Red Production Company

Background

Red Production Company is a British independent production company that produced shows like the award-winning series "Happy Valley". It was founded in 1998 by Nicola Shindler who previously worked on Our Friends in the North and Cracker. In December 2013 the French media company StudioCanal acquired a majority stake in the company like they did to Tandem Communications a German company that they acquired the year before.

1st logo (February 23, 1999-2007)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is the word RED with a red horizontal line below it and the words "Production Company" in white.

Variants:

• An early variant that was used on its first production Queer as Folk has the line in white and the text reading "A RED Production for Channel Four" with the copyright and year below.
• There is a version where it reads "A RED Production for" or "A RED Production".
• On "Cassanova", it shares the screen with Power and Granada logos and the words "A" at the top and "Co-production" on the bottom.

Technique: A still digital graphic.

Audio None or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: It was seen on its first show Queer as Folk and was started to appear all shows until 2007.

2nd logo (2009-2015)

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  Normal

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  Exile pilot

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  Bedlam

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  BBC in-credit

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  Sky in-credit

Visuals: There is a red rectangle containing on the left the word "RED" in either black or white. The rectangle, gets turned into a red vertical bar with "RED" either on a black or white background and "Production Company" in dark grey, fading and sliding out to the right.

Variants:

• There is an in-credit version where the logo is positioned at the top of the screen.
• There's a version where the logo is still.
• Sometimes it can share the screen with other logos.
• A zooming in version exists.
• Starting in 2014 the byline "A STUDIOCANAL Company" appears below the logo.
• Sometimes, the logo is inside a white box, either horizontally and vertically.

Technique: Zooming animation, the red rectangle turning into a red line.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: It was seen on their shows from the era such as Happy Valley, The Driver, Last Tango in Halifax and the first four seasons of Scott & Bailey.

3rd logo (2015-2020)

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  Normal

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  On-screen ITV

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  In-credit ITV

Visuals: On a black background, a red rectangular prism is seen rotating one side to the right as a red vertical bar reveals the white word "RED" now in Futura font. The bar stops next to the prism as "Production Company" in the same color as the second logo slides in from the right of the bar. Then the byline "A STUDIOCANAL COMPANY" from the last logo now in grey and the copyright notice finally fades in.

Variants:

• During the end credits, the logo, usually appearing on the top of the screen, would accompany other logos such as the BBC, Channel Four, and HBO logos.
• On Prey, the on-screen logo is pushed upwards where "for itv" is included on the bottom of the screen.
• An in-credit version exists.
• A speed-up version of the logo was seen on The Five.

Technique: 2D digital animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: This logo was first seen on their shows from the era such as new seasons of returning shows such as Happy Valley, Prey, Last Tango in Halifax and Scott and Bailey. It also started to appear on their new shows until 2020 like The Five, Safe, Buttetfly and Years and Years.

4th logo (December 9, 2019-)

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  Normal

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  Traces (series 1)

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  Traces (series 2)

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  Channel 4 in-credit

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  BBC in-credit

Visuals: On a black or white background the dark red line forming the word "RED" in the same font as the third logo then a red box slides to the right and a red vertical line is drawn and "Production Company" in either grey or white fades out then the byline "A STUDIOCANAL COMPANY" from the last two logos was seen below.

Variants:

• On programs co-produced with UKTV Original Productions, after the hand finishes writing the logo, it slides upwards to make space for this logo on the bottom of the screen. "By" can also be seen above "Production Company".
  • When said company changed its logo, Red Production Company's appearance is positioned on the center of the screen with "Production by" between both the BBC Studios and UKTV logos and Red Production Company's logo.
• Sometimes, the logo is still and shares the screen with other logos.

Technique: Flash animation.

Audio: Usually it's silent or the ending theme of the show. The UKTV variant is the same as the aforementioned logo's theme.

Availability: It first debuted on Traces and can be seen on their new shows such as The Stranger, Finding Alice, Ridley Road, Stay Close, It's a Sin and the 2022 reboot of the American version of Queer as Folk. It also seen on new seasons of Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley.