Westcountry (1961-1992)

''Originally made by Scratchypigeony1, And Dan Evans for APFS. Images were remade as a tribute to him.'' In 1961, a regional service for the West of England was begun, and the service was enfranchised to one of the smallest ITV companies: Westcountry Television. Their first ident was nothing more than a silent slide. The logo depicted a badge containing the crests, starting top left and moving clockwise, for Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall and Devon. This badge would last as the company symbol for over thirty years.

The original production slide was much the same as the ident, the only difference being the addition of the word 'production'.

Colour was late coming to Westcountry, the region so being equipped in 1972. A new set of slides were produced, with the badge reproportioned and set upon a blue background. the Somerset dragon now has its sceptre, omitted from the original. The ident was still lacking in both sound and movement. Critics often remarked upon Westcountry's rather stuffy, sober style of presentation, likening the station's heraldric logo to a school badge. Indeed, during the 1970s, Westcountry used music by seventeenth-century composer Henry Purcell for its start-ups, whereas other companies used jovial marches or other light music. The colour production slide. "School Badge" in all its glory!

The Westcountry colour clock was used until 1989. Here, it is helping to introduce the News at One with Leonard Parkin.

Westcountry gladly adopted the ITV corporate look in 1989, using the new ident wherever possible, even as titles for short news bulletins. As Westcountry was a very small company at this time any opportunity to save time and money was welcomed, particularly in the graphics department.

The corporate production slide. The ITV corporate idents lasted right up until January 1st 1993, when the "School Badge" of 31 years was consigned to history. A new, very simple "W" logo took its place...