London Weekend Television Productions

Credits

Compiled by
Camenati

Editions by
Michael Kenchington and RSX-798

This article is about the production logos. For the TV idents, see London Weekend Television.

Background

This is the production arm of London Weekend Television.

1st Logo (1968-1969)

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Visuals:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: This is a still version of the 1968 opening logo, with no production indicator whatsoever.

Variant: Sometimes, the background is blue.

Technique:

• Opening: Motion-controlled animation.
• Closing: A printed card.

Audio:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability: It was only used for a year before it was replaced with the next logo, most LWT shows have fallen victim to wiping.

• It survives on early episodes of On the Buses, Frost on Saturday, Please Sir!, The Big Match, and Candid Caine, among others.
• Both the opening and closing variants of this logo were seen on 2023 Talking Pictures TV airings of The Gold Robbers.

2nd Logo (November 15, 1969-1970)

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Visuals:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: This is a still version of the 1969 ident.

Variants:

• This logo could be seen with a blue or red background on Curry & Chips, LWT's first colour programme.
• It was originally shown in B&W.
• On most colour shows, the text "A Colour Production" is added below.

Technique:

• Opening: Scanimation.
• Closing: A printed card.

Audio:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Audio Variant: Sometimes on B&W shows and some very early colourised ones, the fanfare would be in a lower-pitch and have only three timpani beats for the opening variant.

Availability: Again used for a short-time before it was replaced by the next logo.

• Again, most LWT shows fell victim to the lack of preservation of programmes from this period.
• Seen on Curry & Chips, Frost On Sunday, Wicked Woman: Alice Rhodes, Tommy Cooper, Manhunt, and On the Buses.
• The colour version of the closing logo was also seen at the end of a January 7, 2024 airing of S01E10 of Manhunt on Talking Pictures TV.

3rd Logo (September 18, 1970-August 1978)

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Visuals:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: This is a still version of the 1970 ident with "A Colour Production" added underneath the logo.

Variants:

• Sometimes, "A" appears on top of "London Weekend".
• A variant with "London Weekend Presentation" exists.
• A black and white variant also exists.
• On early episodes of The Professionals, the logo shares the screen with the Avengers Mark 1 Productions logo.

Technique:

• Opening: Rough cel animation by Terry Griffiths.
• Closing: A printed card.

Audio:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability: Seen on programmes by LWT from the time-period until 1978.

• These include Frankie and Tommy, On the Buses, Upstairs, Downstairs, The Death of Adolf Hitler, The Fosters, and early episodes of The Professionals, among many others.
• The 1977 series Love for Lydia also has the logo retained on VHS.
• It is also seen on GOLD airings of The Fosters.
• The black and white version was primarily seen on LWT shows produced during industrial action regarding the operation of colour equipment. This came to be known as the "Colour Strike".
• The opening and closing variants can also be found on The Best Of Upstairs, Downstairs VHS releases from Thorn EMI Video, although these are now out of print.

4th Logo (September 1, 1978-August 24, 1986)

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Visuals:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: Like before, this is a still version of its respective 1978 ident, only with "Colour Production" added underneath the company name.

Variants:

• Sometimes, "Colour Production" may be reworded to "Presentation" (which appeared at the end of movies and imported programmes).
• For programmes that LWT produced for Channel 4, the text underneath reads "A LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION PRODUCTION FOR CHANNEL FOUR" and the 1978 LWT logo is also smaller.
• One end variant used around Christmas time has the logo covered in snow.
• A special end variant was used on Gay Life, where it shows a "LMU" logo styled after the "LWT" logo along with the text "London Minorities Unit", a credit for the Editor, and a copyright date reading "© LWT (year in Roman numerals)". The text then disappears and the logo stretches back and flips out to leave room for the "LWT" logo to flip in and "London Weekend Television Colour Production" pops in below. Later versions would just have the logo crossfade to the end result instead.
• There is also a version with a white background with the red-orange part a lot more orange.
• On Carrott Del Sol, the logo is white and appears as an in-credit logo.
• On The Professionals, the logo is in an in-credit format like the above variant. The company name, albeit in two rows, is next to it.
• A still version of the 1978 ident is used, albeit with "© 1971" appearing below also exists, which is seen on a later print of the Upstairs, Downstairs episode "On Trial".

Technique: A printed card.

Audio:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability: Seen on LWT-programmes from the time-period until it was replaced by the next logo in 1986.

• These include The South Bank Show, Game For A Laugh, Punch Lines, season 1 of Blind Date, the first three seasons of Cilla's Surprise Surprise, We Love TV, The Pyramid Game, Holding the Fort, Dutch Girls, Gay Life, The Professionals, The Cannon & Ball Show, seasons 1 to 4a of the UK version of Child's Play, and the first two seasons of Dempsey and Makepeace, among many others.
• It is also seen on a U.S. VHS release of Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime.
• This logo is also kept intact on the Network Distributing DVD releases of Hot Metal: The Complete Series 1 (along with the first disc of Hot Metal: The Complete Series which covers Season 1) and The Goodies: The Complete LWT Series, respectively.
• It was also originally seen on the 1985 TV special An Audience with Billy Connolly, however, it is plastered with the 7th logo on a May 23, 2023 airing thereof on ITV4.

5th Logo (August 29, 1986-August 25, 1996)

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Visuals:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: #1: This is a still version of the 1986 LWT ident until August 27, 1989.
• Closing: #2: Beginning on September 1, 1989, the 1986 LWT logo is smaller and moved to the top half of the screen. Underneath it, the text reads "AN LWT PRODUCTION".

Variants:

• Sometimes, the copyright notice in Roman numerals appears below the LWT logo from 1986 until 1989.
• An alternate variant of the 1986 LWT endcap also exists, which is seen on a later print of a season 2 episode of Please Sir! (plastering the 3rd logo), and was also seen on other shows such as The Saturday Gang, and on the 1986 airings of The A-Team.
• On a December 1987 LWT rerun of The Pink Panther Show (1969), the 1986 LWT endcap fades into the trailer for the movie premiere of Ghostbusters (1984).
• On Torvill and Dean: Fire and Ice, the text which reads "IN ASSOCIATION WITH HANOVER INTERNATIONAL SERVICES BV" appear below the logo.
• Sometimes on the 1989 variant:
  • "PRODUCTION" is reworded to either "PROGRAMME" or "PRESENTATION" (the latter of which was seen at the end of movies and imported programmes such as Home and Away).
  • The 1989 ITV logo appears below either the "AN LWT PRODUCTION FOR", "AN LWT PROGRAMME FOR" or "AN LWT PRESENTATION FOR" text on networked programmes.
  • A B&W version of the 1989 variant with the 1989 ITV logo also exists, which is seen on mid-1990s prints of Upstairs, Downstairs.
• On a 20th December 1995 airing of The Dame Edna Christmas Experience! on Channel 4, the "AN LWT PROGRAMME" variant of the 1989 endcap is seen with the copyright notice reading "© LWT MCMLXXXVII", which appears below.
• An in-credit version exists.
• For international prints of their shows such as a Showtime airing of On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald, a variant featuring "INTERNATIONAL" in a big grey block is used.
• A cropped (or stretched, in some cases) widescreen variant also exists, which is currently seen on modern prints of some original programmes.
• For programmes that they produced for Channel 4 such as Friday Night Live and Saturday Live, the text below reads "AN LWT PRODUCTION FOR CHANNEL FOUR" with the copyright notice being seen underneath it.
• On one episode of Friday Night Live, the logo flies in textured as a soda can. It crumbles up and deforms before covering the screen with the bottom text reading "AN LWT PRODUCTION FOR CHANNEL FOUR".
• On the demo reel to The South Bank Show, the 1986 logo is against a different dimly lit white background with the company name on top and a copyright notice underneath.
• On The Robbie Coltrane Special, the 1986 logo appears on a white background with the 1989 Pozzitive Television logo.
• On It'll Be Alright On The Night, an animated arm with blue sleeves enters the bottom right side of the screen holding a white clapperboard with the words "GOOD NIGHT" written it. It releases the clapper stick and leaves the screen.
  • On It'll Be Alright On The Night 7, the clapperboard reads "Happy New Year".

Technique:

• Opening: CGI by The Computer Film Company.
• Closing: A still CGI render.

Audio:

• Opening: Same as the station ID of the era.
• Closing: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability: Used for nearly ten years on LWT-owned/distributed programmes from the time-period. After the retirement of the 1986 LWT ident in 1992, this remained in use up until 1996.

• Seen on many TV shows and movies produced by LWT from the time-period until 1996, such as The One That Got Away, Frankie Howerd on Campus, Further Up Pompeii, Aspel & Company, The Two of Us, the third and final season of Dempsey and Makepeace, The Cannon & Ball Show, Blind Date, Cilla's Surprise Surprise, seasons 4b to 5b of the UK version of Child's Play, Schofield's Quest, The Big E (following the 1992 Blueprint Productions logo), Anna Lee, VHS and DVD releases of Poirot, and Lovejoy, when A&E aired it during the 1990s.
• The opening variant of this logo was used on all networked programmes by LWT until ITV abolished frontcaps starting on January 1, 1988.
• The alternate 1986 still variant is preserved on a later print of a season 2 episode of Please Sir! (plastering the 3rd logo), and was also seen on other shows such as The Saturday Gang, and on the 1986 airings of The A-Team.
• This logo may succeed the next one on some programmes such as London's Burning, Johnny and the Dead, and the UK version of Gladiators, among others.
  • Speaking of the latter, it is also intact on seasons 1-4, which also retain the 1989 "An LWT Production for ITV" endcap, with seasons 5-8 featuring the 7th logo.
• This also plasters over the 3rd logo at the end on 1990s-onwards era prints of the Season 1 colour episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs.
• Current prints of Seasons 1-6 of Poirot often delete this out, while mid-2000s prints plaster it with the 2001 Granada "G Without Arrow" logo.
• The 1989 variant with the 1989 ITV logo is also intact on the 1997 UK VHS release of The Treacle People: Treacle Trouble from PolyGram Video.
• The 1989 variant with the 1989 ITV logo was also originally seen on the 1994 TV special An Audience with Bob Monkhouse, appearing after the 6th logo.
  • However, this logo and the 6th were both plastered by the 7th logo on a December 24, 2022 airing of the aforementioned special on ITV3 instead.
• The 1989 variant with the 1989 ITV logo was also seen at the end of an October 3, 2022 airing of On the Buses S0302 titled "The Cistern" on ITV3.
• The 1989 variant with the 1989 ITV logo was also seen at the end of a May 28, 2023 airing of the 1994 TV special An Audience with Jimmy Tarbuck on ITV3, following the 6th logo.
• The 1989 variant with the 1989 ITV logo was also seen on the original 1992 airing of The Grand Opening of Eurodisney.
• The 1989 variant with the 1989 ITV logo was also seen at the end of both the December 30, 2023 and January 2, 2024 airings of the 1988 TV specials One More Audience with Dame Edna and An Audience with Victoria Wood on ITV3, respectively (plastering the 1988 copyright variant of the 1986 endcap).
• The copyright variant of the 1986 endcap with the 1988 copyright year is also kept intact on Hot Metal: The Complete Series 2 and the Hot Metal: The Complete Series DVD releases, respectively.
• The 1989 presentation variant with the 1989 ITV logo was also seen at the end of movies and imported programmes until August 25, 1996, such as a September 2, 1989 LWT airing of the 1986 TV movie Beverly Hills Madam, which fades in after the 1982 Orion Television logo.

6th Logo (1993-August 25, 1996)

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Visuals: Over a grey iron background is the monogram "LWTP" carved into the centre of the screen, with the letter "L" and the letter "T" contained in a square, and the letter "P" in a circle. Underneath it is "LWT PRODUCTIONS" with the letter "P" in a circle.

Variants:

• Most of the time, a copyright stamp in white is shown below.
• On programmes that were made for Channel Four such as An Interview with Dennis Potter, among others, the words "FOR CHANNEL FOUR" would also appear below the logo.
• Some in-credit variants also exist on co-productions of that era. Here, the logo is carved into a lighter background with the co-producer's logo and a copyright stamp below.
• On an episode of The One That Got Away, the logo fades in and out.
• On The Warm Up Man, the 1995 Granada Television logo appears above the LWTP logo with the text reading underneath "A GRANADA/LWTP CO-PRODUCTION" and the iron background appears with blue and purple abstract colours from the Granada logo.
• On Schofield's Quest, the logo appears underneath the Michael Hurll Television logo.
• On Season 6 of Poirot, the logo is in-credit on a black background where it is paired with an in-credit notice for Carnival Films. Original airings would have this followed by the per usual regular LWTP endboard and 1989-1996 LWT endboard combo. However, current prints of those episodes have the copyright notice altered to replace "LWT Productions" to "ITV Studios Limited" instead.

Technique: A still CGI render.

Audio: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability: Used in tandem with the previous endboard from 1993 up until they were retired in 1996.

• Seen on all programmes made by LWT from the era, such as Play Your Cards Right, Poirot episodes, Beadle's About, Anna Lee, An Interview with Dennis Potter, Johnny and the Dead, and Gladiators, among others. This logo was always followed by the previous endboard.
• ESPN Classic reruns of the U.S. edits of International Gladiators also retained this (in-between the Four Point Entertainment and Samuel Goldwyn Television logos).
• VCI releases of Season 6 of Poirot cuts this out and goes straight to London Weekend Television's 1989-1996 endboard, while current prints delete this and London Weekend Television's 1989-1996 endboard out, while 2000s prints would have the 2001 Granada "G Without Arrow" logo plastering the combo entirely.
• It was also seen on CITV's Simply the Best from 1995 on CITV.
• It was also originally seen on the 1994 TV special An Audience with Bob Monkhouse, which is then followed by the 1989 variant of the 5th logo, however, a December 24, 2022 ITV3 airing of the aforementioned special plaster this and the 1989 variant of the 5th logo with the 7th logo instead, which is likely due to that airing making use of a later print from the 7th logo's era.
• It was also seen at the end of a May 28, 2023 airing of the 1994 TV special An Audience with Jimmy Tarbuck on ITV3, when is then followed by the 1989 variant of the 5th logo.
• It is also preserved on the UKTV Play streaming print of the pilot episode of London's Burning, which is then followed by the 1989 "An LWT Programme for ITV" variant of the 5th logo.

7th Logo (August 30, 1996-2002)

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Visuals: As with the previous logos, this is a still version of the 1996 logo with the text "An LWT Production" added underneath.

Variants:

• Sometimes, "Production" may be reworded to "Programme" or "Presentation" (the latter of which appeared at the end of movies and imported programmes).
• Sometimes, a copyright notice saying © LWT (year) appears on the bottom right of the screen which was seen on some LWT programmes such as Entertainment 96, the 1997 TV special An Audience with Ronnie Corbett, and a December 24, 2022 ITV3 airing of the 1994 TV special An Audience with Bob Monkhouse, respectively, among others.
• A widescreen version exists.
• The 1989 ITV logo also appears below the text as well for networked programmes. This variant was used until October 4, 1998. It also appears on late-1990s prints of some Upstairs, Downstairs episodes.
• The logo can also sometimes share the screen with other logos, either in on-screen or in-credit form.
• The logo may also sometimes appear in print form accompanied with the text "LWT Productions" or "Production".
  • One programme, S Club 7: Welcome to the Fifties, has the logo against a white background.
• On programmes that LWT produced for Sky such as Tenerife Uncovered and Pop Years, among others, the text reads "An LWT Production for Sky Television" with a copyright notice on the bottom right of the screen reading © BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING (year).
• When Paramount Comedy Channel (now Comedy Central UK) airs the show In Bed with Medinner, the text now reads "An LWT Programme for Paramount Comedy Channel".
• On N V S, the 1995 Granada Television appears next to the 1996 LWT logo with the same merged background from the 1993 LWT Productions logo and the text underneath reads "A GRANADA/LWT PRODUCTION".
• On the final season of Gladiators, the logo reads "An LWT Production in association with ON Digital for ITV", with ON Digital and ITV displayed with their respective 1998 logos.
• On early episodes of Night and Day, the 1996 LWT logo appears with the 1995 Granada logo with the text reading "A GRANADA PRODUCTION FOR LWT".
• On the 1990s version of Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right, this logo appears with the 1997 Grundy logo.
• On the VCI DVD releases of the two Poirot episodes "Evil Under the Sun" and "Murder in Mesopotamia", respectively, the widescreen version appears to be squished to 4:3.
• On 1997 CITV airings of various programmes such as Art Attack and Goggle Watch, the logo is shrunken and shown alongside other logos against a dimly lit grey background. "An" and "Programme for" appear above and below the logos whereas the 1989 ITV logo is underneath them all.
• On Two Thousand Years, the text reading "in association with CTVC" appears below the logo.
• On Torvill & Dean: Making New Magic, the copyright notice which reads "© Inside Edge Productions Ltd 1997" appears below the 1989 ITV logo.
• On Stanley Baxter: His Best Bits, this logo shares the screen with the 1997 Mentorn Barraclough Carey logo and the text also reads "MENTORN BARRACLOUGH CAREY and LWT Productions for Channel 4" with the copyright notice saying "© Channel 4 Television Corporation (year)" which appears below.

Technique: A still CGI render.

Audio: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability: Seen on programmes by LWT from the time-period until 2002. During it's final years, it would be used in tandem with the next endboard.

• These include Jane Eyre, the 1998 TV movie Wuthering Heights, the first five seasons of Airline, Greta Garbo: A Lone Star, Blind Date, Gladiators (and its children's spin-off Gladiators: Train 2 Win), In Bed with Medinner, The South Bank Show, An Audience with..., The London Programme Interviews, Des Res, and the final two seasons of Strange But True?, among many others, and was in use until the summer of 2002, when Granada introduced the purple end boards for all its owned regions in late 2001.
• It also plasters older logos and the "An LWT Programme for ITV" variant of this logo is preserved on a late 1990s print of a 1969 episode of Doctor in the House.
• On Challenge reruns of the show Play Your Cards Right, the LWT/Fremantle endcap remains intact, however, the 1996 LWT endcap is plastered by the 2001 FremantleMedia logo instead.
• The version with the 1989 ITV logo was also seen on Entertainment 96, Star Wars: The Magic and the Mystery, House Hunters, Ice Warriors, Duck Patrol, CITV Awards 1996, Torvill & Dean: Making New Magic, season 2 of Goggle Watch, One In a Million, and at the end of the original 1996 airing of An Audience With Sooty on CITV, respectively.
• The version with the 1989 ITV logo is also seen on Charge! airings of the UK version of Gladiators, which is then followed by the 2005 MGM Worldwide Television Distribution logo.
• The version without the 1989 ITV logo is also seen on the 1997 UK VHS release of An Audience With Sooty from Tempo Video (and the 2002 UK VHS re-release thereof from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment), and the 2000 TV movies A Christmas Carol and Buried Treasure, respectively.
• The version without the 1989 ITV logo was also seen at the end of a May 23, 2023 airing of the 1985 TV special An Audience with Billy Connolly on ITV4, plastering the 4th logo.
• The version without the 1989 ITV logo was also seen at the end of a December 24, 2022 airing of the 1994 TV special An Audience with Bob Monkhouse on ITV3, plastering the 1989 variant of the 5th logo.
• The version without the 1989 ITV logo was also seen on the original prints of Seasons 7-8 Poirot episodes, but only the VCI DVD releases of the eighth season kept this intact with it being followed by the 2001 Granada "G Without Arrow" logo. However, current prints have no logo at all.

8th Logo (2001-October 31, 2004)

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  LWT/Meridian co-production variant

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Visuals: Same as the Granada purple end card with the corporate logo used by all other Granada-owned regions, however, the shadow copies are of the 1996 LWT symbol, and the square has the white LWT logo inside with the text reads "An LWT Production".

Variants:

• On some season 9 episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot, the purple space background is different and the text now reads "LWT in association with A&E Television Networks and Agatha Christie Ltd (a Chorion Company).
• On Doodlebug Summer, the Meridian and LWT 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 LWT logos.
• On Temptation Island, it appears as an in-credit logo and is also paired with the 1998 Fox Television Studios logo.

Technique: A still CGI render.

Audio: The ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability: Seen on programmes by LWT from the time-period until 2004.

• These include the final season of Blind Date, Popstars: The Rivals, Airline, It'll Be Alright on the Night, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Stars Behaving Badly, and Whose Right Is It Anyway?, among many others.
• The Meridian variant was seen on Doodlebug Summer.