June 2010: BBC Studios and Post Production (BBC S&PP) has refurbished its Studio D facility at Elstree, installing a new sound desk, improving its audience rostrum and refreshing key customer areas. Odd One In, made by Zeppotron, an Endemol company, for ITV1 is the first show to benefit from the upgrade.

Studio D has a rich history of supporting some of the UK’s favourite TV shows, such as The Muppets and Morecambe and Wise. More recently it has been home to CBBC’s Relic, which was shot in HD as well as CBeebies’s Bamzooki, which drew on BBC S&PP’s virtual reality expertise.

BBC S&PP has invested in a new Studer Vista 5 sound desk, an extremely robust and reliable sound system, which is also available in many of its Television Centre studios. The existing Yamaha DM2000 desk is being retained as an auxiliary desk. BBC S&PP Sound Supervisor Gary Clarke worked with the engineering team to install the new desk, which was immediately put to use on The Odd One In.

The audience rostrum, comprising of 319 cinema style wooden frame seats, has been completely stripped and refurbished to its former glory. It now looks immaculate with new cherry red livery. It has been used twice a week since the refurbishment, with full houses enjoying shows in great comfort. Key customer areas such as the production gallery, production office, meeting rooms, green rooms and dressing rooms have also all been refreshed - the places where production teams spend most of their time, so that they get maximum benefit from the investment.

Studio D is suitable for all types of light entertainment work, SD or HD and is particularly good for productions wanting set standing space. Resource Manager Jules Silvester says: “Studio D has a unique, production village atmosphere which production teams really seem to appreciate. We provide bespoke, fully managed studio services, tailored to individual production requirements. The refurbishment has made a real difference and it was great to see full houses enjoying the new audience seating. Studio D is fully booked until early October, so it is going down well with our customers too!”

Zeppotron’s Odd One is a brand new comedy game show for ITV1. Hosted by Bradley Walsh and featuring singer and TV presenter Peter Andre and comedian Jason Manford, Odd One In sees two celebrity teams go head to head to pick the person who has a unique skill or secret in a series of weird and wonderful line ups.

As well as technical facilities, S&PP provided sound, design and electrical crew as well as engineering and studio management. 9 cameras were used on the show. Recording took place in May and the programme is due to transmit in July.

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