Alibi is a British

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

channel that was launched on 1 November 1997 as UK Arena. It was renamed UK Drama in 2000, and then UKTV Drama in 2004, and assumed its current name on 7 October 2008.

History

The channel originally launched as part of the new four channel

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 throug ...

network on 1 November 1997. The channel, originally named UK Arena, focused on arts programming and was named after the BBC's flagship arts programme ''

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

'' (The BBC, through

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...

, owning half of UKTV and therefore half the channel). The channel aired as a part-time service, airing from 7pm-7am every day. However, following disappointing ratings, the channel's focus was broadened to include all drama series, and as a result was renamed UK Drama on 31 March 2000. Within the launch of UK Food on 5 November 2001, UK Drama began timesharing with the new channel at the same broadcast hours. By 2002, UK Drama's broadcast hours were reduced to 9pm-5am. On 8 March 2004, the channel, alongside all other UKTV channels, was renamed UKTV Drama to increase awareness of the central UKTV brand. On 9 April 2005, UKTV announced that the channel would expand to a full 24-hour schedule on 30 May. Following the successful relaunch and rebranding of the channel UKTV G2 as

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 ...

on 15 October 2007, the remaining UKTV channels underwent the same changes. UKTV Drama was renamed Alibi on 7 October 2008, and the channel's programmes were changed to focus specifically on crime dramas. All non-crime dramas were transferred to the rebranded

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 ...

channel or to the newly created flagship channel

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 ...

Subsidiary channels

Alibi +1

Alongside the main channel, a time shift channel is also operated: Alibi +1. Corresponding to the name on the main channel shows all programming from the channel one hour later, with no special idents or continuity used. It originally launched on Sky on 2 May 2006 as UKTV Drama +1. Unlike its main service which broadcast around the clock, the timeshift only operated as a part-time service that broadcast from 3pm-2am. The channel was added to

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...

on 23 October 2007.

Alibi HD

On 29 July 2011,

announced that it had secured a deal with

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

to launch three more high-definition channels on Sky. As part of Virgin Media's deal to sell its share of UKTV, all five of UKTV's HD channels would also be added to Virgin's cable television service by 2012. Alibi HD launched on 3 July 2012 on Sky and Virgin Media, while Dave HD and Watch HD launched in October 2011. All three channels are HD

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

s of the

standard-definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

channels.

On-air identity

When the channel launched on 1 November 1997, the idents featured a star shape, usually inside a circle, with the UK Arena logo below. The logo, like that of all the UKTV channels until 2001, featured a single straight line logo with the UK prefix in a white box and the channel name typed in

Gill Sans Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards. Gill Sans is based on Edward Johnston's 1916 "Underground Alphabet", the corporate font of London Undergro ...

above a line extending out from the box. When the channel rebranded to UK Drama on 31 March 2000, the idents remained the same, with a change of the colours and the logo the only noticeable differences. A new design introduced on 7 May 2001 resulted in the UK Drama logo standing alone at the bottom of the screen in a bold text, stylised to appear as: "^UK Drama". On the end of the logo, a small design was included. One was assigned to each channel, with the exception of

UK Gold Gold is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded UKTV Gold in 2004. In 2008, it was split into current flagship channel Gold and miscellaneous channel, W, with clas ...

and UK Gold 2, to identify what the channel broadcast. In the case of UK Drama, it was a bold, eight pointed star within a circle. The idents themselves were replaced by three men beating drums with water on the surface with each drummer bathed in a particular colour light: red, blue and green. A subsequent name change to UKTV Drama saw the logo with an uppercase 'DRAMA' below a UKTV logo which was aligned to the left of the screen, a predominantly purple colour scheme, and idents that featured a giant glass appearing 'D', which used from 30 May 2005 to 6 October 2008. Following the rebrand to Alibi on 7 October 2008, the channel's idents were all accompanied by the Alibi logo, seen with interchangeable colours of white, black and red, and featured words associated with crime and murder arranged into different shapes; the outline of a dead body, a gunshot shattering a pane of glass, the dials of a safe, and the beam from a torch illuminating the words. On 1 July 2015, Alibi had its first rebrand for seven years, with a slight change to the overall look and feel. The channel's red identity was made slightly darker while the logo stayed circular with white font, no dot over the first "i" and a black dot over the second. New idents feature crime scenes with the camera following red string that joins the clues together before resolving into the new logo.

Programming

The output of the channel is a combination of drama series and serials comprising first-run exclusive and second run shows from the United States and Canada, together with second run showings of shows from the BBC and ITV.

Original programming

Drama

* Annika (original series) * Traces (2 seasons, 12 episodes) (Alibi original series) (Renewed) * We Hunt Together (2 seasons, 12 episodes) (Alibi original series)(Renewed)

Co-production

* Inspector George Gently

Current

* The Bad Seed (New Zealand import from

TVNZ 1 TVNZ 1 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tahi) is the first national television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It is the oldest television broadcaster in New Zealand, starting out from 1960 as indep ...

) * Bite Club (Australian import from

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

) * CSI:Vegas * Death in Paradise (also shown on Drama) *

The Doctor Blake Mysteries ''The Doctor Blake Mysteries'' (also ''The Blake Mysteries'') is an Australian television series that premiered on ABC TV on 1 February 2013 at 8:30 pm. The series stars Craig McLachlan in the lead role of Dr. Lucien Blake, who returns home t ...

(Australian import from ABC (Australia)) (also shown on Drama) * Doctor Foster *

Evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

(US import from

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

) *

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English author G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intui ...

(also shown on Drama) and spin-off Sister Boniface Mysteries * Frankie Drake Mysteries (Canadian import/UKTV co-production with CBC Television) * Harrow (Australian import from ABC (Australia)) *

Hudson & Rex ''Hudson & Rex'' is a Canadian police procedural drama television series, based on the Austrian-Italian drama '' Kommissar Rex''. It premiered on Citytv on March 25, 2019. Filming commenced in October 2018, with ongoing production in St. John's, N ...

(Canadian import from CBC) *

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (gi ...

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries ''Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries'' is an Australian drama television series. It was first broadcast on ABC on 24 February 2012. It is based on author Kerry Greenwood's historical mystery novels, and it was created by Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger ...

(Australian import from ABC (Australia)) *

Miss Marple Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Ch ...

(also shown on Drama) *

Miss Scarlet and The Duke ''Miss Scarlet and The Duke'' is a British-American period crime television drama created by Rachael New, starring Kate Phillips and Stuart Martin as the title characters, two Victorian detectives. The first series began broadcasting on Alib ...

Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries ''Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries'' (also stylised as ''Ms Fisher's MODern Murder Mysteries'') is an Australian television drama series which began screening on the Seven Network on 21 February 2019. The series is a spin-off of the drama se ...

(Australian import from

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

) *

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...

(Canadian import/UKTV co-production with

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television ...

/ CBC) * New Tricks (also shown on Drama) * One of Us (Australian Import) *

Ragdoll The Ragdoll is a breed of cat with a distinct colorpoint coat and blue eyes. Its morphology is large and weighty, and it has a semi-long and silky soft coat. American breeder Ann Baker developed Ragdolls in the 1960s. They are best known for the ...

(American import/UKTV co–production with AMC+) *

Rizzoli & Isles ''Rizzoli & Isles'' is an American crime drama television series starring Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles. Based on the series of ''Rizzoli & Isles'' novels by Tess Gerritsen, the plot follows Boston Homicide po ...

(US import from TNT) *

Pretty Hard Cases ''Pretty Hard Cases'' is a Canadian police comedy-drama television series that premiered on CBC Television on February 3, 2021. Originally announced with the working title ''Lady Dicks'', the series was created by Tassie Cameron and Sherry White ...

(Canadian import) * Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators *

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...

(also shown on Drama) *

Silent Witness ''Silent Witness'' is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC, which focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in 1996, the series was created by Nigel ...

(also shown on Drama) * Strike * Taggart (STV)

Previous on Alibi

1-800-Missing ''Missing'' (originally titled ''1-800-Missing'') is a Canadian crime drama television series based on the ''1-800-WHERE-R-YOU'' book series by Meg Cabot. The series aired on the A network and W Network in Canada, and on Lifetime in the United S ...

(Canadian import from

W Network W Network (often shortened to W) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts general entertainment programming oriented towards a female audience. W Network was established in ...

) *

55 Degrees North ''55 Degrees North'' is a BBC television drama series starring Don Gilet as DS Nicky Cole, a London detective relocated to Newcastle upon Tyne after exposing police corruption. Dervla Kirwan co-stars as Claire Maxwell, an ambitious solicito ...

* Bergerac (now on Drama) *

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

(ITV) (now on W and Drama) *

Body of Proof ''Body of Proof'' is an American medical/ crime comedy-drama television series that ran on ABC from March 29, 2011, to May 28, 2013, and starred Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt. The series was created by Christopher Murphey an ...

(US import from ABC) *

Cagney and Lacey ''Cagney & Lacey'' is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very di ...

(US import from CBS) * Campion *

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

(US import from ABC) *

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a c ...

(US import from TNT) * Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (US import from CBS) * Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour (US import from CBS) * Crossing Lines * Dalziel and Pascoe (now on Drama) * Dangerfield (now on Drama) *

Detective Conan ''Case Closed'', also known as , is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' since January 1994, with its cha ...

(Japanese import from

TMS Entertainment , formerly known as the , also known as or , is a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946. TMS is one of the oldest and most famous anime studios in Japan, best known for numerous anime franchises such as '' Lupin the Third' ...

; presented in Japanese with English subtitles) * Diagnosis: Murder (US import from CBS, now on CBS Justice) *

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

(broadcast during 2008 as a special season presenting all of Tom Baker's episodes) *

Due South ''Due South'' is a Canadian crime comedy-drama television series created by Paul Haggis, and produced by Alliance Communications from its premiere on April 26, 1994, to its conclusion after four seasons on March 14, 1999. The series starred P ...

(Canadian import from

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

, US import from CBS, now on

Sony Channel Sony Channel is a brand of general entertainment television channels, owned by Sony Pictures Television. It was previously known as Sony Entertainment Television (SET), but many of the channels, except the Indian television channel, were rebrand ...

) *

Deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

Father Dowling Mysteries ''Father Dowling Mysteries'' (also known as ''Father Dowling Investigates'' in the United Kingdom) is an American mystery television series that aired from January 20, 1989 to May 2, 1991. Prior to the series, a TV movie aired on November 30, 198 ...

(US import from

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

/ ABC) * The Glades (US import from A&E) *

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

(US import from CBS) * Hamish Macbeth (now on Drama) *

Hart to Hart ''Hart to Hart'' is an American mystery television series that premiered on August 25, 1979, on ABC. The show stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, respectively, a wealthy couple who lead a glamorous jetset life ...

(US import from ABC, now on

) *

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates ''Hetty Wainthropp Investigates'' is a British crime drama television series, starring Patricia Routledge as the title character, Henrietta "Hetty" Wainthropp, that aired for four series between 3 January 1996 and 4 September 1998 on BBC One. ...

(now on Drama) *

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

* The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries * The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (now on Drama) * Jack Taylor (Irish import from

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television * Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by E ...

) *

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the titular character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solvi ...

(now on Drama) *

Judge John Deed ''Judge John Deed'' is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Mr Justice Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real ...

(now on Drama) *

King & Maxwell ''King & Maxwell'' is an American drama television series that ran on TNT from June 10 to August 12, 2013. The series featured Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn as Washington, D.C.–based former Secret Service agents solving crimes as private detect ...

(US import from TNT) * The Last Detective ( ITV) *

Lie to Me ''Lie to Me'' (stylized as ''Lie to me*'') is an American crime drama television series. It originally ran on the Fox network from January 21, 2009, to January 31, 2011. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The Lightma ...

(US import from Fox) (previously on Sky One) * Maisie Raine (now on Drama) * The Missing * The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries (now on Drama) *

My Life Is Murder ''My Life Is Murder'' is an Australian and New Zealand murder mystery, crime comedy-drama television series, broadcast on Network 10 and TVNZ 1. The ten part series premiered on 17 July 2019, at 8:40 pm. In the United States, the series began s ...

(Australian import from

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...

) * Murder in Mind *

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The seri ...

(US import from CBS, now on

5USA 5USA is a British free-to-air television channel. It is owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia and is a sister channel of Channel 5, 5Action, 5Star and 5Select. It was launched on 16 October 2006 as Five US and was the second digital ter ...

) *

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

(US import from TNT) * The Protector (US import from Lifetime) * Quantico (US import from ABC) *

Rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

(ITV) (now on Drama) * Rush (Australian import from

) * Reckless (US import from CBS) *

Republic of Doyle ''Republic of Doyle'' is a Canadian comedy-drama television series set in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, which aired on CBC Television from January 6, 2010, to December 10, 2014. The show stars Allan Hawco as private investigator and f ...

(Canadian import from CBC, now on Fox) * Return of the Saint (ITV) * Ripper Street (now on Drama) *

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investiga ...

Rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated ...

(US import from Fox) * The Saint (ITV) * Secrets and Lies (US import from ABC) * Sherlock *

Shoestring Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots, and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both end ...

* Spooks (BBC) (now on Drama) * Stumptown * Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye (US import from PAX) * Tommy *

Ten Days in the Valley ''Ten Days in the Valley'' is an American drama television series that aired on ABC from October 1, 2017, through January 6, 2018. The series, starring Kyra Sedgwick, was ordered direct-to-series on August 4, 2016. After airing four episodes, ABC ...

(US import from ABC) *

Unforgettable Unforgettable may refer to: Film * ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta * ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film * ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film * ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...

(US import from CBS/ A&E) (previously on Sky Living) * Waking the Dead (now on Drama) *

Wallander Wallander may refer to: TV, film, books * Kurt Wallander Kurt Wallander () is a fictional Swedish police inspector created by Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell (1948 – 2015). He is the protagonist of many thriller/mystery novels set in and ...

* Whiskey Cavalier *

Why Women Kill ''Why Women Kill'' is an American dark comedy-drama anthology television series created by Marc Cherry. Set in multiple time periods, the series depicts the events leading to deaths caused by women. It premiered on August 15, 2019, on CBS All A ...

(US import from

) * WPC 56

References

External links

*
UKTV at The TV Room

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alibi (Tv Channel) Television channels and stations established in 1997 UKTV UKTV channels Crime television networks

History

Subsidiary channels

Alibi +1

Alibi HD

On-air identity

Programming

Original programming

Drama

Co-production

Current

Previous on Alibi

See also

References

External links