Welcome to Channel 4
Introduction
Even before BBC2 came on the air in 1964 there has
been a debate concerning who should own a fourth television
channel. ITV wanted it because (as they pointed out) the
BBC with the advent of BBC2 had two channels whereas ITV
had only the one, though by 1979 ITV's viewing figures were
exceeding the combined BBC1 and 2 figure so this argument
started to sound weak (however many tv sets had their
fourth button marked 'ITV2' since it seemed logical). Back
in 1964 the Conservative Party promised ITV that it would
get the fourth channel if they won that year's election -
they didn't win, so the issue was postponed as other
factors took precedence. Work was progressing slowly,
though by 1979 it seems that progress towards a fourth
channel was at last starting to make some headway.
The 1979 General Election was predicted to be the crucial
factor as to what the fourth channel would be like. If the
Labour Goverment was returned to power again, the fourth
channel would be run by an organisation known as the OBA
(Open Broadcasting Authority). This was a popular choice
(as opinion polls showed) since it would be completely
different from the established channels' programming, being
community-based and non-profit making. However it was
predicted that it would only have (roughly) a 2% audience
share, and there were unanswered questions about funding
such an enterprise.
That did not happen (of course); the Conservative Party
came to power, lead by Margaret Thatcher - they were
predicted to give the new channel to ITV in order to give
them their ITV2. Another alternative discussed at the time
was to create an entirely separate new commercial channel
(the approach favoured by the advertising agencies - they
hoped that the aggressive competition between two openly
competing commercial channels that would be the result
would drive down advertising rates); but what was to become
Channel 4 was surprisingly different from those proposals
mentioned but had common elements with all three
approaches.
The Launch
Although initially regulated by the Independent
Broadcasting Authority (IBA) together with the ITV
franchises, Channel 4 is effectively a broadcaster that is
relatively independent from ITV, though there was initially
a degree of financial cross-subsidy and ITV franchises
provided some of the programming. Its remit is essentially
similar to BBC2, ie. producing specialist programmes for a
smaller audience as well as producing popular programmes,
though to begin with Channel 4 was unique in that the
majority of programmes are commissioned from small
independent production companies.
Channel 4 launched with a sequence showing clips from
various forthcoming programmes, but the very first
programme to be shown on Channel 4 when it finally launched
on 2 November 1982 was
Countdown. Based on a
long-running French TV quiz format entitled
Des Chiffres
et des Lettres (Numbers and Letters),
Countdown
started life as an regional (Yorkshire) ITV programme
entitled
Calendar Countdown earlier in 1982 before
being commissioned for Channel 4 by controller Sir Jeremy
Issacs.
Countdown is a fairly 'genteel' quiz based on
games that use numbers and letters, and is the only Channel
4 programme apart from
Channel 4 News which is still
being produced today. The very first presenter to appear on
the new channel was none other than Richard Whiteley, who
was a familiar face to ITV viewers in the Yorkshire region
(Yorkshire TV - now owned by Granada - produces
Countdown for Channel 4). Richard became a cult
figure nationally as a result of presenting
Countdown though he sadly died in June 2005 after an
illness.
One familiar face that appeared on the very first edition
of
Countdown was that of Ted Moult, who was known
nationally to many people as a gardener and also from his
appearences on other TV quiz shows. And one person making
her TV debut was Carol Vorderman, who was initially just
employed as the 'resident statistician' and was presented
as a graduate from Cambridge University; she of course was
later to take greater responsibility for both the letters
and numbers games.
The very first
Countdown 'letters game'
produced this selection of consonants and vowels - T, N, E,
M, A, R, H, I, B - of which the two contestants were able
to think of two seven-letter words 'raiment' (an item of
clothing) and 'minaret' (a thin tower that's part of a
mosque) respectively. Note the different colour scheme used
for the letters board compared with that used today.
There were other notable differences between
Countdown when it first launched and the same show
as it appears today; the contestants do not have name
labels and there were two guests in 'dictionary corner' as
well as Carol Vorderman on hand to make sure that
everything ran smoothly.
Another difference between Channel 4 and the other
channels was that all programmes were shown across England,
Scotland and Northern Ireland, but commercials could either
be shown nationally or in specific regional areas (based on
the ITV regions). The first commercial to be shown on the
new channel was for the Vauxhall Cavalier 1600
GLS.
Channel 4, like BBC2, got off to a shaky start but
for different reasons. A disagreement concerning actor's
pay for commercials shown on the fledgling network resulted
in an industrial dispute that prevented actors from
appearing 'on camera' in commercials. This resulted in
either a small number of commercials being shown or no
commercials at all (depending on the region), at least
until the dispute was resolved. Wales has a separate
service called S4C with its own Welsh language programming
(as well as showing programmes from Channel 4) which had
launched the previous day.
Launched in November 1982, Channel 4 only transmitted
programmes for a few hours each day to begin with, so
Channel 4's test card was a familiar sight for viewers
tuning in during the morning and daytime. Unlike BBC2 a new
television set was not mandatory, and the fact that the UK
UHF transmitter network had from the outset been designed
to offer four channels meant that no new aerial was
required. Also unlike previous channel launches most of the
transmitters were already set up so most of the population
could receive the channel (apart from some remote areas).
The new channel tried out some brave programming
ideas in its early years. The Friday Alternative was a
hard-hitting politically controversial current affairs show
with some key differences; no presenters were visible, and
it made heavy use of computer animation between video
footage. An 50 minute-long peak time news bulletin produced
by ITN is a successful key feature of the evening schedule
which remains to this day. Early critics of the channel
dubbed it "Channel Bore" or "Channel Snore"; it's easy to
knock something if it's trying to be different.
By the mid 1980s programmes such as The Word and The
Last Resort gained notoriety and media coverage, making
Mark Lamarr and the sharp-suited Jonathan Ross stars (among
other people). Saturday Night Live was instrumental in
changing the whole face of British comedy, launching a
whole selection of 'alternative' comedians such as Ben
Elton (who presented the show), Harry Enfield and Jo Brand.
Channel 4 has also commissioned films such as My Beautiful
Launderette, and Four Weddings and a Funeral. The 'youth'
show Network Seven was hugely influential on later
programming production trends, even though the show itself
had only a very small audience.
Channel 4 has never been afraid to be controversial.
In 1987 the channel decided to experiment with using what
was known as the 'red triangle'; the idea being was that
the triangle would be displayed in the top left hand corner
of the screen throughout programmes that featured scenes
containing violence or explicit sexual content, effectively
serving as a content warning. Opponents to this idea said
that this would be an excuse to show even more sex and
violence, and viewing figures for programmes that featured
the red triangle conversely went up. Within months the
whole experiment was quietly dropped.
During the Christmas period in 1990 Channel 4 used
this 'psychedelic four' with flashing colours as a special
ident. As well as being controversial, Channel 4 produces
the usual quizzes, soap operas, current affairs, etc., that
can be found on other mainstream channels therefore
catering for a very wide cross section of the population as
a result.
In the 1990s Channel 4 started a continuous 24-hour
service, and then in 1997 controversially ditched its
original 'coloured 4' in favour of using a white '4' symbol
in conjunction with either circles or squares, as shown
here.
The change did not meet universal acclaim - indeed
Channel 4's image was soon to change again much sooner than
expected (see below). On January 1 1999 Channel 4 stopped
promoting ITV programmes (and vice versa).
Out with the old, in with the new - Channel 4
introduced its second image 'makeover' on 2 April 1999. The
unloved circles were ditched in favour of a simple
square-shaped logo in combination with scrolling bands of
colour; at the same time Channel 4 controversially also
introduced a DOG (digitally originated graphic) on its
digital feed, meaning that ONdigital and SkyDigital viewers
of the channel are treated to a permanent on-screen symbol
similar to that used by Channel 5 at the time. This however
was later removed because of complaints from viewers. (Why
did they bother in the first place then?)
Compare and contrast: this picture was taken from the
end of a programme trailer that was shown just before the
April 1999 changes were introduced to the channel.
The old-style '4 in a circle' is just visible in the top
right hand corner of the picture.
And this picture was taken from the end of the
revised style of trailer for exactly the same programme.
Note that the screen is now essentially divided into two
areas, with the larger left area being free for the display
of programme information whilst maintaining the logo on the
right side of the screen.
Since the 'square' look was introduced, subtle
changes were subsequently made; at one point the '4' square
occasionally flipped across the screen into position,
though in other respects the presentation had changed
relatively little apart from the introduction of 'split
screens' at the end of programmes along with 'now and next'
menus. (Sometimes background images were used behind the
moving lines for idents as in this example.) With Mark
Thompson as controller, Channel 4 acquired the terrestrial
rights to The Simpsons but then lost the rights to the
followup to popular US import Friends - entitled Joey - to
Channel Five.
The last day of 2004 saw the launch of Channel 4's
new ident package, which essentially saw the return of the
Channel 4 logo building up in three dimensions, except this
time the logo is formed using building blocks comprising of
abstract pieces of landscape such as hedges, concrete
blocks, road signs or bales of hay for a surreal effect as
the sequence progresses.
Other changes were introduced at the same time
including a new look for Channel 4 News (essentially
swapping its black and purple colour scheme for new titles
and studio appearence in white and blue colours) as well as
two new styles of programme promotion, though some minor
changes were made to Channel 4's presentation soon after
launch.
