BBC One 'Rhythm & Movement' idents

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BBC 'Rhythm & Movement' idents were a set of on-screen channel identities designed by Lambie-Nairn and used on BBC One from 29 March, 2002 until 7 October, 2006. They replaced the earlier balloon idents, and spelled the end of the much recognised globe identity by the BBC, which had been used in various ways since 1963. All of the idents under this theme had a common focus: people in various forms of movement and music with a somewhat upbeat rhythm. Red was also used as the predominant colour in all of the idents. The music for all idents was written by Peter Lawlor of Water Music Productions in London. He was also responsible for, amongst other things, the UK number one song "Inside" performed by the group Stiltskin, and is generally considered to be one of the UK's leading composers. The idents aired for the final time on 7 October 2006, at 1.10am. A montage of idents aired together, ending with the rarely seen 'Ballet' ident.

[edit] List of idents

Name	Image	Description	Air dates
Acrobat		Filmed in the Royal Horticultural Society Halls in Victoria, the ident shows three acrobat performers wrapped in red and white sashes performing acrobatic tricks while suspended from the roof. The accompanying jingle is mid-tempo and performed by a string section, and this ident was also used frequently to introduce the news.	March 2002-October 2006
Ballet		Filmed at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, the ident features 10 ballerinas dressed entirely in red. The camera moves around the Minack stage where the ballerinas perform a graceful dance, with the dramatic Cornish coastline in the background, accompanied by a string quartet with the cello dominant. This ident sequence was the most sombre of all the idents, and a still of it was used when BBC announced the death of the Queen Mother. For most of its life, this ident was used during times of "reflection" only, namely times of national tragedy and the death of a Royal Family member. It was mainly used to introduce coverage of funerals, such as that Pope John Paul II and George Best. This ident was also the last out of all the Rhythm and Movement idents to be shown on the channel, in its entirety as part of the final montage.	March 2002-October 2006
Bollywood		First broadcast on 8 November 2002, this ident features 9 males and 9 females dancing a traditional Indian dance, much like a Bollywood movie. The females wear red in this ident, while the males wear white.	November 2002-October 2006
Capoeira		Filmed against the London skyline, it shows mestre poncianinho and contra-mestre casquinha doing Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art. The camera circles around two Capoeiristas throughout its duration. The two performers are dressed in red and white. An alternative edit, which joins the action a few seconds earlier than the standard version, was used in Wales and Scotland.	March 2002-October 2006
Festival		Sometimes known as Rave, and filmed on an airfield, it begins with a close up of two women dancing together with a "techno"-style version of the BBC One jingle playing in the background, somewhat resembling a rave party. Red takes on prominence in the background. This version of the jingle was sampled in a later dance music track, Forever and a Day by State One in 2003.	March 2002-October 2006
Haka	File:BBCRMHaka.png	Filmed in a field in Wales, it first shows a closeup of a Māori native, Jo Hutley, and then pulls back to reveal 14 Welsh amateur rugby players performing Haka, a traditional Māori dance that shows art and movement by using hands, feet, legs, body, voice, tongue and eyes. The players are dressed in red-striped polo shirts . The music is slow and played on strings, accompanying the sound of the rugby players' chant. This ident was eventually withdrawn after licensing issues with the music, and did not appear in the final montage.	March 2002-2005
Hip-Hop		Sometimes known as Basketball, and filmed on a basketball court, this ident shows three basketball players dancing in their wheelchairs to a hip-hop theme. The dancers are all dressed in red, with matching accents on their wheelchairs. The lead dancer is Adrian Adepitan, a British paralympic basketball player, and presenter of the CBBC programme Xchange. The dance is made up of different wheelchair-basketball moves used in the game.	March 2002-October 2006
Maasai		Launched on 5 January 2004, this ident was filmed on an African Savanna. It features 9 native Maasai tribesmen dancing in the centre. The music is predominantly percussion-based.	January 2004-October 2006
Music Video		First broadcast on 4 October 2002, to coincide with the premiere of Fame Academy, the ident was filmed in studio with a red backdrop. It features one lead dancer and 6 back-up dancers. This ident resembles a music video, hence its name. It was the first ident that was not part of the original set of eight.	October 2002-October 2006
Salsa		Filmed in Hertfordshire against a decorated red backdrop, the camera first focuses on a couple dancing salsa, and then reveals a large group of dancing couples doing the same thing.	March 2002-October 2006
Skateboarders		Launched on 5 September 2003, the ident features three skateboarders skateboarding through a shipyard. This ident was filmed on location at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The featured skateboarders are, from left to right, British professional skateboarders Olly Todd, Franklin Stephens and Danny Wainwright. Because the accompanying jingle is a mellow interpretation performed on a solo piano, this ident was often used to introduce the news. It was also often used in the Midlands and Northern Ireland. On 7 September 2005, BBC Northern Ireland made a slight alteration to the skateboarders ident by turning the "BBC One NI" logo from red to green and introducing a new square in the opposite corner of the screen showing an English flag with the word "Nil" written over it. This was to celebrate Northern Ireland's 1-0 victory over England in a qualifier match for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The ident was shown again the following Saturday ahead of Football Focus.	September 2003-October 2006
Tai-Chi		First broadcast on 16 June 2003, the ident features seven people dressed in traditional Chinese clothing performing tai chi on a lochside. This ident had two versions: one with the camera drawing back, revealing all the performers and their mirror image on the loch; the other (withdrawn in 2003) starts with the mirror image and spins round to reveal that the viewer is actually looking at the reflection. The tai chi exponents in the ident were mainly students of Edinburgh-based tai chi instructor Ian Cameron, most of whom are teachers in their own right. The particular tai chi form performed was taken from the traditional Wudang system, adapted to suit the demands of the landscape. It was filmed near Loch Rannoch in Scotland.	June 2003-October 2006
Tango		Launched on 2 January 2003, the ident was filmed in Leadenhall Market in the City of London and features three couples dancing the tango, supposedly in the rain.	January 2003-October 2006
Tapdogs		Filmed inside a power station, this ident shows six members of the dance troupe Tap Dogs performing a tap dance. The upbeat jingle incorporates the sound of the troupe's tap shoes.	March 2002-October 2006
Tumbler		First broadcast on 4 January 2005, the ident features five people (all with some red on their clothes) breakdancing on a walkway. It had to be relaunched after 24 hours, apparently due to a copyright dispute over the background music. BBC One Scotland continued to use the original version until the rebranding in 2006. The jingle is upbeat and features synthesised brass. It was filmed on location at the now-demolished BBC Birmingham Pebble Mill studios, and was the final 'Rhythm & Movement' ident to be added to its regular playlist.	January 2005-October 2006

[edit] Christmas

Between 2002 and 2005, three different idents were produced for the Christmas period, each one of them featuring children.

It should also be noted that in 2003, the BBC showed the 2002 ident again - the first time that a Christmas ident has been re-used in its history. BBC Two also followed suit the same year, although rather than re-using an ident, they were used alongside that year's newer one. In 2004, no new ident was produced for BBC Two, instead staying with the previous three years', and all of these were dropped for a new ident in 2005.

Name	Description	Air dates
Snowflakes	The first, shown in 2002 and 2003, featured them dressed as snowflakes against a red sky, falling to the ground and then walking round in circles.	Christmas 2002 and Christmas 2003
Christmas Puddings	The second in 2004 also had a red background, with the children dressed in red and bouncing on Space Hoppers that looked like Christmas puddings. This was designed by a young viewer of the children's programme Blue Peter, as part of a competition.	Christmas 2004
Christmas Tree	The third in 2005 had several children, again dressed in red, walking round a giant Christmas tree, carrying brightly coloured balls. The background this time was green, and the look and music of the ident appear to be inspired from the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory directed by Tim Burton.	Christmas 2005

[edit] Parodies

The idents were very quickly parodied by digital channel E4 in 2002 with spoofs of the Capoeira, Ballet and Acrobat idents.^[1]

Comedians French & Saunders also created spoof idents for their 2002 Christmas special in which, dressed as old women, they first copied the Acrobat ident yet came loose from their ribbons and fell to the ground while in a spoof of Hip-Hop, the pair drove around slowly in mobility scooters.

Comedian Peter Kay also made spoof editions of the Hip-Hop ident in 2003 in the guise of his Phoenix Nights character Brian Potter. The second version was shown minus the BBC One logo in 2005.^[1] This ident was used to introduce the Comic Relief of 2003.

A further spoof featured Jon Culshaw as Tony Blair dancing in a fictional ident outside 10 Downing Street. This was shown on a July 2003 episode of Dead Ringers, broadcast on BBC Two.^[1]

Spoofs have also cropped up in BBC Three's animated adult comedy series Monkey Dust, making use of the generic red theme of the normal idents to show "idents" such as a gangland killing and the resulting aftermath.

[edit] Replacement

In August 2005, BBC One controller Peter Fincham had hinted that the dancers may be on their way out. He told the Edinburgh International Television Festival that "It may well be that the time is coming to look at a new way of doing it. No date or direct decision has been made but it's under review".

According to the Media Guardian, Fincham then confirmed that in autumn 2006, the 'Rhythm and Movement' idents would be replaced with a new presentation package, along with a new schedule. As speculated, Red Bee Media would create the new presentation package. Red Bee created the new idents for the ITV channels that were introduced in January 2006.

On September 26, the BBC confirmed that from October 7, 2006, the 'Rhythm and Movement' idents would be replaced by a new Circle ident collection, including the Moon, surfers and hippopotamuses.

The new idents made their debut on October 7, 2006 at 10am BST, marking the end of the 'Rhythm and Movement' idents, which had defined the channel for four and a half years.