Blighty was a British pay television channel broadcasting as part of the

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading 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 a join ...

network of channels. The channel was originally launched on 8 March 2004.

History of Blighty

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 ori ...

'' and the docusoap ''

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

''. 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, 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 timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

Alibi An alibi (, from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person under suspicion in a crime that they were in a different place when the offence was committed. During a police investigation, all suspects are usually a ...

. 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: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...

, while the channel acquired some other programmes looking at British life. The channel closed at midday on 5 July 2013, replaced by Drama (now U&Drama) 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. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

. 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 a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

, with large

wellies A Wellington boot, often shortened to welly, and also known as a gumboot, rubber boot, or rain boot, is a type of waterproof boot made of rubber. Originally a type of leather riding boot adapted from Hessian (boot), Hessian boots, a style of m ...

, business men with

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is usually designed to protect a person against rain. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used when protec ...

s and people

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

;

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

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 south-western China and nor ...

, 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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, who held a 50 percent stake in the channel through commercial arm

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 monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

. Additionally,

programmes were edited to fit the time slot as an original broadcast for an hour-long programme on the BBC might be as much as 58 minutes long, whereas the same programme on Blighty might be 42 minutes long without the commercials. *''

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...

'' *'' A Life of Grime'' *''A Life of Grime New York'' *''Air Medics'' *'' Amazing Adventures of a Nobody'' *'' Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain'' *'' A Picture of Britain'' *'' Billy Connolly's World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales'' *'' Billy Connolly's World Tour of Scotland'' *''

Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) * Billy (surname), a surname (and list of people with the surname) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pyg ...

'' *''Blackpool Medics'' *''Blues and Twos'' *''Blues and Twos: Dawn Raiders'' *'' Britain From Above'' *''Britain In Motion'' *''British Style Genius'' *''

The Britpop Story Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

'' *''The Builders'' *''

Coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

'' *'' Dog Borstal'' *''

Escape to the Country ''Escape to the Country'' is a British daytime television property-buying/ real estate programme that has been on the air since 14 October 2002. The show was originally produced by Talkback Thames and first aired on BBC One, with repeats on BBC ...

'' *''Fantasy Homes by the Sea'' *''

Gardeners' World ''Gardeners' World'' is a long-running British gardening programme, first broadcast on 5 January 1968. The 2024 series is the 55th. Its first series was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. Up until 2020 most of its e ...

'' *''Gutted'' *'' Heir Hunters'' *''

The House of Tiny Tearaways ''The House of Tiny Tearaways'' is a British reality television series hosted by Claudia Winkleman with child therapist Tanya Byron that was produced by Outline Productions. It ran for four series, broadcast from May 2005 to December 2007, on BB ...

'' *'' Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours'' *''

James May's Toy Stories ''James May's Toy Stories'' is a UK documentary television series created and presented by James May, and produced by Plum Pictures for the BBC. The programme focused on bringing some of the most notable toys conceived in the past into the mode ...

'' *'' James May's 20th Century'' *''

James May's Big Ideas ''James May's Big Ideas'' is a three-part 2008 British television miniseries in which presenter James May of '' Top Gear'' fame travels the globe in search of implementations for concepts widely considered science fiction, or his ''big ideas''. Th ...

'' *'' James May's Top Toys'' *''Dom Joly's Made in Britain'' *'' Market Kitchen'' *'' Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work'' *''My Brilliant Britain'' *''Rhodes Across China'' *''Rescue Heroes'' *'' Rory and Paddy's Great British Adventure'' *''Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys'' *''Save Our Boozer'' *''Seaside Rescue'' *''

Sky Cops ''Sky Cops'' is a British documentary series broadcast on BBC One revealing the work of the Police aviation in the United Kingdom, air police in the UK. The show, which was first broadcast from 2006 to 2008, follows police helicopters from the S ...

'' *'' Trawlermen'' *''

Traffic Cops ''Traffic Cops'' is a British documentary series broadcast on Channel 5, following Roads Policing Units from various UK police forces. It has consistently been one of the most watched factual series on UK television. The series is currentl ...

'' *'' Who Do You Think You Are?'' *''Wonderland: The Man Who Eats Badgers''

References

External links