History of BBC television idents

The history of BBC television idents begins in the early 1950s, when the BBC first displayed a logo between programmes to identify its service. As new technology has become available, these devices have evolved from simple still black and white images to the sophisticated full colour short films seen today. With the arrival of digital services in the United Kingdom, and with them many more new channels, branding is perceived by broadcasters to be much more important, meaning that idents need to stand out from the competition.

This article describes the development of the BBC's main television channels' identities.

The original BBC Television Service was launched on 2 November 1936 and was taken off the air at the outbreak of war in September 1939, returning in June 1946. As the only public television service in Britain, and initially in the world, there was no need for a station ident in the early days. However, with the imminent arrival of commercial television in Britain, 2 December 1953 saw the arrival of the first ident, nicknamed the "Bat's Wings". This was an elaborate mechanical contraption constructed by Abram Games, which featured a tiny spinning globe in the centre, surrounded by two spinning "eyes", with lightning flashes to either side. Unlike later idents, this was filmed, rather than live. The model was temperamental, and broke down shortly after it was filmed. By the early 1960s the "Bat's Wings" had been superseded by the "BBC tv" logo within a circle, beneath which would appear a map of Britain split into the BBC's broadcast regions.

The channel's most famous emblem, the globe, appeared in its first guise on 30 September 1963. The first such ident featured the continuity announcer speaking over a rotating globe while a "BBC tv" caption would appear with the announcement, "This is BBC Television" being made.

The launch of sister channel BBC2 saw the channel renamed BBC1 on 20 April 1964, although the name was not changed on-screen until the introduction of the "watch-strap" globe in 1966. The reason the change was delayed was due to coverage of BBC2 being limited; BBC1 remained "BBC tv" in the meantime.

On 15 November 1969, BBC1 began transmitting in colour, and introduced the first version of the "mirror globe" ident. The word "Colour", identifying this new feature, was included in the station ident, and separate, more expensive colour television licences were offered. Originally, the mirror globe had a blue logo and landmasses to enhance the clarity of the image on black and white screens. In January 1972 the BBC1 ident was revised with the "Colour" identification being italicised. On 28 December 1974 the mirror globe was altered to a much friendlier blue and yellow on a dark blue background and the BBC1 logo was changed to Futura Bold typeface. The "Colour" identification was removed from the name. The trailers around this time changed as well to incorporate the Double striped BBC1 logo, which would later become part of the next ident in 1981 when the mirror globe was revised.

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