London Weekend Television

Credits

Descriptions by
Jess Williams and Kris Starring

Captures by
Mr. Logo Lord, TrickyMario7654, and The Ultimate LWT Website

Editions by
Michael Kenchington and Gilby1385

Video captures courtesy of
mrskiling, maramotus, BSH12, and Tim Mischka

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

1st Ident (August 2, 1968-1969)

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Visuals: On a black screen, the words "From London Weekend Television" zoom in from the centre.

Variants:

• On most shows, the logo was still and silent.
• One rare variant had the words "Television" wipe out so that "Public Affairs" would wipe in in its place. Also, the words do not zoom in at the beginning.
• A version exists where "From" is replaced by "This Is". This was used during continuity announcements.
• The logo, fully animated, also appeared chroma-keyed into the show's intro. It had very notable fragments around the edges.
• A coloured variant exists where the text is on a blue screen.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation.

Audio: It starts off with a short six-note electric organ tune, sustaining the last note. This is followed by a bouncy, six-note Moog synthesizer sounder (with a 12-note synth harp in the background) ending with a "pinball noise" (Moog arpeggio). The public affairs variant used the electric organ tune, albeit pitched a half-step up, along with a Moog synth arpeggiating up and down repeatedly, followed by four additional notes from the organ as well as two bass notes playing in sync with the organ. For closing variant, the ending theme of the programme or none.

Availability:

• The still version can be seen on videotaped LWT-produced shows from the period such as On the Buses, Frost on Saturday, Please Sir!, and The Big Match. Most LWT shows fell victim to the lack of preservation of programmes from this period.
• The animated version was used as a local ID and was also possibly used on filmed shows of that time, and made an appearance at the end of LWT’s last day of broadcast on October 27, 2002.
• The public affairs version is seen on documentaries of that time.
• Both the opening and closing variants of this logo made an appearance on 2023 Talking Pictures TV airings of The Gold Robbers.

2nd Ident (November 15, 1969-1970)

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Visuals: On a mustard background, three rows of white stripes form, made up of lines which are thicker on one end and get thinner as they continue down until it's basically stick-thin. The middle shows them with the thick end on the bottom, while the sides are thick on the top. They then rotate to the left, revealing that it is a circle with an outline of stripes (which is supposed to resemble a British pound coin), and "from London Weekend" in the centre. As the circle rotates the full 90 degrees, it then either frills out or turns back to the left slightly (depending on how you view it) to reveal the stripes once more.

Variants:

• The logo is shown without animation at the end of shows.
• This logo originated in black and white, with the background a light grey.
• This logo could be seen with a blue or red background on Curry & Chips, LWT's first colour program.

Technique: Scanimation.

Audio: A four-note "highbrow" tune with four timpani drum beats at the end, with the later 3 delayed after a second. Earlier uses of the logo (mostly B&W shows, but also some very early colourised shows as well) feature a lower-pitch and 3 timpani beats.

Availability:

• The still version can be seen on videotaped LWT-produced shows from the period such as Curry & Chips, Frost On Sunday, Wicked Woman: Alice Rhodes, Tommy Cooper, Manhunt, and On the Buses. Again, most LWT shows fell victim to the lack of preservation of programmes from this period.
  • 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.
• The animated version was used as a local ID and was also possibly used on filmed shows of that time.

3rd Ident (September 1970-August 1978)

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Visuals:

• Station ID: On a black background, a row of red-orange, white, and blue stripes moves onto the screen. They swerve and "fold" at strategic points, forming a connected "LW", with the "W" connected to the "L" by the bottom of the letter. Above it, the words "London Weekend" appear as the stripes keep travelling east.
• Accompanying clock ident: The London Weekend logo is placed on a sky blue rectangle near the top of the screen. Here, it has a dark blue colour with a cut-out middle stripe instead of the tricolour look, it's chopped off on both ends and is much smaller, and the "London Weekend" text is placed below it instead. The remaining black space has the actual clock, stored inside of a sky blue square with rounded corners, which has a white ring with 8 slits inside of it, along with the actual, round, white clock hands in the centre. The slits are grouped into 2 in-between the "cardinal hours", which are served with dots, and the second hand has no jitter to it.

Variants:

• There is a version without the accompanying text.
• A promo shows this logo chroma-keyed onto a nighttime shot of London, right along a illuminated walkway along the Thames.
• The first episode of the 1978 LWT production, End of Part One, parodies this logo. The tri-coloured stripes fall vertically down until they disappear and crash down to the ground. The words "London Weekend" appear on the bottom right of the screen and shake as the crash sound plays.
• On the 1976 TV adaptation of Just William, William bursts through the logo after it's finished, leading into the show's title sequence.
• On the 1972 TV show Russell Hardy Plus (Later known as just Russell Hardy), after the logo's finished, another set of stripes with a flipped colour scheme comes down vertically and then take a right as the "LW" starts wiping away. The "London Weekend" text then disappear as the stripes extend and wrap themselves into a circle, with the title logo appearing part-by-part.

Technique: Rough cel animation by Terry Griffiths.

Audio: A xylophone scale that climaxes in a full orchestra, which was composed by Harry Rabinowitz and mixed by Graham Hix. The still version is silent, or has the end theme playing over it.

Availability: Both the opening ident and its production counterpart were seen on programmes from this period such as On the Buses, Just William, and Love for Lydia. This, along with a few other idents and pieces of programming menus, were remastered (alongside a widescreen variant) and used on LWT's final day of operation, October 27, 2002. This could be found on The Best Of Upstairs Downstairs VHS tapes from Thorn EMI Video, but those are long out of print.

4th Ident (September 1, 1978-1986; October 27, 2002)

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Visuals:

• Station ID: Same as the 3rd logo albeit a bit shifted up, and near the end of the animation, the "LW" disconnects and morphs into the letters "LWT" (The L moves down and sharpens at the corner, the W's tips rotate upwards, and another bar drops down from the end to form the T), each made up of the same stripe pattern. Below it, "London Weekend Television" appears.
• Accompanying clock ident:
  • 1978-1981: A similar clock to the London Weekend one used before, but the clock now just has a blue ring with bigger slits for each hour, rather than for just the cardinal hours, and the square is removed. The London Weekend logo is replaced with, appropriately, the London Weekend Television logo, but the entire area is black and the logo's all white.
  • 1981-1983: Taking a page from the Russell Harry Plus intro variant from before, the clock now dons the tri-coloured stripes, albeit with the colour order corrected. Sometimes, there's also 2 extra sets of stripes just to the left and right sides of the screen. The actual hours are represented by slits like before, and the clock hands are attached to a black dot in the centre, making them seem to be suspended in mid-air. There's also a variant where it pans over to this from the LWT logo.

Variants:

• A parody has the W in "LWT" and "Weekend" missing at first, but then fade back in.
• Another parody has the logo form up as usual but breaks like glass at the end, causing the music to distort and lower in pitch.
• In 1986, a unique-looking 3D ident was made without any text below it, revolving around for one cycle. This was probably used as a break bumper.
• A variant where the logo is in black and white, having white outer stripes and a black middle stripe.
• Continuity post-1983 would have the logo plastered next to a night shot of their studios, The London Studios.
• A still variant exists.

Technique: Same as the last logo, with computerised morphing effects.

Audio: The same as above, only slightly redone, so that the end is a bit more majestic. Re-mixed by Graham Hix.

Availability: Again, usually only seen in Britain. It was also used on LWT's last day of broadcasting on October 27, 2002, along with other idents. Overall, this is rare to find even on older tapes due to the time period used.

5th Ident (1982-1985)

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Visuals: There are some white, then blue, and finally orange neon lines forming the LWT logo. Then, the three colour segments "flash" separately. "NigHTLiFE" is drawn at the bottom right in a futuristic green font, with the dots on the I's flashing in afterward. This is repeated again.

Technique: Mostly Scanimate/early computer animation.

Audio: A jazzy fanfare with saxophones, drums, and a synth bass line, with the last note being played really high.

Availability: It was used as a night-only ident in 1982.

6th Ident (September 1983-1986)

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Visuals:

• Station ID: On a black background is red, white, and blue 3D stripes coming from the top and bottom of the screen. The screen rotates around to find that the stripes are the diagonal lines going through the "W" in "LWT", elongated and stretching far from the logo. The lines all condense and go in to place as the "LWT" rotates to face the camera, and a sphere with a design somewhat similar to the '80s New World logo on it rotates into view. The sphere and "LWT" stop and the words "YOUR WEEKEND ITV" ("ITV" being in the form of the '80s ITV print logo) rotate around coming from the left, "orbiting" the sphere, and stop at the bottom left corner of the screen as a red border appears around the sphere.
• Accompanying clock ident: Replacing the "Stripes" clock from before, this clock features the flat sphere design seen in the logo, but with a clock face of white dots for the hours and white hands on it, along with "LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION" below it. A red square border could also be seen sometimes.

Variants:

• Most of the time during continuity, the logo would be a painted image, having an extra layer of shine on the "LWT" logo. Starting in 1985, the "YOUR WEEKEND ITV" text would be removed.
• For commercial breaks, the logo would spin into the background with white-tinted afterimages appearing as well.

Technique: CGI made in the Netherlands by Gjis Hannenburg. It was created with Moviebyu.

Audio: Starts out with a futuristic computer-like synth sound, which culminates into an '80s techno jingle. The theme was originally given a more "computerised" tone with chiptunes underneath the base music, along with a lower pitch, but when it made it to TV, the pitch was increased and the chiptune instruments were replaced with "normal" instruments. The most notable change was at the end, where the notes were now played on a piano. Continuity announcers would also play after the logo forms or replace the music altogether.

Availability: LWT used it as an alternative to the "River" ident for introducing shows out-of-vision (such as ITN news breaks) and as a break bumper in the early '80s.

7th Ident (August 29, 1986-August 30, 1992; October 27, 2002)

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Visuals: There were two main variants of this logo:

• On a light grey textured background, the stripes on the letters "LWT" slowly rotate into view, forming the letters in the process. The letters are formed one by one. The red-orange stripes are now clearly red. A shadow forms when the logo is completely formed. This was seen on the beginning of networked programmes for the entire ITV region. Officially called "Genesis".
• On the same light grey textured background, the entire logo rotates like a pair of venetian blinds to pictures of the letters separately on the grey background, then to a picture of all the letters together. Once again, a shadow forms when they all appear. This was only seen on the beginning of regional programmes. Officially named "Solari".

Variants:

• A variant of the "Genesis" ident exists, in which the stripes all appear and rotate at once.
• A short, silent variant of the "Solari" ident, which just flipped out of view, was used for break bumpers.

Technique: CGI by The Computer Film Company.

Audio: A triumphant fanfare, with a proud brass section and a four-note chime tune at the end; composed by Rod Argent and Peter van Hooke. It's sometimes accompanied by a continuity announcement. The music differs slightly between the two variants:

• For "Genesis", the music uses string instruments throughout, giving it a more orchestral feel.
• For "Solari", the music has reversed cymbal crashes for the blinds turning, along with synthesised notes throughout and a enhanced end tune.

Audio Variant: A shorter version of the music exists, which was used with the short "Genesis" variant, as well as occasionally with the "Solari" variant. This only has the brass portions with some extra string notes in the background.

Availability: Seen mainly in Britain. ITV abolished front-caps like this as of 1 January 1988 onwards.

Final Notes: In 1992, LWT retired the 1986 idents in favour of a new look on the 4th of September, although the 7th logo's endboards (in their 1989 form) continued to be used until 25 August 1996.

8th Ident (1986-1989)

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Visuals: On a blue space background, there are three "invisible kids" with white T-shirts, each with a different-coloured cap (with matching trainers) coloured periwinkle/yellow, red/greyish, and lime green/yellow from left to right. They dance around as a boom box and three coloured balls fly across the screen. This ends with the kids spinning around one by one, revealing a letter in the LWT logo, but redesigned in a lightning bolt font. The three kids strike a pose afterward.

Variant: On at least a few CITV airings of Care Bears in the late 1980s, the logo ends with a heart-shaped transition to the show's intro.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: A rock/hip-hop rendition of the fanfare from the 7th logo, sometimes followed by a continuity announcement.

Availability: This was used during children's programming.

9th Ident (1989)

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Visuals: Over a background consisting of an animated sundial, there are three thin white arcs and a thin white straight line moving over them in a manner resembling that of the second hand of a clock. There is also a set of horizontal red, white and blue stripes at the top left of the screen, and two thick vertical stripes to the right of them, one red and the other blue. After a few seconds, a large white "21" slides in from the right, then twice disappears and reappears again. Finally, in the same manner as for the "blinds" variant of the 7th logo, the entire picture flips like a set of venetian blinds to reveal the LWT logo on a grey textured background.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A synthesised tune with plenty of drumbeats and clock ticking.

Availability: This was merely a special ident for LWT's 21st anniversary.

10th Ident (September 1, 1989-August 30, 1992)

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Visuals: See ITV.

Variant: A still version with both the 1989 ITV logo (except for the triangle) and the LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION text in white exists for some junctions.

11th Ident (September 4, 1992-August 25, 1996; October 27, 2002)

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Visuals: On a black background, red, white, and blue circular shapes appear. They quickly move to the left as they break apart into many red, white and blue blocks, along with similarly coloured "streaks". The blocks move towards each other and lock together, forming a CGI LWT logo (not unlike the generic logo used on the 10th logo). Behind it, several streaks in red, white, and blue appear. Sometimes, the ITV logo would appear, from similar streaks, below (that version was only used before networked programmes).

Variants:

• An additional ident was in 1994-1995. The logo forms up after swirling lines and squares contract and expand in the centre, like a camera shutter. The ident was also used as a next bumper.
• There are special holiday variants of this logo in 1994 and 1995.

Technique: CGI by English & Pockett.

Audio: A joint recomposition of both the David Dundas theme from the generic ident and the music from the 1986 idents, often with a continuity announcement at the end.

12th Ident (August 30, 1996-2002)

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Visuals: On a black background, a star of squares appear and rotate around, in the LWT colours, before exploding out into 3 frames joined together. The squares then start flying into several different trails and then group together to form a new LWT logo, now redesigned, with the stripes now cut out of the letters and the now redesigned "LWT" being a solid red, white, and blue, respectively. The logo is in pieces at first, but then comes together as the camera pans about to reveal smoke in the corner. The logo and smoke constantly shimmer.

Variants:

• When subtitles are present, "888" (later "Subtitles" beginning in May 1999) would appear in the top right corner.
• During Christmas time in both 1996 and 1998, one variant was used in which a star and falling CGI ornaments in the shape of a tree were superimposed over the logo.
• Another Christmas variant which was used in December 1997 used fireworks flying around.
• A short variant exists, which cuts halfway to the squares forming the logo.
• During football games, the letters transform into footballs (still in their respective colours) and swirl around.
• Waving chequered flag graphics and sounds of cars speeding by would be used during broadcasts of Grand Prix races.
• A New Year's variant was also used, which is yet to be described.
• Another variant in which the squares zoomed out and came together at an angle, swaying back and forth exists. A more soothing rendition of the fanfare is used here. This was introduced on 6 March 1998 replacing the programme slides which had been in use since LWT's new look's first day on 30 August 1996.

Technique: CGI designed by Mark Gouldie and animated at English & Pockett.

Audio: An orchestral hit, followed by a string section climaxing in a four-note fanfare composed by Paul Campbell and Joe Hart. A continuity announcement may follow.

Audio Variant: The music would sound less uplifting during tragic events (such as during the death of Princess Diana).

13th Ident (July-September 6, 1998)

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Note: This was used to commemorate LWT's 30th anniversary.

Visuals: On a black background, the screen pans upward from the side of red, white, and blue CGI candles (30 of them) with glowing white flames (somewhat looking like lightbulbs), and bubbles with the 1996 LWT logo in them flying out. Then, one of the bubbles rises up to match the size of the candles, and a big "30" appears in the bubble, along with what looks like confetti. "Thirty Years of LWT" shimmers in below the circle, while many transparent LWT logos constantly revolve around it. The numbers '888' appear in the top right corner, as to denote subtitles available via teletext.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: A celebratory-sounding version of the 12th logo's theme. A continuity announcement followed at the end.

Availability: It was only used for the week that LWT celebrated its 30th anniversary.

14th Ident (November 12, 1999-March 19, 2000)

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Visuals: See ITV for description.

Variants: The URL byline "www.g-wizz.net/lwt" might be included.

15th Ident (March 24, 2000-October 27, 2002)

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Visuals: A crowd of people, shown in silhouette, are watching a mostly red video wall. The camera zooms towards the wall and then "flashes" to the LWT/ITV logo like in the 9th logo, scrunched up and rotated. The logo rotates to its normal position and the screen zooms out to see it pictured on the video wall, with red "static" behind it. The web address, "www.g-wizz.net/lwt", appears below.

Variants:

• Starting in late 2000, the video wall is mostly blue and less "staticky" in this version, and the URL "www.lwt.co.uk" is shown below. This was created following viewer complaints that the 2000 variant was an eyesore and cheesy.
• On 11 August 2001, it was updated to incorporate the ITV1 branding, along with updated music.
• The last revision was in November 2001, adding the "itv.com" URL.

Technique: CGI effects, live-action and animation.

Audio: A rather electronic theme with beeping sounds, which became rearranged in late 2000 with less apparent beeping sounds and additional drumbeats. This would often be followed by a continuity announcement.

Availability: This ident was sadly to be LWT's last, as the new branding for ITV1 as of 27 October 2002 called for a generic, flagship London region that gave the city no regional identity. The new region is known off-screen as "ITV London" and operates both weekdays and weekends.

External Links

• London Weekend Television on TVARK