BBC Oneness - idents and presentation

Unfortunately. We have to look to BBC Two for a classic style Christmas ident these days.

Does anybody think that this might be the last year of Oneness? I hope it is, but gut instinct tells me otherwise.

I've been hoping that for the last 2.10 years. Sadly, I think we're stuck with it into the early 2020s at least.

It's funny - Martin Parr's work as a photographer continues to be acclaimed but whoever at the BBC thought still photography translates well to the medium of television should be made to think again.

Indeed. I suspect BBC Two will recycle the 3 festive idents from last year, but it'd be nice to see one or two more added to the set.

As for BBC One putting more effort into their promotional trails than the actual ident, this has been the case since 2015. And I reckon whatever they do this year will follow that same pattern.

BBC Two is notoriously tight at Christmas so I wouldn't hold your breath.

There has to be a point when John Lewis et al. stop spending ridiculous money on campaigns and they all revert to cheaper alternatives - hell, we shouldn't have any money left at all by about 2022 - so the BBC may actually put more effort into idents soon. Saying that, at least for the next two years we have the same template.

I remember when Christmas presentation was used only from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day (or any “in lieu” bank holidays that followed). A few days maximum. I don’t think the BBC even used any special pres at New Year. Even the ITV regions rarely used any Christmas-themed IVC or presentation until a few days before Christmas, though they did tend to use it until after New Year.

My point is that when Christmas idents are launched at the start of December, by Christmas itself they already look familiar and nothing feels special about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day pres. If they must start using Christmas-themed idents in early December, set the theme - tease us a bit with the idents but don’t show them all on the first night - keep the best ones back to be showcased on 24th/25th/26th December.

For example - and it’s just an example to demonstrate what I mean - they could have idents featuring different “characters” or objects/props (someone wrapping a present, someone buying a tree - Christmassy enough in themselves) but the final idents show how all these characters/objects come together to form a story you see played out in the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day idents.

That was by necessity though, because the mechanical models tied up one of the Pres studios on the 4th floor of TV Centre.

Considering John Lewis is supposedly in a bit of trouble at the moment spending millions on their Christmas ad campaign may not sit well, though on the flip side as I suspect Christmas is one of their key trading times (as it is for everyone) the investment may be justified.

That's right. However, the "three day limit" for the BBC's Christmas idents continued all the way up to 1999, long after the mechanical ones had ceased to be used.

Yeah, after 1985, it should've no longer been a problem. Both BBC1 and 2 had CG Christmas idents for the first time in 1986.

You mean 87, surely? BBC1's 86 Christmas ident was traditionally animated, and BBC2's was a model being covered in snow.

Sorry to change the subject all of a sudden, but looking back over threads, I seem to get the impression that the 'Neon' ident was used to introduce every episode of Doctor Who Series Four (2008). I just wanted to know whether this was correct.