Grampian Television

Credits

Descriptions by
Reactor37654

Captures by
Mr. Logo Lord

Editions by
Nathan B. and Daltem

Video captures courtesy of
emh16, matipionki, iberia77, stvnorth, ITVIdents, Pakokelso93 and CentreRadio

This article is about the TV idents. For the production logos, see Grampian Productions.

Background

Grampian Television was the ITV franchise for the North of Scotland. They would begin to broadcast for the region on 30 September 1961, as one of the last regions to go on the air. For roughly 35 years they remained independent, although in June of 1997, they were purchased by Scottish Television, which under the ownership of them would begin to downsize Grampian. Finally, in March of 2006, SMG plc would announce that the name would be dropped in favor of the name STV (which also applied to Scottish Television). This would later take affect on 31 May 2006. Today, the region is known on air as STV, with the region name legally being known as STV North.

1st ID (September 30, 1961-1964)

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Visuals: On a white background, there are three black triangles and one light grey triangle (supposed to represent the mountains in the north of Scotland) cover the bottom of the screen. The triangles then form into a rounded rectangle of the Scottish flag with the grey triangle at the bottom. The flag zooms out and "GRAMPIAN" zooms out below the flag.

Technique: 2D cel animation.

Audio: A synthesised version of "Scotland the Brave".

2nd ID (1964-1969)

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Visuals: Against a black background, there is the same Scottish flag from before, but in a white outline and the bottom segment made of small vertical lines, zoom in, the word "GRAMPIAN" appears below the flag letter-by-letter, in a different font and in-sync with the music.

Variant: One version exists where the Scotland flag looks slightly different, and "From", in the same font as "Grampian", is above it. And another is the same as before, but without the Scotland flag. It zooms in in-sync with the music, and then spins.

Technique: Basic animation, or sometimes none.

Audio: A music box rendition of "Scotland the Brave". A silent variation exists as well.

Availability: It was found on the STV footage sales Twitter account on August 24, 2020. The logo can be seen on varies programmes made by Grampian around this time like Will ye No Come Back Again? and So Many Partings. The "From Grampian" still version can be seen on Living and Growing: Where New Life Begins and the animated version can be seen on Movie Dates.

3rd ID (1969-1981)

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Visuals:

• Station ID: On a black background, there is a red triangle emerge from the left side of the screen, a yellow triangle emerge from the top side of the screen, a blue triangle emerge from the right side of the screen, and a white triangle emerge from the bottom of the screen. These triangles move towards the centre of the screen, mixing colours in the process. The triangles then "shrink" into a white diamond. The background turns teal and the diamond animates into a rounded rectangle flag of Scotland. The flag zooms out and "GRAMPIAN" appears below the flag by a "flipping" effect. "COLOUR" appears in the same way below "GRAMPIAN".
• Accompanying clock ident: A blue background with a white analogue clock with simple dashes, though there are 2 dashes from 9 to 12. To the left of it is an outlined "GTV" and a Grampian logo resting on top of it.

Variants:

• Starting in 1977, the background was changed to dark blue, the logo's now smaller, and is completely still. Sometime later, "COLOUR" was removed.
• Sometimes, the logo is just still and on a blue background.
• An "ident-transfer" variant exists. The still variant, but with the IBA logo below the Grampian logo. This lasts for a few seconds until the next ident in the still version, fades in. This was only seen during 1981 before the new ident takes over.

Technique: 2D cel animation.

Audio: A harp flourish, followed by a vibraphone rendition of "Scotland the Brave" and ending with another harp flourish. Starting in 1977, only the vibraphone plays in a lower pitch and a slightly slower tempo. It also may be silent. A piano and a horn tune for the ident-transfer variant.

Availability: Unknown. ^[Examples?]

4th ID (1982-1999)

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Visuals: On a black background, 8 light blue spheres zooming out and rotate as 12 diamonds come in and link up with the diamonds. The diamonds then become green, red, and blue and fold in half, forming a briefly blue, gaping cube with multicoloured sides with X shapes and spheres on the corners. It rotates for a bit longer before zooming in on the blue side, with "GRAMPIAN TELEVISION" in white briefly seen inside it. The logo zooms in on it as the spheres dissipate and the diamonds rotate up. Four halves of the Grampian logo, which is a TV tube with the flag of Scotland on it, come in and collide as we focus on the full logo, with a slight light blue tint. The green and red lines around the halves are also seen when the logo is formed and disappear when they fuse together.

Accompanying clock ident: The clock features a blue/white tartan look to it, surrounding the clock and forming the hour points. The second hand is also blue.

Variants:

• The animated version was shown from April 1985-December 1989. Prior to this time period, it was a still logo.
• The logo was occasionally translated into Scottish Gaelic as "TELEBHISEAN GRAMPIAN".
• There is a short version where it starts with the triangles flying down and then resting in place, with the rest happening normally.
• Before Out and About, the text and logo move into the position of the address text and stamp respectively before fading to the intro.

Technique: CGI designed by SSK Productions in Glasgow, and animated by Digital Pictures in London.

Audio: A synthesised remix of "Scotland The Brave", along with a noise that sounds similar to a sound effect heard in Sonic Adventure.

5th ID (September 1, 1989-October 4, 1998)

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See ITV.

6th ID (October 5, 1998-February 27, 2000)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is the Grampian logo in 3D facing the right a bit. Below is "A GRAMPIAN TELEVISION PRODUCTION FOR SCOTLAND" and a copyright date.

Variants:

• The logo was used for a commercial bumper, as well. The flag was on a swirling blue/black background (light blue for the day, dark blue for night) with no text, and lasted for about a second. It was sometimes only displayed on a black background.
• There is also another break bumper with the silver logo on a black background with a light behind it. It faces forward for a split second before turning to the side.
• The logo was occasionally translated into Scottish Gaelic as "TELEBHISEAN GRAMPIAN".
• There was also a version where animated ice cubes form the logo.

Technique: CGI by Geoff Drake.

Audio: None, but an edited version of the 1989 "ITV Generic" theme was used on the animated variant.

7th ID (February 28, 2000-January 5, 2003)

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Visuals: Same as the 2000 Scottish TV logo and its variants, except that "scottish" is now replaced with "grampian".

Technique: Same as the Scottish TV logo.

Audio: Same as the Scottish TV logo.

8th ID (January 6, 2003-May 30, 2006)

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Visuals: Same as the 2003 Scottish TV logo and its variants, but with "scottish" replaced with "grampian".

Technique: Same as the Scottish TV logo.

Audio: Same as the Scottish TV logo.

Final Note

Grampian folded into Scottish Television on May 31, 2006.

External Links

• Grampian Television on TVARK