And now, the weather – Part 2 

29 March 2006 tbs.pm/3491

2000

'Weather with Bob Johnson' caption.

Onto 2000 and in September, Tyne Tees got a new look and the weather was no exception, getting its own little caption and title sequence, with a jingle sounding very similar to the ITV national weather jingle. Sadly it wasn’t used for very long as the weather soon got a new sponsor.

A second version of the caption was used for forecasts without Bob. These are done mainly at weekends by the team in Leeds, but are also used when Bob is on holiday.

Bob Johnson standing in front of a waterfall.

The obvious way to start your weather forecast is by standing in front of a picture of a waterfall.

'Weather with Bob Johnson' caption.'Weather with Jon Mitchell' caption

The graphics had a lovely blue backdrop and of course included space for Bob’s various quotes and text, although these weren’t used by the Leeds based team, as demonstrated on the right by Jon Mitchell.

Jon Mitchell in front of a satellite weather map

Bob is also the only person to put ‘us’ on the satellite map.

Bob Johnson and a weather map.

The maps were also much nicer than the old set. Bob’s trademark town name spelling remains, here shown by spelling out ANY.

Jon Mitchell and a weather map.

Jon goes for the two towns with the same initial letter instead. Forecasts from Leeds also tend to include more symbols on the maps, as demonstrated perfectly here. Broadcasts at weekend do tend to be shorter which may explain it.

Sunrise and Sunset times

In between tonights and tomorrows forecast is a good a time as ever to tell us the sun up and down times. Can’t say I’ve ever seen Bob do this, but the Leeds team seem to like it. Incidentally, this example is from December 2001, hence the lack of any daylight!

Weather map with Jon Mitchell.

On to tomorrow and even more symbols from Jon. Note the rather nice looking kite though.

Weather summary caption from Newcastle.Weather summary caption from Leeds.

And with that, a weather summary. First a Newcastle version, second one from Leeds. Note the different spacing in use on the main summary.

2002

In 2002, new weather graphics were introduced on the Tyne Tees bulletins. Part of the reason for the change was to allow the same graphics set to be used across all the Granada North franchises – Tyne Tees, Yorkshire, Border and Granada. At the same time, the Leeds based weather team started presenting in-vision weather forecasts for the Border and Granada regions, although their forays into the North East would continue to be only during weekends and when filling in for Bob’s holidays!

For weather warnings, a subtle road sign was used in the background. Although it’s white background doesn’t offer a particularly wonderful contrasting background for the text of the warning.

Cloud map

Leeds based Jon Mitchell shows us the clouds over the North East.

Pressure map of Europe

The 2002 style pressure map. Annoyingly Bob’s finger is over the old classic ‘us’ label.

Bob’s favoured way of chosing town names continues – Sunderland, Meadowfield, “Into glen” (Ingleton), Leeming and Elvington? Ah… Smile!

Best make sure you have a scarf if you’re off to see the Boro!

For the overnight forecasts, the map goes all grey.

Bob’s told us to Smile. Or so we thought! A quick change to just Meadowfield, Ingleton, Kirkby Fleetham and Elvington and we find out. Yep, just Mike has to smile!

Sadly Jon’s town selection is a bit less interesting – the default selection of Alnwick, Newcastle, Middlesborough and York.

And before Bob signs off, the three day outlook and the look ahead.

Daytime weather map Nighttime weather map

From a presenter-less morning bulletin, graphics for the daytime and the evening. The morning bulletins were still created in Newcastle at this time, and voiced over by a Tyne Tees producer.

Pollen forecast from 2002

For a short time in the summer, the pollen forecast was split out of the main bulletin across the Granada North regions. This was to allow the forecast to be sponsored – weather bulletins were not sponsored due to being part of the news bulletin. In 2004 an alternative way round the problem was found – effectively putting in a ‘Weather’ sting, then the sponsorship trailer.

Christmas 2002

There’s nothing like having a nice touch of Christmas with your weather forecast. It’s so… well… seasonal.

Christmas-style weather titles from 2002, with Bob Johnson.

Bob managed to get some nice sort of snowy effect on his weather titles, whilst the Leeds team (represented here by Jon) have a rather more colourful red bauble.

Christmas weather titles, with Jon Mitchell.

Bob’s graphic may not have been as colourful, but he did find time to tell us when James Joule was born: 24 December 1818. And you thought weather forecasts just told you whether it was going to snow!

Christmas version of the European satellite map. Christmas version of the 3 day outlook graphic. Christmas-touches to the North East weather map. Christmas version of the summary graphic

Christmas was celebrated with a snow-flake pattern added under the title of the graphic. Very tasteful.

Jon Mitchell with the Leeds version of the Christmas graphics.

The Leeds implementation of the design was slightly different for some reason. Rather than a thick band of snow flakes, a slightly smaller one was used.

Why this should be, is an interesting question. In this era where the same weather graphics are used for four different ITV companies, you’d think everyone would implement the same design in exactly the same way.

Boxing Day summary graphic.

Also interesting is that some graphics didn’t get the snow added. In fact Bob’s summary graphic for Boxing day doesn’t have any Christmas effects at all. Not even any holly.

Bob's town-play.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a Bob Johnson weather forecast without some town-name play. In the image above, you can see two shots from the Christmas Eve forecast. The insert shows the first three town names used: North Seaton, “Al owned all ten” and York, which of course spells out Nay.

Second map went a bit further: Spittal, Lynemouth, Allendale Town and York. Slay. Not quite the spelling that conjours up Christmas, but never mind.

And in case you’re wondering, there is no town called “Al owned all ten”. Why Bob chose to use it instead of Allendale Town on the first part of the forecast… well only Bob will be able to tell you.

2005

In February 2005 new weather graphics were rolled out across the ITV regions, meaning that local and national weather bulletins would look the same.

Jo Blythe with a summary caption

Jo Blythe presenting from the Leeds studios, welcomes viewers to the bulletin. Note the ITV Tyne Tees caption in the top right. Surprisingly the graphic used here is not actually the official logo which has ITV all in one block, not three as shown here.

Pressure pattern graphic

Oddly on the pressure chart, the regional name is not used – a generic ‘ITV Weather’ being used in the top right instead.

Jo Blythe with tonights weather Jo Blythe with tomorrows weather

Unlike the BBC, which revamped at a similar time, ITV Weather retained icons and a flat map for its forecast, claiming that its research had shown that users found the 3D effect confusing. In a letter to the Guardian, ITV’s Nigel Pickard claimed that, unlike the BBC’s graphics, ITV’s had been introduced without a single complaint.

Jo Blythe with the sunrise and sunset times Bob Johnson with a look at the weather for the next few days

And finally, a look at the sun times, and the next few days with Bob.

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