Channel 5 Video (UK)

Editions by Eric S., Allen Jeremy and starway1

Background: Channel 5 was a significant British home video distributor from 1986 until 1991 when it was acquired by PolyGram. It is completely unrelated to (and not to be confused with) Britain's fifth terrestrial TV station.


1st Logo
(1986-1989)

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Nicknames: "The Segmented Trapezoid 5", "3D Segment 5", "CGI 5", Cool 5

Logo: On a gradient blue BG, a series of translucent 3D quadrilaterals rotate into view and form what turns out to be a right-pointing arrow with an italic number 5 cut out of it. The arrow is then hit by a line of electricity (a stock footage) and turns gold, and as it turns to face us, the word "CHANNEL", also in gold, appears above. The whole logo faces us very briefly, with a flash of white light behind it, then zooms in towards us and disappears, leaving just the blue BG.

FX/SFX: The quadrilaterals, the line of electricity, the arrow turning gold, and the whole logo zooming in.

Music/Sounds: A synthesizer tune is played with some bells and electric guitars and just before the bolts of lightning hit each other a cymbal is heard building up to the flash and a final electric guitar riff before the synthesizer fades out as the logo zooms off the screen.

Availability: Seen on Channel 5 videos from the UK around the time period.

Editor's Note: This logo boasts some pretty impressive CGI for 1986.


2nd Logo
(1989-2001)

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Nicknames: "The Segmented Trapezoid 5 II: Not An Electric Boogaloo", "2D Segment 5"

Logo: On a gradient brown background, a beige square zooms from the bottom right hand corer towards the center of the screen before disappearing. two more squares, colored purple and black respectively, participate in similar sequences. While this is being done, the word "CHANNEL", rendered in gold, is formed, letter by letter. After all this is done, the symbol from the first logo (A segmented arrow with a 5-shaped hole) is formed segment by segment. After it has appeared on the screen for a few seconds, the symbol and the word "CHANNEL" fly to the top-right corner of the screen, leaving just the background.

FX/SFX: The squares flying in, the logo being formed and flying out. All 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A lullaby-esque theme, featuring a xylophone and woodwind.

Music/Sounds/Variant/Trivia: On some videos, a different audio track is used which consists a droning note followed by a downing synth chord with drumbeats, which surprisingly is in sync with the lines forming the logo and even fits a bit more. This was actually sourced from "Threshold" by the Steve Miller Band. The track was also used for an early station ident for KMPH-TV.

Availability: Seen on Channel 5 videos from the UK around the time period.

Editor's Note: A simpler and cheaper effort compared to the previous logo.