BBC One "Balloon" idents

This was the last ident set used by the channel when it fully closed down; the last proper closedown took place in the evening hours of 8 November 1997.

[2] It made its final flight in August 2002, also at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, and was subsequently retired and placed into storage.

[7] The idents featured a predominantly red balloon emblasoned with an orange world map and white clouds floating over various scenes of the British landscape.

These colours were chosen because a balloon mimicking a traditional map's blue oceans and green land would have been more difficult to see against the natural scenery.

The idents featured a soundtrack of ambient music, with livelier versions being used for more industrial or recreational settings.

The '888' tag was also phased out on 1 July 1999, to be replaced with "Subtitles" following the uptake in digital television and the increased use of the new BBC Text service and the bbc.co.uk URL was added above the logo soon after.

[4] From these locations, forty-seven different 35-second films were produced featuring the balloon floating serenely over British landscapes.

[6][10] Much of the photography was from a helicopter at heights of up to 3,500 ft. One noticeable and intentional aspect about the original balloon films was that none of the sequences featured people or any distinct human activity.

The main difference between these new additions and the originals was that people were now included in some of the sequences, and the balloon in some idents was computer-generated.

These included: [10][14][15] On 1 November 2000, Lorraine Heggessey became controller of BBC One and immediately ordered a review of the channel's branding.

It was in the care of the Sussex-based Balloon Preservation Group,[16] before being moved around different storage locations in the UK.