ITV introduced its first official corporate logo and national on-air identity in September 1989, using branding designed by English Markell Pockett and music by Lord David Dundas. However, Ulster, Anglia, TVS, Channel Television, TSW and Granada declined to use the generic idents that were designed for their regions, preferring to stay with their distinctive on-screen branding. A whole branding package was designed around this logo; in addition to the idents, there was also a clock, trailer style, font, break bumpers and various other elements. The ident was generally formed by beginning with the franchisee's logo, then going into a sliding sequence featuring a dove, a couple in period dress, Big Ben, an athlete, a pair of dancers before an ITV logo is formed which featured an abstract form of that franchises logo in a triangle in the V of ITV.
Some regions took elements of the package, but not others, and these were slowly dropped over time with most regions reverting to their own looks. Scottish Television, Granada and Central did so almost immediately, with HTV adopting a brand new look on New Year's Day 1993. Thames dropped it a few months after losing their franchise in 1991. The three newcomers to the ITV network in 1993, Carlton, Meridian and Westcountry all launched with their own brand images.
The regions to have the longest use of the generic ident were Yorkshire, who kept it on until October 1994, and Grampian who continued to use the 1989 generic ident right up until ITV's new corporate logo was introduced in 1998, although they were by then part of SMG. In addition, Tyne Tees, Border and Grampian continued to use an edited version of the 1989 ident's music in their first idents after dropping the generic look, whereas LWT used a re-recorded version.
On this page, you'll see all the regional variants of the ITV generic look, as well as a selection of production endcaps from this era.
Generic Ident
Regional Variants
Anglia
Border
Central
Channel Television
Grampian
Granada
HTV
LWT
Scottish Television
Thames Television
TVS
TSW
Tyne Tees
Ulster
Yorkshire Television
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