tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/bbc-two-21585/articlesBBC Two – The Conversation2019-10-18T09:04:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1254542019-10-18T09:04:35Z2019-10-18T09:04:35ZGiri/Haji: BBC’s new co-production with Netflix could tap into massive Japanese audience<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297525/original/file-20191017-98678-1ho7qhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1991%2C1334&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Takehiro Hira as Kenzo Mori in Giri/Haji, a BBC co-production with Netflix.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Viglasky, BBC/Sister Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Warning: this article contains spoilers for Giri/Haji episode one</strong></p>
<p>The first thing which is notable about the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/giri-haji-review-promises-to-be-much-more-than-just-another-crime-thriller-9d8tmxxp8">new BBC series Giri/Haji</a> is that the first 25 minutes is entirely in Japanese. The unexpected success of shows such as The Bridge, The Tunnel and Narcos with UK audiences has shown that subtitled works can attract large audiences – and with Giri/Haji the BBC is offering the first bilingual Japanese-English show on UK television.</p>
<p>While the show opens in a Japanese export company based in London, a sudden and brutal murder quickly transports us to Tokyo and to a burgeoning Yakuza gang war. The show’s main protagonist is Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira), a seemingly mild-mannered police detective who lives with his wife, troubled daughter and two ageing parents.</p>
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<p>Of course, this being a crime thriller, Kenzo has a dark past: a missing brother and some uncomfortable links to organised crime. Very quickly he heads off to London under the pretence of attending a criminal forensics course to investigate the murder and capture his wayward brother and return him to Japan to face Yakuza justice.</p>
<p>Along the way, he meets a cast of characters including fellow detective DC Sarah Weitzmann (Kelly McDonald) who is struggling with her own abusive past, and the charismatic Rodney (Will Sharpe), a half-Japanese, half-British rent boy with problems of his own – although an abusive pimp and a drug problem don’t stop him having some of the best put-down lines on television. </p>
<p>The show was created and written by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/authors/4c7b56aa-3ee9-3253-bc59-88827817d726">Joe Barton</a> – who is best-known for Channel 4’s Humans – and created by <a href="https://www.sisterpictures.co.uk/">Sister Pictures</a> who are obviously hoping to duplicate the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-times-the-chernobyl-television-series-lets-artistic-licence-get-in-the-way-of-facts-119110">worldwide success of Chernobyl</a> with this latest release. </p>
<p>To its credit, Giri/Haji has clearly sought to avoid the main stereotypes we see presented about Japan on UK television. While there are still areas which raise some issues (the random animation sequence for one, which reminded me too much of Kill Bill), the show does manage to avoid the most obvious stereotypes of Anglo-Japanese culture clash (anyone remember the horror of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-30-wr-62352-story.html">Rising Sun</a> or <a href="https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/japans-70-year-struggle-against-hollywood-films-stereotypes">Black Rain</a>?). And for once – and yes, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/18/japan-with-sue-perkins-review-cute-candid-and-heavy-on-the-cliches">Sue Perkins</a> I am looking at you – we are treated to a Tokyo that is more than a land of geishas, sumo suits and odd sexual practices.</p>
<p>This is a crime thriller so one can expect a certain amount of exaggeration and drama – including death by swords, dramatic gun battles and tattooed hoodlums – but overall this is a show which has attempted to bring the two cultures and languages together in a natural way.</p>
<h2>Strong cast</h2>
<p>The cast is the show’s biggest strength. McDonald provides the right mixture of toughness and vulnerability, and newcomer Aoi Okuyama is a real revelation as Kenzo’s daughter. Supporting members Sophia Brown, Justin Long and Charlie Creed-Miles are also credible as the London-based gangsters with whom gets Kenzo gets involved. Hira offers a nuanced performance as Kenzo.</p>
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<span class="caption">Partners in crime-fighting: Kelly MacDonald as Sarah Weitzmann and Takehiro Hira as Kenzo Mori.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ludovic Robert, BBC/Sister Pictures</span></span>
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<p>Those who are perhaps more acquainted with Japanese film will recognise Hira from Takashi Miike’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/03/hara-kiri-death-samurai-review">Hara Kiri: Death of a Samurai</a> as well as Sion Sono’s<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/lesson-evil-aku-no-kyoten-388061">Lesson of the Evil</a> and the controversial Japanese box-office smash <a href="https://variety.com/2014/film/asia/film-review-japanese-hit-the-eternal-zero-1201155266/">The External Zero</a>. </p>
<p>Yōsuke Kubozuka and Masahiro Motoki (who respectively play Kenzo’s brother, Yuto, and Yakuza boss, Fukuhara) are also well-known faces from Japanese film and television and fortunately both avoid the over-the-top dramatic style which is common in Japanese television. </p>
<h2>Collaboration is the key</h2>
<p>Giri/Haji is one of a number of successful collaborations between Netflix and the BBC which have included Troy: Fall of a City, The Last Kingdom and Watership Down. The spiralling costs of producing high-quality television mean <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-03-23/british-drama-global-budgets-how-co-productions-are-changing-the-way-tv-gets-made/">working with</a> bigger players such as Netflix is a must for the BBC. </p>
<p>If Giri/Haji becomes the big hit the BBC is clearly hoping for we may see a rise in Japanese dramas as they hope to recreate the “Scandi-noir” fandom which proved so <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/jac.v8.32704">successful for audience figures</a>. There are various Netflix shows that UK audiences could be drawn towards and I would imagine the company is hoping Giri/Haji will spark the interest of the UK audience in their Japanese language content. </p>
<p>Since its Japanese launch in 2015, Netflix has continued its trend of co-production as a method of boosting audiences both in Japan and internationally. Netflix has worked with some big Japanese media names in order to attract audiences with Sion Sono’s The Forest of Love and Ninagawa Mika’s Followers, which are both due to be released soon on both Netflix Japan and beyond. </p>
<p>Japanese shows have also proven popular with Netflix audiences in the UK. Terrace House, now in its fifth season, remains a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2017/oct/18/terrace-house-the-must-watch-japanese-reality-show-in-which-nothing-happens">firm favourite with students</a> and <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/08/07/tv/story-naked-ambition-dubious-morals/">The Naked Director</a> has been renewed for a second series. The success of Giri/Haji remains to be seen, but I think a lot of expectations are resting on it.</p>
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<p><em>The first episode of Giri/Haji was screened on BBC Two on Thursday October 17 at 9pm and will premiere globally on Netflix in 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Taylor-Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An increasing amount of the BBC’s content comes via collaborations with international production houses.Kate Taylor-Jones, Professor East Asian Cinema, School of East Asian Studies, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/705432016-12-21T12:06:14Z2016-12-21T12:06:14ZHow TV channels are selling themselves this Christmas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151002/original/image-20161220-26738-1njsw9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">BBC One's Xmas ident. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Television <a href="http://www.barb.co.uk/trendspotting/analysis/online-tv-viewing/">might be</a> rapidly migrating online but channels are fighting hard to stay relevant. Making the brand stand out, especially at Christmas, is still a big priority for broadcasters aiming to be part of our viewing decisions on whatever device we are watching on. Spend any time on a channel and see the festive idents – the branding sequences between programmes – and this immediately becomes obvious. </p>
<p>So how best to do this? As Andy Bryant and Charlie Mawer of TV ident veterans Red Bee <a href="https://www.koganpage.com/product/the-tv-brand-builders-9780749476687#region">put it</a> recently, the key is for a channel to look fresh, maintain a distinctive personality and break the rules of what should come between programmes. BBC One, the UK’s flagship channel <a href="http://www.barb.co.uk/trendspotting/analysis/share-by-channel-2/">with about</a> 22% of the total audience share, is a good example this year. </p>
<p>The channel has gone for a concept branded One-ness that feels very similar to how supermarkets or department stores are advertised – not surprising when the same creative team was <a href="http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/worlds-creative-partnerships-john-lewis-adam-eve-ddb/1398507">responsible</a> for TV advertising for the likes of department store John Lewis. The BBC One advert feels less about television and more a post-Brexit hug. Set to an indie-folk version of Merry Christmas Everyone, the one-minute film includes mixed-ethnicity couples and a <a href="http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/55947/sex-couple-share-kiss-bbc-ones-christmas-advert/">gay kiss</a>, following the path set earlier this year by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siBRvC9YSc4">Lloyds Bank’s</a> same-sex proposal “For Your Next Step”. </p>
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<p>The whole approach is about creating an air of authenticity with vignettes of real life coming together at Christmas time. It’s being used by advertisers around the world this festive season, though for retail not television channels – department store <a href="https://vimeo.com/190736076">David Jones</a> in Australia, for example, and Norwegian electronics chain <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaFAmiKo33s">Elkjøp</a></p>
<h2>Dragons and hashtags</h2>
<p>In complete contrast is Sky 1. Sky 1 has a only fraction of BBC One’s audience, <a href="http://www.barb.co.uk/trendspotting/analysis/share-by-channel-2/">1% of</a> the UK total. But it is backed by commercial leviathan BSkyB and plays a flagship role in the broadcaster’s pay-TV offering – arguably the main threat to the BBC in the UK. </p>
<p>It is running a fairly generic <a href="https://youtu.be/5etMwhY7YOY">40-second round-up</a> of its Christmas highlights, branded “New. Unmissable. Exclusive.” but also a separate advert dedicated to The Last Dragonslayer. This is the cinematic adaptation of <a href="http://www.jasperfforde.com/dragon/dragon.html">Jasper Fforde’s book</a> that is the <a href="https://corporate.sky.com/media-centre/news-page/2016/sky1-announces-brand-new-christmas-drama-the-last-dragonslayer">centrepiece</a> of Sky’s push to win the Christmas evening ratings. </p>
<p>Flanked by a logo “Sky 1 Presents”, the advert uses snowy mountain ranges and a dragon’s head to build excitement ahead of the premiere. It is an example of “day and date” marketing, <a href="https://www.koganpage.com/product/the-tv-brand-builders-9780749476687#region">one of</a> the biggest trends in global TV, and Sky clearly thinks it could have big audiences on its hands given the huge success of other fantasy dramas such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/">Game of Thrones</a>. </p>
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<p>This is about a collective family television experience with a second-screen commentary running in parallel on social media using the hashtag #SlayDay. It is part of a phenomenon that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maya-grinberg/superbowl-2012-breaks-soc_b_1260869.html">began with</a> the American Super Bowl in 2012, which rewrote the marketing strategies for television channels. Not to be outdone, BBC One has its own day and date event lined up for New Year’s Day with <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-06/when-does-the-new-series-of-sherlock-start-on-tv">Sherlock</a>. </p>
<h2>Television personalities</h2>
<p>The UK’s other terrestrial channels are approaching Christmas in roughly the way you might expect, following the personality concept I mentioned earlier. So ITV is seeking to woo its older more family-oriented audience with idents that feel like a fancily packaged but familiar box of camp sweet-smelling soaps. </p>
<p>The strapline is, “All your favourite favourites, from our family to yours”. There’s a run-down of programmes backed by jingling bells and the Twelve Days of Christmas, and a subtler nod to inclusivity in the form of a black girl playing beside a Christmas tree. </p>
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<p>Youth-leaning Channel 4 has parked its usual <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-channel-4s-new-branding-is-worthy-of-a-turner-prize-49162">avant garde idents</a> and gone for a film themed around a sharp postmodern Mrs Claus pulling up in her red sports car at C4HQ to help launch Christmas. Interestingly, this is a tie-in with retailer M&S, which used the same Mrs Claus in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK-Vv_q5OsQ">its festive advert</a> (wearing M&S clothes, naturally). </p>
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<p>BBC Two has repeated its recent trick of offsetting BBC One’s high spending by <a href="https://theident.gallery/bbc2-2015-xmas.php">reprising</a> iconic idents from the last 25 years in a long run of make-do-and-mend nostalgia. BBC Four is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P9EfWd-28E">even more modest</a>, placing a snowflake like a figleaf over the letter “o” in a suitably lo-fi way for its artier and more niche offering. </p>
<p>In short, you can tell a lot about a channel from what it does at Christmas, not to mention the state of a nation. It’s not easy to be innovative – a bit like dusting down old baubles and Christmas decorations for your tree each year – but it’s at least a reminder that there are different things on offer. If a programme gets stale or you become restless between helpings of turkey and cake, be sure to remember where you left the remote control.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Macdonald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From that gay kiss to dragon slaying, festive TV adverts speak volumes about the broadcasters.Iain Macdonald, Associate Professor of Advertising and Graphic Design, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/691702016-11-21T15:02:01Z2016-11-21T15:02:01ZThe Singing Detective at 30: never mind the modern box sets, here’s a true TV masterpiece<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146770/original/image-20161121-4518-pvu95e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Time for another viewing?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelrogers/3388376575/in/photolist-6ausPJ-6aqjcp-6aqjeg-6aqjiM-6aqjhR-9waZHK-6ausUo-64qbTH-79WijU-bLY73Z-6ihLzN-mG8Jp-8nSqhy-f8EN2y-8nPfCk-8nSqjj-8nPfvn-8nSqc5-8nSq9E-9dsPvL-8nSqkU-f6EsuE-fFwvaN-3xmchn-6KrpPi-BjUGaD-AHecJr-BjUG4M-APAJJf-BhE37L-CS7FYP-CxhGsY-BhE2Um-BeqXHo-BgJGqF-CxhGH7-CVvwaN-LY2UPD-L94W4Z-LVskqd-f9o9TQ-6pymt3-Dk9kE-HbsqX-4d8DCb">Pere Ubu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Monday, mid-November, 30 years ago, British newspapers <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JXi7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA351&lpg=PA351&dq=%22Every+Sunday+for+Six+Weeks:+Drama+from+Heaven%22&source=bl&ots=UHTizmN5f6&sig=TU4YwIH2817ByDym6ydIgDqMFY4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7z-fs1rnQAhXpKsAKHaSCDQkQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=%22Every%20Sunday%20for%20Six%20Weeks%3A%20Drama%20from%20Heaven%22&f=false">were hailing</a> the first episode of a major “television drama event” that had aired the night before. “Every Sunday for Six Weeks: Drama from Heaven,” declared The Financial Times. “Stunning new serial,” wrote The Guardian. </p>
<p>Those of a certain age may be disconcerted to learn it has been three full decades since <a href="https://store.bbc.com/the-singing-detective">The Singing Detective</a>, the six-part drama by Dennis Potter, was first shown on British television on Sunday nights at 9pm. It still <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110911083558/http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/tv/100/list/list.php">frequently</a> features in “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/jan/12/guardian-50-television-dramas">greatest-ever TV</a>” polls. </p>
<p>Much <a href="https://youtu.be/WvQRDQ59q7Q">parodied</a> over the years, many will be familiar with <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/487877/">the story</a> even if they haven’t seen it. A middle-aged misanthropic writer of pulp detective stories, the appropriately named Philip E Marlow (played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002091/">Michael Gambon</a>), is hospitalised with a dreadful disease that inflames the skin and cripples the joints. <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/status/798920714535440384">Confined to</a> his hospital bed and suffering intermittent bouts of fever, Marlow hallucinates doctors, nurses and other patients miming to the old 1940s dance band tunes from his youth. </p>
<p>In his head, he starts to rewrite one of his own old detective novels, imagining himself as its hero, The Singing Detective, striding down the shadowy mean streets of 1945 post-war London. At the same time, he delves into his own childhood memories from the same year, reliving a sexual trauma that led to his mother’s suicide. </p>
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<p>What elevates The Singing Detective is the way in which these threads gradually intersect: individuals from Marlow’s childhood memories appear in his pulp detective fantasy; characters from the detective fantasy emerge in the “real” hospital ward. Reality and imagination finally completely fuse as a gun battle takes place in the ward and the seemingly “real” Marlow is killed off and replaced with his fantasy alter ego, The Singing Detective. The writer character has used his memory and imagination to renew himself psychologically, replacing his old sick self with a more positive and open persona that can leave hospital. </p>
<p>It provides arguably the most vivid representation of the workings of the human mind ever realised on screen. “This is the piece of work I’d like to be remembered for,” Potter <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bUeGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=Detective+%22It+goes+leagues+forward+from+anything+I%E2%80%99ve+written%22&source=bl&ots=qD6136ecns&sig=bBb4fe5zAPBvk3fIwjkc-NIysIc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_-aCM2rnQAhUHAsAKHefoBIoQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=Detective%20%22It%20goes%20leagues%20forward%20from%20anything%20I%E2%80%99ve%20written%22&f=false">told The Times</a> even as the drama was still being shot by its very able director, Jon Amiel. “It goes leagues forward from anything I’ve written.”</p>
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<span class="caption">Michael Gambon as Philip E Marlow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelrogers/3388376575/in/photolist-6ausPJ-6aqjcp-6aqjeg-6aqjiM-6aqjhR-9waZHK-6ausUo-64qbTH-79WijU-bLY73Z-6ihLzN-mG8Jp-8nSqhy-f8EN2y-8nPfCk-8nSqjj-8nPfvn-8nSqc5-8nSq9E-9dsPvL-8nSqkU-f6EsuE-fFwvaN-3xmchn-6KrpPi-BjUGaD-AHecJr-BjUG4M-APAJJf-BhE37L-CS7FYP-CxhGsY-BhE2Um-BeqXHo-BgJGqF-CxhGH7-CVvwaN-LY2UPD-L94W4Z-LVskqd-f9o9TQ-6pymt3-Dk9kE-HbsqX-4d8DCb">Pere Ubu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Box-set generation</h2>
<p>While “quality” US TV dramas such as <a href="http://www.hbo.com/the-sopranos">The Sopranos</a>, <a href="http://www.amc.com/shows/mad-men">Mad Men</a> and <a href="http://www.amc.com/shows/breaking-bad">Breaking Bad</a> have taken up the baton of narratively complex and layered storytelling, arguably none have quite sustained the intense interior drama and rich metaphor of The Singing Detective. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/feb/02/singing-detective-addictive-bbc4">According to</a> one Guardian critic writing in 2012, it makes “the best current drama look like an amateur hour”. </p>
<p>Behind this may lie the different industrial constraints of modern long-form US TV dramas. There is always a commercial incentive to keep them running for more seasons than is artistically desirable, using a soap opera-like “infinitely extended middle” of interweaving storylines and story arcs to resist the audience’s desire for resolution. Contrast this with The Singing Detective, made by the public service BBC in a very different era. The whole drive was towards final narrative closure. </p>
<p>Running for only six episodes allowed it to benefit from the intensity of a single authorial vision. Contemporary US TV dramas extol authorial vision, too, but in the form of the showrunner – the head writer-producer who creates the series and develops the main story arcs. The showrunner leads a team of writers who write individual episodes which are passed to different directors to realise on screen. </p>
<p>The experience of both creating and watching long-form TV drama is therefore very different to the traditional BBC model of one writer and one director. </p>
<h2>The best of British</h2>
<p>America’s success with long-form drama has meant British TV drama has struggled to keep up in recent years. Potter’s closest British successor is probably <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0689081/">Stephen Poliakoff</a>, writer-director behind the likes of <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/523425/">Shooting the Past</a> and <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/523442/">Perfect Strangers</a>. </p>
<p>Poliakoff is given considerable freedom at the BBC to choose his own subjects and sculpt well-crafted dramas, often exploring forgotten or suppressed aspects of British history. His current drama, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b082sy3q">Close to the Enemy</a> (BBC Two), is interestingly set in the same immediate post-war time period as The Singing Detective. Yet Poliakoff’s dramas tend to lack the passion that animated Potter’s best works – and do not have the same popular reach. </p>
<p>Nor is there much to recommend recent occupants of the BBC’s Sunday night 9pm drama slot. This autumn has featured season two of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07pn8mz">Poldark</a>, a ratings hit – but basically safe period fare; and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08302gm">My Mother and Other Strangers</a>, which revolves around GIs arriving in Northern Ireland during World War II. It is “an incredibly hackneyed premise”, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/nov/20/week-in-tv-planet-earth-ii-nw-my-mother-and-other-strangers-kids-on-the-edge-grand-tour-review">according to</a> The Guardian. This is typical of the reviews. Both dramas are in the tradition of escapist feel-good British drama on Sunday nights against which The Singing Detective was bucking the trend even in 1986. </p>
<p>Far more interesting is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07xt09g">The Missing</a>, whose second series will shortly end on BBC One. It has gripped viewers on Wednesday nights and won praise for its depiction of detective Julien Baptiste (played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001409/">Tchéky Karyo</a>) trying to solve the riddle of two missing schoolgirls in Germany a decade earlier, after one suddenly reappears. Critics <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3945140/The-Missing-fans-forget-mystery-Alice-Webster-panic-fate-Julian-Baptiste-health-dramatically-deteriorates.html">have praised</a> the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/oct/13/the-missing-review-a-missing-persons-reboot-with-more-than-one-way-to-keep-you-awake">complexity</a> of its storytelling and the narrative’s fluid shifts between past and present. </p>
<p>Here, then, is a legacy of The Singing Detective. Potter’s experiments 30 years ago with interweaving narratives and timelines have become part of the accepted grammar of television drama today. Yet in the case of The Missing, these innovations are principally being used to refresh well-worn TV crime staples – child abduction and serial killers. </p>
<p>This is very different from how Potter escaped fixed genre to play freely with the conventions of the hospital drama, detective story, childhood drama and so on. More than 20 years after Potter’s <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-dennis-potter-1421167.html">untimely death</a> at the age of 59, it is hard to find anything on British TV today that is truly the artistic peer of The Singing Detective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Cook has received funding in the past from AHRC. </span></em></p>Dennis Potter’s 1986 story of a writer in need of psychological renewal rewrote the TV drama rulebook.John Cook, Professor in Media, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/601472016-05-31T12:18:18Z2016-05-31T12:18:18ZVersailles: why world leaders should heed warnings from the fall of the French court<p>Versailles, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01c000j/episodes/guide">the new</a> ten-part drama serial about Louis XIV of France, is to begin showing on UK television on BBC Two on June 1. Made by French group Canal Plus to mark the tercentenary of the legendary Sun King’s death in 1715, it tells the story of his life and the great palace with which he is associated. </p>
<p>Canal Plus spent vast amounts of money on the production, but <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/23/welcome-to-versailles-the-bbcs-raunchy-new-drama-set-in-the-cour/">more noteworthy</a> has been the fact that Versailles is in English. The aim is clearly to sell the production to a global audience, but filming in the language of Shakespeare, not Molière, may be more appropriate than it first appears. If Louis XIV and the palace of Versailles are quintessentially French cultural icons, Versailles has some claim to be the first global international political centre. The story of its rise and fall is one that today’s generation of world leaders ought to study carefully. </p>
<p>Louis XIV began to redevelop his father’s small hunting lodge in the early 1660s while still in his twenties. He only gradually realised he had the opportunity to create an architectural and horticultural wonder of the world. It was not until 1677 that he decided that the French court and government, both of which had been expanding in size and importance, should make Versailles their principal base rather than Paris and other palaces. It became the main royal seat of government in 1682.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124348/original/image-20160527-869-zln6hd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Orangerie at Versailles, built 1680s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangery#/media/File:Château_de_Versailles_orangerie.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The new Rome</h2>
<p>Within a few short years, Versailles had supplanted Rome as the most important location in Christendom for politicking and influence trading. Humble army officers visited to petition for promotion. Provincial governors residing at court badgered ministers for favourable decisions on a range of policy and patronage matters on behalf of their regions. </p>
<p>Government ministries occupied wings of the palace, and civil servants ran a daily gauntlet of lobbyists, some of them illicitly paid. Officials holding the highest ranks in the king’s apartments would press Louis XIV to consider the interests of those they favoured. Patrons, influence brokers and political clients abounded. Connections were everything.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124350/original/image-20160527-869-7vwdg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Le Roi-Soleil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tongeron91/8589669689">tongeron91</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By 1700 <a href="http://www.galeriedesglaces-versailles.fr/html/11/collection/c23.html">France had</a> a greater diplomatic presence abroad than any other state in the world. In return, more foreign envoys were accredited to the French court than to any other country. From Versailles, Louis XIV dispatched an envoy to the King of Siam in 1685, and received three embassies from Siam that decade in return. </p>
<p>In the final year of his reign, 1715, another envoy came to Versailles from Iran. Two years after that, Peter the Great of Russia, touring western Europe, even stayed several nights in one of the smaller palaces in the grounds of Versailles.</p>
<p>As with Brussels and Washington DC in our own age, Versailles was therefore a global magnet and a great centre of political lobbying. Who you knew, and who you were, mattered a great deal for getting a hearing and securing your goals. Gaining admission to court was not hard if you were dressed respectably. Getting a foot in the door of a minister’s office or securing a conversation with a member of the royal family was much more difficult. This was a highly complex political system run to a considerable extent by insiders for insiders and their associates.</p>
<h2>The demise</h2>
<p>The key to the Versailles system functioning was to ensure that a large cross section of the elites shared in what the state could offer. Under Louis XIV this was delivered tolerably well. But from the late 1760s under his successor, Louis XV, it began to break down. </p>
<p>The favouritism of the ageing king towards a mistress led to a <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vTR5C6Qmd2MC&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=Louis+XV+mistress+political+crisis&source=bl&ots=j6755Y76Su&sig=DkaxAuU5YBtOUjj-vCmfwDydX1A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwyszmzvrMAhVcFMAKHUCcCoIQ6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=Louis%20XV%20mistress%20political%20crisis&f=false">political crisis</a> in which many of the courtiers deserted Versailles and retreated into overt opposition. After Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette came to the throne in 1774, they too proceeded to alienate the high aristocracy to the point that on the eve of the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution">revolution</a> all four commanders of the king’s life guards had gone into political opposition.</p>
<p>How had this happened? Public life in France outside Versailles had become more vibrant over the 18th century, and France as a whole lost her international preeminence, causing widespread national dismay. </p>
<p>What mattered more, however, was the failure of Louis XVI to realise that the French elites were no longer willing to back him when the <a href="http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/section1.rhtml">financial crisis</a> that caused the revolution hit the monarchy in 1786. The court had lost much of its magnificence under the prim and retiring king, and if it remained the hub of government Versailles was nevertheless failing as a centre of politics: it came to be associated with excessive favouritism, corruption and arbitrary rule. </p>
<p>When the wider political nation comes to resent a centre of power that no longer delivers success and is considered closed and corrupt, trouble lies ahead. The recent surge of support for populist nationalism in the shape of Donald Trump and European fringe parties led by the likes of Marine Le Pen in France is but the latest manifestation of this. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124351/original/image-20160527-864-s4xkt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Here’s … Donny.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5440390625/in/photolist-9hKqAn-9hLxAs-9hKoKX-9hLvZL-9hLwdw-9hHrit-9hHrVT-9hKpmZ-9hHqDv-9hKoVK-9hNuLJ-9hKraP-9hKpTt-eULu15-e47mhL-e47jUm-e47hqo-e41ELr-e47k59-e41GhK-e47kUu-e41GKR-e47hxW-e47i8s-e47hS1-e41FPF-e47mPN-e47jAC-9hNvKd-e41Jw8-rWHUgf-segL58-rWJfw5-cJjFP-e47hHh-rWKnwC-9VQfNH-g25GLQ-5nrmkz-dpHmsu-g1XPzf-g25NZH-c8zKr7-9hgBjx-5nrmkt-4SQYDD-9mEwWW-rpJw2x-d5X6uS-emNEdj">Gage Skidmore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is not yet clear that the power brokers in Washington and Brussels, beset with financial woes like Louis XVI, have fully grasped the danger their political systems might be in. They might look to Versailles for a warning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60147/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Rowlands does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From the halcyon days of Louis XIV, the French global seat of power was soon pulled down by corruption, elitism and arbitrary rule. Sound familiar?Guy Rowlands, Professor of History, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/491622015-10-15T05:32:50Z2015-10-15T05:32:50ZWhy Channel 4’s new branding is worthy of a Turner Prize<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98409/original/image-20151014-15142-1mupec1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Take me to your sofa'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTsmtfR9MP8">Channel 4</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You might be forgiven for switching on Channel 4 and thinking that your programme was being interrupted by some art intervention. It is <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts/visual-arts/art-review-turner-prize-2015-glasgow-1-3912191">Turner Prize</a> time again, after all – and Irish video artist Duncan Campbell won in 2014 with his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PDFVAE0q7g">compelling film work</a>. But do not adjust your set, Channel 4 has introduced a new series of <a href="http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/channel-4-refreshes-iconic-main-channel-brand">brand idents</a> – what the industry calls the short sequence that lets you know you are watching a particular channel. </p>
<p>After ten years of being <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD0rHMMuBkk">teased by</a> flying blocks and surreal scenes before being gratified by the fleeting moment when they align into the familiar shape of the “4”, now viewers are seeing the shimmying blue-ponytailed creature in the main image; teams of men in white with head torches working in a quarry; and a red amethyst waterfall with rocks mysteriously plunging into the pool below. A radical shift it certainly is. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aWvUJATjJDE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>These idents have been spearheaded by two <a href="http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/channel-4-refreshes-iconic-main-channel-brand">very big hitters</a>: film director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0322242/">Jonathan Glazer</a> (Sexy Beast, Under the Skin) and typographer <a href="https://www.fontfont.com/designers/neville-brody">Neville Brody</a> (The Face magazine, Depeche Mode album covers). The nearest we get to seeing the iconic “4” numeral is its Tetris-style component block shapes, being handled by those men in white or appearing as amethyst shards or on a factory assembly line. </p>
<h2>4 your pleasure</h2>
<p>The “4” dates all the way back to when Channel 4 was born in 1982. Arriving the moment the channel first appeared on our large cathode-ray tube TV sets, design agency <a href="http://www.lambie-nairn.com">Robinson Lambie-Nairn</a>’s identity has outlived all the competition. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R86_TLuI51w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It is worth recalling just how different the other channels looked at that time. BBC One was identified by a mechanically generated <a href="https://youtu.be/FmJVoUS-Kis">mirror globe</a> (using the Nexus Orthicon Display Device – aka “noddy”), and BBC Two had <a href="http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/mivana/mediaplayer.php?id=7f528394ff5652ea4c21da77de2c8efb&media=bbc2_ident_1983b&type=mp4">recently adopted</a> the world’s first computer-generated ident, designed by in-house BBC graphic designer Oliver Elmes. ITV was represented as regional franchises, many of which were designed by independent design studios – notably the <a href="http://www.minaletattersfield.com/en/">Minale Tattersfield</a> agency’s idents for <a href="http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/ITV_Central#1982.E2.80.931988">Central</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t45YBljCgCk">Thames</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t45YBljCgCk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Thirty-three years on, television idents are much more complex. They exist in a much larger marketplace, with many more ways in which they can be received. The Channel 4 idents are part of a full overhaul of the brand that used a consortium of collaborators in a pop-up studio: the idents were designed in-house, but with support from design and marketing specialist <a href="http://dblg.co.uk">DBLG</a>, while boutique motion designer <a href="http://www.weareseventeen.com">We Are Seventeen</a> produced the online graphics and interfaces for new on-demand brand <a href="http://www.channel4.com">All 4</a> (which replaces 4oD). </p>
<p>The “4” survives more recognisably in the channel’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTsmtfR9MP8">on-screen menu</a> of programmes as elegant animations of those Tetris blocks. The graphic elements that help to navigate the programmes available on All 4 display the <a href="http://www.channel4.com/info/corporate/about">corporate “4”</a>, which remains relatively intact. Dan Brookes, the group’s chief marketing and communications officer, <a href="http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/channel-4-unveils-new-all-4-digital-brand-identity">said</a> it was about reimagining the multi-coloured logo “for the multimedia 21st century”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98403/original/image-20151014-15162-100r3qx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New blocks off the old chip.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTsmtfR9MP8">Channel 4</a></span>
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<p>Channel 4 is not alone in recognising the necessity for a cohesive and innovative brand identity, of course. ITV’s <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2013-01-14/new-itv-logo-rebrand-2013/">re-branding in 2013</a> introduced a “colour-picking” logo that was programmed to fill itself with five colours from the background image. This was the work of another pop-up studio that the broadcaster created in the year leading up to the launch, containing about 15 creatives and producers mainly from in-house and <a href="http://www.ruddstudio.com">Rudd Studio</a>. </p>
<p>Like any major re-branding, Rudd Studio was tasked with getting to know the brand, the content, the broadcaster’s aspirations for the future and what people thought of the network. This approach may be standard practice now, but the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Brand_Identity_for_Television.html?id=1uOAQgAACAAJ">first time it happened</a> for a TV channel was by Martin Lambie-Nairn in 1981 for the Channel 4 launch. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UyIQAoi5mjQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>More than just a number</h2>
<p>Channel 4’s new insight when approaching its recent re-brand was that audiences no longer need to identify a channel by the traditional identity numeral: the electronic programme guide has made it redundant. In-house department 4Creative believed it could now establish a different approach, one perhaps more likely to be found in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/9403308/The-Tanks-new-galleries-in-underground-oil-storage-tanks-at-Tate-Modern.html">The Tanks</a> room of the Tate Modern, with its dedication to performance art. </p>
<p>Did it work? The Daily Mail <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3256085/Channel-4-unveils-new-brand-identity-splitting-familiar-33-year-old-logo-elemental-blocks-er-s-4.html">reported that</a> the new idents had been met with “derision”. Just like criticism of the Turner Prize from such quarters, it’s the kind of comment that might suggest that the right tone has been achieved. You certainly can’t deny that Channel 4 has been daring, signing off on a creative approach that no other UK channel would risk. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98406/original/image-20151014-15137-123285p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bart Simpson, reimagined.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTsmtfR9MP8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTsmtfR9MP8</a></span>
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<p>Nonetheless, I’m not sure that teaming Glazer and Brody has been a good marriage. As two very independently minded creatives, their work sits uncomfortably together. They speak different visual languages: Glazer is esoteric, exotic and performative with the controlled art direction he has established in his many commercials such as the <a href="http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/close-up-live-issue-semtex-teamwork-70000-litres-paint/598516">Sony Bravia paint explosions</a>; and Brody’s Chadwick and Horseferry fonts, which are integral to the graphic blocks that (literally) resonate more with Lambie-Nairn’s original 1982 ident. </p>
<p>Will it lead to a change in the appearance of UK television channels and how they are branded? I doubt it. Channel 4 is alternative by nature – and while by removing its numeral it has pushed the boundary of channel branding, no other channel would have the stomach to break the rules of conventional marketing wisdom to the same extent. As exquisite art pieces, the films definitely stand comparison to the most groundbreaking work in this field. If that reminds you of anything else, you may not be alone: next year’s Turner Prize may have a worthy contender.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49162/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Macdonald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When it comes to branding, the UK broadcaster has always left the rest behind. But by ditching the “4” from its screen idents, it has stepped into another space entirely.Iain Macdonald, Associate Professor of Advertising and Graphic Design, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.