November 2009: BBC Studios and Post Production is supporting the first ever BBC Children in Need in HD. The seven hour live TV marathon, which takes place on Friday 20 November will go out on BBC One and BBC HD. Hosted by Sir Terry Wogan, Tess Daly and Alesha Dixon, the show will feature some of the UK’s top TV, musical, TV and theatrical personalities and acts, including Pixie Lott, Spandau Ballet, Little Boots, Sugababes and Westlife, as well special performances from the cast of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and the BBC Newsreaders.

The main star studded show is being transmitted live from Television Centre’s Studio One, the UK’s largest HD studio at 10,000 square foot, using 13 Sony 1500 HD cameras. BBC Studios and Post Production is providing cameras, sound and lighting craft teams, as well as scenic and electrical effort. It is a massive build, involving many contributors, supervised and managed by Planning Coordinator Roy Bean, Scenic Supervisors Mark Osbourne and Bob Keeble and Senior Production Electrician Bob Bandoo.

It is a hugely complex studio operation. The Studio One gallery will handle digital feeds from all over the UK, including Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, as well as from the BT Tower in London and other English regions. The outside broadcasts include BBC East, based at the Millbrook Proving Ground for a motor sport themed evening, BBC North on location at the Hartlepool Marina, BBC Midlands, which will broadcast from the Millennium Point in Birmingham and BBC South East at the Drusillas Park Zoo in East Sussex. In addition, BBC Studios and Post Production is providing facilities for BBC London, who will be recording behind the scenes footage at Television Centre’s Stage Door throughout the day and utilising the Studio Six gallery.

BBC Studios and Post Production’s Post Production team has over the last 6 weeks edited, graded and sound mixed an extensive range of HD insert and appeal films, these will feature: The One Show cast recreating Fame, a musical extravaganza from the EastEnders cast in Albert Square and a look behind the scenes at the Newscasters rehearsals for their musical performance. As well as Appeal films and messages from the cast of Harry Potter, Cheryl Cole and Alesha Dixon, all of which will be played into the live show by the team of Post Production Editors and Assistants running the live post turnaround.

BBC Studios and Post Production has completed a series of HD upgrades to their replay and VT Multiplexer areas specifically to support this project and future HD live events. On the night, they will be using HD EVS servers and their newly-built HD fast-turnaround edit facility to service the close-to-air editing requirements for concert and studio footage, insert play-in operation, and highlight package elements of the show.

BBC Studios and Post Production Resource Manager Andrew Breaks says: “The excellent connectivity and technical infrastructure available at Television Centre makes it ideal for these kind of multi-location live broadcasts. For Children In Need 2009, there will be nine OBs delivering a mixture of HD and SD feeds into Television Centre – for example the feeds from the BBC’s Pacific Quay studio in Glasgow and from the BT Tower will be HD, whilst other feeds will arrive in SD and be upconverted. This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of our capability - in 2007 for Live Earth, BBC Studios and Post Production took HD feeds from 12 live global music concerts and supported 22 hours of continuous coverage to 135 countries.”

For further information, please contact:
Georgie Hollett, Head of Communications, BBC Studios and Post Production
Tel: +44 (0)20 8624 9495
Mobile : +44 (0) 783484 5612
Email : georgie.hollett@bbc.co.uk

back to top