HTV Wales used this to great effect by dragging it out for their final HTV-branded link (I don't think HTV West did though) - to push that as being a sad occasion too.
I'd forgotten that! They changed the colour of the hearts to red, to make it extra special.
I'd forgotten that! They changed the colour of the hearts to red, to make it extra special.
What I don't understand however, is that they really made an effort with that final ident - they even knocked off the 'ITV1' tag so only the HTV name appeared on the screen. Yet despite that the announcer ruined it all by trotting out the usual 'You're watching HTV: ITV1 in Wales' announcement. If there was EVER a time NOT to mention ITV1, that was surely it!
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Central also used the sombre sunset ident for the last ever local link in which Ted May told us how he'd announced for so many years in the "Central region" - no mention of Carlton at all. Good old Ted never let us down.
I was extremely surprised and disappointed by Westcountry's final link. Despite the name going, their continuity had actually gone from strength to strength after Carlton bought them out. Westcountry's continuity when they were self owned was very bland. Whether or not Carlton's ownership had anything to do with it I don't know, but some of their continuity scripting was nothing short of amazing in their final years.
I even remember one occasion at 7PM in late 2001 when Chris Langmore proclaimed 'Good evening from me Chris Langmore and all of us here at the studios in Plymouth and welcome to your evening programmes from Carlton'. That's exactly the sort of thing which TSW used to put out.
And yet when it came to the final junction, we got 'Next on ITV1, Martin Lewis asks Ultimate Questions' from some female relief announcers. Then the final Carlton ident was the totally standard 'electric piano jingle purple one' ident, followed by 'Now Martin Lewis and his panel discuss today's Ultimate Questions'.
It was a totally standard junction during which 'ITV1' was the only channel identification used, and no notification at all was made of the fact that you would never hear Plymouth-originated continuity again. Even GMG north put in a better performance than that, and when Westcountry's local continuity was so strong in it's final years, it was as I said a bit surprising how they ended it.
My guess would be that although the performer who died had nothing to do with the ident, in the light of the news it could seem slightly tasteless to show it, and so has been temporarily withdrawn. Although its a news story that's probably passed most people by.
A very good analysis. This could have still happened in the balloon era (eg: the bunjee jump) or even a high profile balloon accident - BBC1 would have been stuck for a logo then.
I'd forgotten that! They changed the colour of the hearts to red, to make it extra special.
What I don't understand however, is that they really made an effort with that final ident - they even knocked off the 'ITV1' tag so only the HTV name appeared on the screen. Yet despite that the announcer ruined it all by trotting out the usual 'You're watching HTV: ITV1 in Wales' announcement. If there was EVER a time NOT to mention ITV1, that was surely it!
We're going way off topic here, but hey ho...
Yes, the announcement was disappointing, but at least it was made by Dilwyn, who was announcing during the IVC days.
[quote="cwathen]It was a totally standard junction during which 'ITV1' was the only channel identification used, and no notification at all was made of the fact that you would never hear Plymouth-originated continuity again. Even GMG north put in a better performance than that, and when Westcountry's local continuity was so strong in it's final years, it was as I said a bit surprising how they ended it.[/quote]
Certainly the end of an era, but why would Carlton or ITV want to point out to viewers that their local continuity was for the chop? They wouldn't really be doing themselves any favours. I'm surprised so many regions allowed announcers to say goodbye.
Come to think of it, HTV was second only to LWT in its final goodbye. I don't think any other region played a special ident.
Yeah, I thought that Yorkshire and Tyne tees should've played their regional idents at their final junction, not the hearts. Border and Granada could've used their pre-hearts idents. Nothing wrong with the way Northern Macro signed off, except that they were obviously pre-recorded - Yorkshire and Tyne tees used identical annos except for station name and launch year i.e. "From all of us at Tyne Tees... since 1959" and "From all of us at Yorkshire... since 1968".
Talking of anniversary idents, London, Meridian and Westcountry should've dumped the celeb idents in the bin for the day on Janaury 1st - it was their 10th birthdays. Ditto Central (21). Shows how bad this genericism is getting when Central don't celebrate their 21st birthday!
It was just worth asking the question today in view of the uncertainties raised in this thread to see if they really have been withdrawn, that was all
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