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CITV at Gas Street

(May 2018)

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MZ
Mr Zzzap
It's been 20 years since in-vision continuity was brought back on CITV after a 5 year hiatus. Which was produced from Central's Gas Street studios. This continued until 2004.

I have uploaded this compilation of clips from that era. Featuring Stephen Mulhern, Danielle Nicholls, Tom (Arthur) Darvill, Bryn Musselwhite, Ben Jones, Vanessa Bewley, Liana Bridges, Andrea Green, David Leon, Leigh Morrison, Leah Charles, Tim Dixon, Michael Underwood, Andy Jaye and Laura Jaye.

NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
Still amazes me how massive that DOG is on the first clip.

But anyway that 1998 relaunch in hindsight was one of the brightest and boldest looks the service has ever had and it was quite a good set and use of space considering it had to share with Central News West. The later tweaks with the bluer set? didn't look as good IMO.
NW
nwtv2003
Still amazes me how massive that DOG is on the first clip.

But anyway that 1998 relaunch in hindsight was one of the brightest and boldest looks the service has ever had and it was quite a good set and use of space considering it had to share with Central News West. The later tweaks with the bluer set? didn't look as good IMO.


Wasn’t the 1998 studio the basement turned studio at Gas Street? I believed they then swapped with Central News, then eventually shared. CITV moved out when Central News East moved in.
ToasterMan, fanoftv and DJ Dave gave kudos
MW
Mike W
Still amazes me how massive that DOG is on the first clip.

But anyway that 1998 relaunch in hindsight was one of the brightest and boldest looks the service has ever had and it was quite a good set and use of space considering it had to share with Central News West. The later tweaks with the bluer set? didn't look as good IMO.


Wasn’t the 1998 studio the basement turned studio at Gas Street? I believed they then swapped with Central News, then eventually shared. CITV moved out when Central News East moved in.

May well have been, the Gas St basement was, in 2006, the apps room but there was clear evidence of lighting rigs etc still present. No idea what lurks there now the building has been sold.
MZ
Mr Zzzap
Still amazes me how massive that DOG is on the first clip.

But anyway that 1998 relaunch in hindsight was one of the brightest and boldest looks the service has ever had and it was quite a good set and use of space considering it had to share with Central News West. The later tweaks with the bluer set? didn't look as good IMO.


Wasn’t the 1998 studio the basement turned studio at Gas Street? I believed they then swapped with Central News, then eventually shared. CITV moved out when Central News East moved in.

May well have been, the Gas St basement was, in 2006, the apps room but there was clear evidence of lighting rigs etc still present. No idea what lurks there now the building has been sold.


Well as seen in the opening clip. The 1998 studio is a small box room. It wasn't until 2000 when it moved to the much larger studio sharing with Central News.
MW
Mike W
It may well have been the Central Weather studio in the basement, the clip shows them going up the stairs and to the left (into what was edit suites). Tiny box room office/studio space...
LU
Luke
Great memories. I was always weird as a kid in that ITV was always on in our house rather than CBBC and I thought Stephen and Danielle were great - grew up watching them.
JO
Joe
Why is that weird?
LU
Luke
Joe posted:
Why is that weird?

because everyone i grew up with only had the Beeb on in their houses. no idea why
VM
VMPhil
Still amazes me how massive that DOG is on the first clip.

But anyway that 1998 relaunch in hindsight was one of the brightest and boldest looks the service has ever had and it was quite a good set and use of space considering it had to share with Central News West. The later tweaks with the bluer set? didn't look as good IMO.

Thought the light blue set was miles better myself - combined with the idents and surrounding presentation of the time, it’s partially responsible for my interest in TV pres.
Luke posted:
Great memories. I was always weird as a kid in that ITV was always on in our house rather than CBBC and I thought Stephen and Danielle were great - grew up watching them.

Same - Stephen, Danielle and Tom I remember the most. Never thought the four that replaced them were as good.
MA
madmusician
So much to say here. That 1999-2002ish period was when CiTV was absolutely ahead of the CBBC pres of the time, IMHO.

(Bugs-era Beeb then overtook them again, I think)

All together now: “090 11 10 50 10” 🎶
FA
fanoftv
Definitely agree with all of the comments so far.

The relaunch of invision was brilliant and they used such a small space amazingly well. The launch idents and stings were simple but with a nice melody. Come September 1998, everything went up a gear in terms of presentation and live programming with SM:TV Live on Saturdays, Mad for It on Wednesday and the Top 10 of Everything on a Friday. The white era for me had brilliant animations for stings and idents that synced beautifully with arranged music for each other. The opening and end idents with the characters morphing from one to another was very clever too, plus we had the fantastic spikey weekend ident.

The small studio looked amazing following the September 1999 update, as did the graphics, and it was the start of CITV not just rocketing ahead in terms of presentation, but also interactivity. Their website was amazing back then, and they rightly bugged it up at the end of each day. Let's not forget that CiTV was the first British television programme to allow viewers to text in to communicate with the programme 078 1801 4000 (or something like that, if I remember the jingle correctly).

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