The BBC One Balloon idents were a series of idents (station identifications) used on the British TV channel BBC One from 4 October 1997 to 28 September 2009. The balloon theme replaced the computer-generated spinning globe that had been used as the main ident on the channel since 1991, and marked a radical departure from the traditional spinning globe which had been the channel's primary identity since 1963.[1] It launched on the same day as a BBC-wide rebrand, and thus the new idents also carried the new BBC logo. The channel's name also changed from BBC1 to BBC One. This was the last ident set used by the channel when it fully closed down; the last proper closedown took place in the evening hours of 8 November 1997. Starting the following evening, BBC News 24 (now the BBC News Channel) would broadcast on BBC One during closedown, which continues today.

The hot air balloon featured in the idents was filmed on location. The balloon was built by Cameron Balloons in 1997 and made its first flight that year, flying from the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.[2] It made its final flight in August 2009, also at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, and was subsequently retired and placed into storage. The balloon's flight certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority[3] expired on 17 July 2010.

The idents featured a predominantly red balloon emblazoned with an orange world map and white clouds floating over various scenes of the British landscape. These colors were chosen because a balloon mimicking a traditional map's blue oceans and green land would have been more difficult to see against the natural scenery. The size of the balloon was originally proposed to be 100 ft. but was reduced to 60 ft. upon construction.

The idents featured a soundtrack of ambient music, with livelier versions being used for more industrial or recreational settings. The soundtrack was composed by English musician Phil Sawyer.[9] This score made these idents the first regular BBC One idents to use music since Abram Games's "Bat's Wings" ident. The new BBC logo, along with the channel name "ONE" immediately to its right, was overlaid at the bottom of the screen. The new logo design was an attempt to unify all the BBC's services and brands under a single logo design, with the idents expressing the BBC's desire to "[reach] out to all corners of the land."[7] From October 1998, the idents were shown on widescreen. The '888' tag was also phased out in July 1999, to be replaced with "Subtitles" following the uptake in digital television and the increased use of the new BBC Text service and the bbc.co.uk URL was added above the logo soon after.[7][10][11]

The new-look also featured a clock, which used the same software and layout as before, and utilized the balloon canvas as the background. The clock was also retained following the change to widescreen. However, the software was changed so that the minute hand only moved once a minute, rather than every second as it had previously.[7][11][12]

Promotions and static captions both featured text and logos centered for widescreen use, with the BBC One logo at the bottom of the screen and a color palette of mainly oranges and reds. However, colors varied according to theme and programme. The use of static captions was reduced slightly but remained a key part of continuity links.[13][14]

The balloon idents were designed by Lambie-Nairn and the balloon was made in Bristol by Cameron Balloons.[8] Its aircraft registration was "G-IBBC".[8]

On 28 September 2009, after almost 12 years of service, the balloon idents were replaced as the icon of BBC One with a set of idents with the theme of Circles, the new idents revolved around a circular theme and all featured a scene which is revealed to end in a circle formation. The circle symbol was decided upon as a "symbol of unity", but it was also a "nod" towards the channel's heritage and in particular, the classic globe icon. Write a blog post from 28 September stating that the balloon was removed during the early hours, just before the handover to BBC News, and state it is the end of an era, and the Circles were introduced at 6am, and that the new idents are produced by Red Bee Media and Slomo Productions