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 West06.09.1999 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.
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...
Carlton - Millennium1999
Following Christmas, Carlton welcomed in the new millennium with an explosive ident. Note the showers of sparks which remain on screen throughout.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.
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.
Carlton ITV1from 11.08.2001
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.
Carlton Christmas2001
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.
Carlton - New Year2002 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 - The Brits2002 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 - 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.
Carlton - Star Wars2002 The last special ident from Carlton, to mark the rescreening of Star Wars on ITV.
Carlton - Final announcment27.10.2002 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.
Carltonfrom 01.09.2003
Less than a year on and ITV splashes out on another rebrand. The generic ITV1 ident is now used before regional news so just two idents for Carlton. And less opportunity to see them, following drastic cutbacks to regional programmes.
The celebrity theme continues with Jim Rosenthal, and Funtime Frankie is back - no jacket required!
Carltonfrom 01.12.2003
Jim and Frank didn't last long! With the merger of Carlton and Granada almost complete, the Carlton brand would cease to exist and this needed to be reflected on screen. To coincide with the reinstatement of the regional afternoon slot on Monday 1st December, all Carlton regions were given new idents featuring landmarks from each area.
True to form, Carlton thought it too simplistic to brand the new idents "ITV1 Westcountry" and gave them the monicker "ITV1 for the West Country". At least the BBC Choice blocks gained new employment...
2004 ONWARDS - ITV WESTCOUNTRY
Please visit the Westcountry main page for latest idents.