I know this video's a bit personal; it's not the sort of thing I normally do. But it seemed like a good story to tell for Christmas.

More thoughts...When making these sequences I know, that at best, they will only be seen a couple of times, so it’s surprise to discover a young boy would remember them and make a film about one in particular.

Final thought...I guess if I were to do it all again the OS map would be replaced with an iPad with google maps, the laser with a transitional glitch, I would have used a drone with a lidar scanner to create a point cloud for the terrain using MR for the scene. Denis would be a digital avatar using body and facial capture generated live from a MoCap studio. If Star Wars can do it then it’s only a matter of time…

Tom: *talks about how important is the work of those who work behind the camera* The camera guy: *literally walking uphill backwards*

“They bothered to make the compass spin”. This reminds me of a story I heard about the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. The armourers and leatherworkers were so enthusiastic that they engraved the different cultural motifs/insignia on the inner areas of garments/equipment despite knowing it would not be visible on the screen. I think that kind of passion bleeds over into the visible work, and the audience appreciated the authenticity. PS - I only discovered Tom 24 hours ago, and this content is lovely.

I hope whoever had the idea of making that compass spin watches this video

From now on, I'm going to call it "spinning the compass" when someone goes the extra mile

So Tom (and cameraman!) walked that entire distance for a full 18 minutes, did it in one take (even if there were multiple attempts), and arrived at the exact correct point just as the dialogue concluded. That's great work.

Having just watched the "Last" video, I want to say that this is my favorite. On lots of levels. Well done and congratulations.

Here's hoping the guy who moved the compass needle sees this.

Hi Tom. The whole thing was a pain in the arse but was also great fun to do. Thank you for noticing the ‘craft’ involved in producing these sequences. I was the designer responsible from No.4 through to 21 years of Alright on the Night and it was always a challenge to produce a new title for each of the shows. I am grateful to Denis Norden and the producer Paul Lewis who supported me even if they didn’t notice the compass!

I was working in CG in 1996. That title sequence was the subject of coffee break conversations. The thing about VFX is that most of the time we were trying to go unnoticed. We even had a saying, "For 99% of the time, if you can see that we did something its because we did it wrong." It was, and mainly still is, all about selling the shot, making the audience not even think to question what they see. So being able to show-off a bit is a cool gig for an effects artist.

I grew up through the 90s and 00s, I loved the fact that every single person watched that same episode at the exact same time and then going to school the next day and everyone was talking about that particular episode.

Can we just appreciate the dude filming this climbing a steep hill BACKWARDS whilst holding a camera and keeping Tom steady in centre shot

The motion graphics director sure picked that hill to die on.

I love how this video made me nostalgic for something I never knew existed.

I love how this guy clearly loves what he does, entertaining and educating people.

"...right after the break" *ad starts* I like that. It's a little nostalgic.

Walking for 20 minutes uphill while delivering dialog is a magnificent skill. Props to the camera person too :D Keeping you in frame while walking up hill, mabey even backwards.

Not a title sequence but James Burke walking along and then pointing to a rocket just as it launched (Connections) was brilliant timing.

This was amazing. Tears in my eyes at the End.

I have never seen a transition as clean as that 7 to the studio floor.

Gotta love that heavy on the sax, generic, 90's music that they still play at Chinese buffet near you.....

This is the EXACT reason why there is a difference between a content creator, and an artist. You, Tom, are an artist.

Okay, confession time, when Tom mentioned hiding easter eggs in the background, I was kindof expecting an easter egg to be present in maybe the foliage of the hill in the background, or maybe a plane with a flag to fly by or something. Maybe I was actually missing something, or maybe I was just looking for something that wasn't there, but either way, I'm amazed by how easily I was set into a "gotta find the hidden stuff" mindset by just the mention of easter eggs.

“They bothered to make the compass spin” should be a phrase that’s used to describe the type of dedication someone puts in for something that arguably isn’t worth it

Some of Toms videos are genuinely rewatchable like episodes of your favourite TV program

You kept me for 18 min on a show I've not seen or heard of before. That's how good it was. Thank you for putting this tribute together and expanding my horizons a bit

So the cameraman had to climb up the hill, backwards, filming Tom, deploy a drone, climb down the hill to be out of the shot, and fly the drone for that ending. I feel like thats exactly what Tom was talking about in this video

Of all the incredible videos you've masterfully produced Tom, I have to say this has been my favourite. You've captured the essence of what makes creativity so rewarding and vindicated artists, creators and compass animators the world over, who've ever wondered "Will anybody appreciate the attention to detail if I go the extra mile?"

Every once in a while I come back to this video and just smile. I don't know why, I have never seen the show and I am not a Brit, but the video just makes me smile. Cheers to you Tom.

"I didn't need to ... but I did." Your joy in these memories and this discussion is obvious and infectious. Even to those of us who had never even heard of the original show.

Wow. I never expected to be watching an 18 minute video of some stranger walking up a hill talking about the title sequence of a show I'd never heard of, and yet here I am -- and it was worthwhile! I share your appreciation of creative individuals who go above and beyond to make something special. I hope that whoever created that title sequence is still around, and that they get to see this video.

Tom, we dont care if your videos are personal or not, as long as they're interesting (they always are). So feel free to make any content you like!

"It's also a warning how youtube won't last forever" I'll be honest, i can't imagine life without youtube. So many youtubers make me howl with laughter, amaze me with their musical skills, or damn good video's. I know it won't last forever, but... would it end within our lifetime? I think not to be fair

Absolutely love how in most- non location based videos you’re just kinda going for a hike. Makes it feel like I’m hearing facts from a buddy while we go on a walk!

When I saw the "advert break incoming" symbol I was half way to the kitchen to make a cup of tea before I stopped myself. Old habits die hard.

Some people say Tom Scott is still walking to this day.

Adding the “cue marker” before a mid roll Ad kicked it was a great little bit of nostalgia and a great Easter egg ! As soon as I heard the words “Alright on the night” I heard the theme tune in my head, I had no idea it was still going passed the 90s !

Thanks for your historic recognition of the thousands of people who worked on the title sequences in the 90s I was one of those unsung heroes. Lots of technical skills have been lost. It was nice to see at least one person noticed

Tom: 'Let's go for a hike up cockup hill.' Tom's mate: 'Cool let's go' Tom: 'You'll be walking backwards carrying a camera.' Tom's mate: !?!?

I had a dream the other night where Tom Scott, I can only assume snapped, and uploaded a UKposts video that began "I'm sitting here in this empty train car, and I'm going to yell profanity at these seagulls outside" and did just that.

Hey Tom, I think at 6:27 you can see the transition from CG to film set you said you were looking for! I believe that the red circle with the 7 is CG all the way until around 6:27, then you can see the tip of the 7 suddenly shift and seemingly move to the actual position.

I was about 14 minutes in when I realized why he was walking and where he was and it put the biggest smile on my face. What a great payoff!

You know the year is almost over when tom wears his grey hoodie instead of his red shirt

The compass anecdote reminds me of "Bumping the Lamp", a term in the VFX/Animation industry for "Going above and beyond expectations". It refers to the scene in Roger Rabbit where Roger and Eddie are cuffed, hiding in the Speakeasy's old smuggling room, and one of the characters bumps the overhead lamp. This causes it to swing, meaning every single frame of Roger's animation needed to have the painted shadows move to a unique position relative to the lamp's constantly changing angles, a ridiculously difficult task that technically contributes nothing to the story and most people won't even notice, but was done anyway because -Richard Williams is a madman- the animators were just that dedicated.

As someone who was lucky enough to work through some of those golden years of TV, I salute you Sir. This isn't just personal, you nailed it... Thank you. 👍 (just sorry it took so long to find your work)

This made me cry openly -- which is probably a weird thing to read, but there's a subtle distinction that needs to be made: I could have cried because TV really has passed its peak (and with it, surely, so have I), and I could have cried because Tom did such a lovely job of celebrating everything he celebrates in this video, comme d'habitude. But what made me cry is the realization of something much more specific and, in its way, much more personal: When he was a child, Tom Scott saw that episode and -- by the kind of cosmic chance that these things always have to be -- he JUST. HAPPENED. TO. BE. LOOKING. AT. THAT. COMPASS. And it quite literally changed his entire life. Let that sink in for a moment. Had someone said something at that same instant -- had the family dog walked into the living room and nudged his shoulder, had a car horn blared outside, had someone so much as sneezed -- he would have missed that compass, just as we all did. Instead he saw it. He was looking right at it. And in that one frozen eye-blink of his life, his life was changed. Would he have gone on to be a UKpostsr? Eh, maybe. But would he have gone on to be Tom Scott? Not a chance. Love the tiny moments that happen to you like this. Don't just "savor" and "appreciate" them, the way people tell you to -- that part's so easy as to almost count as just the opposite. No. LOVE those moments. Nurture them like children, trust them like brothers and sisters, listen to them like mothers and fathers, follow them like whispers from the Gods. Because that's exactly what they are.

I'm more impressed that Tom's walking up a fairly steep hill not even getting out of breath while delivering his monologue. Thanks to working from home I can't get off the sofa without breaking a sweat

Who else loved the small detail of the spinning black and white bars just before the break

This is probably the greatest and most genuine tribute to anything I’ve ever seen, and it still matches the rest of your content while honoring the show and being something you personally enjoyed. Love to see it Tim.

I think this might be your best video ever Tom. It has such personal importance while showing the impermanence, as well as the value of the medium you use. Even though it is only just shy of 18 minutes, it feels like an odyssey, even in a landscape of excessively long youtube videos. Thank you very much for this, and here's to 10 years of Tom Scott expedition videos.

This brings to mind how Pixar actually rendered a blooper reel for Monster Inc.

I like to imagine that the cameraman was just some dude trying to enjoy nature, when Tom Scott suddenly approached him and started talking, to which the cameraman carefully stepped backwards while always maintaining eye contact for 20 minutes. Edit: Wow this blew up!

Mother of everything unholy, this video was a blast to watch. As someone being born quite abit later than you (and not being british) I have had no idea this show ever existed to begin with, but the inspiration you've drawn out of it is amazing and the homage you're paying with the ending actually made me shed a tear of joy. After binge-watching your videos for 3 or 4 days now, I am convinced that having subscribed to your channel is atleast 10x more benefiting for me than it is for you, cause you actually made this week so much better for me. Thank you very much and for the love of whatever you may believe in, please keep it coming.

We got _It'll Be All Right On The Night_ televised here in New Zealand when I was growing up, I loved watching them. This is an awesome tribute.

The only reason this had two parts is the fact that Tom needed to BREATHE at some point!

Saying "Merry Christmas, Denis Norden" is like how people who blew a take in a Tarantino film said "Hi, Sally!" to his late editor.

That I can only 'like' this once is a travesty. So many layers to take inspiration from, not least the great comments. Of all your great videos, this has left me most emotional.

I’ve watched this several times now and this vid is just an absolute masterpiece and one of your best, Tom. Thank you for being as much of a nerd as I am.

The ad break might have been the best Tom Scott easter egg so far, and I'm not using that statement lightly.

As an actor, I noticed. You learned your lines rather damn well.

I love it when you can tell someone had fun making something. You can tell that those intros were someone’s passion project, someone’s baby that they slaved over, dedicated to making it good. Humans are great sometimes.

This is one of the best UKposts videos I have ever seen, and hearing you talk about something you are so passionate about cheered me up, it felt like I was genuinely hearing a story from a friend

17 Minute Tom Scott?????? LETS GO

I swear Tom Scott has been saying that youtube won't last forever for forever.

You can hear him get more and more out of breathe as the video goes on. After watching a few of your videos I'm sure that there will always be people willing to go above and beyond even if only a few people will really appreciate it.

In tribute to this homage, Tom you finally earned my subscription. It's a long time coming any way but it feels right to do on this video. Wonderful way to reflect and say all the right things to tell someone how much you appreciate their work.

Unironically, one of the best videos I’ve seen this year. Thank you Tom and the team for making these high quality education videos. And of course, Merry Christmas :)

This video gave me chills! Brilliant work, Tom.

I'm currently taking a video production class and I have definitely gained an appreciation for video producers like the ones you mentioned. Those small and almost insignificant details mostly go unnoticed but when they're finally seen you just have to appreciate the time and effort that went into working out how that effect/transition/etc. should play out.

Cue dot! Love your work Tom, you painted a very personal picture on how art and attention to details mean something and can change a person. Inspiring.

The black and white ticker before the ad break really took me back to sitting in front of an old CRT screen on a Sunday night!

I had a similar experience back when Pixar was still jaw-dropping amazing and at the end of "A Bug's Life" there was the "blooper reel" with the credits [a la Canonball Run] and I sat there amazed that the entire crew, from writers to animators and editors and actors created _intentional mistakes_ to tack onto the end of the movie to entertain people watching the credits while filing out of the theater. and since these clips required just as much effort n resources to create as the running movie, the producers paid for people to make these mistakes and then paid for the computing power [bleeding edge expensive] to render it all.

I always love it when someone or something in the foreground obscures the on-screen text. Sure, if I knew anything about digital video-making I might think "oh hah, that trick" but seriously every time I see I just really like it. For me, it always adds a nice feeling to the vid.

This is consistently one of those videos I watch over and over again. It's a near perfect example of superb storytelling. The intro of the video to the meat and potatoes and the follow through of the endinging, genuinely impressed with the who programme. Merry Christmas Tom Scott!

Gosh, this was so sincere I got choked up at the end. I've never even heard of the show, but Tom's delivery and narration was so engaging, and even touching, I started to feel nostalgic for it. Merry Christmas Tom, and merry Christmas Denis Norden. 💜

The real hero is the guy behind the camera climbing the mountain walking backward.

this video truly made me smile. thanks for all you do to continue the legacy you love and are part of, Tom. we love you and all the work you do to entertain and inform us. please, for the love of everything good in this world…please keep it up. 💜👍🏻

I've watched this video multiple times and I got to say that this is one of the best videos ever from this channel and maybe even the entire platform. And it's mostly just about a title sequence for a show I had no knowledge about or connection to as I'm not from the UK. Still the 18-minute long video does not feel boring at any moment. Everything starts by talking about a very obscure subject and in the end it's something much bigger. It's just fantastic.

The moment you said "becasue 25 years ago someone bothered to make a compass needle spin" made me tear up a bit. I can't describe why, but I thought I'd share.

THIS is the internet. I've never even heard about the programme (on account of being a swede), but Tom reminiscing about technical details that no-one else noticed at the time is kind of what the internet has always been: a document of the past and present, with as many nuances as there are uploaders and commentators. Even the latest tech-vids next year are going to be someone's nostalgia in the future. Superb storytelling Tom! This one was golden.

Love your passion and attention to detail. As someone who was writing for TV in the 90s I totally appreciate how much craft went into this.

had to revisit my favorite tom scott video with the recent updates. thank you for being so dedicated to the craft

The god of the single take has returned.

Loved that black and white flashing "the adverts are coming" thing on the top right. Nice touch. I've not seen one of those in decades.

I come back and watch this every so often and it makes me all nostalgic and emotional Thanks for everything Tom x

This was genuinely inspiring. Thank you. And thank you for going the extra mile in all of your videos.

I don't quite know why but this made me emotional. I'm too young for TV's golden age, but there's a lot of weird and wonderful internet content that has inspired me in a similar way, and that includes your videos, Tom.

It was shows like "It'll be alright on the night" and seeing backstages of theatres that made me realise all the huge amounts of effort going on behind the scene. Not only did it not "ruin the magic" it made it better, there was now this secret world and huge groups of people pulling those strings and making creativity a reality. I knew it would be my job of choice when I grew up. This year has been extremely hard for so many of the people behind the scene's, myself included, so spare a thought to those who make events happen, this time we need your support.

Tom, not only do I feel enlightened and entertained by your videos, but you come across as very likable. I'd love to one day be able to say hello to you in person (if this pandemic ever permits movement). I think you'd be such a wonderful companion for a bushwalk, or exploring somewhere new. Thanks for sharing your time, energy and creativity here on UKposts, it's made it better.

I've watched this video at least 3 times now. I love to hear a genuine explanation of what inspires someone to commit to a craft or career. It's so heartwarming. Thanks Tom!

Okay I massively enjoyed the “adverts coming up” marker in the corner and “I’ll tell you after the break” and then actually having adverts there!!!

I'm a motion graphics designer working on a big television network. This video brought tears to my eyes. It's so hard to do things for yourself when you're working around tight deadlines and the will of people who don't know what they're. The spinning compass is hard to pull off. We all want it, most of us need it to just keep getting out of our beds, but we just don't have the time and most of the time, the energy to do so. Knowing it'll be cut out or "someone might not like it" just drains you, if you work with creativity.

This is, I think, my favourite youtube video. It's perfect. Obviously, I'm British, I remember all the It'll be alright on the night programmes, but - more importantly - I appreciate the straining to get the details right that defines achievement in so many fields. As you said, nobody'll register all that effort that went into some title sequence, just as nobody would ever even see a hidden carving on a the ceiling of a medeival cathedral. But I saw your "cue dot" (or, apparently, "ident"). All hail the thought put into the details!

I’m amazed by your skill Tom. Nearly half and hour of explanation and discourse without a script… no ums or has and pure genius in flow. Well done!

[legally-distinct theme tune] I'm glad the subtitles made that clear.

Can we all appreciate the cameraman managing to walk backwards for 17 minutes

Thanks for this video - it helps me understand why I'm attracted to your work, it's the professionalism and the strive for betterment if not perfection! It's also a great starter for how I can teach others to push themselves and their work when they could half-ass it easily.

Nine months on and I am on watch four. This is just well done on every level and helps me center myself and decide on who I choose to be.