From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum
Originally formed as "ABC" (not to be confused with the American, Australian or Associated "ABC") by impresario Lew Grade, Associated Television Ltd. was the second-ever ITV franchisee to go on air on September 24, 1955, serving for London on the weekends. Their more famous outing, serving weekdays (later full-time starting in 1968) in the Midlands, would go on the air on February 17, 1956. It was also the parent company of ITC Entertainment from 1957 and until 1981, when ATV re-formed and re-branded itself to Central Independent Television.
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This logo is currently missing in action. Please do not add reconstructions of the logo if any exist, as they are likely not accurate to the actual logo. Additionally, do not attempt to add a finalized description of the logo until it has been found in its entirety.
Visuals: A pair of grey "eyes" are seen, the top one being solid, the bottom one being striped (or "shadowed") eye below it, and both are intersected at about their midpoints like a Venn diagram. The letters "A", "B", and "C" are shown in the spaces of the intersecting eyes in a bulky font.
Trivia: This was withdrawn after threats of legal action by Associated British Corporation, which was about to launch its own TV channel, causing the network's renaming.
Technique: A still, printed image.
Audio: Unknown.
2nd ID (October 8, 1955-1956)
Visuals: The eye from before, except wider, zooms towards the screen while "opening up" and expanding outwards. It then moves upward, revealing a striped (or "shadowed") eye logo below it, and stops at a point where both circles intersect in the middle. The letters "A", "T", and "V" appear in the spaces of the intersecting logo in sequence accompanied by three chimes. "ASSOCIATED TELEVISION LTD." then wipes in below, with the initials shown to be bigger than the rest.
Trivia:
The reason the logo is somewhat disproportioned is because the network's renaming forced the draftsman to redraw it in a hurry.
This would continue to be used at the end of sign-ons until colour broadcasts began.
Variant: A still holding slide has the logo with "channel 8" below it instead.
Technique: Traditional cel animation.
Audio: Three "chimes" as the letters appear, which increase in pitch. Composed by Wally Stott (later known as Angela Morley).
3rd ID (February 17, 1956-1959)
Visuals: On a grey background, a rectangle protruding from the top right lists "MIDLANDS: Monday to Friday", a small ATV eye logo (redrawn to feature the proportions of the 1st logo and with slightly different lettering), and then "LONDON: Saturday and Sunday". Three rectangles drop down beside it and a rectangle slides in from the right below the three rectangles. The letters "A", "T", and "V" appear in the rectangles with "PRESENTS" being wiped in on the rectangle below.
Variant: The bar only mentions about either the Midlands or London at various times.
Technique: Cel animation.
Audio: The three "chimes" used as the letters in the bars appear, which increase in pitch. Composed by Angela Morley.
Availability: This was seen in both areas ATV broadcast to (as seen in this ident) and even on programmes, such as The 64,000 Question, The Johnnie Ray Show and The Larkins.
4th ID (1959-July 1964)
Visuals:
Station ID: A white ATV logo, which consists of 2 layered "eyes" with one solid and one striped as a "shadow", zooms into view fully formed. The letters "A", "T", and "V" appear in the spaces as the logo moves in, accompanied by the same chimes as before.
Accompanying clock ident: At this point, ATV would start using a clock with the shadowed eye as its basis. The clock had triangles to tell the hours and the hands were kite-shaped. This would be used throughout the '60s and '70s possibly, as this did have a yellow colour on a blue background.
Variants:
A still variant exists.
A version exists with "ATV" arranged horizontally in the middle section of the eyes.
Technique: Cel animation.
Audio: The three "chimes" used as the letters appear, which increase in pitch. Composed by Angela Morley. It sometimes may have a normal pitch.
Availability: This appears at the start of The Larkins.
5th ID (1964-1969)
Visuals: The ATV logo from before is shown in a slightly smaller size, moved to the top of the screen. Either "LONDON" or "MIDLANDS" then appear and slowly zoom up below the eyes.
Technique: Cel animation.
Audio: The familiar three "chimes", although at a slightly higher pitch. Composed by Angela Morley. It sometimes may have a normal pitch.
Availability: The Midlands version can be found on black & white episodes of Crossroads.
6th ID (November 15, 1969-December 31, 1981)
Visuals:
Station ID: On a grey or light blue background, three circles, coloured red, green, and blue, grow in one after the other, intersecting each other and forming different colours, and when its all finished, the caption "IN COLOUR" fades in underneath. The 3 circles then slide towards each other, forming one white circle as the background fades to blue. The white circle grows out into an eye shape and bands of colour sweep across it, cutting out the circle part and adding in the striped "shadow" underneath. The logo turns yellow and the letters "A", "T", and "V" appear in the spaces.
Accompanying clock ident: A still version of the logo, surrounded by a rounded square border and with "COLOUR" below in a white Microgramma font, with the background usually in blue, but may be coloured black. A numberal clock displaying HMS time in the 24-hour format is seen below, making it rather unique among most of the time-frame, which were mostly analogue clock faces. Originally, it would have the clock mentioned in the 3rd logo.
Variants:
1969-75 black-and-white variant: the logo is shortened to just the ATV eyes appearance following a growing circle, and no gradients.
An early variant exists that during the formation of the logo, the background instead turns black.
Sometimes, the eye might be in white instead of yellow.
On an Elstree Christmas promo tape from 1982, after the logo forms, there are no letters that appear in the spaces.
Technique: Traditional cel animation.
Audio: A twelve-note fanfare, consisting of the following four three-note sections: trumpet notes, timpani beats, the familiar ATV chimes, and finally, more dramatic trumpet notes. Composed by Jack Parnell and arranged by Angela Morley.
Audio Variants:
For the black-and-white variant, in the beginning growing circle there are just three drums to accompany it.
For the early variant, the music was lower in pitch and sounded more low-budget.
An unused fanfare was recorded in 1974 using the "Midlands Montage" startup music introduced that year as a basis, composed by Johnny Pearson. It consists of a horn rendition of the ATV chimes, followed by a triumphant trumpet fanfare.
Availability: The logo appears on the first series of Bullseye.
Visuals: The 1955 ATV logo is seen with the text "AN" and "PRODUCTION" above and underneath it respectively in Arial Black.
Variants:
An in-credit version exists, which shows the logo in custom colours.
On Supercar, "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" and the full company name is shown above and below the logo.
A variant exists, which has "PRODUCTION" replaced with "TELERECORDING".
An early variant used from 1958-1960 had the logo arranged alongside a "Z" made from several dots, with "PRESENTS" or "Production" at the other end. "An" can be seen with "Production" as well.
From 1960-1962, it had the logo without any letters, but with "An" in the top space, "ATV" in the middle, and either "Production" or "Outside Broadcast". This was either on a black background or in-credit.
On Johnnie Ray Sings, and a June 18, 2023 airing of The Larkins episode "Home Win" on Talking Pictures TV, all of the letters are inside the middle eye. Likewise, the closing to said programme has "An" and "Production" in the top and bottom spaces, respectively.
An open-matte variant of the above also exists, which was seen at the end of a July 30, 2023 of The Larkins episode "Unlucky Strike" on Talking Pictures TV.
On both a 1963 Beatles performance and the Rewind TV airings of Hancock, the following credit is added underneath:
Starting in 1969, the word "COLOUR" is added and the logo gains a yellow color, while the background turned dark blue.
Technique: A still, printed image.
Audio: The ending theme of the programme or none.
Availability: Seen on programmes by ATV from the time-period until 1972.
Examples include The Golden Shot (a late 90's print also kept this logo, followed by the 1999 Carlton International logo), The London Palladium Show, The Larkins, A Tale of Two Streets, and Hancock, among many other ATV original programmes.
Some of them can be found through archival sites or BFI Player.
The 1960 variant can be seen on The Last Night of the Crazy Gang albeit the Outside Broadcast variant.
It is also seen on UK airings of The Larkins on Talking Pictures TV.
The 1959 opening and closing variants are also preserved on the Rewind TV airings of Hancock.
This was used in tandem with the 3rd logo during its final years, with the last known appearance being on Options.
2nd Logo (February 17, 1956-1959)
Visuals: A still version of the 1956 schedule ident where "PRODUCTION" replaces "PRESENTS" and "An" is placed above "A".
Variant: A telerecording variant exists; not only is "PRODUCTION" replaced with "TELERECORDING", but "AN" was moved over to the left-most bar and the ATV logo was shifted downward.
Technique: A still, printed image.
Audio: The ending theme of the programme.
Availability: Seen on programmes by ATV from the time-period until 1959.
Examples include The Johnnie Ray Show, The Larkins, and Should Every Picture Tell a Story?, respectively.
The telerecording variant was seen on the former.
The "PRODUCTION" variant was also resurfaced at the end of an April 30, 2023 UK airing of The Larkins episode "Ale and Farewell" on Talking Pictures TV.
3rd Logo (November 1969-December 31, 1981)
Visuals:
Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
Closing: On a blue background. the 1969 ATV logo is within a yellow rounded rectangle. Underneath it is the stacked text "COLOUR PRODUCTION" in a yellow Microgramma font.
Variants:
A superimposed version exists, which may rarely delete "COLOUR".
Sometimes, the word "AN" is above the logo.
On Outside Broadcast programmes, "COLOUR PRODUCTION" is replaced with with "OUTSIDE BROADCAST".
Sometimes, the logo is on a black background, or is colored white.
Starting in 1975, the logo has a copyright date added below and it, alongside the copyright stamp, became gold.
On Tiswas, the endcap replaces "COLOUR" with "TISWAS" in a different colour. The colour palette is also somewhat randomised from time to time, even having a variant shifting from blue to pink barring the green text.
Most of the time, the font of "TISWAS" is in a smaller Eurostile font, but sometimes its in the standard Microgramma font used for the rest of the text.
On Crossroads episodes from 1984 and 1986, the endcap is in black and white, this is due to the fact that both episodes were originally broadcast in colour, but the videotapes that they were stored on were wiped by ATV shortly after broadcast, and those shows only survived via 16mm telerecordings.
Technique:
Opening: Traditional cel animation.
Closing: A printed card. One of the Tiswas variants has computer effects as well.
Audio:
Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
Closing: The ending theme of the programme or none.
Audio Variants:
For the B&W version of the opening variant, in the beginning growing circle, there are just three drums to accompany it.
For the early opening variant, the music was lower in pitch and sounded more low-budget.
Availability: Seen on programmes by ATV from the time-period until the end of 1981.
Examples include Crossroads, the UK version of Celebrity Squares, Edward the Seventh, Thriller, Sapphire and Steel, Tiswas, The Mighty Micro, and the 1974 documentary Dave Allen in Search of the English Eccentric, among many others.
A good source on which to find this logo on home video is the 1981 Magnetic Video of the Rudolf Nureyev version of Giselle.
It can also be found on the DVD releases of Crossroads released by Network DVD.
It is also preserved at the end of a mid-2000s print of S01E05 of Edward the Seventh, which is then followed by both the 1987 ITC Entertainment and 2004 Granada International logos.
The opening and closing variants of this logo can also be found on Challenge airings of the 1981 series of Bullseye, with the 1999 Carlton International logo at the end.
The in-credit variant can be also found on the Kaye Ballard episode of The Muppet Show on Disney+ and disc one and the Peter Ustinov episode on German DVD releases of The Muppet Show, despite all of the ATV and ITC logos from both UK and U.S. versions being wiped and cut by Disney. The former was likely the result of the episode featuring a unique ending which did not facilitate the typical edit of replacing the final shot of Zoot playing his saxophone.
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Bumper (1969-December 31, 1981)
Visuals: On a black background, the eyes from the ATV logo (without the initials) flip in. However, the striped one merges into the filled one, and then the screen zooms into it.
Visuals: The program information is written in chalk next to "A.T.V. V.T.R.", with "PRODUCTION", stacked on top of "SCENE N°." and "TAKE N°.", with the latter two aligned with each other leaving space near the bottom. The labels are painted in white with wavy underlines beneath. After the slate appears for 23 seconds, it fades to black.
Variant: On Saturday Variety, the labels are absent and the program information is written on a smaller blackboard with black marker on tape. This slate appears for 5 seconds.
Technique: A still printed graphic.
Audio: After the slate appears for 15 seconds, a Stage Manager reads the slate.
Audio Variant: On Saturday Variety, the slate is silent.
Latest appearance and Smaller Slate variant; Prod. #12
2nd Slate (1964-1975)
Visuals:
On a black background, abstract triangles form the shape of a clock along with numbers from -40 to 0 as a long white dial ticks clockwise to 0. On the top right corner, labels in thin white font, "V.T.R." "PART", & "TAKE", are stacked on top of each other with white blanks on the right of each label. A spoked segment on the clockface marked from 25 to 15 represents the sound ident. The program information is written with black marker on white tape (chalk or white marker in earlier years).
Variants:
A hollow version of ATV's 'Eye' logo would be added on the bottom right of all clocks starting in 1967.
The ATV logo would sometimes appear smaller.
The style of the dial would sometimes slightly change in shape.
A sweeping metal dial with holes and a black wedge would sometimes be used.
Technique:
A still printed graphic with the moving clock hand as live-action.
Audio:
A man cycling the alphabet or numbers between three looping beeps. When the clock hand reaches 25, a Stage Manager or Voice-Over reads the slate; otherwise the clock becomes silent.
Audio Variants:
On Market in Honey Lane, a buzzer can be heard once the clock hand reaches 10.
Visuals:
On a black background is a white dashed outline box with symmetrical align marks and the ATV 'Eye' logo on the bottom right. A white dial with a triangular back ticks clockwise from 40 to 0 with numerals printed on a clock made of hollow ring segments marked from 20 to 0. "SOUND IDENT" is printed to the left of a thinner marked segment while triangles mark the start and fade points on either end of the clock. In a box on the top right corner, alternating letters and numbers in roman font spell out the program information above nixie indicators marked "PART" & "TAKE".
Variants:
"B'HAM" (Short for Birmingham) on the top-left corner, and a larger ATV logo with the word 'PAL' beneath it on the bottom-right corner would plaster the clock starting in 1970, with the latter replacing the smaller, makeshift ATV logo.
The roman typography would alternate with san-serif font starting in 1970.
Holiday motifs would sometimes be added during Christmas-season recordings.
On 1974 recordings of New Faces, a sticker of a cartoon one-man band (who appears in the show's opening) is added on the bottom-left of the clock.
Technique:
A still printed graphic with the moving clock hand as live-action.
Audio:
When the clock hand reaches 20, a Stage Manager or Voice-Over reads the slate.
Visuals:
On a black background is a white dashed outlined box with symmetrical triangle align marks and the ATV 'Eye' logo (without initials) on the bottom right. A white dial with a bulbous back ticks clockwise from 40 to 0 with numerals printed on a clock made of hollow ring segments marked from 10 to 0. An empty, single-lined segment marks "SOUND IDENT" accompanied by white text on the left, and triangles mark the sound and fade points on either end of the clock. In a box on the top right corner, two slots with "VTR" printed on the top-left of the box display the program information in marker (or chalk in earlier years) above slots marked "PART" & "TAKE".
Variants:
Holiday motifs would sometimes be added during Christmas-season recordings.
Technique:
A still printed graphic with the moving clock hand as live-action.
Audio:
When the clock hand reaches 20, a Stage Manager or Voice-Over reads the slate.
November 2, 1964-April 4, 1988 Episode 1009, 1304, 3546
Debut & latest appearance; Holiday Motifs variant on 3546 (Holly leaves, mistletoe, ornaments and seasons greetings)
5th Slate (1972-1981)
Visuals:
On a black background, a white dial with holes and a ring-shaped back ticks clockwise from 40 to 0 on a clock made of marked ring segments with numerals printed within. The 25-15 segment has a thicker edge and is marked as "SOUND IDENT." in white text. In a box on the top-right of the clock, program information in white text is printed on a slot sandwiched between "PART", "TAKE" and "INSERT" with accompanying block numerals (two slots for the two latter labels). A triangle indicates the fade mark 3 seconds on the clock.
Variant:
The program information would sometimes be written in black marker on white tape.
Technique:
A still printed graphic with the moving clock hand as live-action.
Audio:
A 910 hz sine tone. When the clock hand reaches 25, a Stage Manager or Voice-Over reads the slate.
Visuals:
On a black background, a white triangular dial ticks clockwise on a clock made of marked segments with a larger segment extending from the 17 to 3-second marks. Alternating letters and numbers in roman font spell out the program information in slots on the top-right of the clock alongside a white "VTR" next to it. Below the slots are vertically-rotating numerals with "PART" and "TAKE" printed to the left of them.
Variants:
Starting with The Mid-Week Match, the slots are removed leaving an empty space until Crossroads, when it is replaced with a drawing box. The program information is written in white paint marker.
An alternate clock exists with the "part" and "take" labels lowercase and the 3-second mark dashed and more prominent. It also added the ATV logo in a rounded square (on the top-left) and an exposed dial with an arrowhead on Crossroads. The border surrounding the box may alternate black and white on different programs starting withThe Mid-Week Match. The "VTR" label also varies, such as being reprinted in larger font, or absent.
Technique:
A still printed graphic with the moving clock hand as live-action.
Audio:
Same as the 2nd clock, or silent. When the clock hand reaches the 17-second mark, a Voice-Over reads the slate.
Visuals:
On a black background within a white dashed outline box with symmetrical align marks is a clock made of hollow ring segments increasing in mark length. The ATV 'Eye' logo is in a rounded square on the bottom-right along with "Production Centre Birmingham" beneath it and "ATV B'ham" on the top-left. A black dial with a white strip ticks clockwise on the clock with numerals printed; 40, 30, 20, 15, 10, & 5. "Sound Ident." is printed to the left of a segment with a thicker edge. A triangle marks the the fade point on top of the clock. In a box on the top right corner, black strips spell out the program information letters in san-serif font on the top row and labels beneath are accompanied with square nixie indicators next to them;
VTR [] [] [] [] / (The last two digits of the production year)
PART [] TAKE []
SECT. [] INS [ ]
Variants:
On the clock's first month of usage, "Production Centre Birmingham" is on the top-left and "Midlands" is on the bottom-right.
Instead of black strips, black marker on white tape would sometimes be used.
On the 3,000th episode of Crossroads, strips with the titles of several ATV programs are plastered over the clock.
Holiday motifs would sometimes be added during Christmas-season recordings.
Technique:
A still printed graphic with the moving clock hand as live-action.
Audio:
Same as the 2nd clock, or none. When the clock hand reaches the 20-second mark, a Voice-Over reads the slate.
Only appearance of Black Marker on White Tape variant
Revolver
May 20, 1978-September 2, 1978 Episode 5
8th Slate (1980-1981)
Visuals:
On a black background with plus marks on each corner, a dial ticks clockwise from its hollow circular base on a clock made of white lines. Numerals within read 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, & 40. Lines are added from the 20-second mark onwards with a cut segment up to the 15-second mark indicated with vertical text; "IDENT". Prominent lines mark each end of the clock and at the 3-second mark indicating "FADE" at the top. On the top-right is the program information sandwiched between two dashed lines, and on the bottom-right is pixelated text; "ATV BM".
Technique:
2D computer animation.
Audio:
Same as the 2nd clock, or none. When the clock hand reaches 25 seconds or the marked segment, a Voice-Over reads the slate.
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