Yorkshire Television/Television Idents

This article is about the TV idents. For the production logos, see ITV Yorkshire Productions.

Not to be confused with Yorkshire Productions.

Credits

Descriptions by
mr3urious, Michael Bass, Kris Starring, rj4712, and RSX-798

Captures by
V of Doom, countdowngoofs, doddzesgameshowroom, TrickyMario7654, Gilblitz112 and TVARK

Editions by
Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
Wyraachur and others

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 June 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 reversed this decision.

1st Logo (July 29, 1968-1969)

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

Logo: Against a black background, a moving white diamond pattern unfolds from the centre 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: Extremely rare, 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. Recently sighted on episodes of The Main Chance on Talking Pictures TV and the Network DVD.

Legacy: 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, 1993)

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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 colour programmes 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.
• Occasionally, it had no byline.
• 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 towards 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 programme 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 centre, 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 programme 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 as a still (except for the variants, which are animated). 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. This variant can be seen here.
• 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 its famous theme song, which consists of a catchy xylophone and bass theme.

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

Legacy: 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)

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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 italicised 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 1982 rendition of 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)

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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:

• For both Christmas 1987 and 1988, the ident 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 cutout 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.

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)

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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 programmes that were local, the word "Production" would be omitted.
• For shows that were broadcasted but not made by them, "Outside Broadcast" is seen below.
• 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.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• A shorter version of the 1987 fanfare also exists which is heard over the still variant of the logo.
• Sometimes, the end theme of the programme will play over it.

Availability: Extinct.

6th Logo (September 1989-October 1994)

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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 (October 1994-October 1996)

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

Logo: We see several yellow rings zooming out toward the centre 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.

Variant: During nighttime, the background would be dark blue.

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

Music/Sounds: Two different epic-sounding string fanfares (neither a rendition of the YTV fanfare in any way) were used: one in the daytime, and one during the nighttime.

Availability: Extinct outside of tapes.

9th Logo (October 1996-November 7, 1999)

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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" in a Friz Quadrata font is shown below.

Variants:

• Sometimes, the 888 caption would also appear in the top left corner of the screen until 1999.
• The background for the 1998 ident would also be nighttime blue during the evenings.
• Between October 1996 and January 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: Extinct. This was made as part of a unified "Channel 3" branding under the control of Bruce Gyngell. The plan was to start with Yorkshire and Tyne Tees, and soon the whole ITV network. However, Yorkshire-Tyne Tees was soon acquired by Granada, who swiftly threw the Channel 3 branding out the window.

10th Logo (November 8, 1999-October 27, 2002)

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

Variants:

• From December 13, 1999 to 2000, the G-Wizz URL appears on the bottom right of the screen reading "www.g-wizz.net/ytv".
• From 2000 to 2001, the URL was changed to "www.yorkshire-tv.co.uk".

See ITV for description.

11th Logo (November 8, 1999-October 27, 2002)

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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 centre of the screen with a few more clips playing at its right.

Variants:

• The 1999 Christmas ident would also have the G-Wizz URL at the top right of the screen reading "www.g-wizz.net/ytv".
• The production version featured the chevron in the center with the words "A YORKSHIRE TELEVISION PRODUCTION" in a Bank Gothic font underneath the logo.
• For programmes that they produced for Channel 4 the text changes to "A YORKSHIRE TELEVISION PRODUCTION FOR CHANNEL FOUR".
• Sometimes other logos appear with the logo and the text would also be changed.

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.

• On November 8, 1999, when the ITV Hearts branding began, these idents was used for local programming only.

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External Links

• Yorkshire Television on TVARK