. Shortly before stopping, the same "films" text writes itself in the same fashion as before. After all of this, additional credit information appears underneath.

Variants:

• A custom variant is used on Space Precinct where the logo is set on a space background and the gold text "GERRY ANDERSON" flies in from the bottom left alongside all the other objects. After they all stopped, aforementioned text shines.
• On Today's the Day, a byline was added underneath, reading "A MENTORN MIDLANDS PRODUCTION".

FX/SFX: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Can be seen on Space Precinct, series 5-7 of Challenge Anneka, Today's the Day, among others.

Mentorn Barraclough Carey

1st Logo (November 20, 1997-2000)

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  Stacked bottom text
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  Channel 4 and The Learning Channel.
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  Channel 4, The Learning Channel, and La Cinquième notices
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  Channel 4, WETA, and Tele Images
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  Channel 4 notice
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  Channel 4 notice (widescreen)
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  Channel 4 notice (stretched widescreen)
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  Arcadia Pictures logo + Hamilton Productions, Carlton International, and Component notices

Logo: On a steel-colored ocean-like background, a shiny, orange ball falls from the screen and causes a ripple effect, revealing the fairly beveled letters "mbc" and the bottom text "mentorn barraclough carey". Co-producers appear below after the animation sequence.

Variants:

• Early programs containing this logo have the bottom text stacked.
• A widescreen version of this logo exists.
  • On the Withnail and I extra "I Demand to Have Some Booze!", the logo appears to be stretched.

FX/SFX: The ball falling, the ripple, and the text fading in.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Extremely rare. As before, it was mostly seen on Channel 4 documentaries from this period such as The Peculiar Memories Of Bruce Robinson and a UKTV History airing of The Crimean War. The early variant was seen on the latter documentary as well as The History of Cancer.

2nd Logo (May 15, 2000-2001)

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  MBC Midlands
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  Channel 4 logo
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  Channel 4 and WNET notices
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  Unreported World

Logo: Using the same animation sequence from last time, the logo now sits on a black background and the bottom text is un-bolded.

FX/SFX: Same as before.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Extremely rare; it had a short lifespan and only a few programs are known to have this logo. These include select early episodes of Secrets of the Dead, Babitsky's War, and the Without Walls documentary "The Cult That Couldn't Stop Killing".

Mentorn

1st Logo (2001-2002)

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Logo: It is identical to the previous two logos where an orange ball falls and causes a ripple effect. However, the background is now a dark blue gradient color and the ball reveals the white text "mentorn", followed by the byline "a television corporation company" fading in and additional credit information underneath.

FX/SFX: Same as the previous two logos.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability:

• Extremely rare, as many programmes from this period are no longer reran or hardly preserved on home media.
• This was seen on a December 2, 2001 BBC2 airing of an episode to Robot Wars.

2nd Logo (2002-May 26, 2008)

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Logo: On a black background, a blue lens flare flies in from the right, revealing the same "mentorn" text from before. Afterwards, the byline from the previous logo wipes in. In the middle of the unveiling of the bottom text, the lens flare stops next to the left of the company name, transforming into an orange 3D ball.

Variants:

• A variant has the logo set on a dark blue background where the lens flare is orange and another lens flare, albeit smaller, is seen unveiling the byline.
• A still version as well as a split-screen variant exists.
• On programmes co-produced with Channel 4, the logo is to the left of the 1999 Channel 4 logo.
  • On India Calling, the side featuring the Mentorn logo is colored dark blue and shares the section with the Hypnotic Films logo.
• On Paradise Hotel, the byline was omitted and a copyright notice, reading "© Mentorn 2008", fades in underneath.
• On Ashes Fever, the logo shares the screen with the Sunset+Vine logo.
• Some shows that were produced by the company's Midlands division has said region next to the company name.
• On Terror in Moscow and Big Ideas That Changed the World, the logo is stretched.
• On The Boy Who Gave Birth To His Twin, "production" is added underneath the Mentorn logo.
• On The Man Who Ate His Lover, the logo, excluding the lens flare, is in grayscale.
• On Half Ton Man, the "mentorn" text as well as the orange ball is smaller.
• Starting in 2006, the byline was removed.

FX/SFX: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability:

• Seen on plenty of programmes from this period, including the Robot Wars franchise, Big Ideas That Changed the World, season 1 of Paradise Hotel, among many others.
• The dark blue background variant is extremely rare and was seen on the aforementioned Robot Wars spin-offs on TNN and Nickelodeon as well as Techno Games and the Horizon documentary "The Hawking Paradox".
• The 2006 variant can be seen on Paradise Hotel season 1, Tory! Tory! Tory!, Sven The Coach, the Cash and His Lovers, among others.

Mentorn Media

(May 11, 2008-)

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Logo: We see the text "mentornmedia" flipping in letter by letter. After all the letters appeared, a minimalist 2D outline of a hand flies in next to the logo.

Variants:

• An early version consists of just "mentorn" in a stretched format and the hand itself.
• Like before, the logo may appear in a split-screen or superimposed format.
• Sometimes, the words "a" and "production for" in the same color as the logo itself will be added if a co-producer is seen underneath.
• Beginning in 2016, the logo was given a byline relating to its status as a subsidiary of Tinopolis. Here, the Tinopolis logo is seen underneath the Mentorn Media logo with the text "a Tinopolis company" next to the symbol.
  • On Inside London: Fire Brigade, the symbol lacks a red box.
• Starting in 2019, the logo is in teal.
• On An Idiot Abroad, the additional credit info, specifically "Sky Television" is in the same color as the logo.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Current.

• Appears on later seasons of Paradise Hotel, An Idiot Abroad, Inside London: Fire Brigade, among many others.
• The teal variant was seen on Inside The Force 24/7 and recent series of Traffic Cops as well many new shows from 2019 onwards.