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This page presents images and downloadable video files covering Grampian Television idents from the very first in 1961 up to the present day.
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This is the original black and white ident used by Grampian Television in the 1960s. The grey and black triangles start off looking a bit like the Grampian Hills in Scotland (if you use your imagination), and the re-arrange themselves to form the St. Andrews Cross logo. The music is a short jingle based on "Scotland The Brave". The image shown here portrays this animation, starting at the bottom left and moving clockwise.
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This is the colour ident used by Grampian Television in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was preceded by a short sequence involving primary colours, reminiscent of the famous "In Colour" ident used by ATV during the same period. The music is once again a version of "Scotland The Brave". The image shown here portrays this animation, starting at the bottom left and moving clockwise.
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In April, 1985 a brand new ident was created using the latest computer animation techniques. It is considered an all-time classic by some, and you can discover how it came about by reading an in-depth article kindly supplied by Steven K. Hearn. This ident continued the tradition of using music based on "Scotland The Brave". The image shown here portrays this animation, starting at the bottom left and moving clockwise.
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In 1989, in common with other ITV companies, Grampian received a new look created by designers English Markell Pockett. The sequence began with the St. Andrews Cross logo shown in figure 1. This then shifted and blurred, to be replaced by a montage of images which finally resolved into the ITV logo shown in figure 2. For the first time, the "Scotland The Brave" music was no longer used. Instead, a shortened version of a new, generic ITV theme was played. Although many of the ITV companies disliked their new look, and proceeded one by one to drop it in favour of their own designs, Grampian continued to use this ident, and remained the only ITV company to do so until it was finally retired on Sunday, 4th October 1998 to make way for the relaunch of the ITV corporate image.
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Two days after the retirement of the generic ITV ident (see above), a new animation sequence was launched. This consisted of the angled Grampian logo being manipulated in a style reminiscent of 1980s Quantel Paintbox visual effects. The sequences was silent, and voiced over with a continuity announcement. After less than one week, this animation was replaced by a new one (see below), and therefore it is one of the shortest-lived Grampian idents. Unfortunately, a complete recording of this rare sequence does not exist in the archives of ATW, and therefore the example which is available for download omits the initial part of the animation. If anyone has a complete recording which they would like to contribute, it would be greatly appreciated.
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This "shattering glass" ident was introduced in the second week of October 1998 as a direct replacement for the animation used during the previous week (see above). The music which accompanies this sequence is an edited version of the generic ITV theme from 1989. This animation is the version currently in use at the time of writing (October 1998).
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The Grampian Television break bumper was launched on the 4th January 1998. As you can see it's quite a departure from the traditional colour scheme, and I'm told that it heralds an exciting period of change for Grampian's on-screen look.
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