BBC1 Winter Menu - post rebrand1991 BBC1 would never be the same under Michael Grade. A new look and new schedule changed the face of the channel in early 1985 but at the centre of the shake-up was the new supersoap, EastEnders. In the weeks leading up to Episode 1, a series of promos for the series was screened in which the characters would introduce themselves. Here we meet Debs and Andy, Ethel and Sue and Ali. Then, a reminder to tune in from the eve of the show's launch.
BBC1 News Report1991 Until now, any newsflashes were introduced with a suitable graphic from BBC News. But no longer. From now on news report captions would be in the style of the corporate branding, and this has been the case ever since.
Spring/Summer menu1991 No real change to the style of promos after the rebrand. For spring and summer a troupe of animated swimmers appeared in trails.
BBC1 Startup21.09.1991 One of the last examples of the two-minute startup, from September 1991. By now Ceefax was the norm before programmes so these intervals were no longer necessary. It's the start of the autumn schedules and these include a new early morning news bulletin, plus the return of Going Live. Roger Maude runs through the menu and leaves us with some good old music.
BBC1 Autumn end board1991 This is literally all there was on the tape! Umbrellas and a ferris wheel promote the new season's offerings on BBC1, which this year include a new horse-racing drama, Trainer, and the return of Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game.
BBC1 Christmas trails1991
BBC1's Christmas animations in 1991 proved to be more interesting than the ident. Two trails for you - first, a little something extra in the Bigfoot promo (which appears thanks to CBBC coming out too early), and then the film Scrooged in which Bill Murray learns the error of his miserly ways.
Winter on BBC1from 25.12.1991 BBC1 asserts dual branding in the Winter graphics from 1992, featuring a clock face and 1s which turn into the different continents of the world. First shown on Christmas Day 1991.
Power failure during cricket1992 A major blackout in Canterbury has put paid to the BBC's cricket coverage and it's left to announcer David Miles to keep us informed. While the viewers hear pleasant music over the slide it's chaos behind the scenes - to the untrained ear, David might come over as bumbling. But he's actually relaying information to us as quickly as he's receiving it in his headphones. We join the chaos as we emerge from the music to discover we can't go back to Canterbury - so instead here's a standby programme.
Spring and Summer end slates1992
A typical Tuesday evening menu from June 1992, showcasing the second stage of that year's spring and summer promos. Summer's here so what better than a swimming theme for those warm evenings? Graphics were updated throughout the broadcast period, the second example being from August bank holiday.
First Eldorado link06.07.1992
Now I wouldn't normally include soap titles in these clips, but here it's a key element of the link in question. After much trumpeting, Episode 1 of the ill-fated Eldorado arrived on Monday 6 July 1992. It was a guaranteed success, Beeb bosses thought, EastEnders Mark II. More accurately Eldorado was Triangle Mark II; a costly failure axed after just a year.
BBC1 even laid on Crocodile Dundee afterwards, as this trail shows. ITV, however, put out an hour-long Coronation Street which was designed to "strangle Eldorado at birth", as they put it. Andy Taylor is the announcer who heralds Episode 1 with a simple "You're watching BBC1". Was he too embarrassed to say anything else? Judge for yourself and relive one of the BBC's most infamous nights.
Autumn promos1992
The "1" is given a personality for the new season and spells out various genres to promote Autumn programmes. New dramas included the return of The House of Eliott, and horse-racing saga Trainer was recomissioned despite not doing well first time round.
Christmas on BBC1 - Willie Rushton1992
It's not Santa that comes down the chimney but the Christmas toys themselves, as Willie Rushton plays Santa to tell us about this year's festive goodies.
Christmas Eve menu1992
Paul Daniels is still hanging on in the festive schedules with his annual Christmas spectacular, but there's a distinctly more populist feeling to this year's December 24th package with EastEnders (Arthur getting whacked with Pauline's frying pan after she discovered his affair with Mrs Hewitt) and Casualty.
Christmas holding slides1992
BBC1 Stingsfrom 1993
Autumn 1993 saw major changes to the way programmes were promoted on BBC1. Instead of graphics changed at quarterly intervals, a series of bumpers were adopted which, like idents, would be added to on a regular basis. Some examples follow, with the occasional endboard.
Christmas Stings & Promos1993 You are invited to spend Christmas in BBC1's Winter wonderland! It's off to the Artic this year with Santa and his sleigh.
Christmas Promotions1994 In the attic cold and grey, the BBC1 snowmen come to play! A memorable and very well executed Christmas identity for 1994, starring a band of springy snowmen performing in their own band. The first time, incidentally, BBC1 used a snowman theme in ten years.
Christmas Promotions1995
Christmas is coming and a very colourful theme for the season, featuing an aeroplane and a dazzling Christmas tree festooned with 1-shaped lanterns. On the menu for Christmas Day - apart from more jolly animated characters on the BBC1 Christmas tree - is "Hook" with Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman.
Christmas link1996
Off to the circus for what turned out to be the final Christmas look of the "1" era. Two complete trails, followed by the festive symbol all in one clip.
New Year's Day menu1997
BBC1's famous "1" symbol was still burning brightly into 1997. But its time was limited. No Christmas graphics for this New Year's Day menu - instead some very striking lanterns.
Breakdown slide1997 From 1997 stylised breakdown captions were introduced on both channels, replacing programme captions hitherto used when programmes crashed. A rare sighting of BBC1's slide from early that year, and a few extra surprises (watch the globe!)
BBC1 Holding Slides - 1991-1997
For the first time outside Christmas, slides on both channels adopted a uniform look (although BBC2 altered the design from late 1992). For BBC1 nothing much changed - channel ID was still a stripe down the left-hand side, but the text font was changed to Futura Medium.
