[VMPhil]

On Brookside, Channel 4 was experimenting with the Pal Plus format from 1994 onwards, and the Brookside Omnibus was one of the programmes that used the format.

Also Hollyoaks was produced in 16:9 from the very beginning in 1995.

The 1996 Trooping the Colour was another experimental 16:9 production (shown in 14:9). Also the 1995 series of Fifteen to One which was shown in PALplus deep letterbox format.

When ONdigital launched in 1998, ITV surely must have started showing things in widescreen from that point on digital (no pun intended). But ads, pres, continuity etc were all 4:3 until C-Day in 2000.

One other thing I remember is that CiTV in the early 00s (the Stephen and Danielle era) had a lot of new shows that were clearly made in 16:9 but were shown in 14:9 on analogue. But as CiTV presentation came from Central that was always 4:3. So I assume on digital, those programmes had to be shown 14:9 in a 4:3 frame as well? We didn’t have digital or a 16:9 set at the time.

[James2001]

On Brookside, Channel 4 was experimenting with the Pal Plus format from 1994 onwards, and the Brookside Omnibus was one of the programmes that used the format.

As I've said before, all the examples I've seen of the Brookside omnibus from this era are 14:9, not 16:9 PalPlus, and it was cropped from the 4:3 version shown during the week, not actually made in 16:9. Why they did this, god knows, but it was like it for a good 3 1/2 years or so until the show actually went 16:9 properly in 1999.