Happy New Year 2021

The 10pm junction for the BBC Scotland channel, as they built up to their simulcast of the Hogmanay celebrations with BBC One Scotland.

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BBC Scotland inched ever closer to the end of 2020 with their 10.30pm junction.

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The last announcement for 2020 from BBC Scotland was made into the 11.30pm junction as they joined BBC One Scotland for their Hogmanay celebration show.

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Simon McCoy leads the BBC News Channel over the New Year, with a humourous look back at the 'highlights' of 2020 before leading in and out of a simulcast with the BBC One firework coverage.

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BBC One Network starts building up to New Year 2021 in the 9pm junction on December 31st ahead of a live show.

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A touching longer message into the 9pm junction from Michael Selby on the BBC One Northern Ireland team, looking back at 2020 and thanking people, before looking ahead to a brighter 2021. So long, it even has to extend over both a sting and and ident!

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The BBC One Wales version of the 9pm junction on 31st December 2020.

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BBC One Scotland's version of the 9pm junction on 31st December 2020, leading into a live show

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The last National Bulletin on BBC One for New Year's eve, aired at 10pm, ended with some Happy New Year wishes as well.

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After the naturally neutral announcement into the news, the build up on New Year's Eve continues on BBC One network in the 10.25pm junction.

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The 10.25pm New Year's Eve junction from BBC One Northern Ireland. Much tighter than in the other nations.

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BBC One Wales' version of the 10.25pm junction.

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With BBC One Scotland being opted out of the network schedule as usual for their Hogmanay celebrations, the 10.25 junction was used to introduce a different show in Scotland. A comedy show 'Only An Excuse', the programme immediately started with a spoof of the 'Tea breaks' Social Distancing ident.

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The last junction for 2020 from BBC One network was at 11.30pm on December 31st, also meaning the last airing of the Christmas idents for that year.

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BBC One Northern Ireland's last 2020 announcement, and the final showing of the Christmas package for that year.

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BBC One Wales' last 2020 junction, with a little extra Happy New Year message and namecheck from announcer Steve Dutfield as it would be his very last time.

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Although at the same time of 11.30, the last BBC One Scotland announcement for 2020 leads in to a different show for the Scottish Hogmanay celebrations. With continuity overrunning the ident slightly.

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The first BBC One junction for 2021 aired at 12.35am across all four nations, with them all welcoming you to the other side, and also welcoming back the non-festive idents. Whether 'Isolation Disco' was really the best choice for a celebration is left to reader discretion.

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The first 2021 announcement from BBC One Northern Ireland was also made at 12.35am. This was also to be their last for the night, as for subsequent junctions NI joined network. Northern Ireland were the only nation to not choose 'Isolation Disco' for this junction too.

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The first announcement of 2021 from BBC One Wales was in the same 12.35am junction.

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BBC One Scotland made their first 2021 announcement at the same time as the other nations, albeit leading into a different show due to their opted-out schedule for the evening. This change also meant their next junction after this was at 1.05am, which differed from other nations.

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BBC One continued their early morning New Year 2021 celebrations with the next junction at 1.35am.

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BBC One Wales also made their own announcement into the 1.35am junction, albeit using the same script as network. This was to be their last junction for the night though, with remaining junctions taking network.

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The 2.05am junction from BBC One network. This was carried across Wales and Northern Ireland too.

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BBC One Scotland were back in alignment with network for the 2.05am New Year Day junction, however continued to make their own announcement for this junction.

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BBC One finally finished their night of New Year programmes at 4am and joined the news channel. Using the closing junction to wish everyone a Happy New Year one final time for the night. This junction was also carried across all nations by this point.

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BBC Two Northern Ireland were opted out for some slots on New Year's Eve, so their announcements and build up could differ. Here the 9.15pm junction, which didn't exist on Network or Wales.

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BBC Two Network's build up to the New Year, from the 10pm junction on New Year's Eve. Duncan Newmarch was on hand to lead people through the evening's celebrations.

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The 10pm junction on December 31st 2020 from BBC Two Wales.

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BBC Two Northern Ireland remained on an opted out schedule at 10pm, with their junction following at 10.15pm instead.

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Duncan continued the countdown to midnight in the 10.45pm junction on BBC Two Network, with references to social distancing in the script - words which had become almost synonymous with 2020.

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The BBC Two Wales version of the 10.45pm junction on December 31st.

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All the nations were back in alignment for the 11.15pm junction to lead into Jools Holland's Hootenanny for the New Year changeover. Making this both the last junction of 2020 and also the last appearance of the Christmas idents that year. Duncan tweaked the script slightly to provide a very accurate countdown of the number of minutes remaining until midnight.

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Wales stuck with the original '45 minutes' script for their 11.15pm junction. As well as being the last BBC Two Wales announcement for 2020 and the last appearance of their Christmas idents, this was also the last announcement from the nation for the night with Network taking over duties after midnight.

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BBC Two Northern Ireland shunned the standard script in favour of making their own Happy New Year greeting in their last junction of 2020 (and for the whole night).

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The first announcement for 2021 wishing everyone a Happy New Year was made at 1.15am. This was carried the same across all the nations with Wales and NI having taken a rest from announcing after joining Jools Holland.

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2.45am was the last announcement of the night for BBC Two for the New Year. A final message was put out about waving goodbye to 2020.

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BBC Four were running a lot more archive programming for the changeover from 2020 to 2021, however junctions still acknowledged the New Year. The 10.45pm junction here.

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The final junction for 2020 for BBC Four was at 11.30pm, introducing a show which would run over the year changeover. This would also be the last use of the festive idents on the channel for another year, although they'd continue to appear in trailers.

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Most remaining BBC Four junctions in the early morning of January 1st 2021 were fairly standard programming announcements. However the channel closedown at 3.25am provided Beccy Wright a final opportunity for to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

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ITV's last junction of 2020 was a fairly mundane one just to introduce their news coverage at 11.45, using the same ITV Creates ident as had been used at the end of 2019. With ever the attention to detail, it's even introduced as the 'News At Ten'.

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ITV's first junction of 2021 was at least correct, wishing viewers a Happy New Year - even if felt like not playing the exploding confetti version of the ident was a miss. There wasn't much further acknowledgement of the New Year after this point.

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Although continuity may have been light on the New Year party spirit, some of the shows fared better. The closing to the midnight news bulletin, with the ITV News team wishing everyone a Happy New Year for 2021.

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After News had wished us a Happy New Year, it was the turn of the ITV National Weather team. Becky Mantin does the honours shortly after midnight on the 1st January 2021.

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Although there was no regional news at this time of night, regional weather forecasts had been recorded allowing a chance for another Happy New Year message. Here being provided for Anglia by Aisling Creevey.

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With UTV's separate continuity having been dropped in April 2020, there were no longer different junctions for the Northern Ireland region. So the only glimmer of a remotely locally branded New Year message was in the pre-recorded regional weather forecast shortly after midnight. Aisling Creevey introduces this bulletin as well, albeit with UTV branding in the background rather than ITV.

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After a night of regular junctions on the existing ITV Creates set, a brand new ITV Creates set to start off 2021 was introduced at 6am on January 1st. Featuring a collaboration from Sharon Walters and Mark Lane showing the ITV logo created outdoors.

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Although STV still had their own continuity for the 2020/2021 crossover, they maintained their tradition of not talking too much about the event. Here their last link for 2020 makes a passing reference to Hogmanay as they introduce their first 'Pride of Scotland' awards.

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Mentions of the New Year on other ITV-owned channels were intermittent. ITV2 seemed to be avoiding all mention of it, and ITV Be made little mention closer to midnight. Although it did get brought up briefly in the 10pm junction on the channel.

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The impending New Year for 2021 also saw mention in the 11pm junction on ITV3, the last for 2020 from the channel. Their first junctions for 2021 didn't say much about the New Year.

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ITV4 showed a film to straddle the changeover from 2020 to 2021, with the New Year being mentioned on both sides. This was the 10.10pm junction, and their last for 2020.

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The first junction from ITV4 for 2021 aired at 12.50am on January 1st, giving everyone a Happy New Year message.

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Late junctions on S4C on December 31st were devoid of continuity, as is normal for evenings on the channel. However an announcement did appear for S4C's first link of 2021, made shortly after midnight on 1st January to close the channel for the night. Translations for this are more than welcome too.

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Channel 4, as per their usual tradition, scheduled a longer show over the New Year changeover, this time round a movie. Meaning their last link of 2020 was into the 11pm junction on December 31st, wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

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Of the offshoot channels from 4, 4Seven didn't acknowledge the New Year. On the other hand, More4 made plenty of references, with the channel having given over most of their New Year schedule to saying thank you to the NHS. In the 10pm junction, they were already building up to the end of the year.

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Midnight is growing ever closer in the last junction for 2020 on More4, which was aired at 11pm.

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The first junction 'On the other side' for More4 went out at 5 past midnight on January 1st 2021, welcoming everyone into the new year.

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E4 filled up the final hours of New Year's Eve 2020 with episodes of The Inbetweeners, leaving plenty of junctions for them to make reference to the impending changeover. Here the announcement from the 11pm junction.

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E4 made their final announcement of 2020 into the 11.30pm junction on December 31st, counting down to a much brighter New Year.

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Similar to the approach on More4, E4 had timed it so their first 2021 announcement would sit nicely clear of midnight at 12.05am instead. Giving a good place to wish everyone a Happy New Year from the channel.

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E4 continued their post-midnight celebrations with their second 2021 link at 12.35am too, before getting back to regular junctions after this.

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With a long film running well past the year changeover and into the early hours, Film4 reserved their New Year words for their last link of 2020 instead. Aired around 11.15pm.

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To mark the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, 4Music joined a countdown animation designed for use across all of the Box Plus music channels. Before leading straight into the first ident and announcement of 2021.

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You could be forgiven for thinking there was no New Year, if you were a regular Channel 5 viewer. With the main channel and most of the digital offshoots (5USA, 5Select and Paramount) being devoid of all mentions of the date change. 5Star managed to slip through a few references though, such as this in the 9pm junction.

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Shortly before midnight and as they led into another movie, 5Star gave a second brief reference to the impending New Year.

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The Discovery-owned free channels took varying approaches to their mentions of the New Year, with some not mentioning anything, and others mentioning it frequently. Most of the junctions either side of the changeover were fairly regular on Really, however for the very first 2021 junction, airing seconds after midnight, a special announcement was recorded. Probably more than they'd have gotten had they still been under UKTV's ownership.

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Food Network followed a similar approach to Really, with most junctions leading up to midnight on New Year being the same as usual. Before a specially recorded announcement to ring in 2021 went out seconds after midnight.

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The 1am junction on Food Network also made special reference to the New Year, before announcements went back to standard after that.

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DMAX, HGTV and Quest did nothing special for the New Year, with Quest not having any announcements at all played out. Although sister channel Quest Red hadn't received any Christmas idents for 2020, they still continued to follow the better style for continuity with more special announcements being put together for this channel than most of the other free Discovery-owned ones. Here they build up to the New Year in their last 2020 announcement into the 11pm junction on the channel.

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The very first 2021 announcement for Quest Red went out seconds after midnight no January 1st, wishing everyone a brief Happy New Year.

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Unlike many of the other Discovery-owned free channels, Quest Red continued to have additional announcements into the morning. With the 1am junction managing to crowbar in a 2021 advert for their OnDemand service too.

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2am saw another 2021 promotional message for their OnDemand service, leading into the next show on Quest Red.

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Finally for our New Year 2021 coverage, our 'minnow channel which punched above its weight' award for this year. Last year it was Blaze, however with them deciding to sit it out this year, for the 2020 to 2021 crossover the award goes to Forces TV. A channel which shows normally large amounts of archive programming, tucked away on a high number on Freeview, Forces TV had special announcements building up until midnight. Here the 10pm junction on the channel.

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The 11pm junction on Forces TV, announcing it as their last show of 2020 and thanking people for joining them as they see out the year. This was the last special announcement, with their subsequent post-midnight junctions back to regular programme announcements.

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