Devising the 2

In February 1991, in response to research that found BBC Two's on-screen look was considered "dull and worthy" by audiences, channel controller Alan Yentob called in brand specialists Lambie Nairn to produce a new look for the channel. The idents they developed were hugely popular with the public, and Celia Chapman, Executive Producer at Lambie Nairn said: "BBC Two was probably the first ident that got its own fanmail!"

Initially all the logos appeared in the colour viridian with atmospheric soundscapes. Over the next few years, more quirky character idents were introduced to the series. These were replaced by computer-generated 'Personality' twos on a yellow background from 2001-2007 and latterly as a cut out 'Window on the World' design (2007-2014), but still using the same '2' shape. For the channel's 50th anniversary in 2014, a number of the original 1990s set returned to the screens by popular demand and stayed for four years until a successor series ('Curve') was introduced in late 2018.