Gold

Background
Gold is a British pay television channel. It was created on 1 November 1992 as UK Gold, a joint venture between Thames Television, the BBC and Cox Enterprises to show classic BBC and Thames comedy programming. In 1996, Flextech acquired Cox and Pearson's (legal successor to Thames) stakes in the channel, and on 1 November 1997, launched the UKTV network with the BBC, consisting of UK Gold (later UKTV Gold) and three additional channels.

In 2008, the channel was rebranded to G.O.L.D (a backronym standing for Go On Laugh Daily) as part of UKTV's decision to drop the network prefix from its channel names; it took on its current name in 2010. Gold, as well as the rest of UKTV, are wholly owned by BBC Studios since 2019, after Scripps Networks (who bought Flextech's stake in 2011) exited the venture.

1st Logo (November 1, 1992)
Visuals: On a stone slate background, a white/ rectangle slides and rotates with a triangular connection, taking up the whole screen before zooming out. As it zooms out, both halves revolve around the connection to reveal the words "UK GOLD" in /white, before settling farther back into the background.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A synth whistling tune with an announcer saying "Welcome to UK Gold. Classic British television on satellite and cable."

Availability: Only seen on the channel's launch day.

2nd Logo (November 1, 1992-September 1993)
Visuals: The UK Gold logo is seen as a drawing on a white background, with a golden retriever (named Goldie by locals) also seen. The logo has several variants with the golden retriever interacting with the logo in various ways.

Variants: Here are all of the known variants:
 * Launch: On a white background, Goldie can be seen in the middle of the screen, wagging its tail. He then becomes excited and then looks up in the sky as an sound of an airplane plays. This causes Goldie to run off screen and and then come back in later, dragging the UK Gold logo in. He then sits up and fades out, with the logo moving to the center of the screen.
 * A variant has a purple butterfly flying around the screen most of the time, as well as a yellow ball with polka dots bouncing in as Goldie goes off-screen.
 * Hills: Goldie can be seen running over invisible hills. He disappears off in the top right before he runs back over the top right and runs towards the screen. The background then turns a hue as the logo zooms in. Goldie then runs up to it and opens the white section like a door, revealing light, and goes inside. The logo then shuts and zooms out, with the "O" lighting up.
 * Blanket: The letters are shaking and hiding in a blanket as Goldie approaches. He looks at it and then he takes the blanket to reveal the words "UK GOLD", whose letters were shaking and a box is seen. Then the words stop shaking and get inside the box and Goldie jumps on it and sits in it.
 * There is another version of this blanket variant where it has a window with curtains in it, a lamp at the top, two shoes on the left of the screen and a strange object is seen on the right.
 * A generic variant has Goldie laying across the top of the logo, swaying his tail as he blinks once. He looks a bit more realistic compared to the other idents.
 * Another version of this has him sitting on the ground while the logo is positioned above him.

Technique: 2D animation. This was done by Hatmaker Films in Boston, Massachusetts.

Audio: Various sounds playing out, before ending with a short whistling tune.

3rd Logo (September 1993-September 1994)
Visuals: On a background with some waves in it, we see  left arrows flying across the screen until one of them stops in the middle to turn into the same box from the first logo, but with a  outlining and  paint inside the arrow. Then the words "UK GOLD" in the same font as the first logo appear one by one.

Variants:
 * Christmas 1993: The logo forms up on a background consisting of a moving christmas tree and "Christmas" word graphic on the top and bottom repeating itself.
 * New Year 1994: Similar to the Christmas ident, but is set within a frosty snowflake background and the word graphic says "New Year".

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A three-note fanfare or a different sounding fanfare.

4th Logo (September 1994-31 October 1997)
Visuals: We see a man mining with a hammer in the workshop. Then it fades into the scene where we see a gold bar with "UK GOLD" on it inside the machine from the man's protection mask and his face. Afterwards, the bar is on fire on an -yellow surface with flames on it. Then we see another older man, then it fades into another man holding an object, as we see the words in reverse on the bars. Then it changes into the two men carefully holding a lava bucket and fading into another scene where the lava is pouring into a hole. Then we see a black man cleaning the sweat off his face with a cloth and holding a chain and a clockwork wheel. Then it fades into the hands of a woman breaking to reveal the gold bar, fading into a background with light and a  square net and the gold bar is shown reading "UK GOLD" with some dust shining around.

Variants:
 * There is a version where the gold bar is on fire. Here on the same background with the light and square nets, we see the bar on fire as the camera rotates upward until it stops in the same position.
 * Another version has the gold bar shining on a black- background.
 * There is another version where the bar gets dropped in a pile of black and dust.
 * There is a version where one of the men is hitting a stamp three times, then it fades to the gold bar when the man stops mining.
 * A start-up variation exists where we see more shots of the workers in the standard version. Then it fades into a shot of the woman getting tired and then an alternative shot of a man holding the lava bucket. Then it transitions into a woman's eyes and fades into someone holding the fire plate. We then see the jean pockets on the back of the same man, which later fades into him putting something in there and the same shots played with another scene where the two men are holding the same lava bucket. Then it fades into another woman enjoying the work, then the same fire with some lava pouring in the hole. A cat is shown there on a bowl, then it changes into another scene of a man getting tired. Then another scene where the same man and woman are doing the work fades into the man pulling down a chain and the woman hitting a gold bar with the man's face shown doing his hard work. The woman is writing the letters and it fades into a chain and clockwork, as the camera pans down with some effects and reveals the gold bar with the text "UK GOLD" with water drops on it.
 * A short version exists where we see the man and woman doing work, then it fades into the logo with water drops on it.
 * A different version also exists where "UK GOLD" is on a black- background with flames on it.
 * There is a closedown variation where the same man is holding the same bowl of fire. Then we see a shot of the lava pouring down with fire in it and it fades into another man taking off his helmet. Afterwards, it fades into the same two shots like the start-up variation. Then it fades into the same chain and clockwork wheel panning down, then it fades into the same man and woman doing the same work and fades into the same woman finishing her work. Then it transitions back into the pan down with the same effects and reveals the "UK GOLD" bar.
 * Christmas: We see a CGI Christmas Tree decorated with round ornaments and UK Gold Bar ornaments, while the very top has the Gold Bar. Used within an unknown year.

Technique: Live-action footage, designed and directed by Kim Lambert McCroddan and produced at The Moving Picture Company and TSI. Some idents are CGI-animated.

Audio: Various stock synth rock themes, with sounds corresponding to the on-screen actions. The main theme used is a track named “Fusion”, by Simon Sterling, from the Music House production archives. Sometimes, an announcer can be heard after the theme is finished.

5th Logo (1 November 1997-1 April 1999)
Visuals: On a dark blue background with a floor, some objects (either apples, leaves or arrows) fall from the top of the screen, always bouncing or being stuck in the floor. Those in however go through the floor instead. The text "UK GOLD" with "UK" as a prefix inside a white box with a line appears on the bottom.

Variants:
 * Christmas 1997/1998 - UK Gold went with traditionally-animated idents depicting different Christmas scenes:
 * Christmas Cow: The curtain opens up to reveal a fairy flying about. A pair of trousers pushes a wall with a door on it. The door opens to reveal a cow walking about, who takes a tumble and sends the stars flying over to his head, like he has bumped itself, while one of them is on the cow's foot.
 * Christmas Cards: We zoom into a holiday ornament containing a Christmas Tree inside. The presents all open and send the gifts flying around. A toy aeroplane flies about, zooming across the tree as the fairy look on, floating tables and chairs, and onto the fireplace as it heads into one of the Christmas Cards, while a bear, bell and a christmas pudding also zoom in.

Trivia: These idents were designed by Lambie-Nairn, who were better known for their work creating various iconic BBC idents.

Technique: A mix of live-action footage and flashing effects.

Audio: A sort of calm synth tune. Some notes occur when the golden objects touch the floor. Sometimes, an announcer can be heard after the theme.

6th Logo (2 April 1999-2001)
Visuals: On a black-purple background, we see fireworks appear and make shapes in the air. The "UK GOLD" logo appears on the bottom.

Variants:
 * Catherine Wheel - A Catherine Wheel bounces around and then spins right into the screen. It then continues to bounce around.
 * Zig-Zag - A firework beam zig-zags around the screen, forming triangle shapes.
 * Swirl - A firework swirls right into the middle of the screen and then explodes.
 * Laser - Blue and Red laser sparks move around and soon collide to create a tremendous effect, before continuing to move around.
 * Double Collision - Two firework beams move all around the screen and then crash into each other before repeating the effect.
 * Christmas 1999/2000 - UK Gold went with a live-action ident package featuring a house. They kept the fireworks theme.
 * Santa Claus - We zoom out of a snowy nativity scene while someone looks outside at it. We head to the following floor where a boy is looking out the window at the fireworks as the camera zooms to the night sky as Santa is seen flying in the air.
 * Christmas Carollers - We see the night sky as we zoom out onto the top floor of the house, where Santa Claus is placing presents for the sleeping boy, as the camera zooms down to the ground floor where carol singers are singing to the person, with one of them catching a snowflake. The camera scrolls upwards to the snowy sky.

Trivia: This ident package was created to coincide with the launch of UK Gold 2 (a rebranding of UK Gold Classics), which inherited the previous package.

Technique: 3D animation. Like the previous ident set, this was also designed by Lambie-Nairn.

Audio: Depends on the idents, normally firework sounds and different tracks playing.

7th Logo (8 May 2001-1 September 2002)
Visuals: On a black background, several events involving the use of different types of fireworks occur. The UK Gold logo (in a bolder font and with "UK" merged into a single composite character) then appears on the bottom.

Variants:
 * Launching: We see a close view of a firework taking off, until it flies to the sky and explodes. Other colored firework explosions also appear later.
 * Fuse: A sparkle moves around the screen (like some kind of fuse), then eventually an explosion happens, releasing dust.
 * Spiral: We see two colored fireworks moving to the center of the screen like a spiral, then these explode and more colored fireworks appear above, then they also explode and others began to appear.
 * Holes: On a floor, several holes of different sizes are opening, releasing different colored sparkles.
 * Cylinders: Two cylinders, a one and a  one, appear bouncing through the floor several times.
 * Volcano: A volcano shape is releasing several sparkles, then a spinning wheel with some sparkles moves over it.
 * Cave: Some colored fireworks are moving through a cave. One of them, colored, stops when it sees a sphere-shaped rock moving towards it, then it flies through another tunnel while avoiding other fireworks.
 * Fireworks: In the sky, several fireworks are moving through it. There are two versions: one where the fireworks travel in curve pathways, and another (with a slightly closer view) where they travel in ondulated paths.

Technique: 3D animation, once again designed by Lambie-Nairn.

Audio:
 * Launching: An orchestral fanfare with launching and exploding sounds.
 * Cave: An adventurous fanfare with a bombastic hit and the sounds of the same fireworks.
 * Unknown.

Availability: Extinct. During the Summer of 2002, these idents were only used during the daytime, while the next set was adopted for the channel's "Summer Nights of Comedy" event.

8th Logo (July 2002-6 August 2003)
Visuals: Many different activities happen on the screen (such as in a hair salon, a toilet and a bath). The "UKGold" logo then fades in on the bottom.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: Just the sounds from the action.

Availability: It was originally used for UK Gold's 2002 "Summer Nights of Comedy" event, alternating with the fireworks during the evening, before the package was adopted fully on 2 September.

9th Logo (7 August 2003-8 March 2004)
Visuals: Live-action scenes can be seen throughout, involving channel-hopping viewers with their TV set "off stage", being brought to a halt by the appearance of a golden light. Then the "UKGold" logo appears inside a shape, then other shapes come around to form a yellow- background behind it.

Variants:
 * Sofa - We see two people resting on a chair, although we only see their feet which the golden lights then reflect on the skin. The two people get off the sofa quite slowly as the logo zooms onto the screen.
 * Press-Ups A man in his boxers is doing press-ups upside down. His skin shines orange, to reveal that his legs are hanging upside down. The logo zooms down.
 * Washing Up Someone is doing the washing up. We see inside the sink, and the water glows orange. The person then leaves the running water unattended, letting it overflow. The logo zooms down.
 * Old Man A younger woman is flicking the channels while an older man is snoozing. He opens his eyes as soon as the screen turns orange.
 * Christmas 2003 For 2003, UKTV went with a Christmas greeting card theme for their channels, with UK Gold's card featuring the back of a person's head wearing a ripped paper crown. UK G2, UK Drama and UK Gold all shared the same idents (one featuring falling cards, the other featuring mince pies that a dog takes away) just with different ending screens.

Technique: Live-action and 2D animation. This ident was designed by Dunning Eley Jones.

Audio: Unknown.

1st Logo (8 March 2004-April 3, 2007)
Visuals: Same as the previous logo, but the logo ("UKTV" with "GOLD" underneath) and shape are moved to the center left of the screen.

Variants:
 * Christmas 2004-2006: All UKTV channels went with the same Christmas idents, consisting of a camera scrolling through three related Christmas scenes before ending with the respective channel name on a snowy version of the standard background. Not every ident was used on a particular channel, but most of them were. In 2006, the soundtrack of the idents was changed.
 * Family - The scenes transition from - A couple pulling on a present, an old man sleeping on the sofa with a green crown on near a Christmas Tree, and a family snuggled up on the sofa, with the daughter throwing a ball at the father.
 * Party - The scenes transition from - A bunch of people setting off party poppers while a woman kisses a man in a Santa costume, a work do with streamers and balloons flying everywhere, and a young couple kissing.
 * Pictures - A variant on the "Party" ident, we see the first scene from the previous ident as it stops to reveal a few still images, the next scene shows the third scene from the previous ident of the couple kissing and two still images of such, and the last scene being a girl wearing an angel costume.
 * Angel - The scenes transition from: A older girl dressed up in a fairy costume, a younger girl in an angel costume, and two girls jumping on a bed in angel costumes.
 * Windowframes - The scenes transition from - A wooden framed house with a young boy looking outside, the inside of a frosty outdoor home where two people are setting up a fire, with "MERRY XMAS" written in the frost, and a decorated frame with a family unwrapping presents.
 * Drinking: The scenes transition from - A selection of bottles of different drinks, someone holding a glass of steaming sherry, and four people giving a "Cheers" gesture with their glasses of wine.

Technique: Live-action and 2D animation. This ident was designed by Dunning Eley Jones.

Audio: Same as the previous logo.

2nd Logo (April 4, 2007-October 6, 2008)
Visuals: The UKTV Gold logo is emblazoned on a golden space hopper. The idents involve either people bouncing on hoppers around normally serious scenes, or one hopper let loose to bounce around a natural environment,

Variants:
 * Christmas 2007: The 2004-2006 idents were reused once again, but this time, the coloured transition backgrounds are now white with a rotating tag featuring the channel's logo (the main theme of UKTV's 2007 Christmas campaign "A Winter Wonderland"), and the end result is a white background with the channel logo.

Technique: Live-action. These idents were designed by Karmarama.

Audio: A western-like diddy, possibly stock music.

(October 7, 2008-July 15, 2014)
Visuals: On a white background, we see the G.O.L.D logo ("GOLD" stylized as a smiley face), then the camera moves as we see black lines stretch out and certain objects grow and appear. The majority of these objects have the text either "Laugh daily" or "Go on laugh daily" on them. When the camera zooms back, we see lots of these objects and there are a few birds that fly past from the right to the left.

Variants:
 * Starting in 2012, we see the same G.O.L.D. logo without the dots appearing as a button. Throughout the logo, the text "Stick something funny on" appears with the objects. A toy fist punches the button to reveal the same black line, then the objects appearing thoughout the ident. We see mechanical circles when the black line approaches them and an octopus is shown below the circle. Then the black line hits a ball to tumble down books and it turns up the circles, with the line turning into a carrot when it appoaches a manster with a record scratcher. The black line reappears and turns into microphones and clouds appear with falling walking teeth, with the black line approaching one of them with an umbrella and a paper aeroplane can be seen. Then one of the walking teeth jumps up from a seat rejector and the black line turns into a match. There is a dynamite at the end of the logo that the camera zooms into. Then it explodes and the G.O.L.D logo is seen with all the objects attached to black strings.
 * The Christmas 2010 variant featured christmas related items, and lights around the G.O.L.D logo as well.

Technique: 2D animation. This ident was designed by Red Bee Media.

Audio: A bouncy acapella-based tune.

(July 16, 2014-)
Visuals: A golden ticket displaying the channel name is slides in over funny and wacky stuff happening.

Variants: Unknown.

Technique: Live-action and 2D computer animation. These idents were designed by DixonBaxi.

Audio: A cheerful guitar and xylophone tune, along with an announcer.