TV Whirl - ITV1 2002-2003

~ ITV1 2002-2003 (Page 1) ~

On the 28/10/2002, the day we had all been expecting finally came. The region names were abolished from the idents to be replaced solely by ITV1. The region names did still appear before regional programmes (unless you're in London), although it was a very poor excuse (ie a tiny little mention). By May 2003, this mention had also been dropped. Even SMG, UTV and Channel, who are independent of Granada/Carlton, hence still have a choice, had all decided to take the easy/cheap option and use the idents by January 2003. Still, despite the end of regionalism, a bit of a budget was initially spent on filming a wide selection of idents.

As there's so many of these, I've had to split them across 2 pages. A link to Page 2 can be found at the bottom of the page.

ITV1 2002 First Promo

At 9.25 on the first day, a minute long promotion heralding the new brand went out, showing 'behind the scenes' filming of the idents, and finishing with a solemn black version to lead into Trisha.

ITV1 2002 Break Bumper

The new break bumper...

ITV1 2002 Ant and Dec

The first new ident. Aired at 10.30 before 'This Morning', it features Ant and Dec (the one which has been used most extensively in the pre-launch marketing by ITV).

ITV1 2002 Advert

An advert, shown just before 1pm, giving us a look at the new endboard.

ITV1 2002 Ant and Dec 2

Apparently there were others shown, but I didn't see any new idents again until 1pm... oh look! It's Ant and Dec again! Isn't that imaginative!

ITV1 2002 Trevor McDonald

Into the gameshow 'Never Had It So Good' was an ident featuring Trevor McDonald. Um... nice to see the ident bearing some resemblance to the program!

ITV1 2002 Advert 2

Another advert, broadcast just before 2.30pm on the first day, for the program 'Mr Right'. This one uses the full new graphics set for time, day, channel etc. As I recall, this programme flopped, but 'Mr Right' ended up marrying presenter Ulrika Johnson!

ITV1 2002 Martin Kemp

For the 3pm news, we had this ident.

ITV1 2002 ECP

One of the better aspects of the relaunch can be seen here. Out with the idea of generic credits. Now, credits are designed so they can be shrunk to a column, allowing the announcer to advertise a programme menu on the right. Notice the slight cheating with regards to the regional news, simply saying 'News Hour' onscreen, with the announcer advertising 'The latest news from your region'. This is from the end of Popstars, at just before 5.30pm.

ITV1 2002 Cilla Black

Leading into Family Fortunes at 5.30pm on the first day, we got to see Cilla Black.

ITV1 2002 Frank Skinner

Not from the launch day, some other new 'celebrity' idents. Where I know who the people are, I have included their names. This one features Frank Skinner.

ITV1 2002 Frank Skinner 2

Another version with that same man.

ITV1 2002 Geri/Pete

Geri Haliwell and Pete Whatshisname feature in this ident. This is the Christmas variant, hence their cheap stars-flying-around-the-logo edit.

ITV1 2002 Tess/Brian

Tess Daly and Brian Dowling, from SMTV Live, making a complete fool of themselves for ITV1's idents. This is also a Christmas version. Thanks to James Hadfield for identifying these two - I didn't know who they were.

ITV1 2002 The Bill

Two of the female actors from The Bill feature in this ident. Yes, ITV are really stretching the 'celebrity' theme now! Ooh, its another 'festive' version BTW!

ITV1 2002 Des 'O Connor

A different Des in a different ITV1 ident.

ITV1 2002 Des Lynam

Des Lynam stands around doing nothing in this ITV1 ident.

ITV1 2002 Hermione Norris

Another ITV1 ident with another lesser-known celebrity.

ITV1 2002

Nope dont know him! I think its Robbie something.

ITV1 2002 Mary Nightingale

Mary Nightingale, the news reader, features in this ident.

ITV1 Xmas Advert - 2002

The pathetic re-edit done to the idents for Christmas may have looked awful, however ITV had some nice graphics in use on the promos. This is a typical example with the reindeer.... looking at those damn shooting stars again!

ITV1 Sport - 2002

In keeping with the new look ITV1, this brilliant sports ident was introduced. Unlike the celebrity idents, it wasn't produced by the NPU - doesn't it show!

ITV1 Generic Long 2003

Whereas they used celebrities at first, ITV soon adopted a policy of using their nice flashy generic ident into all News programming. This is the long version. Clip courtesy of Ashley B.

ITV1 Generic Short 2003

As with all of the celebrity idents, there's also a short version of the Generic ident. Thanks to Ashley again for the clip.

ITV1 Brits 2003

Hmm.... for Christmas 2002, where the idents were in use for several days, ITV went to the great expense of adding a few shooting stars around their logo. For a one night event (ie The Brit Awards), they produced several new special idents, some featuring musical acts, and another dull version featuring the hideously overused Davina McCall. In my opinion, it shows where ITV's priorities lie! Bah humbug!

ITV1 2003 - Im a Celebrity...

Another special ident, this time used to promote ITV's programme 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!' in 2003. The ident features the Koala puppets, which had been used extensively in the pre-launch programme marketing, and was used into the junction of nearly every programme on the first and last days of the show.