BBC One closedown (6th September 1981)

The first day of the striped ‘BBC 1’ lettering on the clock and globe and the new lime green/white colour scheme.

Video content

[00:00:00] CLOCK: with the usual reminder about the nighttime sounds of BBC Radio 2, Martin King wishes us a goodnight.

Note the less than vibrant colours on the clock. Something obviously not quite right with the Noddy/colour synthesiser configurations on day one of the updated look.

Also worth pointing out that the ‘BBC 1’ logo on the clock was smaller than on the previous version of the clock – and was also initially smaller than the ‘BBC 1’ lettering on the corresponding globe symbol.

[00:00:34] IDENT: we transition from clock to globe tens seconds into the minute – rather than the customary 00/15/30/45 seconds mix/cut.

As with the clock, the colours on the globe are not looking as they should. This glitch was fixed by the following day.

Note that unlike the clock, the ‘BBC 1’ lettering is quite large on the ident – similar to the size of the Futura ‘BBC 1’ lettering on the previous incarnation of the globe.

However, the size of the lettering would be reduced within weeks – and for a number of months in 1982, matched the size of the lettering on the clock. Though the lettering was subsequently enlarged a little again.