BBC Northern Ireland marked St Patrick’s Day by introducing special presentation elements on BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC Two Northern Ireland.
On the former, a green version of the standard now/next graphic was in use, complete with shamrock, integrated with the BBC One Northern Ireland logo. And keeping everything nice and consistent and on brand, the shamrock was revealed on screen using the same type of animation as that developed for the Oneness branding. A short sting, of a similar style, was also used in many junctions. No change on the ident front – the usual Oneness sequences were in use. No special trail endboards either – not that surprising, as they would most likely have been used only for local programming that had some link to the St Patrick’s holiday and there were no such programmes on BBC One Northern Ireland in 2018.
On BBC Two Northern Ireland, the Paint, Neon and Wave Day idents were updated with a green colour effect. These idents were rotated throughout St Patrick’s Day. There were only a couple of St Patrick’s-related local programmes on BBC Two NI: St Patrick’s Night Concert on Saturday 17th March 2018 at 9pm and the St Patrick’s Day Schools’ Cup Finals at 1pm on Monday 19th March 2018. The latter was trailed using a standard BBC Sport NI-branded graphic. A promotional trail for the concert programme ran for a week or so prior to the programme’s broadcast but featured the standard green endboard for local BBC Two programmes.
Although Monday 19th March 2018 was the official St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday, no special presentation was used on that date. The St Patrick’s Day Schools’ Cup Finals broadcast was introduced by a 40-second playout of the Catalyst ident.
The special St Patrick’s presentation elements aired in 2018 were also used in 2017.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: BBC One Ni Sting - St Patricks Day. TX DATE: 17th March 2018. SUPPLIED BY: The TV Room. COPYRIGHT: BBC.
