ITV Meridian Productions

Background
This is the production arm of ITV Meridian, previous known as Southern Television Productions, TVS Productions, and Meridian Productions.

1st Logo (1960-1964)
Logo: Essentially a still version of the 1960 logo with "PRESENTS" replaced with "PRODUCTION".

Variant: Sometimes, "NETWORK" is added to "PRODUCTION".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Extinct.
 * Many programmes from this period have been lost or not preserved on home media.
 * It was seen on The Full Man War Poetry and Space Three.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1964-January 1, 1982)
Logo: It's a still version of the 1964 logo but with "COLOUR PRODUCTION" and a copyright notice added underneath.

Variants: A SOUTHERN PICTURES Production for SOUTHERN TELEVISION
 * Later versions of the logo has the copyright notice smaller.
 * On some programmes, the copyright notice was removed.
 * On one programme, "PRESENTATION" replaces "PRODUCTION".
 * On Together, the text underneath "SOUTHERN" reads "Arial".
 * A B&W variant exists with the text reading "PRESENTATION" instead of "COLOUR PRESENTATION" and no copyright info below. This variant preceded pre-1960s B&W Warner Bros, MGM, Universal, Paramount, United Artists, pre-1958 Selznick movies and non-Southern TV programs.
 * A variant has "COLOUR OUTSIDE BROADCAST" appear underneath the company name.
 * The same variant can also be superimposed.
 * On Sean SE, after a few seconds, the logo becomes more scratched throughout the logo.
 * On Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, the text has been reworded to say
 * On Runaround Christmas on Ice, the logo has snowed and mistletoes are seen on the bottom corners of the screen.
 * At Southern's final programme, And It's Goodbye From Us, at 00:45 (or 12:45am) on January 1, 1982, 45 minutes after their franchise contract expired, after the end of the show, the logo fades in. After a while, the blue background fades to one resembling a starry night sky, the company name and the copyright notice disappearing at the same time to leave just the star. After a few seconds, the star starts spinning clockwise, faster and faster, before slowly zooming-out into the night sky background. The star is now very small, and the spinning continues. Finally, the guitar tune from the 1964 ID, with an echoey feel to it at the last note plays, causing the spinning star to fade out to leave just the sky. The variant then shows us the sky for about 9 seconds, and the screen slowly fades to black.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Music/Sounds Variant: On Sean SE, the normal 1964 theme plays and then we hear bells ringings when the logo becomes scratched. A male voice then says "Ha, that's better".

Availability: Extremely rare, due to many programmes becoming lost or hardly preserved.
 * The presentation version was at the end a 1974 movie film That's Entertainment, after the 1957 Metro Goldwyn Mayer logo.
 * It was surprisingly seen a colour-presentation variant at the end a 1942-film Yankees Doodle Dandy in mid-1980.
 * The filmed variant is retained on current prints of Worzel Gummidge.
 * It has also turned up on a Talking Pictures TV Encore print of Runaround: Christmas on Ice.

Editor's Note: The closedown variant has a very ominous feel to it, but it is still a bittersweet way to end an ITV franchise.

1st Logo (January 1, 1982-September 4, 1987)
Logo: On a black background, the flower from the 1982 TVS logo is placed in the middle of the screen. "Times New Roman" is placed below in the corporate font.

Variants:
 * Sometimes, other phrases like "Times New Roman" and "Times New Roman" are used.
 * In the logo's early years, the logo is closer to the screen, and a copyright date is added underneath, reading "©(year) Television South plc" or "©TVS (year)".
 * On Ultra Quiz, the flower is in a chrome effect.
 * On Bobby Davro's TV Annual, the logo is seen within a TV set against a room full of Christmas decorations. A man wearing a crown is seen within a black and white picture. After the credits fly off screen, he stares at the viewer and smiles before blowing a party horn and giving a toast to us. The man then drinks from a wine glass.
 * On The Real World 3D TV, the flower is in a 3D-effect against a perspective effect grid background. It zooms out and looses its effect before the shot crossfades to the normal logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability:
 * Still saved on several shows, such as Ruth Rendell Mysteries and the first two series of Catchphrase.
 * One of the earliest programmes to use this logo was Bring in the New.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (September 5, 1987-September 1, 1989)
Logo: On a background, the 1987 TVS logo is beveled and in a dimly lit steel blue color. Underneath is the word "P R O D U C T I O N".

Variants:
 * On The Pyramid Game, a copyright stamp in a dark color is added underneath the logo.
 * Programmes produced for Channel 4 has the logo smaller and the bottom text bigger, now reading "A TVS PRODUCTION FOR CHANNEL FOUR".
 * The same variation from the Bobby Davro's TV Annual is used here but with this logo.
 * The production variant features a larger 1987 TVS logo and the words "A TVS PRODUCTION FOR ITV" with the 1989 ITV logo below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Rare.
 * This logo can be seen on series 3 and 4 of Catchphrase, series 4 of The Pyramid Game, and Tugs, among many others.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (September 1, 1989-October 30, 1993)
Logo: On a background with a spotlight on the top left corner, the TVS logo from before is in a bluish glass texture. "P R O D U C T I O N" can be seen underneath in a slightly different font than before.

Variants:
 * "PRODUCTION" may be reworded to "PRESENTATION"
 * Sometimes, the 1989 ITV logo is seen underneath with the bottom text reading "Times New Roman".
 * Another variant has "PRODUCTION" reworded to "PROGRAMME".
 * On All Clued Up, a copyright notice is added underneath the 1989 ITV logo.
 * A filmed version also exists which was seen on episodes of Mr Majeika.
 * In the first series of Motormouth, the page slides in to reveal the TVS endcap.
 * In the 1988-1992 episodes of Catchphrase, while it is similar to the Motormouth's version from 1988, but instead, the page flipped to the right and slides down (formerly up) to reveal the TVS endcap.
 * On The Prayer For Us All, the logo is in a box with white outlining outside of it and appears next to the 1988 Anglia Television logo and on the latter's background with the text below changing to "Times New Roman" with the 1989 ITV logo below.
 * On Purple Triangles, the print logo has a thick outline and is seen within the Starlock Pictures logo.
 * On Finder's Keepers, the World Wide International Television logo appears above the TVS logo. Underneath, the copyright notice was expanded to read "© (year) TVS Television Ltd based on underlying materials ©1991 MTV Networks all rights reserved".
 * On Streetwise, the logo appears within the 1989 Childsplay Productions logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability:
 * It can be seen on seasons 2 to 6 of Ruth Rendell Mysteries (However, when ITV3 re-aired these seasons many years ago, this logo was plastered over with the 2003 Buena Vista International Television logo) as well as all episodes from series 5-8 of Catchphrase and Motormouth, among many others.
 * It made its last appearance on the series 9 premiere of Catchphrase, which despite the switch-over to Meridian, surprisingly kept this logo at the end.

Editor's Note: None.

1st Logo (January 1, 1993-1995)
Logo: The 1991 Meridian logo is placed on a black background with the text "A MERIDIAN PROGRAMME" underneath.

Variants:
 * Sometimes, the text reads the following instead:
 * "A MERIDIAN PRESENTATION"
 * "A MERIDIAN PROGRAMME FOR ITV"
 * "A MERIDIAN PRESENTATION FOR ITV". This and the above variant uses the 1989 ITV logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Rare.
 * Can be seen on series 1-3 of Wizadora, 1993 episodes of the UK version of Jeopardy! and Catchphrase, along with early episodes of Zzzap and later episodes of Houseparty, among many others.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1995-1997)
Logo: On a flame-like background consisting of black,, and colors, the Meridian logo from before with the company name in white is seen above "A MERIDIAN PROGRAMME".

Variants:
 * Like before, the text below the logo may read "A MERIDIAN PROGRAMME FOR ITV" or "A MERIDIAN PRESENTATION FOR ITV" with the 1989 ITV logo used.
 * On one programme, the 1995 VCI logo appears alongside the Meridian logo. "IN ASSOCIATION WITH VCI" is added underneath "A MERIDIAN PROGRAMME".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Can be seen on later series of Wizadora as well as Delta Wave, Ruth Rendell Mysteries and In the Wild, among many others.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (September 1996-October 4, 1998)
Logo: The moving striped background from the 1996 ID now consists of, , and colors. Additionally, the sun/moon logo is in the same position as before and "A MERIDIAN PROGRAMME" is placed underneath.

Variant: Like before, the text below the logo may read "A MERIDIAN PROGRAMME FOR ITV" or "A MERIDIAN PRESENTATION FOR ITV" with the 1989 ITV logo used.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Rare.
 * Seen on such programmes, like In the Dark, Sooty's Amazing Adventures and Monkey Business, among many others.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (October 5, 1998-2001)
Logo: On a windy - background, the Meridian logo is in a different color palette with the moon in a -like color and the company name in black.

Variant: On multiple programmes, the logo is seen within the United Productions logo, either underneath or side-by-side with said company's.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the ending theme of the programme.

Availability: The on-screen logo is extremely rare since at this time, nearly all of Meridian's original programmes used the United Productions variant instead.
 * It was so far only seen on series 2-4 of Monkey Business.
 * Speaking of United Productions, this variant can be seen on the last several series of ZZZAP! and early movies of Hornblower.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (April 21, 2002-August 29, 2004)
Nicknames: "Purple Meridian"

Logo: We see the same Granada purple end card with the corporate logo used by all other Granada-owned regions, however, the shadow copies are of the Meridian symbol, and the square has the white Meridian logo inside with the text reads "A Meridian Production".

Variants:
 * On Hornblower, the square is next to the A&E logo and the text underneath now reads "A Meridian Production in association with A&E Network".
 * On Doodlebug Summer, the LWT and Meridian squares appear alongside each other and the text now reads either "A Meridian/LWT Co-Production" or "A LWT/Meridian Co-Production" and appears in either this background with the Meridian logos or the background with the 1996 LWT logos.
 * A split screen version of this logo exists.
 * The logo also sometimes appears in 4:3 aspect ratio.
 * This background may stretched or zoomed on some shows and movies.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the ending theme to the show.

Availability: Rare.
 * Appears on seasons 1 and 2 of The Last Detective, William & Mary and the latter Hornblower movies.
 * However, it can be plastered with Granada or ITV Studios logos on future releases.
 * Despite this, it is intact on streaming prints of series 6-8 of Where the Heart Is and series 5 and 6 of Monkey Business.

Editor's Note: None.

(February 14, 2004-September 18, 2006)
Logo: On a smoky dark blue background with outlined squares scattered around, the 2004 ITV Meridian logo with a shadow effect is above the text "An ITV Production".

Variant: On Love and War, the Peter Williams Television logo is paired with ITV Meridian's against the latter's background. Underneath, the text has been reworded to say "A Peter Williams Television production in association with ITV".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the programme.

Availability: Extremely rare.
 * This came at a time when the company's operations were being downgraded due to the reduction of the number of regional programmes.
 * As a result, there are very few programmes known to use this logo, which includes series 7-9 of Monkey Business and Love and War.
 * The former still has this logo intact on streaming prints.

Editor's Note: None.