Red triangle (Channel 4)

[1] The channel showed a number of mainly 18 certificate art films in the early hours of the morning as part of the "red triangle" series, gaining unexpectedly large audiences.

To prevent viewers who missed the warning at the beginning from later being unwittingly exposed to the adult content of the film, a smaller red triangle was continually displayed in the top left corner of the screen throughout the broadcast.

Later films (mostly those whose TVTimes synopses sounded racy) gained viewerships of over three million, figures which dwarfed those of the other channels still broadcasting that late (which carried fare of very limited appeal and educational programming from the Open University).

Some critics contended that the whole series was a cynical attempt to wilfully stir controversy, and in practice many viewers discovered that "softcore" against which campaigners had railed was in fact genuine art cinema (and not the titillation for which they had stayed up late).

By this time Whitehouse's influence had declined, and the general moral panic over "smut" and "video nasties" had largely subsided, such that the Red Light Zone proceeded without great controversy.