Ah the good old days when ITV wasnt a complete joke and all the constituent channels had their own identity. As a teeneger living in ATV/Central land it was always a bit of a thrill to see one of the idents from the smaller contractors like Southern/TVS, Scottish, HTV, & Border.
If you wanted to ever re-enact the famous words of Mike Prince, Su Evans, Stewart White, Helen Lloyd, Gary Terzza, Linda Cunningham, Simon Willis, Jo Wheeler or Avril Carson, here’s your script. Good morning! This is Central which provides your programmes on the Midlands transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority.
Wow! A master of the Central theme. To be honest, this was part of the branding excellence that Central had back at its birth that was better than TVS and TSW. When you heard it you knew it was Central as it was used over continuity, news and sport. Ok a bit cheesey now but it worked back then and that's the point. Thanks for posting this gem
+radiodarkhorse Bear in mind Central's parent (it was created from ATV - ATV Midlands won the bid with conditions which included a name change), it isn't that surprising.
"Good Morning this is Central, which provides your programming on the Midlands transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority"- saw a startup video as I didn't live in the region. Central provided some great programmes and Drama for the ITV network ( anyone remember the ITV drama ident that went before some great television drama series back then? ): Inspector Morse, Shine on Harvey Moon ( re-booted by Meridian ), Peak Practise, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Soldier Soldier, Sharpe and many more. Shame ITV regions got swallowed up by Carlton and Granada, it was better when it was regional, and less chavvy too. I like the soft version for midnight closedown ( ahh the days when television shut down at 12 midnight or just after-gone but not forgotten ).
I've heard this tune on off-air recordings of Central either signing on (start of video to around 5:36, continuing around 6:32) or signing off (the one at 5:38) on various videos scattered across the Internet. Now I've found the master tape. Thanks to whoever uploaded this!
Have always loved this theme along with Harlech's start up. Recorded both using a microphone up against the TV speakers. Now much better methods available.
Lovely stuff, and in great quality - thanks for posting! Such a shame that whoever composed these has no idea how to end a piece of music. The ending on every one of these tracks (except the idents at the end) jars horribly with the melody that has just preceded it!
Interesting - the clichéd 'American sports show' ending bothered me because it wasn't anything to do with the logo and, indeed, suggests this represents the main & final statement. However that doesn't mean we can say it's down to the writers. As it does sound like an add-on/afterthought it's likely to only be in the arrangement, which of course will likely be down to the client's wishes. Very often they'll ask for a more obvious punctuated ending on a theme. Even then it fascinated me that the main ident sounded so futuristic and sparkly with its filtered synth pad & bell while this track sounded so traditional & brassy.
I have I have and put it all on tape with a load of other theme tunes from T.V. and Films. Great sounds . I have a copy of The Wiltshire Radio Theme music played by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
A true golden age of television production. BIRMINGHAM B1 2JP!
Ah the good old days when ITV wasnt a complete joke and all the constituent channels had their own identity. As a teeneger living in ATV/Central land it was always a bit of a thrill to see one of the idents from the smaller contractors like Southern/TVS, Scottish, HTV, & Border.
Was I the only one who (nearly) cried over how beautiful and high-quality this is?
Isn't this wonderful? Just bloody wonderful!
If you wanted to ever re-enact the famous words of Mike Prince, Su Evans, Stewart White, Helen Lloyd, Gary Terzza, Linda Cunningham, Simon Willis, Jo Wheeler or Avril Carson, here’s your script.
Good morning! This is Central which provides your programmes on the Midlands transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority.
Wow! A master of the Central theme. To be honest, this was part of the branding excellence that Central had back at its birth that was better than TVS and TSW. When you heard it you knew it was Central as it was used over continuity, news and sport. Ok a bit cheesey now but it worked back then and that's the point. Thanks for posting this gem
+radiodarkhorse Bear in mind Central's parent (it was created from ATV - ATV Midlands won the bid with conditions which included a name change), it isn't that surprising.
radiodarkhorse The 1987 startup we had for TVS was better than the original one - the 80’s was cheese but it was damn sight better than it is today.
I like the soft closedown theme, like they are trying to be quiet because people might be asleep.
Written by Pete Bennett & Jim Stokoe, arranged by Mike Moran.
"Good Morning this is Central, which provides your programming on the Midlands transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority"- saw a startup video as I didn't live in the region.
Central provided some great programmes and Drama for the ITV network ( anyone remember the ITV drama ident that went before some great television drama series back then? ): Inspector Morse, Shine on Harvey Moon ( re-booted by Meridian ), Peak Practise, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Soldier Soldier, Sharpe and many more. Shame ITV regions got swallowed up by Carlton and Granada, it was better when it was regional, and less chavvy too.
I like the soft version for midnight closedown ( ahh the days when television shut down at 12 midnight or just after-gone but not forgotten ).
Welcome to 1982, and welcome to Central!
Brings back happy memories of ITV before it was all homogenized into one bland lump!
Thanks to Carlton/Granada merge and acts from 1992 and 2001. They are responsable for the regional idents death.
09:08 the first ident I remember of Central. It triggers so many memories.
I've heard this tune on off-air recordings of Central either signing on (start of video to around 5:36, continuing around 6:32) or signing off (the one at 5:38) on various videos scattered across the Internet. Now I've found the master tape. Thanks to whoever uploaded this!
Have always loved this theme along with Harlech's start up. Recorded both using a microphone up against the TV speakers. Now much better methods available.
Good memories for when i use to put my tape recorder in front of the tv to record.
I've been looking for this for so long! No interruptions from the likes of Garry Terza or Mike Prince - superb! Well done that chap!
This is truly awesome. Thank you Samo for uploading this. Brings back some wonderful memories of when I lived in Coventry . Amazing.
#BringBackRegionalITV
awsome music
The closedown (5:41) is actually pretty calm.
The song was meant to the Good Night closedown, so it's a calm song
Agreed, lovely stuff. Minor key I think and slipping away deliciously, those cymbals worked is well
Shame there was never a Central clock, mind you when you saw the last ATV clock I can see why they didn't bother!
Lovely stuff, and in great quality - thanks for posting!
Such a shame that whoever composed these has no idea how to end a piece of music. The ending on every one of these tracks (except the idents at the end) jars horribly with the melody that has just preceded it!
Interesting - the clichéd 'American sports show' ending bothered me because it wasn't anything to do with the logo and, indeed, suggests this represents the main & final statement. However that doesn't mean we can say it's down to the writers. As it does sound like an add-on/afterthought it's likely to only be in the arrangement, which of course will likely be down to the client's wishes. Very often they'll ask for a more obvious punctuated ending on a theme.
Even then it fascinated me that the main ident sounded so futuristic and sparkly with its filtered synth pad & bell while this track sounded so traditional & brassy.
Nice.
I have I have and put it all on tape with a load of other theme tunes from T.V. and Films. Great sounds . I have a copy of The Wiltshire Radio Theme music played by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
That's actually a UFO hovering over the Midlands.
Wait, when did that happen?
it was news reports just before centrals launch that they used for publicity