Stage Electrics on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’

Stage Electrics supplied all moving and intelligent lights for two locations at Celebrity Big Brother - in the studio and the outdoor set - plus additional kit for the finale, sensationally won last week by Chantelle Houghton.
Darryl Noad was the lighting director for the high profile Endemol produced series recorded at Elstree Studios, which drew record viewing figures for Channel Four.
Stage Electrics’ project manager was Simon Baker. The contract to service CBB followed on from Stage Electrics’ supply of intelligent lighting to the normal series last summer, which was also the first time Noad took over the lighting design/direction role.
Simon Baker and his team first worked with Noad on the “Most Haunted Live” series. It proved a winning combination, so Noad ensured that Stage Electrics went on the Big Brother tender list, and from there, they won the pitch.
The studio element of the rig consisted of 19 Martin Professional MAC 2K washes, used for the regular bi-weekly broadcasts. Sixteen PixelLine 110ec’s – their debut on a UK TV production - were also supplied by Stage Electrics to the Little Brother chat show.
The weekly show’s exterior rig included 15 MAC 600 NTs in inflatable domes, 8 MAC 2K profiles, 4 MAC 2K washes and 16 JTE PixelLine battens under-lighting the stairs. These were used extensively to light and project graphics and gobos onto the wall of the Big Brother house which formed one side of the exterior compound, and also illuminated the evictees walkway.
The show’s generic lighting was supplied by Park Royal based Film & Television Services, who also dry hired four 48-way Avolites ART2000 dimmers from Stage Electrics to power their kit. Baker and his team worked very closely with Film & TVS’s Malcolm Bray and Adrian Portinari.
(GB)