UKTV_GOLD

(Redirected from UK Gold)

'UKTV Gold', (previously known as 'UK Gold' until March 8 2004), is a British television channel that shows mainly classic BBC entertainment programmes. It launched on November 1, 1992, currently available on Sky Digital, Virgin Media, and terrestrial subscription via Top Up TV.

Contents

History

Programming

Current Programming

Programmes coming soon

On-Screen Identity

Logos

External links

History

The channel launched on November 1, 1992 as a joint venture between Thames Television and the BBC to show reruns of their 'classic' archive programming (UKTV Gold and its sister stations (see below) are now part of the UKTV network, owned jointly by Virgin Media Television (formerly Flextech) and the BBC).
The channel's major drawbacks in its early years were the insensitive placement of commercial breaks in BBC shows, and the heavy-handed editing of BBC programmes to fit commercial timeslots. The channel joined Sky's basic subscription package in 1993.
Initially broadcast on an analogue transponder from a SES Astra satellite at 19.2°E which was not primarily intended for UK reception, the channel used to be notorious for being marred with 'sparklies' in large parts of the UK.
UK Gold's success led to the creation of UKTV, still part-owned by the BBC, which operates several channels showing different types of archive programming. These included UK Style (home and lifestyle), UK Drama, UK Play/PlayUK (now defunct), UK Horizons (now defunct) and UK History, as well as the time-shifted 'UK Gold +1', and UK Gold Classics, soon renamed to UK Gold 2. UK Gold 2 originally screened morning programmes from UK Gold time-shifted to the evening of the same day, but was relaunched with a completely new programme lineup and renamed UKG² on November 12, 2003. Another channel, UK Living, was renamed LivingTV when it broke away from the joint BBC-Flextech ownership (now solely owned by Virgin Media Television).
On March 8, 2004 all of the UKTV channels changed their prefixes from ''UK'' to ''UKTV'', and UK Horizons was split into two channels - UKTV Documentary and UKTV People.
The BBC still cuts programmes (mainly documentaries) for commercial timing on the UKTV's factual channels, None of the UKTV channels broadcasts in widescreen; programmes made in format are screened in the compromise semi-letterbox ratio.
An analogue teletext service known as GoldText used to be available on this channel, but has since closed down.
The channel has been criticised by some, particularly in recent years, for featuring many recent programmes as opposed to 'classics' as was the original concept, with some shows appearing on the channel mere months or weeks after their first television broadcast.

Programming

The output of the channel is mainly British comedy programmes and sometimes feature length films. These are a combination of internally produced shows and repeats of shows from the BBC & ITV archive.

Current Programming

★ ''Open All Hours

★ ''The Bill

★ ''Last of the Summer Wine

★ ''Keeping up Appearances

★ ''The Vicar of Dibley

★ ''EastEnders

★ ''Neighbours

★ ''Only Fools and Horses

★ ''One Foot In The Grave

★ ''The Royle Family

★ ''My Family

★ ''Doctor Who

★ ''The A-Team

★ ''Little Britain

★ ''Charlie's Angels

★ ''Dallas

★ ''Planet Earth

★ ''The Blue Planet(TV series)

★ ''New Tricks

★ ''Prison Break Repeats of season 1 & 2

★ ''Casualty

★ ''Dalziel and Pascoe

★ ''My Hero

★ ''Wallace & Gromit In A Close Shave

★ ''A Grand Day Out

★ ''The Wrong Trousers

★ '' - Only shown Season 3 as seen on UKTV STYLE

★ ''The New Adventures Of Old Christine

★ ''Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again

★ ''Euromillions

★ ''Wogan; Now and Then

★ ''Only Fools and Horses Greatest Moments

★ ''Fantasy Island

Programmes coming soon

★ ''The Generation Game Then Again - starts later in the Year

★ ''Shark'' - Starts Monday 24th September at 10pm
Secondly, UKTV Gold will compete on the open market to acquire new US series and blockbuster movies to encourage viewers to reappraise the channel while reconnecting with classic US retro titles such as Dallas, Fantasy Island and Charlie's Angels. Recent acquisitions include Prison Break (series 1 & 2) and Shark with Five, 3lbs with the BBC, as well as the Emmy award-winning The New Adventures of Old Christine (series 1 & 2) exclusively in the UK.
UKTV Gold will continue to acquire the cream of the BBC's comedy and drama catalogue, including the most recent series of Doctor Who, New Tricks, The Worst Week of My Life and Dalziel and Pascoe. Through creative scheduling and innovative events such as Knockout Comedy and Comedy Superheroes, UKTV Gold will also celebrate iconic programming such as The Office, Only Fools and Horses and The Vicar of Dibley.
In order to maximise this new content and introduce new programming and movies into the schedule, Newton has also over-hauled UKTV Gold's traditional horizontal stripped shape to create a more vertical structure that allows greater flexibility.
In addition, Newton has commissioned creative agency Karmarama to produce a new identity for the channel - it's first since 2003. Using the same fun, retro and iconic device as their inspiration - a gold space hopper - Karmarama have produced 12 humorous idents
including Flashmob Woods and Ambient Hoppers Hill. These idents and supporting graphics will play throughout the schedule and reflect the wit and warmth of UKTV Gold.
UKTV Gold's new look goes live on Thursday 5th April - the same day that the channel's latest commission, Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again, premieres at 9pm.

On-Screen Identity

For the first few years, idents on UK Gold featured a computer generated dog mascot named "Goldie" posing with the UK Gold logo. The Goldie idents were kept until 1993 when they were replaced with a form-up of the first logo against a blue background. A re-branding in 1994 saw UK Gold adopt a more fitting identity: Idents were based on the forging of gold bars, with the station's logo appearing to have been stamped into gold. Variations on this theme were used until 1997, when the channel received a revamp as part of the formation of the UKTV network.
The new network's corporate identity saw all its channels logos simplified to a boxed "UK" followed by the name (e.g. "Gold") in a simple sans serif font. The new networkwide ident theme would involve the splitting of the screen for different purposes. UK Gold's new idents depicted objects such as apples or leaves falling through the top half of the screen, with only the gold coloured ones reaching the bottom half of the screen. These idents were briefly adopted for UK Gold 2 when it launched in 2000. In 2000 the theme changed again, this time with idents featuring light beams and fireworks.
These channel idents were carried on through another network-wide re-branding of the logo in 2001, adopting a bolder font and merging UK into a single composite character. A range of live-action idents showing everyday activities from unusual perspectives appeared in 2002. From 2003 onward idents showed channel hopping viewers with their TV set "off stage" being brought to a halt by the appearance of a golden light accompanied by the channel's ident jingle. This new identity also featured a series of shifting yellow, orange and red blocks which suggested a gold bar at the centre of the screen.
On April 4 2007, UKTV Gold unveiled a new on-air identity centred around a branded golden space hopper.[2] playing to contemporary trends toward 1970s nostalgia, and emphasising the station's re-run content. 12 new live action idents featuring the branded space hopper began airing from April 5th 2007.

Logos

External links

★ Gold at UKTV.co.uk

★ UKTV Gold at TV Ark

★ The TV Room looks at presentation/branding on the UKTV channels