BBC America

Credits

Descriptions by
James Fabiano, Daniel Fuentz, Sean Beard, Logophile, BenIsRandom and Kris Starring

Captures by
Bob Fish, Eric S. and Logophile

Editions by
V of Doom, Mr. Logo Lord, and AlmightyKingPrawn

Background

BBC America was formed on May 1, 1981 as Lionheart Television International, Inc., a joint venture primarily consisting of Western World Television and Public Media, Inc. Lionheart took over the US distribution rights to the BBC's television output after a previous deal with Time-Life Television expired, as well as that of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The BBC eventually bought Lionheart outright by 1987, making it their North American distribution arm, which was renamed to "BBC America" in 1994, and later launched as a television channel in March 1998. In 2014, AMC Networks purchased a 49.9% stake in the company, replacing Discovery Inc. as the BBC's managing partner in the US.

Lionheart Television

1st Logo (1982-1987)

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Nickname: "Zooming/Flipping Lion"

Logo: On a black background, a white drawing of a lion zooms in before stopping, taking up a good portion of the screen. The lion is drawn in an ugly "ornate" style with its tounge sticking out, a collar-like mane, and rather "fluffy" appearance. Its also holding a specter in its front right (or left, depending on how you see it) paw, with 2 wing-like attachments at the top and emitting lightning bolts off of it. From the bottom of the specter, the text "A BBC TV PRODUCTION" zooms in and settles below the lion, with "BBC" in a larger, "3D"-styled font. A few seconds later, it "flips" around to reveal "Distributed By" in a small print, as well as "LIONHEART TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL, INC." in a larger print. "LIONHEART" is also presented in a similar "ornate" style.

Trivia: The lion in the logo is part of the BBC's Coat of Arms (though not this crude, obviously).

Variants:

• For shows produced by ABC, the text will instead read "AN ABC PRODUCTION" with "ABC" larger than the rest.
• A different version of this logo had the lion and "LIONHEART" text on a chrome silver plate, flying up from the bottom of the screen. After it settled, the regular text fades in.
• A still version exists where the logo's colored in orange.

FX/SFX: The Scanimated "zooming-flipping lion".

Music/Sounds: A Moog synthesizer tune that starts with what sounds like a "winning" sound effect on a slot machine or a video game, which is followed by a fanfare.

Music/Sounds Trivia: This logo's soundtrack is perhaps more notable nowadays for its use on the outro for some videos by Everything Is Terrible!

Availability: Extinct. Usually replaced with the 2nd logo. It may or may not appear on the original VHS of The Home Whovian. It did appear on some episodes of the Blackadder series when last seen on New York's WLIW 21 in the 2000s.

Legacy: It's just another 80's logo with cheap Scanimation and a very ugly logo. The chrome version doesn't look much better.

2nd Logo (1987-1991)

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Nicknames: "Lion and Stripe", "The BBC In America"

Logo: Against a black screen, many white dots "dissolve" upwards and form a red and white lion's head. The words "LIONHEART TELEVISION - THE BBC IN AMERICA" appear from the bottom of the screen while a red and white stripe is "drawn" under the lion's head. There is a "V" shaped bend in the stripe at the part below the head.

Variant: Some shows had a copyright date below the logo. Sometimes, the animation would begin superimposed over a scene from the preceding program.

FX/SFX: The lion materializing, the stripe being drawn, and the flying words.

Music/Sounds: None, or the end music of the show.

Availability: Can still be seen at the end of Are You Being Served? episodes when seen in certain markets (WLIW 21 in New York and East Tennessee PBS in Knoxville, for instance). Also at the end of some Fawlty Towers reruns. The version with the superimposition and the copyright date was seen at the end of the short-lived U.S. adaptation of Top of the Pops, which aired briefly Friday late-nights on CBS in the 1987-88 season.

Legacy: It's simple, but at least the lion does look like a real one.

3rd Logo (1991-1995)

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Nicknames: "BBC-Lionheart Globe", "Computer Originated World", "Where's The Lion?"

Logo: The 1985-1991 BBC1 "COW" globe is seen spinning around while parallelograms with the letters "BBC" drop over the globe. Under the "BBC", three red lines and the words "LIONHEART TELEVISION" appear with "A BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION COMPANY" in small letters underneath.

FX/SFX: The CGI version of the 1988 BBC logo flying into place on the globe, the remaining text fading into place.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized fanfare that sounds vaguely like the one in the 1st logo.

Music/Sounds Variant: On Madison's Adventures: Growing Up Wild, it uses the 1987 ITC Entertainment Group Gold Diamonds fanfare.

Availability: Rare, but seen a good deal on A&E (Lovejoy, A Touch of Frost, Pole To Pole with Michael Palin) and PBS until the mid '90s.

• Its first appearance appears to have been on original PBS prints of Keeping Up Appearances, first broadcast on PBS stations in late 1991/early 1992.
• This was also used to replace the older Lionheart (and Time-Life) logos on reissued BBC library shows (i.e. Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served? (other/later episodes, including “The Hero”), Good Neighbours, 'Allo, 'Allo, To The Manor Born).
• This also appeared on some of the CBS/FOX-distributed BBC Video tapes (Blackadder's Christmas Carol; Shada).

Legacy: Being the only logo without a lion makes it an odd one, but it has nice animation.

BBC America

1st Logo (1994-1997)

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Nickname: "Turning Boxes"

Logo: Same as the 1992 BBC Video logo, except the words "WORLDWIDE AMERICAS" appear under the BBC box logo.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1992 BBC Video logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Appeared at the end of Red Dwarf and other British programs that appear on PBS stations. It may appear on episodes of Last of the Summer Wine (Series 10 and Series 11), if your station is running them.

2nd Logo (1998-2002)

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Nicknames: "BBC America Presents", "BBC One Balloon in America", "The Globe", "BBC America Globe", "BBC America Balloon", "Explorer Balloon"

Logo: We start with a closeup of the globe hot-air balloon seen on BBC One's UK idents from 1997 to 2002. Then, in a very quick flash, a box appears against a blue background. It contains footage of the same balloon over a river and to the right of a riverside building. Under the picture are the words "BBC (in the Box logo) AMERICA presents", and the "BBC AMERICA" part expands as the logo fades out.

FX/SFX: The "flash", and the hot air balloon used.

Music/Sounds: A light piano tune that ends in a heavily reverberated note with the "flash". The tune itself is taken from one of the BBC One idents from between 1997 and 2002.

Availability: Uncommon.

• Previously seen as the opening bumper for many British television programs on PBS stations.
• It can still appear on programs such as Keeping Up Appearances, Fawlty Towers, Last of the Summer Wine, Waiting for God, As Time Goes By (up to series 8), Last of the Summer Wine (up to series 21) and Are You Being Served?, if your station has older prints.

3rd Logo (2001-2007)

Logo: TBA.

FX/SFX: TBA.

Music/Sounds: A techno tune with a female soloist in the background.

Availability: Less common than the previous logo, but it still appears on older prints of As Time Goes By (Series 9), To The Manor Born, Last of the Summer Wine (from Series 22 to Series 27; Series 28 and Series 29 don't have any logo at all) and the Are You Being Served? episode "Do You Take This Man?".

4th Logo (June 1, 2005-November 19, 2018)

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Nickname: "BBC America II"

Logo: On a dark cloudy background, we see the 1997 BBC logo along with the text "WORLDWIDE AMERICA" (with "WORLDWIDE" on top of "AMERICA") emerging from the clouds.

Variant: There is a variant with the print logo on a white background.

FX/SFX: The logo emerging. Simple but effective CGI.

Music/Sounds: A whoosh.

Availability: Seen at the beginning (and sometimes end) of Dancing with the Stars. The print logo appears on BBC-licensed games, like Dancing With the Stars: We Dance! for Nintendo DS.