BBC Two: new idents from Sunday 18 February

And I keep explaining many times there are several holes in that argument. The 1991 rebrand coming less than two months after Christmas. The much longer run of festive idents compared to ten years ago. Special idents for Home and The Armstrongs. Do you want me to go on?

Whether the ident is nice or not (and of course it is) is beside the point. New year, new Christmas. This has only been happening since the present BBC2 controller took office (and before you say it, we still got new in 2002 and 2003, even if they were being used alongside previous idents).

There wasn't the "Public Value Test" ten years back... the accountants probably say It's A Waste Of Licencefeepayers' Money to make a new ident at this juncture. And I wouldn't be surprised to find that the "Home" ident came out of that show's budget rather than the BBC2 continuity budget.

I'm getting a strange premonition as to what the subject of the 'Duty Log Mental' might be on this week's Holy Moly mailout.

I agree. It's a very nice ident, very christmassy, and much better than BBC ONE!

If the lack of a new Xmas ident this year is down to the costs of the looming rebrand, I can only hope this new look is good.

In fact, I hope the new look is far better than good. In BBC2's history of "groundbreaking" identity maybe the glory days, of Lambie-Nairn's iconic 1991 package, cannot be matched, but they should at least be rivalled, and this should be the rebrand to rival it.

Sometimes, it's less about an idea, and more about how that idea is approached, to make it work. I'm not too optimistic about the future of TV Pres given the current trends, so it would be nice to have something to get really excited about again, to counterbalance that - something that really has impact.

its christmas on TWO so i thought i do a mini-award ceremony celebrating the best '2's from christmas past, here we go:
Most Weird: from Xmas 1991 hardly very christmassy either this was just plain creepy esp. the music
http://sjl-static2.sjl.youtube.com/vi/lcm2me8DvMs/2.jpg 1991 video
Most Sparkly: this glittery effort from 1996 just pips this years ident as most sparkly
http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/BBC2Xmas96.jpg
Best '2' to sit on top of tree: from 1993, a scenario that would be repeated but IMO never bettered
http://tv50.org.uk/stills/bbc2/christmas1993.tv50
1993 video
Most environmentally friendly: 2001's effort was recycled 4 times before finally being banished http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/BBC2Xmas01.jpg
Best BBC2 Christmas ident: the final award goes to the year 2000 ident, it was just so good with lots of little '2's skating about an enormous '2'. this years ident is 2nd.
http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/BBC2Xmas00.jpg
2000 video
EDIT: Heres some more:
Most unchristmassy: from 2003 the last yellow ident used for christmas although it was repeated a year later.
http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/BBC2Xmas03.jpg
Most humorous: from 1999 what could be more funnier than an angel '2' kicking the real angel off the top of tree. top comedy.
http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/BBC2Xmas99.jpg
Most likeable: i just had to give it at least one award! 2005/6's ident has the likeabilty factor, if the snowy '2' isnt your cup of tea then this ident's warming imagery and music is sure to make you smile. enjoy!
http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/idents/BBC2Xmas05.jpg2005/6 video
there you go. do you agree or disagree. and merry christmas forumers!

Not sure what happened at 23:50 with the Generic Xmas Ident; went out in Mono but was clean, sound didn't fade down.

Probably audio server problems.

Thanks for the little trip down Memory Lane plucky duck! BBC TWO certainly have had some nice christmas idents over the years.

I still think this one ought to be used at some point on Monday!
Drunk BBC TWO
Apologies but I can't remember where I got this from last year, so not sure who to credit it to!

Have you realised that on the 16th of February next year, it's the 2's sixteenth birthday? That might be when the new package launches...

I didn't realise it had been that long. Now I feel old!

It could well reach 20 during the tenure of the new set. I'd think 4 years is probably a bit less than the average package lifespan these days.