ITV Nighttime
~ Nighttime - 1988-2002~
All night programming on ITV is still a relatively new concept in the grand scheme of things. It was phased in in the late 80s, but no-one really knows why!! Originally it was aimed to show good programming for those who worked at funny hours and so on, but in reality the viewership is so small they've only ever been able to fill it with low quality and cheap imports and sell very little advertising space. Most of the regions also took one of two services provided by Granada or London to keep down costs, something which may not seem out of place with everything being run from Leeds or London on the network nowadays, but which was quite unusual for the late 80s. It led to a system where the branding during the night would differ from the branding during the day, and was the first place a national ITV look surfaced depending on where you lived. This system would last until daytime continuity was also centralised in London in October 2002.
Nighttime - 1989
The main programming throughout the night, was originally branded with the name 'NightTime' - Creative names evidently were not a priority. This version was from the Granada provided service, as was taken by Tyne Tees.
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Nighttime Next - 1989
A next slide, which was in use from 1989-1992.
Nighttime Advert - 1989
A break filler advert, leading on to an ident. This one is designed entirely for showcasing some of the horror films on Nighttime. Anyone of a weak disposition may find this file frightening, particularly those with an aversion to cheap MSPaint-like blood effects.
Nighttime - 1990
A slightly later NightTime ident, which remained in use for the rest of the 'NightTime' era. Were these things meant to be so freaky, or is that just me?
Nighttime (Sunset) - 1990
One of a set of different images used throughout the night. The sun would be seen at different phases depending upon what time of the night it went out. This one for example was used earlier into the service, and showed the sun setting. Anyone like to hazard a guess where these were filmed?
Nighttime (Sunrise) - 1990
Getting on into the early hours of the morning now, and the sun is rising again.
Nighttime Advert - 1991
An advert for Nighttime programming, designed mainly to fill up advert breaks when adspace couldn't be sold.
Nighttime Break - 1992
As nobody in their right minds would want to spend money advertising in the dead night slots, many of the programme breaks don't show adverts. Nowadays they tend to be filled either by PIFs or ITV Promotions, but in days of past a slide with music would be played out. The idea was that Granada would provide the musical interlude, and then the regions would overlay their ads over the feed, similar to how they did for Channel 4. Tyne Tees abandoned selling adspace for a period in the early nineties, letting the raw feed play out in most cases. This is an example of such a break from 'NightTime' in 1992.
Nighttime Break - 1992
Another example of a break filler from the Granada originated Night Time service.
Nighttime Break - 1992
Another holding slide (for the reasons mentioned above you got this a lot on Tyne Tees), only this time with a slightly more upbeat feel. Just what you want in the break of the Morning News (the part bumpers for this also included).
Nighttime Break Menu - 1992
From Thursday April 2nd 1992 (if you're interested), the same music continues over the next later break (Granada must have had a limited selection to hand that night). Only this time, the usual back soon slide has been replaced with a rundown of the night's programmes. Of course who decided scheduling this to play out after the break after The ITN Morning News (and thus the whole night of programmes) had just finished is best kept quiet. In true Bullseye style, "This is what you could have just watched..."
Jobfinder - 1992
Jobfinder was so much simpler in the good old days. Just a caption generator playing out a selection of pages from Oracle, with some music over the top, occasionally interspersed with some 80s photos. Just incase being unemployed was putting a set with a teletext decoder out of the viewers reach...
Nighttime (Coming Up) - 1992
A static slide, in a similar setup to the next slides, advertising programmes coming up both next week on Night Time and after the news update.
Nightshift - 1993
After Yorkshire took over in 1992, NightTime disappeared from Tyne Tees screens, to be replaced by YTV's own dual region service 'NightShift' - If nothing else, a slightly more original name, with a somewhat jollier ident than its predecessor.
Nightshift (Shorter) - 1993
A shorter version of the Night Shift ident from Yorkshire, this time with the ending 'Night Shift' logo missing and instead the name of the next programme shown. And it's in Stereo you know!
Channel 3 North East + Jobfinder Opening - 1996
From about 1994-1998, at least in the Tyne Tees/YTV setup, specific Night Time branding was dropped, and the region's own idents were used throughout the day, with continuity provided from Leeds. Certain recurring programme threads aired in both regions at the same time, such as Eastern Cinema, showing Bollywood films. An example of the already well known Channel 3 North East ident here, leading into another stalwart of late night programming; JobFinder! Well if feet on cobbles worked for The Bill, it has to work for someone after a job!
ITV Nighttime - 1998
In 1998, after the takeover by Granada, these two joined into the London based service, clearly still being kept light on the generic ITV branding at this stage. No visible name is printed on screen; Instead the ident features a sort-of-disco, showing people made up of coloured lights.
ITV Nighttime - 1998
A brief clip of another disco dancing ident.
ITV Nighttime - 2000
In 1999, When the second ITV Generic look was brought in, nighttime programming was changed to match - The only difference being the lack of regions. By this time, all regions were taking this same service, even if they occasionally put optouts in.
ITV1 Nighttime - 2001
When the ITV1 rebranding came about in August 2001, a massive change was also made to the nighttime look. Coincidentally at the time of this capture 'regional' ITV1 Granada stations had a generic ITV1 Xmas ident, whereas national ITV1 was still using the hearts; further proof that what Granada put out that year was not a network creation but a specific choice of them not to include region names as they were testing the water ahead of the full national rebrand. This was to be the last time daytime and nighttime branding would differ on the ITV plc regions. The advent of national continuity during the day from October 2002 saw the same idents being fed out from London all day.
~ Acknowledgements ~
ITV - http://www.itv.com