- BBC One 'Balloon' idents
The BBC Balloon launched at 7.05 am on Saturday, October 4, 1997. It replaced the computer generated spinning globe which had been used as the main ident on
BBC One since 1991. It launched the same day as a BBC-wide rebrand, and thus the new idents also carried the new BBC logo, changing its name from BBC1 to BBC One.The balloon and the concept was designed and implemented by the
Lambie-Nairn design agency in London. The balloon itself was predominantly red, with the map of the world picked out in orange. The clouds are overlaid on the globe in white. The balloon itself was made inBristol and its aircraft registration was "G-IBBC".Locations
The original sequences were filmed over six weeks in June and July 1997 at eleven locations around the United Kingdom. The locations were:
*
Eilean Donan Castle ,Scottish Highlands
*Forth Rail Bridge ,Edinburgh
*Dunluce Castle ,Northern Ireland
*Strangford Lough ,Northern Ireland
*Snowdonia National Park ,Wales
*Cardiff ,South Wales
*South Downs (NearArundel ),West Sussex
*Port of Felixstowe ,Suffolk
*Norfolk Broads ,Norfolk
* [http://www.visitcumbria.com/sl/swinside.htm Swinside Stone Circle] ,Cumbria
*London Docklands From these eleven locations, forty-seven different 35-second films were produced featuring the balloon floating serenely over British landscapes. Much of the photography was from a
helicopter at heights of up to 3,500ft. One noticeable and intentional aspect about the originalballoon films was that none of the sequences featured people or any distinct human activity.Further idents
A year after launch in 1998, several more idents were created and added to the collection. The main differences between these new additions and the originals, were that people were now included in the sequences. However, the balloon itself was inserted digitally by computer on to pre-filmed locations and did not actually fly over the following locations:
*
Angel of the North
*St Michael's Mount
*Second Severn Crossing
*Blackpool Tower
*The Needles ,Isle of Wight The balloon symbol was also shown on
BBC America between 1999 and 2003, and lasted several months after it had been retired byBBC One . Unlike BBC One, BBC America employed shorter, snappier cuts of various balloon sequences with slight changes to the familiar musical score.The balloon idents were also spoofed by comedian
Ben Elton for the junctions into his programme during the late 1990s.In 2000, the
BBC wanted the balloon idents to become more inclusive, so they introduced the 'lifestyle' idents. These featuredskateboarder s, a busymarket scene, abungee jump er and acarnival , all of which featured the balloon flying past in the background. The BBC's website was also added above the BBC One logo to all idents for the channel, as with the subtitles, and was also added to other BBC channels.pecial idents
There were also many special idents made for new programmes, sporting events or, most notably, the Christmas holiday (however, the balloon was replaced by symbols in connection with the
12 Days of Christmas in 1997, and a giant red bauble in 1998). These included:
* The 1999 eclipse of the sun (the balloon eclipsed it instead).
* The 1999 BBC series "Walking with Dinosaurs " (the balloon flew over a desert wasteland as anAnkylosaurus walked into view).
* The Euro 2000 football tournament (theballoon flew over a fullstadium , where agoalkeeper lets a goal pass his net. The first announcement was anapology about thepower cut that year).
* The 2000 Olympics inSydney (the balloon was seen flying above theSydney Opera House , while an athlete shone a flaming torch in its direction).
* The 2001 BBC series "The Blue Planet " (the balloon was seen from underwater from a shark-infested sea).
* The 2001 BBC series "Walking with Beasts " (similar to "Walking with Dinosaurs", except the balloon flew over a land of ice and prehistoric woolly mammoths).
* Christmas 1999 (the balloon flying alongside a holographic Santa Claus).
* Christmas 2000 (the real Santa flies the balloon and delivers presents).
* Christmas 2001 (three toys play around in a cosy room while the balloon floats by outside).The three toys used in 2001 (produced by
Aardman Animations ) were all connected to BBC One's Christmas Day schedule that year, so there was a dog (the terrestrial premiere of "Toy Story "), a dinosaur (the dramatic epic "The Lost World") and aReliant Robin van (the comeback of "Only Fools and Horses " after it had last aired in 1996).Replacement
In 2002, after much speculation, the balloon idents were replaced as the icon of the BBC's main television channel with a set of idents with the theme of 'Rhythm & Movement'. More controversially, the globe motif was dropped from the channel after 39 years. These new idents, featuring dancers dressed in red and white, were disliked by critics and television presentation fanatics. They accused the corporation of 'dumbing down' and becoming 'overtly politically correct'.
The balloon last took to the skies in the summer of 2002 when it took part in the
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta . It is now wrapped up and held in a museum by a preservation society.External links
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk bbc.co.uk]
* [http://www.lambie-nairn.com Lambie-Nairn design agency]
* [http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/bbc1national/bbc1national1997.html BBC One 'Balloon' idents at TV Ark]
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