22 years of the 1997 BBC logo

I know a 22nd anniversary isn't much, but it is officially 22 years since the 1997 BBC logo that we all know and love was introduced for the very first time on TV - on 4th October 1997!

Not the most inspiring of continuity announcements to launch the new look was it.

I never realised how much I miss the 1997-2002 look of BBC One. Even though it is 22 years old, it just makes "Oneness" look even more appalling.

Also, with the 1997 BBC rebrand, more UKTV channels were launched and the existing ones had their branding changed. The presentation was similar to the 1997 BBC channels' presentation, which I guess was to show they are part of the BBC.

Short Circuit... great stuff - I miss those Saturday tea time films on BBC One and have great memories of those growing up. Sadly, this generation won't have the same level of nostalgia - the weekend schedule is dire if you're not a fan of strictly or sport!

For me, a brilliant Saturday night on BBC One can be seen in October 1992 - here is an example from Saturday 24th October 1992:


5.20pm - Dad's Army

5.50pm - Big Break

6.20pm - Noel's House Party

7.15pm - Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game

8.15pm - Casualty

9.05pm - News and Sport

9.25pm - Saturday Night Movie: Coming to America

11.15pm - Match of the Day

On that subject, VMPhil’s great post for the 20th anniversary is worth a read, especially anyone who didn’t see it first time: https://tvforum.uk/tvhome/bbc-corporate-identity-1997-20-years-43009/

The last bastion of the 1997 look was still on air in 2015 long after BBC One and Two dumped it in favour of their boxes:


The acorn ident racked up near enough 18 years on its own, though I think the rest of the package was relatively tweaked but it was still effectively the same in 2015 as it was in 1997, just in widescreen

I thought it was made in widescreen.

Here's a few Learning Zone junctions from December 1997, the entire output is 4:3 here:


It might well be that the ident was remade in widescreen at a later date because some of the elements here don't appear in the later versions.

The only existing UKTV channel was UK Gold. Living was wholly owned by Flextech (rather than joint owned with BBC Worldwide like Gold), and ditched it's UK branding to avoid confusion.

UKTV didn't launch with the new BBC logo, it launched on 1st November.

8 days later News 24 launched, was quite handy that all the new channels launched after the rebrand