Channel 4 - 2015 Onwards

Nearing the end of the old look, the menu from the 8pm junction on 29/9/2015.

The last ident of the old look shown on Channel 4 in the 8pm junction was also a return to one of the first. At over 10 years worth of use, that block of flats certainly got plenty of airtime, even if it wasn't always well received by residents.

Still giving nothing away at the junction before 9pm.

And then it's in, subtly at 9pm, and promising more to come...

First break, and a lot of water and crystals...

Second break, and BBC One Rhythm and Dance horror flashbacks anyone...

Some monkeys, miners and explosions. Yeah, I have no idea either!

New ECP Style for Channel 4. And can I go to channel4.com/support if I've been affected by creepy idents during the show?

Channel 4... powered by Powergen? In another obscure ident, one of the blocks from 4 is looked at under a microscope. And found to have creatures living on it!

With a repeat of the first water ident at 10pm, it looked like the main initial reveal was over. In keeping with this, the 10.20 junction featured a more regular programme promotion, at least letting us see the new style (even if it had already been revealed on their website - well you can't win em all).

Some first glimpses of the new look news, and the clock reappears again.

Still a special ident for The Simpsons at 6pm... although I have a hunch Fox won't be clamouring to use this one in an episode like its predecessor!

Rebranding the news slightly as part of the 2015 new look. Or... tweaked look news at least!

After their successful first Superhumans trailer for the 2012 London Paralympics, Channel 4 were keen to push things even further for the 2016 event in Rio. The result, which began airing in July 2016, was the We're The Superhumans trailer. In a 3 minute long trailer, heavily aired across all the whole of the Channel 4 family over the summer, over 100 disabled people from a mix of athletes to regular members of the public show what they can achieve, all set to a cover of Yes I Can performed by Tony Dee.

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An alternative variant based off the original mining ident from 2015, where only the explosion of the quarry is focussed on in a slow motion.

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Another variation based off the original set of 2015 idents. This time using the Microscope ident, just with the only focus being on the block under the purple spotlight.

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A special version of the block breaker device used at the start of breaks and post idents, this time with a Crystal rolling down the blocks. Designed to promote the return of The Crystal Maze to screens in June 2017.

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Originally the blocks at the start and end of breaks were randomly placed with no formation of the Channel 4 logo present. In June 2017, a new batch were added where the 4 can be seen for a brief flash before the blocks collapse.

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Another flash of the 4 blocks, this time a bit easier to spot.

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Another bumper with the 4 blocks visible for the briefest of moments. Blink and you may miss it!

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Starting off with a black background which turns to purple.

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A bright green background for this 4 bumper.

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A formed 4 now appearing for a brief moment during promos after the June 2017 tweak, before falling back into their usual broken up state.

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To celebrate London Pride Weekend on 4, the 50 Shades of Gay season ident which had already been in use before special programmes was put into use before all shows, with voiceovers recorded by different members of the community. Phillip Adlem, the police officer who proposed at the 2016 event, provides a generic recorded announcement over this early morning broadcast.

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On October 31st 2017 just ahead of their 35th Birthday, Channel 4 released its latest set of idents. Replacing the films of blocks in random locations was a new set reminiscent of E4. A character made of the Channel 4 blocks interacts with various scenes, complete with a remix of the original Fourscore signature notes in the background. In this one, he walks to the top of the hills (again possibly borrowing inspiration from E4) before shouting out so loud the nearby village knows all about it.

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In the inner city suburbs, the 4 character has a kickabout with some of the local children.

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Shorter 20 second edits exist for the 2017 idents, and in most cases use footage from the initial 30-40 seconds as this is where most of the important action happens. Two shorter versions exist for the Kickabout ident - one showing 20 seconds from the earlier footage, with this second one showing the end of the film, which is normally cut off from even the longer playouts. Here the football smashes the window of a local resident, and everyone quickly runs off.

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The 4 character competes against some wheelchair racers... and loses.

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The block man transports people across the ocean in this Channel 4 ident, possibly intended as bait in the hope certain tabloid rags would kick up a fuss.

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A very simplistic ident to mark the 'Rise of the Robots' season on Channel 4. A Smart Home Device shaped as a 4 block and a mobile phone (not at all inspired on any devices by Google, Amazon or Apple) have a conversation with one another, here to lead into an episode of The Simpsons. With animation onscreen reacting to the voices of the continuity announcers.

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Channel 4 launched their Christmas presentation on the 21st December. Following a style that had been previewed in trailers in throughout December, the idents featured 4 blocks animated in a Christmassy fashion. In this ident, coloured block lights fly around. These idents and endboards were reused in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

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Sprouts interact with the Channel 4 blocks in an ident very similar in style to their regular Simpsons ident introduced in 2015.

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A third ident, this time with snow blocks and occasional Channel 4 logos gently falling from the sky.

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A promotion put together by Channel 4 to mark 100 years since women gained the vote in the UK. Over the course of the 90 second video, it shows the many achievements of the past century that society had previously claimed women would never do, before finishing on a clip of recent social media hashtags and saying there's still more to be done.

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A specially recorded ident featuring a 100 year old woman named Millie, to mark the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote in the UK.

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Millie again in an almost identical sequence, just with a few changed words here and there, and finishing with a line for Hollyoaks instead.

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Another 100 year old woman, Margaret, appears this time to talk about her experience voting, in a generic Vote 100 ident which makes no particular programme reference.

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The Simpsons received a dedicated Vote 100 ident, as per the tradition for the show when it comes Channel 4 branding. Margaret appears again to play a few bars of the show's theme tune on piano.

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To try and gain as much traction as possible for the launch of their new reality show 'The Circle' in September 2018, Channel 4 decided to use an accelerated flow junction off the back of their high rating 'Great British Bake Off'. A countdown starts during the usual ECP slot, using a pre-recorded announcement with most of the same wording that had been played repeatedly over other junctions in the weeks leading up to the show. After a brief break for sponsor bumpers, the special countdown continues, replacing the usual ident to to lead into the show itself.

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A special ident to mark 'Purple Light Up' on Channel 4, celebrating the contribution people with disabilities make to economies and the workplace. Complete with the by-now-obligatory hashtag.

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In order to mark their '4 All The UK' diversity strategy, Channel 4 have a special link featuring many different voices from the CA team repeating 'I am Channel 4'. Aired here on August 23rd 2019. Due to the use of the pre-recorded ident, a separate set of blocks has to follow afterwards to carry the programme content warning.

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Returning for a second series in 2019, a special sting for Channel 4 counting down to the start of The Circle.

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Aired on September 21st, another sting to mark 3 days to go until the start of reality series The Circle.

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Channel 4 never need a huge reason to dig out their original coloured blocks, but here they appear on September 21st 2019 to mark 'World Alzheimers Day'. Showing an ident memory from the past alongside a pre-recorded announcement from a familiar voice from one of their shows.

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From Sunday September 22nd, the sting now marks 2 days until the start of 'The Circle'. The latest series of Channel 4's much hyped reality TV show.

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On the day before The Circle series 2 began, the sting messaging changed slightly to now include the broadcast time as well.

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One of the regular Channel 4 idents sees a re-edit to draw attention towards mental health.

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Another re-edited ident to draw attention to mental health issues. This time focusing on feeling withdrawn.

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The third mental health ident from Channel 4 focuses on feelings of exhaustion or tiredness. Using a re-edit of the same ident as the previous days.

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Channel 4's fourth re-edited ident as part of their mental health week focuses on feelings of being overwhelmed. Airing on World Mental Health Day itself on October 10th 2019.

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A new addition among the rest of the recycled pres for Channel 4 for Christmas 2019. Here an animated tiger interacts with the blocks in an early break bumper reveal, to promote their big animation for the year The Tiger Who Came To Tea. In the run up to Christmas, this was used as a sting or break bumper, before being used with continuity as an ident into the film itself on Christmas Eve.

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For Christmas Day 2019, announcements throughout the day were handed over to a series of special idents under the '4 All The UK' banner again. Staff from some of the new offices outside London provide the announcements, recorded on some less than optimal microphone setups. Here the announcement comes from Sam Kelly. A workspace co-ordinator for Channel 4's office in Bristol.

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Going round the new offices for another special ident in the '4 All The UK' on Christmas Day 2019. This time its Lauren Mortimer from the new Glasgow office providing the anno for the channel.

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Bristol again and Kate Thomas lends her voice to this special '4 All The UK' themed ident for Christmas Day on Channel 4. Kate is a commissioning editor for daytime, based out of Bristol (Only Bristol and Glasgow being able to feature as the Leeds second HQ was not up and running at this point).

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Izzy, a creative diversity executive based in the new Bristol office provides the announcement for this special Christmas Day '4 All The UK' ident.

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One of several stings from Channel 4 as part of their COVID-19 'Stay At Home' awareness campaign from April 2020. Various Channel 4 personalities are depicted doing mundane tasks in the home. Here Alan Carr folds laundry.

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Another Stay At Home sting from Channel 4 in 2020 this time featuring Rob Beckett.

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A third Stay At Home sting, this time featuring some gardening.

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To mark 'Clap For Our Carers' as part of their COVID-19 response in April 2020, Channel 4 repurposed their Pride blocks ident as rainbows had also been used a symbol of support for the NHS during the era too. Over the updated idents, staff from St George's Hospital, which had featured in the show '24 Hours in A&E' provided recorded announcements.

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Jon Snow irons his tie collection in another Channel 4 'Stay At Home' sting from April 2020.

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A special simple ident from Channel 4 to mark their 'Black and Proud' series of programming. Aired here during Black History Month in October 2020.

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One of Channel 4's regular Christmas idents saw the addition of new wording and a different soundtrack on November 14th 2020 to mark Diwali. This same ident returned in November 2021 on the channel.

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For Christmas 2020 Channel 4 reused their usual set of Christmas idents, but added an extra one to the set. To mark their animated adaption of Quentin Blake's Clown that year, a new ident was created featuring the titular character decorating the Channel 4 blocks. Unlike with The Tiger Who Came To Tea the previous year, this ident was put into rotation with the other Christmas idents for use on festive shows throughout December.

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A special showing of the original Fourscore blocks ident, one of brand designer Martin Lambie-Nairn's most famous pieces of work, to mark his passing away on Christmas Day 2020. This short but very welcome tribute was broadcast in the 9pm junction on December 28th.

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A new ident for 2021 for Channel 4 to mark the return of live cricket coverage on the channel.

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A special new blocks ident from Channel 4 was added to the channel on May 12th 2021 to mark Eid Mubarak.

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Channel 4's Pride ident returned for June 2021, only this time updated to include additional coloured blocks to represent people of colour and transgender people.

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To mark the start of the wider #WeThe15 campaign on 19th August 2021, designed to raise awareness of the 15% of the population with disabilities, Channel 4 modified their regular idents with the addition of a purple area taking up 15% of the screen. Here the addition is seen over their wheelchair racing ident, and provides a short break for the day from their other somewhat overdone 'Altogether Different' campaign.

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Another modified 'WeThe15' ident, this time adding the purple graphic over the Hilltop ident.

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The 'Kickabout' ident also sees the purple graphic treatment to mark the WeThe15 campaign, on 19th August 2021.

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Another special ident for Channel 4 to mark the Jewish New Year holiday Rosh Hashanah, first introduced on September 6th 2021.

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On the 25th September 2021, a fire suppression system was triggered at RedBee's main playout centre in London. This caused interruptions to the hardware for several channels, however the worst affected was Channel 4's suite of services who were forced to decamp to a disaster recovery backup for nearly 2 months. The DR system was much more limited than their main playout, so among regular technical problems during the first few weeks, presentation playout on the main channel became very basic. Although they managed to improve the system over the following weeks, accessibility services such as subtitling and audio description took much longer to be returned. Initially continuity announcements on the backup system consisted of a very small set of generic announcements into all shows. An example of the main one used here, aired on 26th September.

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The backup system for Channel 4 was unable to overlay the product placement 'P' identifier graphic onto programmes, so on any shows containing such placement this generic announcement was played out instead.

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The disaster recovery playout solution for Channel 4 was also very limited in its ability to play end credit promotions, so much simpler static next slides made a return on the channel. Often missing any continuity, or once again playing the same generic announcement as here at the start.

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In the weeks that followed, Channel 4 managed to get in place workflows that allowed some degree of continuity announcements to return to the channel. By October 4th, announcements tailored to the programmes were being played out once more, at least in primetime. Product placement graphics could still not be overlaid on the programmes, so instead a pre-recorded static slide would be inserted before the beginning of the programme in question.

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Back on a rebuilt playout system once more by December, for Christmas 2021, Channel 4 followed their approach of the previous year of reusing the same three 'block' based idents but adding an additional new one based around their latest family animation for that year. For 2021, this meant an ident based upon The Abominable Snow Baby was to feature. This first appeared early in December, to be used intermittently throughout the month of December before Christmas programming.

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A brief break bumper based around 'The Abominable Snow Baby' ident was also added to the mix of existing bumpers for Christmas 2021.

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Another special 'blocks' ident for Channel 4 aired on February 1st 2022 to mark Lunar New Year.

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Channel 4's low-effort presentation contribution for International Women's Day 2022 was another 'hashtag over the regular idents' affair. Pre-recorded continuity featuring male announcers interrupting female announcers was used to make the point of how men interrupt women. Though with this changing the focus of the ident somewhat, it meant the programme-specific content warnings had to be moved to a blocks screen immediately following it.

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When news of The Queen's death on September 8th 2022 broke around 6.30, Hollyoaks had just began. Leading to Channel 4 abruptly cutting out of the programme to a solemn version of their blocks while prepping for Channel 4 News to begin.

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To link into Countdown on the afternoon of Channel 4's 40th Birthday on November 2nd 2022, Channel 4 had pre-recorded continuity from Paul Coia. Paul having been the first voice to welcome viewers to the channel ahead of Countdown 40 years earlier. With a brief flash of a new bumper which had been introduced the same day.

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Following brief previews during with new bumpers on the day of Channel 4's 40th birthday on November 2nd 2022, a new ident first appeared before the 7pm news on the channel that day. In the softest of soft launched refreshes, the existing 'block man' idents continued to be used alongside this new addition.

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To mark Christmas 2022, Channel 4 added another animated ident. In a break with tradition this one wasn't based upon a new animation for that year but instead referenced back to The Snowman, to mark the birthday of the famous animation which had first aired on the channel in their launch year some 40 years earlier. And in another sign of how things have changed in the 40 years since, Channel 4 were now obligated to include a copyright credit for the rights owners within the ident itself.

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