Blighty was a British
pay television channel broadcasting as part of the
UKTV
UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...
network of channels. The channel was originally launched on 8 March 2004.
History
The channel launched on 8 March 2004 as UKTV People, showing
repeats of lighter factual programming, based on the people of the world with programmes such as ''
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' and the docusoap ''
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
''. Much of this programming had come from the spinoff for
UK Horizons
UK Horizons was a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom, as part of the UKTV network of channels, showing mainly BBC documentaries. Most programmes were abridged for commercial timing purposes. It took its name from the BBC series '' ...
, which had closed down the day before. The channel itself, along with
UKTV Documentary
Eden is a British pay television channel broadcasting factual content in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel originally launched on 8 March 2004 and relaunched in its current format on 27 January ...
, replaced this channel formally. For the channel's first few months, it timeshared with
UKTV Food +1, airing from 7pm-3am, but soon expanded to a full 24-hour schedule by 1 July.
On 9 October 2008, UKTV announced plans to rebrand UKTV People and UKTV Documentary in early 2009.
[
] The news came just two days after UKTV's entertainment channels were rebranded to
Watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
,
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
Alibi
An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...
. They announced that UKTV People would be rebranded as Blighty and this rebrand took place on 17 February 2009. As part of the rebrand, some programmes were transferred to channels such as sister channel
Dave Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
, while the channel acquired some other programmes looking at British life.
The channel closed at midday on 5 July 2013, replaced by
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
on 8 July.
Timeshift
On 12 January 2005, UKTV launched a time shift service called UKTV People +1 It was exclusively available on
Sky Digital, and ran exactly the same broadcast on a one-hour delay. It also ran for the same hours as its main channel, except an hour ahead.
For unknown reasons, the service closed on 18 April 2006, and was removed from the Sky EPG afterwards. Its bandwidth would be reused for
UKTV Drama +1 which launched two weeks later on 2 May, however unlike UKTV People +1, UKTV Drama +1 initially aired as a part-time service.
Identity
When the channel launched as UKTV People, the idents all featured people depicted from different angles set against a screen split in four, before fading into the stacked UKTV People logo. Later in 2007, the idents features a live-action footage where the people are working or having activities (e.g. building site, shopping centre) before a red part moving into the stacked UKTV People logo over a three striped red background. This same background also featured on promotions for the channel, both on the channel and across the network.
When the rebrand to Blighty occurred, a new logo was designed consisting of a brightly coloured
Union Flag
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
. This is seen on a large scale flying behind the scenes depicted in front. These scenes included many people and centred on a number of typically British themes:
rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
, with large
wellies
The Wellington boot was originally a type of leather boot adapted from Hessian boots, a style of military riding boot. They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The "Wellington" boot became a staple of p ...
, business men with
umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used ...
s and people
camping
Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...
;
sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
with beach scenes, and other summer activities;
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
, with all methods of making tea celebrated alongside cakes and biscuits and multicultural, featuring foreign dances and Indian food and spices.
Programming
Much of the channels programming focused on repeated programming, mainly but not exclusively from the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Additionally,
...