BBC1 Christmas Idents: The 1970's & 1980's - The Ident Review

[@higsterful]

I absolutely love this.Brings back so many sweet memories of when Christmas was truly magical, exciting,happy......I was born in 1973 so do remember quite a few of these......aah.... television was so so good in those days....3 channels.....and we were happy....not 400+ channels like today!!!

[@tannerin]

Nothing beats the 1977 ident for me, it's such a clean and well proportioned design that exudes Christmas while completely avoiding tackiness. In general I prefer the less cluttered ones, there's something very elegant and appealing about '82/'83 even if they're conceptually simple.

[@richardknowlson6319]

Excellent video. I can watch these Christmas ident videos anytime of the year, doesn't matter if it's mid summer or January. Good work.

[@Agnethatheredhairkid]

The 1986 ident was my favourite. The tree is cute!

[@harlowcomputerrepairs7839]

i want to go back to the 70s and 80s

[@markgrainge8198]

In 1977, the “snow adorned background” is a warped “house of mirrors” reflection of the Christmas pudding. You can even see a warped holly leaf moving by on the brandy and sauce/snowy background.

[@davidmccann9811]

The first one I actually remember is 1973, but (unbelievably) we had a black and white TV until about 1975. My grandparents had a colour TV long before that, and from what I remember the colour was very very bright. Much more vivid than what we would want or expect now.

[@KRPTV]

I'd say all of these idents are a lot better and a lot more creative and imaginative than the current Oneness idents.

[@rupert-j8f]

Dam right.

[@micgooflander95]

I agree. The Oneness idents are boring, sterile and soulless like everything else about culture in the 21st century. The soul of beauty died in the mid 1990s.

[@timecapsule.]

The "Oneness" idents were the worst set of Idents the BBC ever produced.

[@Choppytwo]

​@@timecapsule.1986 Two says hello there

[@ninkynonk5007]

Nice video, although (this is a minor nit-pick) around the 14:20 mark, it's supposed to represent a partridge in a pear tree like in the 12 Days of Christmas

[@Jac-Man]

NinkyNonk500 /Max M-N Good eye!

[@DiskkiHoax]

There's a documentary on Vimeo called "Christmas Wrapping" if you want to know more about BBC's christmas idents.

[@AlolaMasked]

Hosted by Applemask

[@KEITHMU]

The 1986 Ident was a Children's BBC competition to design it. In fact there were three winners which were merged to form one ident. The Star, the tree with a face and the marching holly. A similar competition happened again in 2004 on Blue Peter.

[@AlolaMasked]

Apparently all 3 character have names. Does anyone know what they are?

[@mask2314]

They are nameless.

[@INDIEREMIX]

Fantastic, been looking forward to the christmas ident reviews!!

[@megansutton9699]

1976’s one is so pretty 1977’s felt so good to look at 19:78’s though… hmmmm… the text is nice but that Santa head… aren’t we supposed to be ENCOURAGING kids to go to sleep on Christmas night? Not keep them up all night with nightmares. I think it would be looked better if the head was more cartoony or they didn’t use it at all and maybe used something like a snowman or had used the rotating globe but also made it look like Santa was flying around it 1979’s is so much better, it just feels so heartwarming and charming 1980’s were so cute 1981’s was pretty 07:04 I think you were probably just hungry, I also think it just shows that you don’t always have to stick to red, green and gold for a Christmas theme, you can use other colours to compliment those main colours

[@antoniod]

"Stone me, it's Christmas AGAIN! The BBC've made me a plum pudding!"

[@vintagesoup79]

1986 was actually based upon a CBBC competition to design the ident. I remember entering the competition. There was also an animated sequence that went with it to advertise Christmas programming.

[@timecapsule.]

The BBC should bring back the pudding, it looked so nice. They should bring it back for this year's Christmas presentation.

[@robalexander8065]

Good video. 1976 is such a glowing opportunity for the youtubers who recreate idents. Surely someone could produce a decent recreation in high quality.

[@stepheng8779]

Christmas pudding will always be the best 👍 Though I love the carol singers too. Took a dive when they went animated, couldn't even tell you what the idents were last Xmas (a month ago, says everything). Should rerun the classic idents, what better than nostalgia over Xmas?

[@martoto77]

There was even more animation for the 1986 trails with Santa hiking through the snow. Happy memories. To be fair, you need to have experienced these idents on a 20 inch tv or smaller to appreciate how festive they appeared to folk at the time. Lol.

[@evonneokafor]

You liked the 1985 Xmas indent? Should of featured when it was shot by Noel in his Late Late Late Breakfast show

[@CyberLink70]

Woah, _what?!_

[@robalexander8065]

@@CyberLink70 Noel Edmonds fired a blunderbus at it in a memorable LLBS. The two (rather tacky) robins were obliterated!

[@AlolaMasked]

@@robalexander8065 guess we're having KFR for dinner there

[@tyffani9931]

Such retro looks!

[@Garylpool1]

Who remembers the indent BBC1 had which had the Cambridge Buskers

[@streetlegalone]

It's a cliche to dislike the Santa Head. I've always liked it, and, as a child, never saw it as the least be scary. It's festive, fun, cheery.

[@jennyrosemutia8466]

Snowflake Is Scary, Too.

[@jennyrosemutia8466]

Early Idents Use Street Cred... Too.

[@simonmoore2380]

I remember the Santa head logo. As a kid I just saw it as a model of Santa - it’s frankly nonsense to suggest that kids were scared by it, or that it would give them nightmares. You might as well say that a Christmas card with a picture of Santa on it would make kids say “Argh! Santa’s gone all flat!” 😄

[@bobnick355]

Will there be a Sunday Catch up this week and for the Sunday catch up do you like the Christmas ident for 2018

[@jamesdelboy]

In Scotland we had 2 from 1985 that I think are quite good the first one the 1985 globe becomes a box of delights the second one stars were added to the globe

[@GoodOlGranite]

In the 1980 Christmas Ident, the soldiers and children ARE wearing ice skates.

[@robalexander8065]

It reflected Britain's success in the Skating at Winter Olympics that year.

[@andrewcharles8265]

The 1988 Christmas promo and idents were based on the theme of the 'Twelve Days of Christmas', and the animation of the BBC1 ident was of 'a partridge in a pear tree'.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

You might want to re-do this, Adam. Several uploaders - myself included - have uncovered the only surviving examples of several regional BBC1 Christmas idents since you uploaded this. I have the only surviving example of BBC(1) Wales’ Christmas ident for 1984 (already published) and 1982 (to be published on the 28th December). Plus I know of a few places not on KZbin where you can get some from BBC1 Scotland as far back as 1979. Plus some photos of the mechanical device used to produce BBC1 Scotland’s Christmas ident for 1982.

[@andrewcharles8265]

If my memory serves me correctly for a competition was launched on Blue Peter to design the Christmas idents in 1986.

[@AllenJeremy]

Here in Wales in 1985 BBC Wales had an electronically generated Christmas Ident.

[@AllenJeremy]

There is footage of the 1984 BBC Wales Christmas Ident here on KZbin.

[@cardiffguy2007]

1989 isn't a bauble spinning around, its a child's spinning top. 1988's animated Christmas logo is a Partridge in a Pear tree (Don't think you mentioned that) A nice review nevertheless.

[@Bosco_65]

Also, that's not a "giant teddy bear" riding the train, it's a toad...maybe Mr Toad from Wind in the Willows?

[@AlolaMasked]

Stuffed Frog.

[@salfordguy69]

Christmas Pudding was the best!

[@chestnutbloke305]

It was ITV2's 20th anniversary on 7 December, do the idents for that Channel next week.

[@imrustyokay]

TBH, the 1975 ident is a lot mote forgivable, since it was 1975, there was still a recession and an oil crisis, and mechanical models took a lot of money to make, no use throwing away a perfectly good one

[@AlolaMasked]

I do respect their strategy

[@JamesLaverty08]

Please review the Christmas Circle idents.

[@arthurvasey]

Christmas 1978 - Santa’s got two noses, look!

[@richardavsmith]

Love the mix of the national anthem and some ridiculous scene in some of them! I'd assumed they'd used the normal clock out globe for the end of the night, but I assume these were filmed live to air so they probably took up the space of the normal ones for a bit.

[@coffineentertainment1842]

1992

[@AllenJeremy]

In 1985 they did use the globe at closedown instead of the Christmas Ident for that year.

[@stephenemmett9753]

@@MadGaz85 Yes, it was Christmas 1992. I personally believe that the regions (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) chose to opt out and use the Virtual LaserDisc globe at closedown instead. I'm not sure though!

[@Richardpd16378]

There was an animated sequence in 1985 that was a bit more polished than the model, which Noel Edmunds got to shoot on the Late Late Breakfast show! I think 1989 is my favourite, mostly because of the frog on the train.

[@lja8857]

When this version comes back do 4Music 2012 idents

[@jimmythebantam]

1984 ident, one of the three was actually a snow woman on the orders of then controller Michael Grade.

[@timecapsule.]

What is the name of the piano music used in your videos?

[@thomasshaxon6844]

Can you do 1990-1996 please?

[@betaman7988]

2:08 Not quite, the blue and yellow BBC globe was launched directly after that ident stopped post Boxing Day

[@JennyAnnTea]

The rotating head is creepy lol

[@steve.wassall06]

Do a ident review on the BBC HD idents pls

[@CyberLink70]

He did it, alright. It got taken down the first time, but it’s here now.

[@jamesdelboy]

The 1980's ident may have been only one to have daytime and night time versions there may also have been a dusk version featuring a purple sky

[@FreyaG0811]

I think you should review the 2018 Watership Down remake

[@joechetwood4097]

What's tomorrow's episode of the NOW Review?

[@stickytapenrust6869]

1:10 - not the very first Christmas ident at all, this is just the earliest surviving one.

[@jackwild8019]

Halcyon days ❤

[@Jac-Man]

GOOD GOD THAT SANTA BALL (Btw, the figures in the 1980 ident are wearing ice skates. Just wanted to clear that up.)

[@AlolaMasked]

I knew the ice skaters were wearing iceskates.

[@skwidge69]

4:22

[@laurenceodell5168]

I think the guy who hosts The Hard Break on KZbin that I can't remember the name of would disagree with you on the 1987 ident...

[@thefowlyetti2]

BBC should bring back the 78 ident.

[@LillieisTheBestGirl]

BBC One 2020

[@richardgregory3684]

I always found the rotating decapitated Santa incredibly disturbing.

[@martoto77]

The 80s really didn’t start until about 1985. Everything before that could just as well have been from the seventies. They didn’t really make it a point to be fashionable or avant with these things until nearer the end of the decade. But at the same time they also started to become more homogenously tasteful by the time the nineties rolled up.

[@dankulafan6905]

1990s idents will be this year

[@Diskoboy1974]

1978 is nightmare fuel

[@chriswaring5565]

BEST 2 WERE THE LAST 1970S AND THE FIRST 1980S LOGO THAT WAS A FROG ON THAT TRAIN NOT A TEDDY

[@jamesdelboy]

For the 1986 Christmas ident the bbc didn't exactly make it

[@AlolaMasked]

My top 2 is 1983 and 1986. 1989 and 1984 follows suit 1985 is definitely my least favorite

[@mattlenton9732]

The BBC should play the National Anthem every day...

[@martoto77]

The music for the 1988 ident was awful. That cold, brittle sounding digital piano sounds miserable and even worse on playback from an old mono tracked VHS with ubiquitous wow and flutter. Painful. Nice artwork though. Deserved better sound.

[@matthew396]

Um

[@bartoszpl4396]

This is the longest ident review i ever see

[@TheGerkuman]

But the Watership Down adaptation's probably going to be baaaad :(

[@lucasprice4615]

After viewing it, it was pretty good in my opinion.

[@seanland]

Bbc scary kids watching TV 📺 santa claus

[@JamboP26]

1984 is snow-people ;) One had breasts

[@brainimp]

Humans have males and Females, so do Snowmans, the man part is nothing to do with the gender :)

[@jennyrosemutia8466]

1988 Is like NBC Peacock From The 1960's .

[@AlolaMasked]

Snowmen and Snowwoman

[@tyffani9931]

The 1986 ident should’ve been used for children’s programmes and comedy and there should’ve been another one for more serious programmes. 👎🏻

[@thomasshaxon6844]

Can you do 1990-1996 please?

[@skwidge69]

7:44