Westcountry - Opening Promo01.01.1993 Following Big Ben's chimes, Westcountry unleashed itself onto South West screens with this video, welcoming viewers to their service. A greater regional identity and more local programmes are promised.
Westcountry1993
Fast forward to 9.25am, and following GMTV Westcountry is back on air. The seagulls ident was one of the best-known Westcountry symbols, it was used continuously until 1999.
Initially, Westcountry had six idents. All featured scenes of nature commonplace in the region, though not at any specific location. Some were never seen again.
Westcountry1993
Westcountry unveiled a second set of idents to compliment the existing ones on May Day Bank Holiday. The Ferris wheel was only seen a few times.
Westcountry Christmas1993 On Christmas Eve all other channels adopted festive idents, but Christmas spirit had obviously eluded Westcountry. Then at 7pm, this finally appeared! Note the frosted glass.
Westcountry - New Year1993/94
Staying in party mood, Westcountry followed up its Christmas look with two designs to welcome in 1994.
Westcountry1994
As Westcountry entered its second year, viewer opinion warmed to the channel. January 1994 brought another crop of idents featuring mostly winter scenes. From 1996, "Fire" was used as an alternate night-time ident.
Westcountry - World Cup1994
England may not have qualified, but Westcountry still marked the first ever World Cup to be staged in the USA in the summer.
Westcountry1994 This unusual ident wasn't used for very long and often appeared before young people's programmes. Once it was played out in full when "The Littlest Hobo" failed to start.
Westcountry - New Year1994/95
Once Christmas was over the party continued, with two idents to welcome in the new year. The designs are last year's but without the frosted glass.
Westcountry1995
The sea ident was changed in early 1995, for a less threatening set of waves. The clips show the original and the amended version from 1999.Westcountry 1995
Baby it's cold outside...and Westcountry's new idents for early 1995 presented some chilly images of the countryside.
Westcountry - Film identsfrom 1995
In January 1995, Westcountry introduced special idents to proceed movies. They featured activity you'd see in a cinema and were distinctive because the "W" was not used.
WestcountrySpring 1995 New idents introduced 16 March 1995 included a tortoise, daffodils and primroses (left).
Westcountry - Rugby World Cup1995 ITV's second Rugby World Cup from South Africa was Westcountry's first. Enter some stock footage of a schoolboy rugby match to celebrate the tournament.
Westcountry - VE Day07.05.1995 Westcountry's presentation department was in patriotic mood, celebrating 50 years since the end of WWII. Which is more than could be said for BBC1...
Westcountry - Summer 1995
Summer's here and the time is right for some very sunny views of the region.
Westcountry - Autumn 1995
Come the autumn, a series of timely images featured in Westcountry's idents.
Westcountry Christmas1995
For Christmas, a new series of designs were used between December 23-26. However, the glass panel was not frosted.
Westcountry - Night-Time1994 and 1996 Having initially taken Granada's overnight service, Westcountry showed its own late programmes from 1996. The ident was introduced two years earlier and shows "Colour And Form", an exhibit at that Tate in Cornwall.
Westcountry - Euro '961996
Westcountry celebrates the championships with two idents showing the universal appeal of football.
Westcountry1997
The only significant change to Westcountry idents was the addition of an opening animation in 1997. A series of diagonal lines drew the "W", which otherwise remained the same.
Westcountry Christmas1997
An animated start to the Christmas idents, but only two of the 1995 designs were updated.
Westcountry - New Year1997/98
Instead of champagne Westcountry treated us to disco lights for New Year. The familiar balloons made their final appearance to welcome in 1998, now with animated start. New Year 1999 was not celebrated (I wonder why?!)
Westcountry - Winter 1998
More of the familiar Ws were modified to include the animated intro in early 1998. Several remained in service for the rest of the year.
Westcountry - Spring and Summer 1998
In May 1998 Westcountry revived its idents from Summer 1995 and gave them the animated treatment.
Westcountry - World Cup1998
Haven't we seen this before, I hear you cry? Well not quite. Instead of a souvenir Euro '96 football, the player is practising with a plain blue one. An imaginative variation of the usual break bumper accompanied the ident - instead of a red card the referee gives us a blue one, with a big "W" on it!
Westcountry Christmas1998 We didn't know it at the time, but this was Westcountry's final season to be jolly. Just one snowy design, which could easily have been mistaken for a Winter ident.
Westcountry - Final set
The final set of Westcountry idents was broadcast from Monday 8th March. Three months later, the Carlton URL was added, the start of a craze which spread to all broadcasters.
06 September 1999-31 January 2004: CARLTON WEST COUNTRY
ITV1 West/Westcountryfrom 02.11.2004
November 1st saw ITV1 ditch its celebrity idents after just over two years. In its place a more conservative look but one which also places more emphasis on programme promotion. The regions got their own version of the main ITV1 ident. At first the appearance of the West ident wasn't thought to be a mistake, since the regional units of HTV West and Westcountry have now combined. But HTV viewers got the Westcountry ident, so it was clear this was a mix-up.
That's more like it! Well not quite - someone should have told Bruce Dunlop "Westcountry" is one word. The new ident made a unusual appearance before Westcountry Live on 18 November.
ITV50 Westcountry18.09.2005 ITV hit the big 5-0 in September 2005 and to celebrate this milestone in broadcasting, the network rebranded for the month of September with special idents, menus and promos. No-one expected any regional versions of the birthday symbol - so it was a lovely surprise to see this. And this time, Westcountry is spelt correctly!