Gold

Gold was originally launched as ‘UK Gold’ on 1st November 1992, originally co-owned by the BBC and Thames Television. Showing classic British television on satellite and cable.

UK Gold Pre-Launch

1992 – 1993

UK Gold launched at 7pm on Sunday 1st November 1992, with it’s first look designed by Hatmaker (who also created many famous American logos including Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Comedy Central USA, to name but a few). The idea for a canine mascot was inspired by a then-recent study which showed that England leads the world in dog ownership. Thus it would make the channel seem friendlier and more in-line with the popular appeal of its programmes.

1993 – 1994

In September 1993 a new look appeared.

1994 – 1997

Another new look had been introduced in September 1994. What better than a solid gold bar! Designed and directed by Kim Lambert McCroddan, Head of Presentation and Managing Director of Inverse Pictures. Based on the forging of a gold ingot ident, a complete on-screen package was shot over five days at Cell (using Kodak’s 5298 film stock) with telecine done at The Moving Picture Company and the edit at TSI. TSI Producer was John Golley.

A selection of promos

Invison

1997 – 1999

On 1st November 1997, the gold bar look was dropped and a new look was unveiled as part of the UKTV Network, which was created by Lambie-Nairn.

1999 – 2001

On 2nd April 1999 UK Gold unveiled its firework ident.

2001 – 2002

Another change when the fireworks become more dramatic on 8th May 2001.

2002 – 2003

On 2nd September 2002, we see the introduction of the new lifestyle idents across the UK TV network, including UK Gold. The idents were only used during the evenings before being extended to cover all junctions in October.

2003 – 2004

On 2nd August 2003, another new look.

2004 – 2007

On March 8th 2004 the UK Gold name was rebranded UKTV Gold. Since then UKTV has commissioned various theme night short programmes to showcase its best programmes including The Vicar of Dibley, Fawlty Towers, Dr Who, Only Fools and Horses and Porridge.

2007 – 2008

On 5th April 2007 the space hopper look appeared, created by the ad agency Karmarama. All the idents were filmed in and around Manchester over 2 days, including the viking re-enactment in which one excited cast member got his tooth knocked out, (don’t worry he’s was very proud of this fact). Over the two days the weather was changeable which also worked as an advantage as it helped give each ident a different feel. David Buonaguidi, Creative Director of Karmarama said: “Doing this job was a dream job of sorts, a great client with a clear positioning and tone, and I have a thing for space hoppers.” We’re grateful to Matt Carter in helping TVARK have a complete set of these idents. If you’re wondering what his favourite is, it’s the space hoppers rolling down the hill. He Stated “We were driving from one location to another and I spotted that hill, looked amazing. So got all the vehicles to stop, set the camera up at the bottom of the hill and got all the crew to grab a space hopper and run to the top.”

2008 – 2014

The channel was rebranded G.O.L.D in 2008, ie “Go On Laughing Daily”. In the Spring of 2010 the name was reverted back to simply “GOLD” and by the summer a new set of idents still in the same style were created.

2014 – Present

At 6am on Wednesday 16th July 2014, Gold unveiled a brand new look, designed by Dixon Baxi. Executive creative director Aporva Baxi said “Our mission was to create a visual identity for Gold that invokes the way “funny makes you feel”. It’s infectious and mood changing, so we thought about how great it would be to spend more time feeling like this. The whole key was to give the brand a voice and really understand its point of view. “Funny is such a wide thing – everyone has a different point of view on what it is, so that’s why we went along the emotional path.”