United Film & Television

Background

United Film & Television Productions (later United Productions) was a defunct film and television subsidiary of United News & Media, formed in 1996, after buying Mills & Allen International, who owned Meridian Television and Anglia Television. It later bought out HTV in June 1997. The company later sold Anglia, Meridian and HTV to Granada in July 2000, however for competition reasons HTV's broadcast facilities and license were later passed to Carlton in October 2000.

(1996-2001)

Logo: On a blue-black gradient background, we see the connected serif words "un" (which were the corporate logo of United News & Media), and below it was a line and we see the words either "UNITED film & television productions" or beginning in 1998 "UNITED productions" below the logo.

Variants:

Sometimes, a co-producer will appear alongside the United logo.
It can share the screen with other logos as well.
From 1996 to November 10, 1998, the "un", and the text "UNITED" was in orange. This continues to be used on The Wombles (1996 series). Sometimes, the words "for" is shown above and below the logo, and we see the words reading either "MERIDIAN BROADCASTING", "ANGLIA TELEVISION ENTERTAINMENT" (both in orange) or the HTV logo in white.
Starting in 1998, the brand logos of Meridian, Anglia or HTV are shown below the logo.
Sometimes the logo can be seen next to the Meridian brand logo or the Meridan brand logo appears next to the United logo.
In 1998, shortly before the change to the ITV logo, the background was yellow, and the "un" and the text was in blue. The word "For ITV" is shown below the logo (and with the 1989 ITV logo). This was briefly used for a short time.
On Hornblower, the logo reads "For Meridian Broadcasting in association with A&E Networks" with a line underneath the text then it switches to the normal version.
Sometimes, the logo was superimposed in the credits.
For programmes that they produced for Channel 4, the words "for" and "Channel Four" appears below the logo with a copyright disclaimer underneath.
For programmes that they produced for BBC, the 1997 BBC logo appears underneath the logo.
On ITV3 airings of Ruth Rendell Mysteries, the logo is in widescreen ratio instead of its usual fullscreen ratio.
Sometimes, the logo can be a bit closer to the screen.
On Starting Blocks, the 1996 variant alongside its Meridian notice is shrunken to the bottom right side of the screen to make room for the Trans World International logo on the top left.
On Six Wives of Henry VIII, the print version of the logo is entirely white, stretched, and seen next to the 2000 Channel 4 Television logo.
On Elizabeth, "productions" is removed.
On 1997 CITV airings of various programmes such as 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.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Uncommon.

It was often seen on many Meridian, Anglia and HTV programmes, TV movies and documentaries that they produced until 2001 such as When Calls the Heart, The Worst Witch and Hornblower, among others. Several current prints of these shows such as on
This logo can also be seen on programmes that they produced for Channel 4 and BBC such as Six Wives of Henry VIII for the former. It is intact on archival sites such as Screenocean.
The early variant was seen on the 1996 incarnation of The Wombles and series 5 of Wycliffe.
The yellow background variant can be seen on later episodes of Vanessa and Hornblower.