[AaronLancs]

Yeah, it has a late 90/early 2000s charm to it which is definitely lacking on channel idents currently, in general

I'd say that with these idents being so well made and so polished it brings a charm to it. Also there is a little thing called "heart, soul and love" a kind of integrity that has a certain honestness to it. You get what the ident creators - for these ones I'd presume the late great Martin Lambie-Nairn and company given at the time them lot did the BBC One 1997 Balloon ident set and the UK Gold (and UKTV by extension) 1997-1999 look - wanted to get across.

[all new phil]

Indeed.
Looking at Logopedia. It seems as if the BBC One Ident of the time was something to do with a Red Bauble. Quite lacklustre compared to that one that went to UK Gold.

up.metropol247.co.uk 
(Image Source: Author's own screenshot and hosted on Metropol247 Upload Service)

I thought these were actually rather lovely.

[VMPhil]

I thought these were actually rather lovely.

I think the stings were actually quite clever and probably better than the actual idents.

www.ravensbourne.ac.uk 

BBC One Christmas - Bauble ident 1 (1997) | Ravensbourne University London
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BBC One Christmas - Bauble ident 3 (1997) | Ravensbourne University London
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BBC One Christmas - Bauble ident 4 (1997) | Ravensbourne University London
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A boring 90s BBC One Christmas ident, is still better than most 21st century BBC One Christmas idents unfortunately...

[AxG]

Did those stings actually have a black BBC One logo, rather than white?

[jlmiller]

Did those stings actually have a black BBC One logo, rather than white?

From what I could tell, the BBC ONE logo was in black on the stings, but stayed in its usual white on the promos - for example:

tvark.org 

BBC1 Boxing Day promo | TVARK
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Eastenders promo | TVARK
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[Brekkie]

I thought they were quite boring at the time but think they've aged really well. They kind of fit the Circles, Oneness or even Lens era even more than they did the balloon era.

[fanoftv]

I totally agree Brekkie, as a kid they seemed disappointing, especially after the fantastic 12 twelves of Christmas inspired set the year before, but all these years on, they work well. I think the music lets them down a little, but the visuals are lovely.

[thegeek]

The other thing I’ve always found odd is how New Year’s Day there is nothing. I’ve always thought New Years Eve and New Years Day and 2nd January because Scotland should have a special set of new year idents which come out every year just to mark the new year. They wouldn’t even have to fit with the ident package and they wouldn’t have to be fancy or expensive, the simpler the better but each year they came out so it almost became a tradition.

BBC Scotland had a tradition of Hogmanay idents - in the 90s, it was even an excuse to dispense with the 1s (and possibly 2s?) and put the three-stripe logo front and centre.

Here's 1995's:
youtu.be 

[Milkshake]

Until 1989, BBC Scotland would keep there Christmas Ident in use until the End of play New years day. ( some time disappearing on 27 and then coming back on 31st) It was only from 1991 when we got a proper Hogmanay ident. The last one being made in 1997 which was reused in 1998.

It's a great shame they stopped making them. We did come close to getting one in 2013 with the Wrapping paper using Bells as a background for the promo.

Edit: the 1988 and 1989 hog ident were slight variation on what the xmas idents were..

[ViridianFan]

BBC Scotland had a tradition of Hogmanay idents - in the 90s, it was even an excuse to dispense with the 1s (and possibly 2s?) and put the three-stripe logo front and centre.

Here's 1995's:
youtu.be 

Thank you thegeek, I think you’ve just managed to stir an old Christmas memory. Mums side of the family live in Scotland (by the forth bridges) and I am sure that’s the only year we had Christmas and new year up there because I feel like I’ve seen that. 

Talking of the baubles idents I can remember being disappointed with the one which was just the bauble on it own but loved the penguins running about. As you said compared to the 12 days of Christmas they weren’t as eye catching. An updated 12 days of Christmas could be could with the lens focusing on the pear tree and the different days happening around it. 

I think I’d just like one that feels Christmassy and not an advert, and not to start on 1st December so I’m bored of them by 25th