The ChuckleVision Title Sequence has featured in ChuckleVision since the first episode. It has changed twice since the programme has began.
See Also: ChuckleVision Theme Tune
The Original Titles (1987-1989)[]
The original titles which featured in series 1 and 2 invloved the ChuckleVision lettering bouncing up and down on a red back with blue stripy rectangles moving in the background, this was followed by 7 clips and then the logo again followed by another 7 clips ending with the ChuckleVision logo once more. These remained the same throughout the series until Episode 5 when one clip was swapped for another. For Series 2 only some clips were replaced, from episodes 1-4 there were 7 new episode clips, but like Series 1 two extra clips were added to the second half, making for 9 new clips.
Storyline[]
The ChuckleVision logo appears on screen in yellow writing on a red bar with dark and light blue circles moving in the background with the logo bouncing around on top.
The logo appears up until the first half of the instrumental and it then shows about 7 clips of the series and comes to the ChuckleVision logo again followed by another 7 clips of the series. It then finishes with the ChuckleVision logo again and goes straight into the episode.
The Current Letter Titles (1989-2009)[]
The titles were updated in Series 3 to the brothers bringing in letters to from the word ChuckleVision. The titles seemed to be proved popular and continued through the fourth series but with updated clips.
The titles have survived five clip changes through the years, but the titles haven't been touched until series 17 when they were sped up to fit with the BBC schedule.
The titles featured a white background with ChuckleVision in coloured letters.
Storyline[]
Paul directs Barry to bring in the VISION, he then halts him and sends him off, he returns with the CKLE and Paul sends him off to get the final letters, he then returns with the CHU. They then come to the middle to see what is missing, Barry knows and goes off to get them. While he is gone the O falls down and Paul picks it up, then the S falls down and Paul picks that up. Finally Barry returns with a dot and throws it, with what Paul catches and pushes towards the first i and barry fishes in his pocket for the second and throws it at Paul which he catches again and pushes towards the second i and then they come to the middle, check their reflections and walk off leaving ChuckleVision to show.
How Was It Made?[]
From Ian Bate, the original creator of the ChuckleVision titles:
"Paul and Barry did an amazing job of pretending to push and shove the letters into place. They were shot against a white background, with only a monitor to look at whilst performing. (the monitor had the complete logo keyed over them, so that they knew where to stop pretending to push) The logo was then split up in the edit and keyed over a clean shot of the brothers doing their thing. The action was sped up to fit the music and the only bit that didn't work for me was the dots on the letter i. The edit suite animation looks wrong. All in all though, considering the technology available at the time, the final sequence really works, thanks mainly to the Brothers."
Clip Changes/Title Changes[]
In Series 3 the clips were added at the top instead of full screen and were contained inside coloured boxes and the clips were changed again in Series 4. Below are screenshots of each of the title sequences used to date.
The clips were updated for Series 3,4,6,9,14 and 17 respectively.
Updates and changes:
- In Series 9 reflections were added to the fallen O & S, at the same time the titles were slowed down a little bit, most likely to reflect the changes to the title sequence.
- During Series 9, where Paul reaches for the dot, his hand disappears into the white, indicating the separation between the clips and the titles.
- When ChuckleVision went Widescreen in 2002, instead of changing the titles they extended the screen from the letter U up to the C on the screen behind. This mean't when Barry went to get the letters he went into white.
- The titles were sped up in 2005 to accompany a shortened version of the theme tune.
- The BBC logo was superimposed onto the titles in Series 13 (2000-2001) in the right hand bottom corner in a bold black, it was on screen for about 4 seconds. It returned in Series 14 (2002) but at the top just under the right hand clip in a colour gray. It didn't return after this.
The Closing Credits (1987-1988)[]
The original titles were written in multi coloureds in a childrens writing font. Most childrens shows in that era seemed to use multicoloured credits including Bodger And Badger and Simon and the Witch.
The BBC logo wasn't added but wrote simply as BBC with roman numerals showing the year, it is then followed by the words North West, where it was either filmed or shown at the time.
The "Picture In A Box" Credits (1989-2001)[]
The most famous of the ChuckleVision titles, it contained about 7 or 8 pictures from the episode and they played every five seconds or so to the music with the credits underneath and the picture changed simultaneously with each or every second new credit. They were first shown in series 3, they had the updated ChuckleVision lettered wallpaper on the background with the picture of the episode in a coloured box. They used one font and one colour for example "MUSIC" and another font and colour for the person "DAVE COOKE"
Series 3
- In Series 3 the credits length were very sporadic. In the first episode, 'Stand and Deliver', for example, the extended theme tune plays under the final moments of the episode. before the end bridge is played over 3 or 4 credits.
- From Episodes 2 to 8, the credits were extended to credit the full cast and crew. using the instrumental unabridged theme used during the end credits of Series 2.
- From Episode 9 to 11 the credits return to a normal fashion to which the credits lasted the length of the regular 30 second theme.
- Episode 12 "Cabbies And Chips", however, used a unique approach with both the opening and end credits. After the pre-titles scene finished, the titles played in halfway - cutting them in half completely. Similarly, the end credits resembled a close association to the Series 17 style whereby the second half of the theme played and cut the length of the closing credits in half again.
- Episode 13 "Cycle Crazy" saw the shortest modification of the closing credits yet, with only the final bridge of "ChuckleVision" playing in to three credits and the end caption, which signaled the end of closing credit modifications as Series 4's returned to the regular standardised 30 second length.
Series 5
- Series 5 saw little modification to the show's end credits apart from the text being enlarged and emboldened and the picture boxes changing colour each time the image changed, however this is a modification which only lasted one series due to the time-consuming action of consistent colour changing of the boxes and consequently, come Series 6, the boxes returned to the one colour format of before.
Series 6-Series 11
- From Series 6 onwards, apart from the text size and boldness being condensed, they remained the same for several series.
Series 12
- Series 12 saw the font change and the timing of the end credits change slightly. Instead of the end caption appearing after the last "ChuckleVision" lyric has been sung, the end caption now appeared with the last "ChuckleVision" lyric.
Series 13
- The end credits style changed from on-screen credits to scrolling credits across the screen, however this change only lasted one series as it visibly affected the ability to see the credits coherently.
- From now on, actors were credited by their character names instead of just their own name solely i.e. No Slacking - Jimmy Patton.
The Outtakes (2002-2009)[]
- From Series 14 onwards, the still images were replaced by a selection of outtakes from each episode, often involving the Chuckle Brothers corpsing during scenes.
Series 15-Series 16
- The boxes enlarged in size and took up the majority of the screen - while the credits were squeezed underneath, often two appearing at any one time.
- However it shrank again slightly in Series 16 to accommodate more credits, and at the end of the sequence, the final credit often faded out to blank while the remainder of the outtake played.
Series 17-18; Series 20-21
- When the title sequence duration was cut in half, so was the end credits.
- The end credits now debuted with a caption featuring the ChuckleVision logo and the credit 'ChuckleVision Starred The Chuckle Brothers' followed by another that listed the cast's names.
- This was then followed by a short assortment of outtakes while the crew's credits played out underneath, often three to four on a page to accommodate for the shortened credits duration.
Series 19
- A one-off series change saw the Chuckle Brothers caption debut quicker and the cast names debut instead under the outtakes box to accommodate more time for the outtakes, however this changed only lasted one series and the previous format was returned during the next series.
The Ending Title Card (1987-1988)[]
The original ending card was simply a hand written BBC and copyright then North West, it was very simple.
(1989-1993) (Series 3-Series 5)[]
The titles featured a font written BBC and then 'North West' up until Hotel Hostilities which it was changed to the slanted logo of 1991-1997. This remained very small at the bottom until series 5 in which it was enlarged with another small version underneath it and Roman Numerals next to the small version, to match the standardised appearance of other BBC programmes on which the logo was enlarged until its replacement in 1997, because its italic design generated complaints that its overall visibility was obscured.
(1994-2000) (2002-2003) (Series 6-Series 12; Series 14-Series 15)[]
The box disappeared at the end and just the ChuckleVision logo and the slanted BBC logo remained. Up until Series 10 when the BBC logo was replaced with the 1997-present one, in a purple colour with roman numerals and a smaller version of the logo underneath.
It returned exactly the same in 2002 with the purple BBC logo and ChuckleVision logo above, this lasted through Series 15 as well.
(2000-2001) (Series 13 Only)[]
This lasted in Series 13 only. It contained the ChuckleVision logo at the very top of the page but an alternative version and the producers name in the middle followed by two versions of a black BBC logo underneath.
The CBBC Logo (2004-2009)[]
The CBBC logo started to appear from Series 16 onwards because of their decision to transmit the series on the CBBC channel first.
The CBBC logo appeared in Series 16 at the end of the credits with the Green blob CBBC logo, this lasted through Series 16 and 17.
It was replaced in Series 18 (2006) with the 3-D blob logo, which lasted through Series 18 and 19.
It was replaced in Series 20 (2008) with the 2007-2016 Green Logo, which lasted through Series 20 and 21.
Fonts[]
Series 3-5
- The font used was Helvetica Black Condensed
- During Series 3 and 4 the font remained a plain white colour with a black shadow/outline. It faded in and out during Series 3, however during Series 4 it appeared on screen without any animation but faded out.
Series 6-14
- The font used was Helvetica Bold Condensed, however a similiar and cheaper and almost indistinguishable alternative is Univers Condensed.
Series 15-21
- The font used was a simply Arial, however in Series 15 the font was emboldened and enlarged in a yellow font with a black outline.
- In Series 16, the bold effect was removed and the font shrunk and the text was consigned to the bottom of the screen, where it remained for the remainder of the series run.
ChuckleVision Logo (1989-2009)
- The font used was Bodoni MT Poster Compressed, however it is slightly modified for use on the show.