ABC Television

Background
Associated British Corporation, owned by cinema chain ABPC, was the third ITV station to take to the air (after Associated-Rediffusion and ATV). It broadcast to the English Midlands and the North of England on weekends, commencing in the Midlands on February 18, 1956, and in the North of England on May 5 of the same year. After a slow start, the company became renowned for having a strong corporate identity and a large range of popular programmes, including The Avengers, Armchair Theatre, World of Sport and Britain's first teenage music show, Oh Boy!. But in the 1967 franchise round, the weekday/weekend splits in the Midlands and North of England were removed, with ATV and Granada Television going seven days in the Midlands and the North West of England respectively and the Yorkshire area passing to the new Yorkshire Television, and ABC's hopes of obtaining the London weekend franchise were dashed by David Frost's London Television Consortium, which became London Weekend Television. The Independent Television Authority however, did not want ABC to disappear from the scene, and thus arranged a "shotgun marriage" between it and Rediffusion - creating a new London weekday station, Thames Television. ABC's final day of broadcasting was July 28, 1968, with Thames commencing two days later.

1st Logo (February 18, 1956-1958)
Logo: On a black background, we see a downward-pointing triangle containing "ABC" at the top, and a bar with slanted ends across the middle of the triangle with "TELEVISION" inside it. We also see the word "presents" below the triangle.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Three "chimes" based, perhaps unsurprisingly, on the musical notes A, B and C, followed by three drumbeats. Composed by Bob Sharples.

Availability: Extinct, just like lots of old logos in the UK. There is a Flash remake of this on 625.uk.com.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1958-1964)
Nickname: "Propeller Triangle"

Logo: On a black background, three triangles drop down one-by-one at a fast pace, leaving line trails as they drop. The first triangle reveals an “A”, the second reveals a “B”, and the last one reveals a “C”. They join together to form a large white triangle with what looks like a black propeller inside. “PRESENTS” or “NETWORK” quickly unfolds below, letter-by-letter.

Variants:
 * The closing variant was a caption slide of the logo, with "an" above the triangle and "PRODUCTION" below the "ABC".
 * One opening variant had "NETWORK" appearing first when the Propeller Triangle was forming before the film splicing to the completed logo with "PRESENTS" under it.
 * A still version exists, in both B&W and color. The colored version has a white propeller, which appears to be in 3D judging from the shadows, and (starting clockwise) the triangles were yellow, red, and blue respectively.

FX/SFX: Animation that's not bad for 1958.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1st logo, with the "chimes" sounding as the letters are revealed after the triangles drop. There are three different variations on the chimes. They're nicknamed "Twinkling" (had the chimes in a high pitch and lacked the drums at the end), "Clunky" (the most familiar Version), and "Definitive" (which was a variation of "Clunky").

Availability: Rare. It exists on DVDs of The Avengers (the 1962 and 1963 seasons). Also has a Flash remake on 625.uk.com. This was also used by ABC to introduce certain productions, so it can also be seen on Halas & Batchelor shorts.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1964-1968)
Nicknames: "Propeller Triangle II", "Zooming Triangle"

Logo: On a black background, we have the same triangle from before zooms-in towards us and disappears. One by one, three triangles drop at a fast pace (this time, not forming trails like before). The first one reveals an “A”, the second reveals a “B”, and the last one reveals a “C” (all in a different font). They join together to form the same shape, then “presents” or “Television” (also in a different font) quickly zooms-in.

Variants: In some cases, this logo appeared without "presents" zooming-in. One with "Television" replacing "presents" has also existed.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1st logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1st logo. Again, the "chimes" sound as the letters are revealed. The only difference is there is a shorter pause between the chimes and the drums.

Availability: Found on The Avengers '64 DVD set; the ABC Production variant is on all episodes of The Avengers from the 1964 (last Catherine Gale) and 1965 (B&W Emma Peel) seasons. Again, it has a Flash remake on 625.uk.com.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1966-1968)
Note: This was used as a closing logo.

Logo: On a black background, we see the letters: ABC production

in the center of the screen, with ABC being in red, The letter "C" in "ABC" then slides onto the "A" and "B" and the word "production" wipes out from the right, then the logo dramatically zooms out, then the letters "B" and "C" slide downwards and then reveal the words:

Associated British Corporation

The logo then fades out.

Variant: In 1968, the letters that were in red were changed to yellow.

FX/SFX: The letters sliding and the logo zooming out, sorta simple.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the TV show.

Availability: Can be found at the end of every color episode of The Avengers when reran on television and on DVD. The color episodes were produced by the Associated British Corporation for airing on overseas networks between 1966 until the ITV franchises changed in 1968 (the original UK airings would of been in B&W).

Editor's Note: None.