September 12, 2002 saw the launch of the new on and off air identity for Channel 5 and is a complete transformation of their look, advertising and programming structure.

The shift to Five was an ongoing project with Spin working in tandem with creative strategists WalkerBannisterBuss and advertising company TBWA/London.

Spin’s creative lead encompasses a wide range of off air stationary, promotional material and style guides alongside live action on air idents.

The channel’s logo, previously the number 5 within a circle supported by the colour bar, is now replaced by Five, always appearing in lower case in the mark.

Five is the first UK channel to regularly use purely typographical promos – seeing copy-written type overlaid over sound bites from the channel’s key shows. This method complements more traditional on-air promotions.

The first of the new idents was actually seen ahead of launch on Tuesday 10th September 2002, before the movie 'Saving Private Ryan'. The second of the idents was seen for the repeat showing of the film on Sunday 11th September. The new look was officially launched on Monday 12th September 2002.

New idents:

Out Driving: A woman, in a car, out driving

Pool: A man gets into the pool and swims off.

Weedkiller: Someone pumps and sprays the bushes.

Candy Floss: A boy waits for Candy Floss.

Ride: Someone on a spinning ride.

Robot: Someone picks the robot up, but then puts it back down.

Park Duel: Featuring invisible superheroes fighting in the garden.

Containers Duel: The superheroes are back, fighting in the by some containers.

Accordion: Shopping trolleys in a Sainsbury's car park are used as an accordion.

Gas Drums: Two cranes come in handy as drum sticks in this little ident, as gas storage tanks get used as drums.

Guitar: A busy road gets turned into a guitar, causing a crash or two.

Food Chain: Starting off with a jelly fish, but who's the top of the food chain?

Night Life: A journey where we see taxis, lights and deer.

Fly: A drawn cat tries to join the dots to finish his legs, until he swots a fly.

Sneeze: A girl has a little sneeze, and sneezes up a bouquet of flowers

Love Story: A little love story forms, cut out of the pages of a magazine.

Turf War: A story of hate, and things get a bit nasty, with explosions

Jelly World: The world appears to have turned to jelly...

Generic: A simplistic ident with the Five "five" wordmark animating on, This comes in 4 versions, each a different color.

Color Love: Another nice animated ident for before the news.

Human Paint: Some swirly paint in another pre-news ident.

In April 2004, idents specific to shows such as Neighbors, CSI and Home and Away began airing, as well as a new ident specifically for U.S crime shows (This ident has a bullet shooting out of a flashlight and through glass, etc), Much of the 2002 set was withdrawn by mid-May 2004, Write a tweet with the only idents remaining after mid-May

✨ After May 2004, the iconic idents that remained for Channel 5 were the vibrant Color Love, the whimsical Generic (4 versions), and the playful Human Paint! 🎨📺 What were your favorites from the original 2002 lineup? #Channel5 #TVIdents #FiveIdent #TVHistory

Write a tweet with the only 3 others

📺 After mid-May 2004, Channel 5 kept the unique Out Driving, the entertaining Love Story, and the fun Fly idents alive! 🐱💕 What were your favorites from the 2002 rebrand? #Channel5 #TVIdents #FiveIdent #Nostalgia

Write a tweet saying glad the weedkiller one was rmeoved, was boring, instead they kept this much more fun one

Glad to see the Weedkiller ident get the boot—it was so boring! 🙄 Instead, they kept the much more fun Love Story! 💕❤️ Which ident did you love the most? #Channel5 #TVIdents #FiveIdent #Nostalgia

New idents were launched on Nov 1 2004

Ants - On a tree stump in a forest, Several ants hold up leaves shaped like the Five logo, and soon carry it off.
Anteater - Same as the Ants ident, but this time, an anteater eats the ant holding the "e".
Midges - In a forest, there is a swarm of midges form up the Five logo and soon swarm away.
Fireflies - Similar to the "Midges" ident, but is set at night.
Midges Closeup - Same as the standard "Midges" ident, but other insects come close to the camers.
Puddle Reflection - There is the Five logos reflected in a puddle, people walk through the puddle causing the logo to ripple. Two variants exist in red or blue.
Glider - There is the view from a glider that someone flies around, while the Five logo is reflected in the light. Two variants exist, with another one featuring the Five logo forming like the previous ident package, only being used on the first night (likely a prototype variant).
Shark - A series of idents featuring the Five logo and a shark trying to eat it.
Back Lit - The Five logo lightly bobs up and down in the sea, without any shark.
In Front - The shark swims near the logo.
From Deep - The Shark appears from the bottom of the sea and is about to eat the bottom of the "e".
Push Forward - The shark pushes the logo forward. We already see that it has eaten the bottom of the "e", with only the metal frame remaining.
Massive Attack - The Shark attacks the logo with its tail.
Swim Off - The Shark rips a huge chunk off the logo. Write a forum conversation asking what shows got custom idents in April 2004


Forum User 1: Hey everyone! I’ve been looking back at the Channel 5 idents and I noticed that in April 2004, they launched some custom idents for specific shows. Can anyone tell me which shows got their own idents?

Forum User 2: Hi! I can help with that. The shows that got custom idents in April 2004 were Neighbors, CSI, Home and Away, and also a special one for U.S. crime shows!

Forum User 3: That’s right! The U.S. crime shows ident was pretty cool with the bullet and glass effects. It really added some drama to the promos!

Forum User 1: Oh, I remember that one! It was exciting to see how they tailored the idents to match the vibe of each show.

Forum User 4: Does anyone have a favorite among those custom idents? I think the Neighbors one was fun because of its bright and colorful style.

Forum User 2: I liked the CSI ident! It had that intriguing, suspenseful feel to it that matched the show perfectly.

Forum User 1: Great to hear everyone’s thoughts! It’s always interesting to see how branding evolves with the shows. Any other idents or shows you wish had custom promos?

Forum User 3: Definitely! I would have loved to see custom idents for Big Brother back in the day. It would’ve suited the drama of the show so well!

Forum User 4: Agreed! Custom idents could have added a whole new layer to that series. Channel 5 had so much potential in their promotional setups!


Write a follow up asking if the remaining idents from the 2002 set were withdrawn by Nov 01


Forum User 1: Quick follow-up! So, with the new idents launched on November 1, 2004, does anyone know if all the remaining idents from the 2002 set were withdrawn by that date? I’m curious about which ones stuck around a little longer before being replaced!


Write a reply


Forum User 2: Good question! From what I remember, by the time the new idents launched on November 1, most of the 2002 idents, including the fun ones like Out Driving and Love Story, were phased out. However, some of the original idents may have had brief appearances leading up to that date, but overall, the transition to the new set was pretty swift. It’s always interesting to see how quickly they refresh their branding!


Write a follow up asking if the news-safe ones survived past Nov 01, or were they superseded by Glider or something, A user replies