Channel 4 (Lines) - 1999-2004

Introduced in 1999, the next evolution for Channel 4's presentation involved placing the 4 logo in a right aligned white box, while coloured vertical lines scroll past in the background at differing speeds. Most commonly these would feature colour only, but it also allowed mixing in of background video footage. Red and Yellow are mixed together in this ident.

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Red bars for this Channel 4 ident, mixed in with blurred shots of car headlights.

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Based around the South Park series which was airing on Channel 4 at the time, one of several programme-themed additions to the coloured lines presentation package from 1999. Used here with continuity before the break to let you know the show is up next.

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More programme themed lines presentation. Kelsey Grammer, in his Frasier role, talks about his obsession with the number 4. Conveniently, it's also the next show on Channel 4.

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Another of the lines idents for Channel 4, this time set in a bluey-green shade.

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4Later was introduced as Channel 4's overnight strand for a time, after overnight closedowns were dropped, featuring the usual filler mix of cheap imports and low budget movies to fill those dead hours. Presentation during this segment featured a very different ident style to the rest of the day's presentation.

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Revised soundtracks, and some different variations on the lines which included new ways for the Channel 4 logo to animate onscreen were introduced in a small refresh late in 1999. A purple variant here.

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As transmitted on the first day of the brand new millennium for Channel 4, a turquoise version here, with an added water feature.

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The Big Breakfast was Channel 4's long running breakfast show, on the air from 1992 to 2002. Here, a promo from 1999 promotes both The Big Breakfast and the The Bigger Breakfast, a post 9am set of branding which came into place during summer holidays.

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An ECP from the 1999 Channel 4 look, here being used to promote an accompanying CD for the series. This particular end sequence also features a rarer appearance of an LWT for Sky and Sky One endcaps on the terrestrial channel.

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A short 4Later piece of pres from 2000, interchangably used as both a break bumper and a programme ident at the time for their overnight programming. The 4Later logo is formed around a 'brain' shape here.

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Another 4later bumper, this time featuring a zoom out shot of the 'brain' element.

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T4 was a strand on Channel 4 aimed at 16-24 year olds, complete with its own branding which ran from 1998 until 2012. A promo for the strand here, leaving you in no doubt whatsoever about the programming that would appear.

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Film4's use of the 'Film Fear' branding around Halloween has a long history dating back to the earliest days of the channel. Here it is being used during another cross-promotional weekend between Channel 4 and FilmFour (as named then) before the premiere of the movie Scream just before Halloween 2000. FilmFour branded events on the main channel would pop up semi-regularly in the early days of the channel, as Channel 4 needed to drive subscriptions to their movie channel. Also shown here is the Stella Artois sponsorship sting at the time.

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A promo for Channel 4 in 2000 taking a look at some of the darker crimes on the still fledgling internet... and you won't find them much different to those of now!

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On December 16th 2000, Channel 4 devoted their later hours to 'Candid Camera Night'. Officially a celebration of hidden camera shows, but largely a vehicle for Dom Joly with his own show being a feature of the channel at the time. A series of short filmed segments were used in the programme junctions throughout the evening, starting with a random member of the public being asked to hold a 'Golf Sale' placard.

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The next junction in the series of short films produced for 'Candid Camera Night' on 4 in December 2000.

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In the third film link for Channel 4's 'Candid Camera Night' the original sign bearer makes his return, much to the confusion of the innocent passer-by filling in.

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The final short film of Channel 4's Candid Camera Night, finishing with the bemused member of the public leaving.

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A dark orange variation on the lines ident. Used here as part of Candid Camera Night on Channel 4 though not containing any special branding for the occasion.

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One of many similar but subtly different idents for Channel 4 during its lines era, using turquoise as a base colour.

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A Channel 4 next slide from the lines era, using shots related to the show being promoted in the adjoining squares.

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One of the Christmas versions of Channel 4's idents. Despite tweaks and updates to the normal idents, the same Christmas idents from 2000 were dug out again for 2001, 2002 and 2003 with 2004's idents being left completely unfestive presumably due to the impending relaunch a week later. Nice to see C4 putting a massive budget into Christmas Decoration anyway.

An example of how the minimalist festive branding during Channel 4's lines era was applied to promos, shown here in a 2000 promo for Snow Graham Norton.

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More scenes mixed in with some slightly garish colours in another ident for Channel 4 Daytime from 2001.

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A small slip up in the continuity announcement over the top of this daytime branded menu from Channel 4 in 2001. Different coloured variants of this menu existed, with the version here presented in that always popular shade of bright green.

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No continuity errors this time in another Channel 4 daytime menu. And this time round the main colourscheme uses a slightly less garish shade of blue too.

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Daytime End Credit Promotions on Channel 4 during this era followed a similar style to the evening ones, just recoloured in some of the same garish colours used elsewhere in the strand.

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Richard and Judy famously defected from ITV's This Morning to host a new Channel 4 chat show in 2001. Here the pre-launch promotion for their new show in their new home.

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In days long before it was a channel in its own right, 4Music was a strand within the main channel shown late at night. A minute long trailer for the strand here, featuring various musicians repeating '4Music' over and over again.

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A dark turquoise lines ident from Channel 4. This time round featuring some subtle lighting effects in the background, along with the addition of the Channel 4 website URL.

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Another purple variant of the Channel 4 lines ident, subtly updated by 2001 to include their website address, as was the popular trend with broadcasters in the early 2000s.

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A red version of the Channel 4 lines ident, with scenes of roads moving past in the background.

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Another 2001 lines ident from Channel 4, this time using an orange colourscheme.

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Mixed purple and red coloured bars overlay a leafy scene for this Channel 4 ident from 2001.

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A basic next slide from Channel 4 in 2001, using generic lines graphics rather than anything programme-specific.

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Another live-action daytime ident for Channel 4 from 2002. And for reasons known only to Channel 4, the web address has moved down the screen.

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At the start of January 2002, Channel 4 unveiled some new idents. They still followed the lines theme, only this time it was tweaked with more of a live-action look. This version for example shows the logo in water.

Another 2002 ident, this time using bars of coloured light.

A third new ident for 2002, this time using white lights (the 4 logo can also be seen to flicker like a light). Vague throwbacks to VCR tuning signals abound!

A nice ident, showing the sky, with clouds making up the bars(well, its actually those aeroplane vapour trails, but never mind). My favourite of the new batch.

Shimmering spotlights make up the lines on this ident, usually used to lead into films.

A special ident, introduced prior to 2002, designed for showing before Brookside.

Although overlaid menus were common over the daytime idents on Channel 4, for a period they began experimenting with them more on primetime idents too. This shows one such menu, over a fifth new 2002 ident based around a heartbeat theme!

Another special ident, used before sports programming.

One of a rarely seen collection of idents. Channel 4 had a weird set featuring a cartoon character, which were shown before the early morning cartoons (hence the reason few people have seen them!).

Despite the general lack of investment in new idents for Christmas 2002, Channel 4 did produce these special dinosaur versions to go before their programme 'Dinotopia'.

To promote the final series of Friends in 2004, a rare cross-channel promotion for both E4 and Channel 4. During the initial run of the series in the UK, Friends was aired first on E4 with the episode following on Channel 4 later.

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