Yorkshire Television/Television Idents

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Note: This is not to be confused with Yorkshire Productions, a subsidary of Filmways (now owned by MGM via Orion).

Background

Yorkshire Television is the ITV contractor for Yorkshire, England, and the surrounding areas. It was formed from a 'shotgun marriage' between two applicant groups in the 1967 franchise round, Telefusion Yorkshire Ltd and Yorkshire Independent Television, the former having large financial backing (supported by the Blackpool-based Telefusion television rental chain) and the latter having the better plans (but fewer resources). It went on air on July 29, 1968 from purpose-built colour studios in Leeds, the first of their kind in Europe. Following the franchise changes and the bidding in 1992, they merged with Tyne Tees to create Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television in June of that year, only to be bought out by Granada Group in 1997. By 2002, they met the same fate as every franchise owned by them by being turned into the region in-name-only. In March 2009, ITV announced that the Leeds studios of Yorkshire Television were to be closed, but later changed their minds and left it open.

1st Logo (July 29, 1968-1969)

Nicknames: "Early Chevron", "Flying Chevron", "The Chevron"

Logo: Against a black background, a moving white diamond pattern unfolds from the center of the screen and moves upward and off the screen, leaving behind a Y-shaped chevron and the words "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION" appears below it.

Variant: At the start of programming, "presents" would be seen below.

FX/SFX: The white diamond pattern unfolding.

Music/Sounds: A horn sounder ending in a five-note fanfare, which is based off the traditional Yorkshire folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at", composed by Derek New. Two different pitch variants are known to exist.

Availability: Extinct, but this has been preserved by enthusiasts. This logo actually reappeared on ITV in June 2008 as part of Yorkshire Television's 40th Anniversary special: 40 Years of YTV.

Editor's Note: The animation and fanfare has been known to scare some, although it's quite tame when compared to what succeeded it...

2nd Logo (1969-1989)

Nicknames: "Chevron From Hell", "Chevron of Boredoom", "The Creepy Y", "The Y Of Doom", "The Chevron II"

Logo: On a black background, a smaller Y-shaped chevron appears with the following text:

YORKSHIRE
TELEVISION
Production

underneath it in white.

Variants:

Productions shown in black and white were shown as you see it, while color programs showed a yellow chevron and "Colour Production" or "In Colour" in red under it. Non-local TV shows usually had the same red text reading "Outside Broadcast in Colour".
From 1982 onward, the phrase was shortened to "Production" in yellow and the chevron is also larger in size. On early episodes of Countdown, the white text below the yellow chevron reads "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION PRODUCTION" and the yellow text below it reads "for Channel Four."
Occasionally, it had no byline.
Sometimes, the closing logo has a copyright stamp.
A very rare, hard to find variant was used for the quiz show 3–2–1. We see the chevron and "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION" as normal, together with the "Colour Production" byline. Then, the chevron becomes animated and takes flight like a firework with sparks trailing. It flies into an animated sequence (the start of the 3, 2, 1 intro), over a movie marquee with the flashing numbers 1, 2, and 3, and the same numbers fly toward the viewer via "explosion" effects. Finally, it flies behind the marquee and into a trash can, which promptly turns into the show's mascot, Dusty Bin. The rest of the 3–2–1 intro follows.
Another very rare variant was used for the news program First Tuesday. A fine print appears saying "First Tuesday is copyright of Yorkshire Television." (Sometimes, this fine print doesn't appear.). Then the text disappears with a "wipe" effect, and the chevron turns into a blue vector version of the logo. We zoom into the top of it it, a horizontal line draws from the center, which then unfolds to a blue vector grid, which turns into a vector globe. The squares from the globe break away to reveal the title of that show.
Yet another very rare variant of the logo appears on its regional news program Calendar. The logo appears as normal, but the chevron starts to zoom out and a map of Yorkshire is formed, wiping away the text. More chevrons appear and half of the outline becomes blue while the other becomes red. The chevrons start emitting radio waves and then the entire map rotates to show the title outlined in green and emerging shadows. The shadows retract and the title is formed.
Yet another extremely rare variant of the logo appears on Calendar during a brief period in 1987. We see the usual logo and it zooms out to reveal a calendar with the logo on it on a white striped background. It flips open to reveal the United Kingdom with the Yorkshire region highlighted in light green. It rotates and turns as the pages go through, showing the days of the week (minus the weekend) and the region becomes closer. It flips to the end with the region left and the rest of the calendar separates from it. The piece rotates and "CALENDAR" in blue emerges from it and rests on it.

FX/SFX: Just the logo appearing (except for the variants, which are animated). A little bland, don't you think? The 3–2–1 variant, however appears to be using cel animation.

Music/Sounds: A shortened, five-note version of the bombastic fanfare used in the previous logo. The 1982 version had a reworked, and less bombastic version of the fanfare by Chris Gunning.

Music/Sound Variants:

The 1982 variant had a Christmas version of the fanfare, played with chimes.
First Tuesday used a cool electric piano version of the music. After that, a very cool electric piano tune plays (the latter tune is the theme of the show).
The 3–2–1 variant used a more majestic-sounding version of the fanfare, followed by the show's theme tune.
The Calendar variants use the famous theme song, which consists of trumpets, pianos, and more.

Availability: Can be seen on episodes of Emmerdale Farm, Countdown, 3–2–1, First Tuesday, and many other programs from the YTV stable from the era.

Editor's Note: Very few people have kind memories of this logo thanks to it coming out of nowhere, and for that bombastic fanfare. Familiarity with this logo can reduce the scares. The 3–2–1 variant may startle viewers who have never seen it before.

3rd Logo (1983, 1986)

Nicknames: "Serving Six Million Viewers" "The Chevron III", "CGI Chevron"

Logo: Two versions of this ident were created:

We pan through the globe turning towards the United Kingdom, then a chunk of land zooms out representing Yorkshire. The land states the major cities there, before it flips over to the chevron and the caption "serving six million viewers" in yellow.
Against a black background, we see a series of yellow chevrons zoom out, and a green digital counter readout rapidly counts up. When the counter gets to 6,000,000, it transforms into the white italicized text "serving six million viewers", and the chevrons flash and solidify into one large chevron with the yellow text "Yorkshire Television" below.

FX/SFX: For the first variant, a combination of CGI and cel animation. For the second, it's just the latter.

Music/Sounds: For the first variant, a synth sounder, then beeping noises to represent each city appearing. The second variant consists of a loud droning synth with beeps not like those of the first variant (sounding like Morse code). Both variants end with the Yorkshire fanfare.

Availability: This was never used as an actual production logo. This only appeared as an ID/promo for Yorkshire Television within their respective region.

4th Logo (1984-1989)

Nicknames: "Revolving Chevron", "CGI Chevron II", "The Chevron IV"

Logo: Over a blue/black gradient background, we see the Yorkshire Chevron spin around 360 degrees. Snow is seen falling in the background, and a blanket of it can be seen on the "ground" and the top of the chevron. Originally only used on Christmas until 1987 when the normal version was used along side the Liquid Gold variant.

Variants:

A later version of the Christmas variant has a snowflake background and the Chevron is wrapped up in silver wrapping paper. One of the sides has a tag saying "All the Best from Yorkshire Television" with the Yorkshire Television logo on it. The chevron is replaced with a cote-out of a snowflake made from 4 chevrons.
In 1987, three variations were made, each with a different background, getting darker depending on what time of day it is.

FX/SFX: All CGI, pretty basic, but effective. The Christmas variants, however, appear to use cel animation.

Music/Sounds: The Yorkshire fanfare, followed by a continuity announcer.

Availability: Extinct outside of tape recordings. It was only seen as part of YTV's continuity during the '80s in the pre-generic ITV days.

5th Logo (January 1987-1989)

Nicknames: "Liquid Gold", "Revolving Chevron II", "CGI Chevron III", "The Chevron V"

Logo: Against a black background is a sea of liquid gold, with a red horizon. The camera then pans upwards as the chevron in CGI emerges from the sea, revolving 180 degrees. Once it finishes rising, a dark blue gradient is revealed and the words "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION Production" appear below in the same arrangement as the 2nd logo, while the chevron turns solid yellow.

Trivia: This logo cost around £40,000 to make, which is nearly $80,000 in US dollars.

Variants:

A filmed version exists.
For programs that were local, the word "Production" would be omitted.
For shows that were broadcasted but not made by them, "Outside Broadcast" is seen below.
A still version was used at the end of shows.
As per the 2nd logo, episodes of Countdown would have "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION PRODUCTION" in white below the chevron and "for Channel Four" in yellow below that.
On the Dramarama episode "Back to Front", the endcap is flipped, so that the text is backwards.
Sometimes, the words "MADE IN ASSOCIATION WITH" is seen above the logo.
Sometimes, the logo is still.

FX/SFX: The liquid gold and the chevron, both done in impressive CGI for the time. None for the still variant.

Music/Sounds: A horn sounder that gets more and more dramatic, ending with a different arrangement of the Yorkshire fanfare. Sometimes, the end theme of the program will play over it.

Availability: Seen on programs from the era. This appeared on Challenge reruns of 3–2–1 episodes from the era a while back.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (September 1989-1994)

Nicknames: "ITV Generic", "The Chevron VI"

Logo: See ITV.

7th Logo (1989)

Nicknames: "21 Years of Yorkshire", "The Chevron VII", "CGI Chevron IV"

Logo: Over a blue background, a golden half of the chevron flies in, in which the camera pans over it and sees another half merge together to form the full chevron. It zooms out as the words "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION" appear below, followed by "21 YEARS OF ENTERTAINMENT & EXCELLENCE" zooming out below the logo. The background at the end is the same as before.

FX/SFX: CGI again, but not nearly as impressive as the 5th logo.

Music/Sounds: An extended rearrangement of the YTV fanfare.

Availability: Extinct outside of tapes. This was only used locally.

8th Logo (September 5, 1994-1996)

Nicknames: "The Chevron VIII", "CGI Chevron V"

Logo: We see several yellow rings zooming out toward the center of the screen, forming a chevron. When they clear up, we see various Yorkshire-related clips playing in the middle of the screen, all against a sky blue background. "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION" appears below.

Variants:

The production version had the logo on a
During nighttime, the background would be dark blue.
On Series 3, episode 13 of Bad Influence!, Nam Rood (played by Andy Wear) appears in the logo to wipe away a gray dot on the screen (the dot that appeared on the episode during a segment of Rood talking about gray dots appearing on old TVs). After he wipes away the dot, he gives a thumbs up, and leaves.
On Countdown, the text below the chevron reads as follows: YORKSHIRE TELEVISION PRODUCTION
FOR
CHANNEL FOUR

FX/SFX: The chevron being formed, and the clips playing.

Music/Sounds: Two different epic-sounding string fanfares were used: one in the daytime, and one during the nighttime. No YTV fanfare from before to be found.

Availability: Once again, this is extinct outside of tapes. The production version can be seen on old shows, like Touch of Frost.

9th Logo (1996-1999)

Nicknames: "Return Of The Revolving Chevron", "Revolving Chevron III", "The Chevron IX", "CGI Chevron VI"

Logo: We see a gold chevron revolving around on a sky blue background. "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION" is shown below.

Variants:

The background would be nighttime blue for Touch of Frost episodes, and an ITV byline appeared.
One variant used on Countdown is like the one for the previous logo, except it also has a copyright stamp reading, "© CHANNEL 4 TELEVISION CORPORATION [year in Roman numerals]."
The other Countdown variant has text below the yellow chevron that reads "YORKSHIRE TELEVISION STUDIOS".
Between September 1996 and March 1998, the background was made up of warped figure '3's, and on longer versions of the ident the Yorkshire Chevron would turn into the number "3" and back again.

FX/SFX: The chevron revolving.

Music/Sounds: A horn fanfare that increases dramatically, ending with a synthesized version of the YTV fanfare. A continuity announcement may follow.

Availability: Rare. Saved on old shows, like Heartbeat.

10th Logo (1999-2002)

Nicknames: "TV from the Heart", "ITV Generic 2", "The Chevron XI", "CGI Chevron VIII"

See ITV for description.

Availability: The production version was seen on Touch of Frost.

11th Logo (1999-2002)

Nicknames: "TV from the Chevron", "The Chevron X", "CGI Chevron VII"

Logo: Against a background of similar to the Hearts look, but with the chevron instead, we see a video clip of something related to Yorkshire. Then, it fades out, and we see the chevron on the left center of the screen with a few more clips playing at its right.

FX/SFX: The revolving chevrons, and the video clips.

Music/Sounds: A peaceful electronic-sounding tune that ends with a slower version of the YTV fanfare.

Availability: Extinct. In 1999, when the ITV Hearts branding began, this ident was used for local programming only.

12th Logo (2002-2004)

Nickname: "The Chevron XII"

Logo: On a purple CGI background with multiple chevrons, we see a small purple box with a white Yorkshire chevron inside of it. Below the purple box is the following white text:

A
Yorkshire Television Production

Below that, near the bottom of the screen, is smaller text that reads "GRANADA", which refers to the takeover of YTV by Granada. The same kind of logo was used by Granada and LWT during the year.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of Countdown.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on 2003 Countdown and Touch of Frost episodes.

13th Logo (2004-2005)

See Granada Television for a description of this logo.

Availability: Saved on Touch of Frost episodes.

External Links

Yorkshire Television on TVARK