A fitting tribute. I did work experience at Central presentation & promotions dept in July 1993. They knew full well that their game was way ahead of anyone else on the network. They also had strong (unrepeatable) opinions about Carlton's presentation - not knowing what six months' time would bring... :(

ATV was so much of my childhood and you’re right, it’s impossible to watch Zoom 2 once. I have the logo with my initials tattooed on my arm. Thank you for the bonus Wings Crossroads theme.

Zoom 2 and the Cake. We were truly spoiled in the Midlands to have 2 of the greatest sets of idents the British public have ever seen. Maybe that’s why we had to endure the bastardisation of Cameron’s Carlton Crapola as some sort of karmic balance. Some of the best stuff ITV ever broadcast came out of the Midlands region. Auf Wiedersehen Independent television , gone but never forgotten. Thanks also to Matthew Harris and Bob the Fish Productions team. Your work has scratched an itch that has been out of my reach for a long time, if that makes any sense. much love to you all and the U.K. ident community. ✌️

Central gave us Blockbusters. I won't hear ill of them. That show ended just early enough in my life so that I couldn't work out why hexagons were a shape I was drawn to. Then I got older and remembered why. Not being well up on UK geography in those days, I didn't think of Central as a region, more of a company, one with a lovely rainbow logo, mind. ATV means nothing to me from a nostalgic perspective, because I hadn't heard of them until the internet came into our house, though thanks to Thunderbirds repeats on BBC 2, I had heard of ITC and its own logo.

Thank you there of course. The ATV Zoom 2 ident of old-yes it is definitely ITV's best ident ever in my views so too! Well done too.

That atv and central jingle always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy . It’s the sound of many happy hours of my lush childhood.

Yes. The ATV "In Colour" (zoom 2) ident was by far the classiest television ident. Closely followed by LWT and the more modest HTV blue and white mock-up

My home and native land (no, not Canada!!). With all respect to Central, which did a fantastic job broadcasting in the Midlands before Carlton came in and screwed it all up, I still refer to it as ATVLand. Sadly, the old ATV studios are no more, making way for a bank, of all things. ITV in the Midlands effectively run operations from a non-descript building in Gas Street in Birmingham - ignominy of ignominies, they're not even sole tenants. Oh, how I wished Granada took over Central...

Loved Zoom 2. Every weekday before crossroads. 🥰

ATV programs were the first British TV shows seen by most Statesiders(if they didn't see THE AVENGERS first), but we only got those shows that were intended for the US in the first place, so the guest stars on the variety shows were mostly Yanks.

Just an interesting little bit of info. In the 2000’s when I was living in Germany BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) were using the ATV jingle on their radio station. I’m not sure if they purchased it somehow.

Talking Pictures TV have recently started showing the early surviving B&W episodes of the Edward Woodward drama Callan, complete with the 'looming yonic' version of the ABC ident.

I was only 5 and a Thames viewer when ATV left but it was almost as bad a mistake as the axing of Thames and I still think ATV was the best ident of all (and I still love Crossroads!)

It's worth noting that Central continued to use zoom 2 for programs it inherited from ATV

Thank you so much-very interesting indeed!

We were so spoiled in the Midlands with our brilliant, slick and rebellious ATV. Strangely enough we also had a commercial radio station (ILR) called Beacon Radio which wasn't too dissimilar to ATV in brilliance, slickness and rebellious. Beacon Radio was managed by an American guy who was having none of the IBA restrictions and promptly told to go or the station would lose its franchise, though ATV had to transform into Central to satisfy the regulators. Beacon Radio had to transform too, but after the management were dismissed.

Central Also worked with Ragdoll Productions as The Networker for Shows like Tots TV And Rosie and Jim

The only good show to come out of Carlton, imo, is 99-1. Also, if you add another 9 to it, you get 999-1 which is the ratio of bad programming to good produced by Carlton.

The central cake ident was awesome.

Friday nights, 1969 ATV- you murdered every line

I always get goosebumps watching ATV zoom 2.

Thames will always be my favourite franchise, simply because most of the programs had it (Benny Hill, Kenny Everett, George And Mildred, Danger Mouse, Rainbow etc....) but ATV is probably a close second, and being around pre-1968 has the 'prestige' of 60's international television to go with it, plus early colour productions (The surviving Colour London Palladium Show from 1966 is amazing to see).

I really enjoyed watching this. Thank you for putting it together. Going to watch the other ones now that aren’t my region

I am really enjoying this KZfaq channel. I remember the Central cake from when I was young. I've seen the ABC and ATV idents on many a re-run. It's a good job that that clause of the 1954 Act expired after 10 years. I very much doubt that the utter *bleep* that ITV churns out today would qualify as "high quality".

Central was also the heart and soul of CITV!

As a child I associated all the pre programme logos with regions except for ATV. I thought ITV bought syndicated programmes from ATV. In the same way they would from Spelling, Stephen J. Cannell, Columbia etc...

I grew up with ATV and was gutted when it became Central. Was even more gutted when Central became Carlton.

It was a disaster when Charlton took over central. Central tv were a great friendly channel making great programmes.

Zoom 2 was a scary ident to me. Forget the Yorkshire Television ident Atv was the one that used to come and get me at bed time.

Very clever that, the notes of the scale A B C (would be a minor triad in musical terms). Auntie also did it with B B C occasionally inserted into their test card musical sequences. The idea obviously came from Richard Wagner here (the inventor of the musical motif, or leitmotif).

The ATV jingle has been later used by BFBS radio in Germany. I don’t know if they still do but they did in the late 90’s through to the early 2000’s when I lived over there.

As with most idents from the 70's, (and even a few in the 80's), hearing the jingles that go along with them instantly connects with the programmes they prefaced. Being a kid in the 70's, ATV was always associated with Pipkins, as much as Thames with Rainbow, Hickory House with Granada, (although they never had a jingle to go with it), and even Yorkshire Television with Mr. Tr.... Rising Damp. There's many others, of course, that cover all the other regions that depend on how old you were and what shows were shown regularly at the time on network ITV. Central and their ident/jingle were instantly linked to Auf Wiedersehen, Pet; Blockbusters and Starfleet. Like all the ITV regions, they had their own character, which was unduly executed in the 90's to become homogenised into just another mediocre channel name with a number after it.

If those early ITV people would have seen stuff like Love Island, I would imagine them, with their heads in their hands sighing and saying "What's happened to our company?" I despair for today's youth!

Another class documentary. Many thanks.

The first Central ident resembled a split mint imperial from Selafield.

Elstree Studios live on as part of Holby City Hospital and Albert Square.

The Cake was the best ever ident ❤

I used to say - in comparing the two; "Central had the guts to kill Crossroads and bury it. Carlton brought it back. Says it all really." Severn Sound radio did a kind of hook up with Central in the eighties. I had a Severn Sound jumper with both theirs and Central's logo.

Tiswas was the greatest! Sally James in a leather jacket. Bob Carolgees. Pure talent. Lol

Wow, in the 90s they really had their cake and at it, too.

10:43 just what evil and twisted mind put that thing into the graphics for a kids’ show??

ATV also brought us Bullseye, albeit during its final year before Central took over and aired the show for the next 13 years.

Interesting and well researched.The regional map at start however should have included Oxon and large chunks of Bucks,Wilts and Gloucestershire.

Does anyone know the name of the song during the credits

have to say I don't remember ever seeing Central use the generic idents in 1989

Lew Grade was an Ukranian.I'm from Ukraine too.

Zoom 2 is the best tv ident ever made

How nice of Timothy Spall to do the narration. 😅

23:44-25:26 - Definitely my favorite part. Central had some of the most creative idents. And then, BOOM!! The Broadcasting Act ruins it.

And to think, without lew grade and ATV , we wouldn’t have the Muppet show

9:41 - Tom Edwards would always be associated with Thames Television with me. Annoyingly always promoting the following morning TV-am's "Good Morning Great Britain" at closedown every night he was on.

PERCUSSION! it's not just for rythmn anymore

Yeah, I argee with your statements, Mr. Harris. Thanks. Also... #Shantae4Smash!!

What a great video. I would welcome that cake back tomorrow if poss.

The Cake As Anything

Just thinking; why didn't more companies do what Central did with the generic looks? Just use it in conjunction with their own idents. I mean companies like Anglia and Yorkshire should've done so (Yorkshire especially cos liquid gold is beautiful and dropped far too early!)

Fill in the blank: The Cake as __________

How did you find those lost 1998 Central idents? If you got them, upload the idents.

You know, a lot of those 'cake' idents were cool. But a few were just a little too inspired by the Channel 4 flying blocks, don't you think?

Wasn’t there an older version of this?

Are you going to put square peg up on here?

The ABC cinema chain became apart of the cannon film group owned by Golan and Globus until the companies demise in the late 80's and the cinema chain got aquisioned by MGM until filing chapter 5 bancruptcy and sadly the chain got demolished . and the rest is history

The midlands is a cesspit as a whole, mostly because of Birmingham, Kidderminster and Dudley BUT we do have great TV! (Not the regional news. That mostly focuses on Birmingham and Coventry. Whilst the rest of us are forgotten and left to rot. Unless something catches on fire, you won't see us on the telly!)

Are you having cake?

What's the name of the song in the credits

Where’s Thunderbirds?

Then atv returned in 2015 for itv 60th

25:36 HOW DARE YOU TAKE THE CAKE!!!

2:18 Wait What!?

ATV, Associated Tele Vision? What in the world is ATV?

Am I the only one who hears ohhhh he’s dead in 0:11

Three words: Pride moon cake

When you look at the start of TVS and their clock and the logo. Meanwhile in Birmingham, half arse half made stills that weren't even finished. And this was the biggest second franchise.

11:45 - THAT'S THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES! Those multicoloured eyes and that brass SCREAMING in your ear like banshees! BLOODY TERRIFYING!!!

I think your microphone was made in the same period.

I don’t eat cakes 🍰

7:23 and then some eejit transposed it up a semitone

Central......The start of the rot

The Independent Broadcasting Authority - All their pomp and thinking they knew best. What was the point of any of this. ATV was always better and Central never came anywhere near close.