Channel 4 - 2015 Onwards
Managing an excellent job of keeping the rebrand under wraps, word of a change of look for Channel 4 came mere hours beforehand on the 29th September 2015. The whole look was then teased out over the course of the programme in the 9pm slot. A bit of a damp squib of idents with them making more fuss of them 'being alternative and edgy by not featuring our logo at all', but a nice surprise nonetheless.
Although despite all the 'we need no logo' hyperbole at launch, 2017 saw them quietly slip back in some brief flashes of the blocks in the '4' shape at the start and end of breaks. In October 2017, the idents themselves were replaced with a new set featuring a character formed of the 4 blocks, although the rest of the presentation package remained.
Channel 4 (Last Menu) - 29/9/2015 8pm
Channel 4 (Last Ident) - 29/9/2015 8pm
Channel 4 (Last Credits) - 29/9/2015 9pm
Channel 4 (First Reveal Countdown) - 29/9/2015 9pm
Channel 4 (Water Ident) - 29/9/2015 9.15pm
Channel 4 (Shuffle Ident) - 29/9/2015 9.30pm
Channel 4 (Mining Ident) - 29/9/2015 9.45pm
Channel 4 (ECP) - 29/9/2015 10pm
Channel 4 (Microscope Ident) - 29/9/2015 10pm
Channel 4 (Promo Style) - 29/9/2015 10.20pm
With a repeat of the first water ident at 10pm, it looked like the main initial reveal was over. In keeping with this, the 10.20 junction featured a more regular programme promotion, at least letting us see the new style (even if it had already been revealed on their website - well you can't win em all).
Channel 4 (Lunchtime Bulletin) - 30/9/2015
Channel 4 (Simpsons) - 30/9/2015
Channel 4 News - 30/9/2015
Channel 4 (We're The Superhumans) - 2016
After their successful first Superhumans trailer for the 2012 London Paralympics, Channel 4 were keen to push things even further for the 2016 event in Rio. The result, which began airing in July 2016, was the We're The Superhumans trailer. In a 3 minute long trailer, heavily aired across all the whole of the Channel 4 family over the summer, over 100 disabled people from a mix of athletes to regular members of the public show what they can achieve, all set to a cover of Yes I Can performed by Tony Dee.
Channel 4 (Quarry - Slow) - 2017
Channel 4 (Microscope - Slow) - 2017
Channel 4 (Crystal Bumper) - 2017
Channel 4 (Yellow Bumper) - 2017
Channel 4 (Bumper Blue/Purple) - 2017
Channel 4 (Bumper - Orange/Black) - 2017
Channel 4 (Bumper - Yellow/Purple) - 2017
Channel 4 (Bumper - Black/Green) - 2017
Channel 4 (Promo) - 2017
Channel 4 (Pride Weekend) - 2017
To celebrate London Pride Weekend on 4, the 50 Shades of Gay season ident which had already been in use before special programmes was put into use before all shows, with voiceovers recorded by different members of the community. Phillip Adlem, the police officer who proposed at the 2016 event, provides a generic recorded announcement over this early morning broadcast.
2017 Refresh
Channel 4 (Hill Shout) - 2017
On October 31st 2017 just ahead of their 35th Birthday, Channel 4 released its latest set of idents. Replacing the films of blocks in random locations was a new set reminiscent of E4. A character made of the Channel 4 blocks interacts with various scenes, complete with a remix of the original Fourscore signature notes in the background. In this one, he walks to the top of the hills (again possibly borrowing inspiration from E4) before shouting out so loud the nearby village knows all about it.
Channel 4 (Kickabout) - 2017
Channel 4 (Kickabout - Window) - 2018
Shorter 20 second edits exist for the 2017 idents, and in most cases use footage from the initial 30-40 seconds as this is where most of the important action happens. Two shorter versions exist for the Kickabout ident - one showing 20 seconds from the earlier footage, with this second one showing the end of the film, which is normally cut off from even the longer playouts. Here the football smashes the window of a local resident, and everyone quickly runs off.
Channel 4 (Race) - 2017
Channel 4 (Transport) - 2017
Channel 4 (Rise of the Robots Season) - 2017
A very simplistic ident to mark the 'Rise of the Robots' season on Channel 4. A Smart Home Device shaped as a 4 block and a mobile phone (not at all inspired on any devices by Google, Amazon or Apple) have a conversation with one another, here to lead into an episode of The Simpsons. With animation onscreen reacting to the voices of the continuity announcers.
Channel 4 (Lights) - Christmas 2017
Channel 4 launched their Christmas presentation on the 21st December. Following a style that had been previewed in trailers in throughout December, the idents featured 4 blocks animated in a Christmassy fashion. In this ident, coloured block lights fly around. These idents and endboards were reused in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Channel 4 (Sprouts) - Christmas 2017
Channel 4 (Snow) - Christmas 2017
Channel 4 (Vote100 Promo) - 2018
A promotion put together by Channel 4 to mark 100 years since women gained the vote in the UK. Over the course of the 90 second video, it shows the many achievements of the past century that society had previously claimed women would never do, before finishing on a clip of recent social media hashtags and saying there's still more to be done.
Channel 4 (Vote 100) - 2018
Channel 4 (Vote 100) - 2018
Channel 4 (Vote 100) - 2018
Channel 4 (Vote 100) - 2018
Channel 4 (The Circle) - 2018
To try and gain as much traction as possible for the launch of their new reality show 'The Circle' in September 2018, Channel 4 decided to use an accelerated flow junction off the back of their high rating 'Great British Bake Off'. A countdown starts during the usual ECP slot, using a pre-recorded announcement with most of the same wording that had been played repeatedly over other junctions in the weeks leading up to the show. After a brief break for sponsor bumpers, the special countdown continues, replacing the usual ident to to lead into the show itself.
Channel 4 (Purple Light Up) - 2018
Channel 4 (4 All The UK) - 2019
In order to mark their '4 All The UK' diversity strategy, Channel 4 have a special link featuring many different voices from the CA team repeating 'I am Channel 4'. Aired here on August 23rd 2019. Due to the use of the pre-recorded ident, a separate set of blocks has to follow afterwards to carry the programme content warning.
Channel 4 (The Circle Sting) - 2019
Channel 4 (The Circle Sting) - 2019
Channel 4 (World Alzheimers Day) - 2019
Channel 4 (The Circle Sting) - 2019
Channel 4 (The Circle Sting) - 2019
Channel 4 (Every Mind Matters) - 2019
Channel 4 (Every Mind Matters) - 2019
Channel 4 (Every Mind Matters) - 2019
Channel 4 (Every Mind Matters) - 2019
Channel 4 (Tiger Break/Ident) - Christmas 2019
A new addition among the rest of the recycled pres for Channel 4 for Christmas 2019. Here an animated tiger interacts with the blocks in an early break bumper reveal, to promote their big animation for the year The Tiger Who Came To Tea. In the run up to Christmas, this was used as a sting or break bumper, before being used with continuity as an ident into the film itself on Christmas Eve.
Channel 4 (4 All The UK) - Xmas 2019
For Christmas Day 2019, announcements throughout the day were handed over to a series of special idents under the '4 All The UK' banner again. Staff from some of the new offices outside London provide the announcements, recorded on some less than optimal microphone setups. Here the announcement comes from Sam Kelly. A workspace co-ordinator for Channel 4's office in Bristol.
Channel 4 (4 All The UK) - Xmas 2019
Channel 4 (4 All The UK) - Xmas 2019
Channel 4 (4 All The UK) - Xmas 2019
Channel 4 (#StayAtHome Sting) - 2020
Channel 4 (#StayAtHome Sting) - 2020
Channel 4 (#StayAtHome Sting) - 2020
Channel 4 (#ClapForOurCarers) - 2020
To mark 'Clap For Our Carers' as part of their COVID-19 response in April 2020, Channel 4 repurposed their Pride blocks ident as rainbows had also been used a symbol of support for the NHS during the era too. Over the updated idents, staff from St George's Hospital, which had featured in the show '24 Hours in A&E' provided recorded announcements.
Channel 4 (#StayAtHome Sting) - 2020
Channel 4 (Black and Proud) - 2020
Channel 4 (Happy Diwali) - 2020
Channel 4 (Clown) - Christmas 2020
For Christmas 2020 Channel 4 reused their usual set of Christmas idents, but added an extra one to the set. To mark their animated adaption of Quentin Blake's Clown that year, a new ident was created featuring the titular character decorating the Channel 4 blocks. Unlike with The Tiger Who Came To Tea the previous year, this ident was put into rotation with the other Christmas idents for use on festive shows throughout December.