ITV Nightscreen axed

[dbl]

Ooo hello…

Yeah Unwind is in essence Slow TV. As some have guessed, gentle ambiance, long shots, some just scenery and vistas, some on process of a carpenter or potter etc pretty GVs and calming views.

"GVs"? ?‍♂️

They're shots that establish the location of the subject - so if the subject was about Central London, it'll be Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Leicester Square etc, etc... to give a feel of what you're about to watch.

[gottago]

Made by Rock Oyster Media which are based in Devon so yes, still a regional quota box ticking exercise. And judging by what I've recorded they've just stuck a camera outside their offices for an hour or two!

It ends with some logos for mental health charities and says the show was developed in collaboration with the CALM charity, perhaps in the hope that it will persuade Ofcom that they'd doing something worthwhile not to change their regional quota rules again!

[IdentFan101]

Full video of the first Unwind With ITV is on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/8m-LNca9NFs

[Brekkie]

Wonder if they might look to monetise this in the future with various local travel boards.

[eyeTV]

It's even lower effort than I thought it would be. About 5 locations in 1hr 20 minutes. Not even a caption to say where they are.

[Benriggers]

Looks like Nightscreen is no more as of 1st October, replaced by ‘Time to Unwind on ITV’ which is described as some sort of nightly well-being thing.

I like that approach, considering how mental health issues have become an epidemic of sorts here in the UK. Hopefully this new programme could provide some much-needed calm to those struggling,

It's gone down really well with one Youtube clip with the uploader calling it "rubbish" (in the description of the clip). Great to see mental health being taken seriously (!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWEGaaVcvUg

[Larry the Loafer]

I wonder if these are establishing shots from the cutting room floor of shows like Doc Martin and Vera

[Brekkie]

Ultimately it's just overnight filler - nobody really cares about it until they suddenly think they need an opinion on something they never watch anyway. From ITV's point of view though it is cheap content they can pass off as part of their mental health campaigning, and I'm sure some people upon discovering it may consider recording a few episodes to their PVR for when they feel they might need it.

ITV obviously feel there is a benefit in breaking away from scheduled programming for an hour or so at 4am each night when they could easily put in a nightly repeat of Tenable alongside Tipping Point to fill the time, or back to back trailers, rather than effectively shutting down for a period.

[VMPhil]

Don't see the problem with it. Surely this is better than Nightscreen?

[TheMightyTRex]

Full video of the first Unwind With ITV is on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/8m-LNca9NFs

That video of the beach reminds me of the test transmissions for on digital /freeview with the awesome music. Can't remember the name or find a clip online

[Josh]

Ask and you shall receive:
https://youtu.be/Ok06G7E07Ik

Personally I think this is better than Nightscreen. I echo [mention]Brekkie[/mention]'s points about how nobody actually watched it religiously and people are just being angry for the sake of it. It's just a cheap way to fill a couple of hours in the middle of night. In the age of EPGs being readily available, Nightscreen was useless.

Now that I think of it I'm not sure why they're playing the mental health card with this. Yes, mental health is something we need to be weary of and it's nice to unwind but bearing in mind this isn't even available on ITV Hub, it just seems like a glorified box ticking exercise. Better than Nightscreen though nonetheless and quite like it (even if I have no intention of watching it on purpose).

[russty_russ]

For me Unwind with ITV feels like a natural closedown moment to fill dead air where as ITV Nightscreen just felt like there should have been a programme in its place. Maybe, I'm of an older generation that knew there was something in its place before the Nightscreen days.

I wasn't sad when Nightscreen finally went, not in the same way when the final In Vision Pages From Ceefax. That felt like a real end of era. It could have been worse, they could have filled it with more Teleshopping.

[scottishtv]

The YouTube channel SuperLegendary has uploaded the STV version (the only difference being the opening):



...and here's their clip of the opening and end.

Wonder if they might look to monetise this in the future with various local travel boards.

Sticking with STV, a few weeks of output back in the summer was sponsored by VisitScotland. That's clearly not the same as what you're suggesting here, but I do wonder if it's one of the first times we've seen sponsorship text baked into idents as opposed to being on their own bumpers? (Credit goes to the YouTube channel Nibbler's Shadow)

[Ash101]

Of course if it’s being filmed outside of London, then it ticks that box and fills the quota. Which is why they’ll always do something like this instead of showing an extra show at 4am.

It’s nice. It’s certainly an improvement on what went before. Something to stick on if you’re struggling to sleep as it is relaxing, so does what it says on the tin.

[Spencer]

The YouTube channel SuperLegendary has uploaded the STV version (the only difference being the opening):

Looks like ‘Unwind with Stu’