ITV Ventures

Background
Granada Ventures (now ITV Ventures Limited) is a British licensing company that functions as the consumer products division for ITV. The company also operates a home media subsidiary, which has gone over a lot of history.

In the late 1980s, the division was formed as Pickwick Video, and originally operated several labels including Screen Legends. In 1992, Carlton Communications acquired Pickwick and three years later in 1995, they renamed Pickwick Video to Carlton Home Entertainment, and later Carlton Video in 1997, and Carlton Visual Entertainment in 2002.

In 2004, both Carlton Communications and Granada merged to form "ITV plc". Granada had a deal with Video Collection International. The merger meant the deal could be revoked and that Granada programs were able to be released through Carlton's unit, which was rebranded as Granada Ventures in July 2004, therefore allowing all ITV-produced shows on DVD to be branded under one name.

Beginning in 2006, Granada Ventures' home video unit began operating under the ITV DVD/ITV Studios Home Entertainment names, although distribution was still under Granada Ventures. In January 2013, with the rebranding of ITV, the division was renamed as ITV Ventures Limited, with the home video division rebranding under ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

1st Logo (1989-Early 1992)


Logo: A series of gray and white vertical lines are formed on the screen. Then they flip around a few times to show brief clips of some films from Pickwick's Library (including a yacht race, boxing match, and even Thomas the Tank Engine). After that the text "PICKWICK", in red italic letters appears sliding in letter-by-letter from the right and the word Video appears written underneath in dark blue and underlined in red. The text then shines.

Trivia: The clip of Thomas the Tank Engine is taken from the episode Thomas Comes to Breakfast.

Variants:
 * Originally, Australian releases only feature the ending animation starting from when the text appears on-screen and freezing it for 30 seconds with the full music underneath it.
 * On later Australian releases the music starts 5 seconds into the warning screen, and the logo is a short version with the opening similar to the second logo.

FX/SFX: The lines, the letters and the shining.

Music/Sounds: A synthesised rock tune entitled "Superman 3" done by Anthony & Gaynor Sadler, which was also heard on Earthvue on the then-Prevue Guide (now Pop) around that time.

Availability: Seen on Pickwick videos from the UK and Australia around the time period.
 * Such releases include the 1989 UK VHS reissues of the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends season 2 VHS releases Thomas, Percy and the Coal and Other Stories, Percy and Harold and Other Stories, The Deputation and Other Stories, plastering the Screen Legends logo, and the 1991 UK VHS release of The Best of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, among others.
 * In Australia, the logo appears on several Abbey Home Entertainment releases.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (Early-Late 1992)


Logo: A series of the same grey and white vertical lines are formed on the same screen. Then they flipped only once and the same word "PICKWICK" from the first logo and appears in the same font as the first logo but now they appear letter-by-letter from the left. Then the same text "Video" appears also in the same blue script from the previous logo now appears this time underlined in blue ripples down and places itself underneath the word above.

FX/SFX: The lines, the letters and the "Video" text, it's basically a very cheap recreation of the first logo.

Music/Sounds: A synth hum which sounds similar to the one used on the Roadshow Home Video logo in Australia, followed by five drumbeats and a different synth warbling sound.

Availability: Rare.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (Late 1992-1995)
Logo: The camera travels through a curvy blue maze and drops down a keyhole, revealing serveral blue and purple copies of the maze. It then pans through the bottom-most area of the maze and reaches a yellow light coming out from another hole, then it begins to travel upward through the hole and spins around a bit, which eventually revealing the word "PICKWICK" appearing in blue and in the same font as before against a black background and the word then shines.

Variant: An rare prototype short version variant exists starts with two copies of the word "PICKWICK", one on top of the other being viewed from the left side before the camera goes through the first letter "C" and travels quickly between the two copies until coming out again through the second letter "C". The ending is largly the same as the main logo except it shines differently.

FX/SFX: The CGI maze, great CGI animation for it's time and it has way better animation than the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic tune sounded like something off an action film. The short version has a heavenly chorus.

Availability: Seen on Pickwick videos from the UK and Australia around the time period.

Editor's Note: One of the more memorable British logos of the VHS era. Some aspects of it are quite ahead of its time.

1st Logo (1995-1997)
Nicknames: "Beelzebub's Letters", "Blood Letters"

Logo: The camera passes by giant zoomed-in letters of the name "CARLTON" on a background. Once we see the "N" zoom in, it dissolves into the full logo. "Video" fades in as well under the name.

FX/SFX: The close-up of the letter, "Video" blurring in.

Music/Sounds: A droning synth chord with whooshes. The first whoosh is very long, sudden and loud.

Availability: Very rare.
 * Appears at the beginning and end of Carlton Video VHS releases, most notably The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Bananas In Pyjamas, Tots TV, and Starla & the Jewel Riders, among others.
 * However, later releases still had the logo, but used the Carlton Home Entertainment logo that was only seen at the end of the tape.

Editor's Note: Along with the related Carlton Screen Advertising logo, this has been known to scare viewers who aren't expecting it with its dramatic appearance.

2nd Logo (1997-1999)
Logo: Just the 1995 Carlton Television logo without any video indicator whatsoever.

FX/SFX: Same as the Carlton Television logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Carlton Television logo.

Availability: Very rare; appears on certain Carlton Video VHS releases.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1998-1999)
Logo: It's the Sunrise/Sunset variant of the 1996 Carlton Television ident.

Variant:
 * There is also a longer variant, where the "O" descends slower and a brief piano track follows the 5-note harp tune.
 * A variant for promos has the Carlton logo at the top of the screen.

FX/SFX: The O descending and the colour of the background changing.

Music/Sounds: A short 5-note harp tune (basically the Carlton jingle from the time).

Availability: Same as the previous logo.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1999-2004)
Logo: The finished product of the 1999 Carlton ident, without the 1998 ITV logo (similar to the version used on TV productions).

Variants:
 * The background may be still. It mainly appeared on VHS releases before 2000 when the animated idents were introduced. It was also seen on some VHS releases after 2000.
 * "VIDEO" is seen below the logo in some occasions.
 * The URL may also appear below.
 * A 16:9 widescreen version exists.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1999 Carlton Television logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare.
 * Appeared on Carlton Video VHS and DVD releases from the time period.
 * Some reissues of Carlton DVD releases in the ITV plc era will either keep this intact or mainly plaster this with the ITV DVD logo.

Editor's Note: None.

1st Logo (2004-2005)
Logo: On a background, the 2004 Granada logo with "Ventures" below is shown.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on Granada Ventures DVD releases from the era.

Editor's Note: Nothing much to say here. It's clear to be an obvious placeholder for the next logo.

2nd Logo (2005-2013)
Logo: Same as the 2004 Granada logo, but the word "Ventures" in a white font fades in on the bottom of the screen.

Variant: A shorter variant exists.

FX/SFX: Same as the full version of the 2004 Granada logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the full version of the 2004 Granada logo or none.

Availability:
 * Appears on releases from this time period, such as Pocoyo & Friends: Volume 1.
 * The shorter variant appears on ITV releases that were licensed to independent distributor Network Distributing.
 * It makes a surprise appearance on the Talking Pictures TV airing of The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939).

Editor's Note: None.