BBC One 'Balloon' idents
Title Air date Description
12 Days of Christmas 24 December 1997 A series of idents depicting verses of The 12 Days of Christmas , such as a maid a-milking , some lords leaping by bouncing on space hoppers , an acrobat twirling two gold rings and a partridge in a pear tree . Other verses ( e.g . two turtle doves ) were also depicted in stings and promotional trailers . The balloon did not appear in the set
Ben Elton 16 April - 4 June 1998 A series of eight parody idents promoting Ben Elton 's television series in 1998 . The series included the balloon being deflated by a 2-shaped blade ( from BBC Two 's Blade ident ) , and the balloon being chased by a police balloon
Bauble 24 December 1998 A giant red bauble swings from side to side against a white snowy background . There are variations that also include penguins and reindeer . As with the previous year , the balloon did not appear in the set
1999 Eclipse 1999 The balloon flies in front of the sun , eclipsing it
Walking with Dinosaurs 1999 The balloon flies over a Polacanthus wandering across a desert wasteland . This was to promote the debut of Walking with Dinosaurs
Father Christmas 24 December 1999 The balloon flies in the night sky , alongside a holographic Father Christmas ringing a bell
Millennium Dome 31 December 1999 The balloon flies over the Millennium Dome at night , lighting up in time to the music . It was used to introduce coverage of the new Millennium celebrations
Euro 2000 8 June 2000 The balloon flies over a football stadium , where a goalkeeper lets a goal pass his net . The first announcement was an apology about a power cut in 2000
Sydney Olympics 2000 25 August 2000 The balloon flies over the Sydney Opera House , while an athlete shines a flaming torch in its direction
Christmas Balloon 22 December 2000 Father Christmas pilots the balloon , delivering presents by dropping them from parachutes from the balloon
Blue Planet 2001 The balloon is seen from underwater from a shark-infested sea , to promote the debut of The Blue Planet
Walking with Beasts 8 November 2001 The balloon flies over a herd of woolly mammoths migrating in the Ice Age . This was to promote the show , Walking with Beasts
Christmas Toys 21 December 2001 Three toys float around on balloons in a cosy room while the balloon flies outside . Produced by Aardman Animations , the three toys used were all connected to BBC One 's Christmas Day schedule in 2001 , so there was a dog ( the terrestrial premiere of Toy Story ) , a dinosaur ( the dramatic epic The Lost World ) and a Reliant Robin van ( the comeback of Only Fools and Horses after it had last aired in 1996 )
Components of look -- Special idents
There were also many special idents made for new programmes , sporting events or , most notably , the Christmas holiday . These included :
The BBC One Balloon idents were a series of idents used on BBC One from 4 October 1997 to 29 March 2002. The balloon theme replaced the computer generated spinning globe which had been used as the main ident on the channel since 1991. 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 to be used at closedown; their last closedown took place on 8 November 1997; starting the following day, BBC News 24 would broadcast on BBC One in the late night hours. The hot air balloon featured in the idents was filmed on location and also added to scenes by computer generation. It was built by Cameron Balloons in 1997, and made its first flight that year, flying from the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. It made its final flight in August 2002 before being retired and placed into storage. The balloon's flight certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority expired on 17 July 2003.