Westcountry Television

Background

Westcountry Television is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW (Television South West), on January 1, 1993. Covering Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and areas of Somerset and Dorset, Westcountry has close ties with its neighbor, ITV West, sharing Jane McCloskey as managing director and director of programs with the West of England region. On November 25, 1996, Westcountry was purchased by Carlton Communications, and on September 6, 1999, they were rebranded as "Carlton for the Westcountry"

(January 1, 1993-September 6, 1999)

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Nicknames: "Window to the World", "Glass W"

Logo: Just a blurry background of some different shots around the South West region or more costal areas, like waves crashing. A large "W" is seen on the right side of the screen, taking up over half of it and providing a clear shot of the background. On the bottom left of it, the word "westcountry" in white is next to the "W".

Variants:

• Later on in September 1997, the ident would gain some animation. It starts off completely blurred with a heavy blue tint before many thick and and thin diagonal lines, a couple with some kind of white tint to then, come sliding in and eventually wipe in the regular logo as the tint fades away.
• "888" is seen in the top left corner if subtitles are available.
• When used before or during films, only the top left part of the "W" is shown in extreme close-up.
• Three months after the final set of idents were introduced in March 1999, the Carlton URL would appear in the bottom right corner saying "www.carlton.com". "888" is also now referred to as "subtitles" in the Gill Sans font.
• The production variants have the "W" in teal and on a blue board, against either a blurry shot of waves or a sunset along a beach. Below the bar is "A westcountry programme/presentation/programme for ITV" with "westcountry" and "ITV" in their corporate fonts.

FX/SFX: The live-action background. The lines forming the W on the animated version. These were created by Peter Leonard and Ortman's Young, while the ones with the diagonal line animations were done in-house.

Music/Sounds: A short synth piano tune with some flute notes and ambient sounds relating to the background. An announcer would be heard for continuity as well.

Music/Sounds Variant: There exists an extended version of the above music, which starts with a flute playing.

Availability: Extinct.

• The production variants appear on Westcountry programmes from the era.
• The production variant with the 1989 ITV logo also made a surprise appearance on Eclipse! Live on Westcountry on August 11, 1999.

Editor's Note: These idents are often seen as some of the most generic of the by-gone era, with the rather stale and boring presentation (though the later animation upgrade was commendable) and forgettable tunes. The use of continuity announcers was also a rather stark contrast compared to the in-vision continuity used by TSW.

External Links

• Westcountry Television on TVARK
• Carlton Westcountry on TVARK