UTV rebrand

I wouldn't be surprised if Julian's Santawatch stints were part of UTV Live and I would be surprised if ITV for one last Christmas suddenly went into IVC mode. It would be a nice send-off though, because I think we all know there's no chance of it next year.

BBC Northern Ireland's ace The Blame Game, a sort of Have I Got News For You variation for NI, has been having a field day with Julian disappearing off-screen ("The Brits have gone too far this time" and so forth).

Just to note that the new ITV ident with the children trimming the Christmas tree has made it to UTV as well.

Not sure if this has been posted but at the start of the rebrand Julian had been sounding very formal on all his links. Now his Coronation Street links are the same camp style as they used to be just out of vision!

Apart from "The Magic Box" on the last night of analogue, although that was a co-production with BBC NI.

Long may they continue! I love them and often burst out in laughter upon hearing then. Yes, yes sad I know! Plus the good folk of NI love them so why not continue.

What poll result is that statement based on? I'm sure there might be one or two people in NI - other than Julian himself - who find these utterly cringeworthy intros amusing - but I have yet to find them. I've not carried out a poll myself but the subject has come up at random points over the years - most commonly at large gatherings of family and friends, where the television may have been on in the background and up pops Julian. I've not heard one positive comment yet. I'm sure he's a perfectly decent fella but this nonsense is just embarrassing.

Maybe it's like marmite you either love them or hate them. Whenever I am over in the Province I have only heard praise for them.

I would be curious as to how they work out of vision. The biggest problem I have with STV's continuity is that it often sounds horrendously insincere - like at the end of The X Factor when some presenter comes on and goes "Wow, wasn't that amazing, well done to ..." I think the problem is that I can't see their face, so something's missing in terms of making it clear to me they actually mean it rather than that they're taking the piss.

It's difficult to explain, but I did wonder how Julian's intros would be coming across if he was to do his old style in the new format.

It's not so bad when it's live, but trying to inject personality into prerecords just ends up sounding fake.

UTV's continuity has been utterly hopeless since they moved it away from Belfast. It wasn't perfect previously but really they need to cut the current annos and just go with the corporate, tightly-scripted spiel they use on the mainland.

Can I ask what happened then? Would there still be closing music etc.?

I'm familiar with news bulletins that might just cut to a slide and some closing music, but would there be no credits on recorded stuff like documentaries, gameshows, chat shows etc?

Would there even be a copyright notice?

A nice treat to see a UTV programme with end credits - one aspect of the ITV takeover I was keen to see taken on board, sad I know.

The no-end-credits rule came in at the start of 1993; I've seen episodes of "Counterpoint" and "Kelly" post-January 1993 with just the Ulster Television production caption at the end.

There was no set format to how programmes ended - some would just cut to the end production caption, others would have shot montages of clips from the programme or the on-stage activity (e.g. the children singing the theme to "School Around the Corner") where you'd expect to see end credits.

Mind you, there's still no end credits on Lesser Spotted..., UTV Life or View from Stormont, so perhaps the change in rules has come in from programmes produced after this October, or it's just for those now-rare non-news/current affairs programmes?

Going back to older days, the only time UTV would usually put a copyright notice on end credits was for programmes produced for, or with the intention of being broadcast on, the network/Channel 4, e.g. 0.43 here:



...although in recent years, UTV would usually put e.g. (c) 2016 on the end production slide.

Almost time for Julian's Santa updates - I wonder what form they will take?