Carlton Television 06/09/99 - PRESENT [ Main | News | Programmes | Continuity | ITV South West Index ]

A BRIEF GUIDE TO CARLTON IDENTS Carlton replaced Westcountry Television as the ITV contractor for the South West in 1999. The idents were used in all three Carlton regions and were the first in the ITV network to introduce dual branding, ie. displaying the ITV (later ITV1) logo as well as that of the local company. Chris Langmore, former Carlton West Country announcer, has kindly sent us some background info about the ident structure. There were eight idents in use. Each design has three variations - 5, 3 and 0. A "5" features animation of approx. 10 seconds plus tail for voiceover. A "3" features shorter animation (around 5 seconds), while a "0" is simply a static logo over an animated background. The choice of ident was determined by the type of programme to be introduced, ie. news, drama, light entertainment etc. Martin Lambie-Nairn designed the idents - his company created the Carlton logo back in 1992. Once again, many thanks to Chris for all his help; now to the idents!

Carlton First use in South West (06.09.1999) All change for ITV again on Monday 6th September. After just six years Westcountry was ousted by Carlton as the South West's ITV provider. Bye bye regional identity! Still not everything changed, such as announcer Peter Griffin who runs through the morning's schedule.

Carlton Christmas (1999) The Christmas idents for 1999 were rather obscure, and if you missed the opening animation you wouldn't know it was the season to be jolly. Still, they did make the effort...   Pacey Drama 3 Pacey Drama 5 Dramatic 5

Dramatic 3 Serious 3 Bright Drama 5

Carlton Millennium (1999) Following Christmas, Carlton welcomed in the new millennium with an explosive ident. Note the showers of sparks which remain on screen throughout. Short version Long version

Carlton (2000) In full and no announcer to spoil things! Download these three 31-second idents to see them as we viewers aren't meant to. These are Carlton's second set of designs, introduced in early 2000.

Corporate News/ Drama 5 Soft Drama/Generic 5 Corporate Factual/Event 5

Carlton Widescreen (2000) From July 1st all commercial broadcasters transmitted advertisements in widescreen. Although Westcountry had experimented with two 16:9 idents during its final year, Carlton waited until C-Day before dispensing with 4:3 continuity. The following clips have been re-encoded to remove letterboxing.

Entertainment 5 Light Entertainment 3

Soft Drama/Generic 5 Light Factual/Generic 5

Drama 3 Daytime 0

Carlton Christmas (2000) The festive idents for 2000 were the same as last year, albeit in widescreen. But there was one new addition to the collection!

Carlton ITV1 (2001) On 11 August ITV changed its name to ITV1 after 46 years. Carlton's idents were modified accordingly; the "ITV1" logo is sharper and larger than the previous "ITV" label. Entertainment 3 (First use) Serious/News 5

Light Factual Generic 3 Sport 5 Serious/News 0

Carlton Christmas (2001) In widescreen at last...the familiar animations used during the past two years. But there's a subtle change for 2001 - glitter has been added to give a more Christmassy feel. Ident A appears to be a new design. Serious 3

Serious 0 Bright Drama 3

Pacey Drama 5 Pacey Drama 3

Carlton New Year (2002) Also now in widescreen is Carlton's familiar New Year animation. Amended of course, so the fireworks spell out "2002" and shown for the first time since the change to ITV1.

Carlton Brit Awards (2002) A worrying move towards generic idents came in February when a special ITV1 ident was shown on the day of the Brit Awards. Carlton took the logo, but modified it to include their own name. Good for them!

Carlton ITV1 - Golden Jubilee (2002) This time there was no way out. ITV1 celebrated the Queen's Golden Jubilee in June with another generic ident, but Carlton didn't attempt to add its own name. The ident had three different lengths. 5 (Full) 3 (Medium) 0 (Pre-formed)

Carlton Star Wars Season (2002) As network continuity looms, this is possibly the last special ident we'll see on Carlton. After the form-up of Corporate News/Factual, we end up in a black hole!

Carlton Final Announcement (27.10.2002) Out they go with a whimper. While other regions acknowledged their final announcement that woeful morning, it was business as usual for Carlton West Country. Patti's last announcement was a standard one and the choice of ident a little unusual. Here endeth 41 years of ITV continuity in the South West.

FROM LONDON...THIS IS CARLTON WEST COUNTRY On 28th October the unthinkable happened and regional continuity was abolished as part of ITV1's new look. Regional names would now only appear before local programming. While GMG companies opted not to show regional logos on idents, Carlton - ever proud of it's identity - continued to use dual branding. Chris Langmore became one of the new Network announcers, working from the former LWT presentation suite. Here he introduces local output, generic style.

Carlton ITV1 Chris Tarrant (2002) It's Westcountry Live, but we don't want to give you that!

Carlton ITV1 Frank Skinner A (2002) He's feeling fine, in a frivolous frame of mind. Carlton ITV1 Frank Skinner B (2002)

Carlton ITV1 Martin Kemp A (2002) No, it's not time for EastEnders. How many people actually associate Martin with ITV? Carlton ITV1 Martin Kemp B (2002)

Carlton ITV1 Davina McCall A (2002) Proving celebs will do just about anything for ITV1...

Carlton ITV1 Richard & Alexis A (2002) Never used before Westcountry Live but seen before all other regional programmes. Richard Bath and Alexis Bowater join in the fun. Carlton ITV1 Richard & Alexis B (2002) Short version.

	[ Main | News | Programmes | Continuity | ITV South West Index ]