The Strange Early Days of Channel 4 

Channel Four's opening sequence, cut to Fourscore, was directed by Tim Simmonds. He was wonderfully creative and set a very high standard for Channel 4's on-air look. I worked at C4 and pressed the buttons in Presentation Control on the opening night Nov 2nd 1982. Very exciting!

Make Channel 4 WEIRD again!

What I remember as being weird was the fact that in early ad breaks, they just used to play Four Score (both versions) instead of showing ads. One can only assumed they struggled to sell ad space at the very beginning….great vid

American viewer here. Whenever I see the Channel 4 logo, I always remember the TV show The Secret Life Of Machines. That show was on here in the United States. There was an episode where Tim Hunkin was discussing how a VCR' works. He was recording over and over the Channel 4 indent. Brings back some childhood nostalgia as a kid in the 80's.

I've still got the cassette recording I made when I was little - the intro leading to Countdown. It was so exciting at the time - a new channel!.....and of course the Red Triangle symbol on potentially saucy French films in those early years. We'd all stop up for those ;-)

I bloody love Fourscore. And the fact the main motif is made of 4 notes is just perfection.

I adore the early motion graphic design of channel 4 in its early days. Those blocks, so bold and simplistic, yet technically brilliant. And I love David Dandass,s Fourscore, a beautifully constructed soundtrack to a new channel. Channel 4 has always in the past conveyed a sort of quirky "weirdness", which I love, and want channel 4 to continue...

I remember exactly where I was when Channel 4 started. I was watching it live in 82 at my grandparent's house. Thanks for re-igniting some very treasured memories. Keep up the good work Adam :)

It's amazing how good Fourscore is, especially when it's main use is for something most casual TV viewers take for granted. I can tell David Dundas loved making it. Also, channels that aren't afraid to go off the rails & mess about are always the ones that get my attention.

The sitcom "Desmond's" was the only show from Britain's Channel 4 that crossed the pond and aired in New York City on WNYE-TV Channel 25 from the late 90s to 2007, as part of their weekly (Sunday nights) Caribbean International Network block of sitcoms. My family would set around the TV and watch it. knowing that there was a show with folks of Caribbean heritage on TV. The show had a second airing on WNYE-TV during the pandemic. Every episode of "Desmond's" was aired on weekend. To this day I can still remember the them song of the show.

As someone who remembers the early days of Channel Four fondly, I really enjoyed that. I’m so glad you mentioned the irreverent continuity announcers, who would often comment on the bizarre programmes and some of the early problems the channel had. One thing you’ve missed out is C4’s struggle to get advertising in the early days. There was often periods in the advertising slots where they would just put a message on screen saying the scheduled programme will continue shortly. The advertising they did have was quite odd, if I remember correctly and for things like insurance companies, rather than mainstream products, Companies were clearly put off by the “controversial” nature of early C4.

This is a great video, thank you. It brought back some wonderful memories of the brief 18 months I worked there from the summer of 2000 until early 2022 when I moved out of London. During that time I remember us all being given Freeview boxes to celebrate the launch of E4, getting free DVD from FilmFour and going home one evening to tell my wife that something big was going to happen on Big Brother… we’d spent the afternoon in the office watching the then internal-only live feed and seeing Nasty Nick being found out by the other housemates.

Another interesting thing about early Channel Four was the lack of adverts due partly to an industrial dispute involving Equity. Some regions tried to fill the slots with Public Information Films but many of them just showed Channel 4’s networked breakfillers such as the 4 symbol moving around in different ways and Quantel-produced graphics and transitions, various stock photos such as clouds and trees, and even short films like aerial views of London, views from train driver cabs and seagulls on a beach. I loved all of these and the music that accompanied them, which included - but was not limited to - both versions of Four Score edited to fit the varying lengths of the breaks.

I remember the launch well, after months of watching their teaser trail on the tv. We all rushed home from school to tune in... Best things for me back then aged 11, were The Tube, Brookside and how they introduced us to US classic sitcoms, like Cheers, St Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues. You can still watch Cheers now if up early enough. The Fourscore signature theme was awesome in all of its unfettered glory, but the Fourscore 2 electronic edition never sounded in any way contemporary or fitting in with chart electronic acts of the day like Depeche Mode or Yazoo. No wonder it failed to make any chart impact.

I had a serious road accident on my push bike on December 21st 1985 in Southport and nearly lost my life. I was not to blame but had just popped to the local chip shop Papas Fritas ( still one of the best names I have heard for a chip shop) to buy tea in time for the omnibus edition of Brookside. I never got to see it due to spending the next couple of days in hospital. Thanks to the STV repeats of Brookside I finally saw it a mere thirty nine years later. I used to love Brookside for its gritty, superbly scripted storylines, left wing stance and the theme tune. At the age of 54 I still love it for all the same reasons. It really had a profound influence on me. Those opening and closing titles with the scenes of daily life and the sun shining on the close take me right back to precious moments in time.

I once appeared on C4 version of Teletext during Easter. Well when I said I appeared it was an Easter drawing with my name underneath it that was show on the 4Tel kids pages. I still have a screen grab they sent me of the image.

Fun fact: The original colour logo was supplied to C4 on 35 mm film , which was the highest quality image format at the time. Transferred to 1 inch C format tape for transmission.

It wasn't weird, it was wonderful 😊such a breath of fresh air in comparison to the competition, and different from day one, as it always has been. And I still think to this day their original graphics and idents are striking and stand out over any other. There's a reason so many producers and editors try and use the original stings whenever possible to make a show on the channel look retro or different. I also have the vinyl in storage because again I felt the music stood out just as much as the graphics compared to the competition. Just all amazing and changed television in its own way for the better.

Withnail & I, and how it’s all connected: David Dundas (of Four Score fame) also wrote the OST to Withnail & I. This was no coincidence. Dundas was a contemporary and housemate of Bruce Robinson (writer/director) when both were at Central School of Speech and Drama. They both knew Martin Lambie-Nairn who - quite apart from designing the logos of Channel 4 and BBC (1997-2022) - was also the creator of Spitting Image (credited as “based on an original lunch with Martin Lambie-Nairn”).

I managed to get a copy of the Fourscore single from a local record shop not long ago! It's really cool to have!

I was born at the beginning of 1982, so effectively it's been part of my entire life, which is mad to me. I miss the Channel 4 film nights. Got introduced to several classic movies including The Big Lebowski, The Ring (Ringu) and La Haine, as well as many others.

We all left our Acoustics lecture early so we could watch the start of Channel 4. I saw it on my little black and white portable.

A research area of interest of mine is Channel 4's Independent Film and Video Department. They were responsible for commissioning the weirdest of T.V programmes in their 80s Eleveth Hour slot and 90s Midnight Underground

Its thanks to Channel 4 I discovered what is def a Christmas classic The Snowman, from what I recall there was one year they didn't show it and people complained so it was brought back the following year. And I think thats how I discovered the iconic 4 ident and fourscore. My favourite one is where it looks like the camera turns to the left of the screen (space sqaud I think it was called) that drumroll still sounds dramatic now if you listen through earphones with the volume up.

I was given a copy of the single when doing a stint at LWT in 1990. And I still have it in my record collection. Fourscore II is a lovely composition IMHO.

I remember watching the launch of this channel. I had a 1977 Hitachi, CTP-210, Instaview (one second to start up) TV with soft touch buttons to watch it. The TV was very modern, but it wasn't remote control.

First time I've heard Fourscore - it's good. Thanks for letting us hear it.

I am the same age as Channel 4, and I vividly remember when Channel 5 started too. I find it so strange that there was so much debate about starting a new channel. I used to think it was just a technical problem of finding and allocating the bandwidth and then finding the cash to run it before it's financially viable. Looking back on it from our world of hundreds of channels and plenty of streaming services, it seems a bit ridiculous. It's hard to imagine what watching TV was like compared to today. If you wanted to watch something you only had four things to choose from unless you had the foresight to record something. You couldn't pause or rewind something you were watching, or start the program from the beginning if you missed the start. You had to arrange your schedule around things you wanted to watch. I have distinct childhood memories of my TV routine. When I got home from school I'd watch CITV then switch over to CBBC. I remember eating dinner to the Simpsons on BBC2, and watching robot wars before going to Scouts on Fridays. It's so much better now that you can watch whatever you want whenever you want, although it does take a considerable amount of effort to choose what to watch now.

Cracking tune. Wow I'd never heard of Bill Bingham before he did the weather on Channel 4 daily, but clearly he did continuity!

I was born in '77 and do vaguely remember Channel 4 starting up ... this whole video gave me nostalgia I never knew I had! Good stuff!!

I used to love the instrumental music that was used on Channel 4, particularly during it's ad-breaks that weren't ad-breaks, as they could find advertisers to fill in the breaks! The captions of, 'follows shortly...', and some groovy music, was something quite special, back then. I've even go out of my way to record some of it on audio cassette, whenever I could. Unsurprisingly, years later, I would go out of my way to find out what this music was, and so began my appreciation of all things library music!

Ch4 used to inject random still images into broadcasts , thanks to my vhs machine, I was able to freeze frame playback to see them properly

Anything to do with early channel 4 I’m in. Thanks Adam!

I loved the early Channel 4 test card music (some of which is still available on RU-vid if you search for it). It was so much better than the test card music on the other channels!

Lord Davey Dundas played a blinder with those four notes. Paid every time they were played. Probably got a grand a week out of it. Which is massive money in the 1980s. His very own Noddy Holder royalty "never have to work again" moment.

I’m 40, so I remember the first decade of Channel 4 through the eyes of kids tv. Even then, you could tell that it seemed less stuffy and more cool than much of what was on the BBC at the time…Pob’s Programme being one of my favorites and a great example of something that would never have got onto the BBC at the time, alongside stuff like Kabaddi on a Saturday morning. Some truly interesting and niche programming there. I also remember some weird quirks like the ads being the exactly same as the ones on ITV. I’d also say that the 4 ident is an iconic piece of 80’s design. It reminds me of New Order’s Blue Monday record cover, which would have been created at around the same time. Very understated, but also colorful and had a way of attracting your attention without seeming too fussy, which seems to be a hallmark of design from that early 80’s era.

Whenever i see those idents I just think the Brookside theme is about to start with rooftops of Liverpool!

Your videos make me feel nostalgic for older British television and I grew up and live in the US!

Channel 4 was my favourite channel in 80s & 90s

The council housing estate (more like single road) I grew up in was the first place in my village in North Devon to get Channel 4. This because the communal aerial was pointing towards Caradon Hill transmitter rather than Huntshaw Cross, which was the normal one for us.

Superb. I was only 5 at the time so only have vague recollections of the channel starting, but witnessed the start of the channel and remember there being test transmissions before launch.

I love listening to Fourscore and didn't know it came on Vinyl!!! Just ordered a copy there now. 👍

19:04 A great amount of research has obviously gone into this vid too, so thanks. Especially as I hadn't seen a load of the idents and was particularly pleased to see the take off of the number 4 from the model of the Ch. 4 building.

Being from another country, Canada, I only knew of Channel Four, through magazines and papers from the 80s, like Smash Hits, Record Mirror, and iD , imported from the U.K. I loved that the network was catering to a progressively thinking audience ( not just the young ), who wanted something new and exciting on TV, something a little naughty and dangerous, but not too much. I would consider the early years of the network as if Monty Python, George Harrison, Francois Truffaut, Ernie Kovacs ( if he was still alive in 1982 ), Lorne Michaels, Norman Lear, Ken Leach, Moses Znaimer, and the creators of MTV, were all secretly hired by ITV to help create this fourth channel.

90s channel 4 was so great.. big breakfast to countdown to the word to the snowman 🎉

Other strange things looking back now are: - very few ads between programmes because of industrial action, resulting in ‘this programme continues shortly’ slides and music during ad breaks - regional adverts - because the local ITV station owned the airtime for the first few years - cross promotions from ITV to Channel 4 as a result - ITV Schools programmes being shown (and branded as such) on Channel 4 - an extended interval until 0925 for the first programme because TVam technically owned that airtime as well

One of my first memories is the Man from Granada delivering a new tv to my parents and tuning in the test transmission for channel 4.. It obviously had an impact on me. I would have been 4.

I remember launch day me and my mum sat waiting for it to start. Rember when they used to show american football and they changed the ident. I never missed an episode of Brookside at eight o'clock and then kate and allie. Also never missed St Elsewhere i always wanted to live in Boston and work at that hospital.

I remember we had a 12 inch portable Ferguson with, the old rotary channel tuning selector. I managed to get the IBA test card . I remember telling my friends, there looks like a new Television channel coming. I seem to remember them showing Basketball Matches on the evening.

I managed to pick up a copy of Fourscore from a local record fair for 50 of your finest British pennies. Probably the greatest purchase I've made, except for the Interceptor theme 7''.

The moving, colourful graphics of Channel 4 and Four Score is all fine and dandy, but of course earlier in 1982 was TVS, who used a a bold, colourful font that zoomed out Monday to Friday 5.15 and then rotated for the weekend. What a lot of people dont know is the score, especially the ident. 8 notes. So what? Nothing special you may say. Four score is a nod that its the 4th channel. True. But the TVS ident is 8 notes, a historical nod that TVS (predecessor Southern) was the 8th ITV channel to launch. Initially on film, TVS ident 1 eventually became computerised.

As a 9 year old I sat there waiting for the opening of C4 with huge excitement. My excitement waned after a few hours as it wasn’t really for me. Hardly watched it but my favourite early C4 show was the science and technology documentary series “Equinox”.

I had that single lol. Nice to hear it again after so many years.

i loved the 90s era was so good, i was 10 and could wtch so graham norton it was rafunchy tv back then you wouldn't get that now they have always been innovators

Don’t stop! Your content is absolutely fantastic ❤

I remember sitting in the front room with my mum, her best friend and her kids. All of us looking at this 4 logo. I remember being really excited when it started, long intro, then countdown. I was about 7 at the time and just thought this is boring, it's about words. I think I was expecting some new cartoon or something. Funny looking back, especially as C4 was one of the best channels by the late 80s, programmes like The Tube, Cheers, Hill St Blues to name a few. It's all bit same old now like all the other channels, 400 channels of tosh.

I’m sure you know - but I remember my grandparents had an early 80’s set with an ITV2 button. Also - the original four 3D animation had to be made in the US as hardware to make it didn’t exist in the UK

Really enjoyed this! Made me very nostalgic… Managed to get a copy of the ‘fourscore’ 7” back in 2020

Remember next door neighbour coming in talking about it, adjusting the tele, "what kind of sorcery is this?", twenty odd years later ch5 arrived, that was basically the uhf rf spectrum as far as it could take,

That 4score is very action packed.

I remember that Channel 4 teased with trailers for a few weeks and on that November day was pleased that the first voice was a fellow Scot, Paul Coia. I remember that "Four Score" was set to a prolonged video of highlights.

Brilliant post. Cheers mate.

Remember I helped my Parents tune in Channel 4 on the spare push button of their Colour TV and I retuning of my Monochrome Portable TV in my bedroom to Channel 4 in 1982 .

Even on Day 1 the cheeky nod to BBC 2's start (or fail to start) was referenced, which (while may have only appealed to those who witnessed the BBC 2 start(s) at the time) while a cheeky dig was also a nod to day passed (looking back) as well as looking to the present/future (and forwards also). Part of the problem for 'Four Score' was that a lot of stations (radio) probably wouldn't play it (not just because of the length of it), but because it was 'free advertising'; to some extent. While of its day a better channel beginning and iconic 'new' theme couldn't happen today. It was a major event; never to be redone, a new NATIONAL channel. Something Channel Five couldn't do when it began for a variety of reasons.

The only thing I watch about the channel was its closedowns back in the 80s. Sure, I’m a 2000s person, but I think there’s a certain charm to how 4 and other channels signed off back in the day; programming back then also seemed interesting. Mostly boring nowadays imo - oh, and the Fourscore screams iconic! :)

Fantastic Bit of history. Great job Adam.

@8:41 Aussie here, I had no idea Norman Gunston was broadcast in the UK.

Love the b-side to the theme tune. Funky!

What strange about it, Channel 4 was so much better in the olden days after all they brought us The Comic Strip,Presents and during their ‘Banned season’ were the first terrestrial channel to show “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” C4 also brought us great shows like The Tube, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Don’t Forget your Toothbrush, TFI Friday, Friday & Saturday night Live, Chelmsford 123, Who Dares Wins, Father Ted, The IT Crowd, Peep Show, Frasier, Cheers, The Golden Girls, Derry Girls, The Simpsons (which they stole from the BBC along with The Great British Bake off), The Big Breakfast, Black Books & Desmond’s They also brought Zig & Zag to the British public

I remember sitting on the living room floor watching the channel start.

3:12 'Ask your dealer, or rental company' I bet many people here don't remember or realise that you could rent a TV back then. It had a coin machine on the back for the 50 pence pieces. I think 50p would give you 6 hours of telly. And a man would come once a quarter to empty it.

A lady came to make a corporate video of me at work a few years ago for a promotion of our healthcare provider, and it turned out she used to be a senior person in C4's Presentation Department and we had some nice long conversations about the various seasonal promotion sequences I remembered.

In the early years of Channel 4 as well as Countdown other game shows that aired were UK versions of Password & Jeopardy!, Television Scrabble, Tell The Truth, Babble & Treasure Hunt.

The fourscore sounds good in stereo. In the 80's tv themes were released on albums. Been looking for a stereo version of BBC Breakfast Time (1980's). I was 10 when Channel 4 launched. We had been tuned in for a few weeks before. We would leave it on to watch some of the previews. Watched the opening film and countdown. Anyone remember The Paul Hogan show?

Great video again! Well done Adam!

Oh my goodness, i had this record. I'd forgotten.

Network 7, what a show... remember watching MJ's Thriller video being shown at midnight, and Frankie goes to hollywood (two tribes)... it's been a while so I could be wrong.

Brilliant documentary as always

There were two versions of Four Score, and both were included on the single (one each side). Either version could be played over the interval slides that were a common sight during commercial breaks between and within programmes due to lack of adverts in the early days.

I loved Channel 4 back in the 80s.

Incredibly exciting innovative informative encapsulating video martyn

Once again very enjoyable . Keep the TV history coming ❤

Of course viewers in Wales didn’t officially get Channel 4 until sometime in the 2000s. Their fourth channel was S4C which showed BBC and HTV Welsh language programming (keeping this off the other channels, as it wasn’t popular with mainstream viewers). Many of Channel 4’s programmes were also shown, but often on different times and days. Because of the limited broadcasting hours, S4C couldn’t show the entire C4 schedule so Welsh viewers missed out on a few programmes.

Bring back Max Headroom

Thanks for the memories I was just a kid but i remember it like it was yesterday

I loved early Channel 4's broadcast content. Not the game shows and soaps but 'The Tube,' the original 'Twilight Zone' (five or six series), 'Beverly Hillbillies' etc., experimental comedy, off-piste films (I think it was C4 that had a Jean Luc Godard season). Its (C4's) budget constraints played right into my favour regarding content. I didn't see the launch because the old duffer messed up his attempt at tuning the television. I eventually fixed that.

As a young child in the 80s my parents barred me from watching ch4 because it was too adult lol.. as I grew up into a teenager I would secretly record anime, I think they used to show some at 2am or roundabouts.

Great video… countdown was called calendar countdown it was filmed at the old Yorkshire television studios in leeds

Really starting to like this channel, very interesting stuff.

I adore Four Score so much…channel 4’s ambition personified in music form!

I remember waiting patiently for the start of Channel 4 and when the announcer said "and now countdown..." I thought to myself, we've just had one of those! And switched over. 😂

Are you going to do a history of S4C, the fourth channel in Wales?

C4 was excellent in its early days, introduced some genuinely new ideas such as Comic Strip and After Dark. These days it's all dumbed down poverty porn. Same as C5.

I remember when channel 4 launched in 1982 I would of been 10 years old then. Its was not going through our local Fenton Transmitter in Stoke On Trent and only received from Sutton Colfield. It was a few months later when its started being relayed to our local repeater. does not seem like it nearly 42 years ago.

4:00 Don't forget the first of the logo innovations, namely the Durdle Umm Dum Dum drums at the end.

I had the Airwave Orchestra 7" single on my ebay store. Pretty sure you helped sell it as it went within hours of your upload. Enjoying your content!

I was born in 1988 so I didn't get to see the early years but I was fond of the 1990's - mid 2000's Channel 4 which had more of an interest in art and music. I'm sure I remember them running a show once looking at international animation - but it seems to be lost media sadly. But I did love the late 1990's animation nights.

18:54 Kettle-drum-roll intro (of Ch.4 closedown theme) subliminally triggers rousing memories/feelings of the national anthem close-downs of previous (non-24-hour) channels (for those brought up with that, at least). A deliberate composition element?

I have the vinyl of Channel 4 Fourscore, I love it!

The business with Fourscore reminds me of television director and composer Stan Zabka's Chimes which was developed by a much more established television service. Zabka wrote the soundtrack used by NBC from Autumn 1964 until the early 70s. So much work goes into these things which seem little if you're a reasonable person and not paying much attention.