Best and Worst Regional Titles and Themes

Not to digress, Colm, but what about that sofa?

For me its this Calendar intro from 1989. Authoritative and ballsy:
https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=93199

Titles like that are made worse by the fact that it isn't hard to make a presenter-focused title sequence without being horridly cheesy. GMTV Today did it pretty well, though of course it wasn't known for having a serious news agenda so that may be why, and the News Hour always had separate titles.

https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=68951

it would have slightly complemented the Nationwide theme of the time; starts with a very similar sound

The first 1 minute 15 seconds of that video was probably presented to BBC execs back in 1999/2000 as justification for why BBC News should take a generic look in the regions and nations. Their first generic look though is probably my favourite interpretation of the post-1999 look and theme.

As others have said though Central 1997 is tricky to top - still looks pretty good today IMO. North West Tonight of the late 90s was also pretty decent.


As for the worst - ripped from a US station IIRC, and very much of it's time, the final look of Granada Tonight - "Bringing the News Home to You" hasn't aged well at all.

Here’s where Granada got it from:

https://tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=92186

The previous look also isn’t that good, it all seems rather disjointed in my opinion:

I'm gonna cause sacrilege and say I have a bit of a soft spot for the 1991 Look East titles. Admittedly, they were a bit "Nordic Noir" for a regional news programme though. The ones they replaced were worse, in my opinion; with those awful hand drawn scenes - especially that old woman being wired up to some machine. The twee woodwind signature at the end of the theme tune was dreadful too...

https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=129286

Seems to me that some BBC regions were better than others. BBC East were down the lower end. Mercifully, I think BBC North West were one of the better ones. The 1988 'bonking worms' NWT titles were probably their best...

https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=106097

Another classic example of 'we've now got a computer than can do 3D animation, so we are going to use every single feature available'

For reference:

It's amazing how Central had 3 sub-regions, all had different theme tunes and title sequences, and all tended to get a new look every 1-2 years

It was very lavish to not give a 3 sub-regions the same titles and music, just with different variations

East and West were similar to each other in 2001 and 2002, in terms of using the same music and curved couch with table design. Editor Dan Barton put his stamp on both sub-regions.

East:

https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=95449


West:

https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=98298

You can’t mention Inside Ulster without this classic - as voted best regional theme by viewers of Points of View no less...

https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=75033