BBC Switch

Nothing really interests me about BBC Switch programming-wise, but it also isn't helped by the awful branding - which has a design theme (and specifically intro) which I cannot make head nor tail of in terms of values.

This is made much worse still, thanks to the inclusion of something I suspect is actually terribly, terribly patronising - the clips between the programmes which look like an attempt to portray the attitudes of the target demographic. Very dangerous marketing move, especially for this type of audience.

Surely someone thought, that to set up a teen strand and brand it with clips of what some suit thinks shows 'what teens are like these days' was more than a bit likely to backfire? I sure think it will; and even though I am outside of the target audience age range, something about it generally doesn't sit right with me.

Verdict so far from me is, the pres is way off the mark - heck, by these standards, I'd consider DEF II a youth strand branding nigh-on masterstroke...

I agree totally with that. The branding behind it is not good at all.
I think an idea that T4 used would work by creating a competition to brand the block, especially linking up with BBC Blast. It would bring something creative and get some up and coming stars work onto the telly. In my opinion these were the things that made/make T4/E4 respectively great.

As for T4 today they were sat with two former stars of Brookside in the Channel 4 HQ canteen, which if I'm not mistaken was the area used by T4 at the weekend.

Later they had a very weird link where Steve and Miquita just talked over the top of the sausage & bacon in a pan sting saying things like 'I just love bacon', 'I just fancy a sausage', before saying 'Here's charmed' and then tried to sing over the guitar rift at the end into the programme, very random.

It isn't helped by the fact that the girls in it are covered in makeup and are continually saying 'o mi god innit though!!!!!!!!!!!!' Tell me the last time you saw a girl walking around the street with the entire Body Shop hanging off her face, and saying "Oh my God" every fifteen seconds.

BBC Switch is appalling. The person who came up with the branding should be shot in the stomach, tortured, hanged, drawn, quartered, and then burned at the stake just for good measure.

(In case you haven't worked it out, I don't like the branding.)

Interesting article from Broadcast.

five now seem to have realised that ditching Shake might have been hasty and programmes for older children/teens have been restored on Sunday mornings, albeit all US series and with standard continuity.


Hey really, what a surprise!

I caught this the other week. It was quite standard continuity as they got a younger guy to voice over and even said that he would be back next week at the end of the programme.
They should reinstate the core imo. The core only died when they tried to make it bigger, not that much bigger, and it was a good thing, but maybe they just wanted rid.

Does anyone else remember the core, or is it just me?

Kate MacIntyre presented, in the days when she had nice hair.

Indeed she did. It started on saturday late morning, took a break, was on saturday afternoons and then sunday mornings.
In the early days it had no name and just had circular coloured faces everywhere - even though it was all simple and 2D it gave it an image, but they got rid of those when the competition for viewers to come up with a name concluded and replaced it with 'The Core', and the orange logo, before eventually getting a bigger studio and having marc crumpton (who used to do T4 - mainly popworld with June) join Kate, before they got rid of it.

Maybe they should bring it back, all I've seen Kate do is property and holiday daytime things on various channels of recent years (and her repeats of the big bang on CITV). Speaking of which, isn't Lucy Alexandra (the first face of milkshake) now doing a property show (well has been for some time now), but with a weird accent to her voice, a sort of jeremy clarkson esque!

I think virtually every presenter who began their career on Five is probably doing a property show somewhere!


I remember the Core - though none of the programmes in it. Anyone remember "The Mag" with Josie D'Arby from when C5 launched.

Yeah that was weirdly in a strange sort of house at the start and was on from 1pm all afternoon with some other bloke.

The better days for me was the channel 5 coloured titles and set, it fitted in better, was a fantastic design and had a great theme tune.

I rember 'The Mag', though I have momories of when i9t started it was more like a strand with other programmes within it, but in the end became more of an hour long programme within the unnamed strand that became 'The Core'.

Does anyone remeber the final look of The Core, where it went all trendy and blue and witha modern font, They got a big studio too but it only seemed to last a few weeks before being replaced by 'milkshake fm' - what would later become 'shake!'

Here's a few clips (Right click and save as)
Original 'orange' Core - really bad blue screen causing everyone to be tinted blue.
Final 'blue' core
milkshakeFM
I always really liked the original shake titles though
Original shake! You Tube, don't save as

Yeah indeed I do, I was so excited, they hadn't changed the core for 2 years I think, and she said that they were going on a roadshow through the summer and having a new look when they went back to air. I couldn't wait.

Especially as she said that she'd have a co presenter and revealed things gradually. It was very good, it wasn't a big set, infact it was (if memory serves me right something like this....
http://www.rp-network.com/tvforum/uploads/thecore2ndset.jpg
Sorry for the awful paint mock up ( I couldn't be bothered with anything else on a sunday night! ).

They had the seating area on the right with pictures of the characters of programmes and a couple of screens disguised with picture frames behind the sofa, a weird mock wall next to the sofa's, a glass table (I think), and then a desk on the other side for the computer. There may be other things that I've missed I'll dig out my video from years ago of the first one... somewhere.

The titles followed the set (or vice versa) by having wallpaper and picture frames as though it was going down a hall, not really a patch on the original energetic ones, and as you can see, the logo was no where near as original, and I never understood those radio style stings, they were bought in a few weeks in.

It all changed at the start of September 2001 I believe, and was around until early December. Why it was dropped I don't know. But when the revamp came in, it went to simply being on Saturdays rather than Saturdays and Sunday mornings that it used to be.
Then milkshake fm came in (which was awful in my opinion), why make something appear to be a radio station on air? Which became shake! with the rebrand to five in September 2002.