BBC Outside Broadcasts captures kidney transplant operation

BBC Outside Broadcasts has captured a kidney transplant operation as part of a major BBC season highlighting the issues around organ donation and transplantation in the UK.
‘DoNation: Kidney Transplant’ is an hour-long special focusing on the real-life story of husband and wife Rajesh and Varsha as they undergo a living donor kidney transplant operation. Varsha is the kidney donor and Rajesh the recipient. Professor Robert Winston introduces the documentary, which will be transmitted on BBC One at 9pm on Thursday 25 August 2005.
Building on the success of the award winning ‘Breast Cancer: The Operation’, which BBC Outside Broadcasts captured for BBC Factual and Learning last autumn, a crew once again scrubbed up and donned gowns to join the surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists in the operating theatre.
A team of 15 from BBC Outside Broadcasts worked closely with St Mary's Hospital in Paddington to ensure that the serious health and safety implications of a crew working in a sterile environment were addressed. Two cabled cameras and one robotic camera, custom-made by BBC Outside Broadcasts’ Special Cameras department, were used to capture surgeon Nadey Hakim and his team as they removed one of Varsha's healthy kidneys and transplanted it to Rajesh.
Two cameramen and a sound operator worked alongside medical professionals in the theatre. The robotic camera was operated remotely from a nearby room and the fourth camera was operated by the surgeon himself.
Due to recent terrorist threats in London, the hospital was on a high state of alert throughout the set up and recording of DoNation: Kidney Transplant. It was crucial that production did not infringe on the day-to-day working of the operating theatres, so BBC Outside Broadcasts used a minimal cable rig from the theatres to the car park where the OB vehicles were located, some distance away.
Sound was a challenge, as all the surgical team were wearing masks. The crew needed to be creative in their microphone placement and in the event mics were placed on the surgeons’ glasses, nurses’ masks and gowns to achieve broad sound coverage. Effects mics were placed on the lighting rig and on a “Fishing pole” to capture atmosphere sounds.
Lighting was also complicated, with a large window at one end of the theatre, and two very bright lights in use over the table. The lighting team had to install a rig that would provide enough light to shoot against the window, but be unobtrusive to the surgical team and, most importantly, not add any heat to the situation. All equipment had to be installed in the theatre’s down-time, and every single item was cleaned and wiped down with antiseptic, including the lights, scaffolding, microphones and cameras. Twice the operation had to be postponed at short notice, as Rajesh was on anti-rejection drugs which weakened his immune system and made him susceptible to viruses, so the team from BBC Outside Broadcasts had to rig and de-rig several times.
BBC Outside Broadcast Engineer Manager Steve Hall said: “There was no margin for error and the project could not have happened so successfully without the close interaction between theatre staff, hospital authorities and ourselves. For us, it’s a really humbling experience to work alongside such a dedicated professional team who make so much difference to peoples lives.”
DoNation: Kidney Transplant is produced by Lisa McHale; the executive producer is Tina Fletcher and the Production Manager is Rachel Lyon.The Executive Producer for the DoNation season and Life On The List is Edwina Vardey.
(GB)