[itsrobert]

youtu.be  - George Alagiah's 12PM edition which would later become 'GMT' before being replaced by 'LIVE'

That was a BBC edit using elements composed by David Lowe. It sounds to me like the main TOTH vamp mixed with the coming up vamp. That was tidied up shortly afterwards. David Lowe created some short loops and a thunderclap that the BBC then used to make the WNT vamp (that lasted until the May/June? 2007 WNT rebranding). One of the loops was also used to create the quarter heads vamp that was used on BBC World from 2007-08.

This almost formed the News Special closing theme as IIRC was used during the 2007 French Presidential Elections? Please correct me if I'm wrong Rob.

That’s right, there were special opening and closing themes which were similarly punchy. I think the 2007 music was the best BBC News has ever used, along with the 1999-2003 originals. It’s a travesty that the 2007 music only lasted a little over a year.

[chris]

I thought the 2007 visuals were very strong too. North West Tonight also proved it could be rolled out more broadly.

[MFTJA]

I thought the 2007 visuals were very strong too. North West Tonight also proved it could be rolled out more broadly.

And at that stage the regions didn’t really have a proper/universal design anyway. Most were just using a botched version of the LDN 2001 titles. They could have used the NWT titles very very easily and I’m sure they could’ve lasted until 2013. Then they could have introduced the current presentation

[AaronLancs]

I thought the 2007 visuals were very strong too. North West Tonight also proved it could be rolled out more broadly.

And at that stage the regions didn’t really have a proper/universal design anyway. Most were just using a botched version of the LDN 2001 titles. They could have used the NWT titles very very easily and I’m sure they could’ve lasted until 2013. Then they could have introduced the current presentation

Actually, thinking on. Those short-lived 2007-08 NWT titles could have lasted - with one, maybe two image refreshes to last the twelve year gap - across all of the English regions -until possibly the 2019 titles came in. I have always thought the current set of titles - alterations notwithstanding - are more like and akin to a spiritual successor of those ones.

Compare and contrast:

2007
www.youtube.com 

YouTube Channel Source: PRES BITS from thisisfive.co.uk

...

[AaronLancs]

...

2019
www.youtube.com 

YouTube Channel Source: PRES BITS from thisisfive.co.uk

P.S. Sorry for the double post as you can't most more than one video at a time it seems.

[steve]

Yes absolutely agree, they were classy apart from the horrendously tacky words for which there was just no need!

[Quantum+83]

I've always thought of the 2007 branding as absolutely phenomenal. Contrary to that, I've always seen the 2008 onwards branding as a worse version of this.

The branding in 2007 (also after 2003) heavily relied on dark reds and blacks in the titles, which, alongside the strong music, gave a great first impression in my opinion.

In 2008, the BBC replaced this with an all-around 'lighter' version of the 2007 branding. My one question: why? When you overlay the 2007 music onto the 2008 titles (and vice versa), they fit perfectly. So I must ask, what was the point in making their appearance more cheerful, if they already had something that worked well that was just a year old?

What I'd prefer to see nowadays at least would be a HD version of the 2007 titles with a few tweaks to keep them up-to-date, keeping the hard-hitting music too.

[itsrobert]

I think, although I may have this wrong, that maybe there was a feeling that the 2007 branding, particularly the music was a bit too punchy and distracting. I imagine they probably received complaints from the usual Points of View/Newswatch types. I seem to recall someone who was involved with the 2008 rebrand telling me that the aim was for a "back to basics" approach that drew on the 1999 branding. Hence, the music was toned down and Lambie Nairn was brought in again for the visuals.

Personally, I absolutely loved the 2007 branding. Visually, they had refined the 2003 branding and it looked more polished and glossy. Moreover, the music was the best there had been since the original versions in 1999 and was really dramatic and punchy.

I don't think the current branding is too bad and when it launched in 2008 it was certainly a fresh take. It's aged well and remains quite effective. I'm just a bit fed up of seeing the same thing over and over again.

[MFTJA]

Does anyone know when BBC World moved into N8 in 2008? I don’t think they did on the 21st of April as N24 was using it up until that day and it was refurbished. I’ve seen a clip from July 2008 and they were in N8 then, so presumably sometime between April and July

[chris]

Does anyone know when BBC World moved into N8 in 2008? I don’t think they did on the 21st of April as N24 was using it up until that day and it was refurbished. I’ve seen a clip from July 2008 and they were in N8 then, so presumably sometime between April and July

Yes they gave N8 a small refurb, including installing the BARCO wall. Not sure when that happened.

There were then some small changes made in 2010 with the launch of the branded programmes. Some colour-changing lighting was added and the second set was changed.