Mersey TV adopt Lightworks Touch for drama work

Liverpool’s Mersey Television, creators of TV soaps Brookside and Hollyoaks, recently took delivery of four Lightworks Touch systems.
Graham Deaves, technical director at Mersey, said: “To be honest, we’ve looked at everything else out there,” says Graham. “More than that, we’ve had them all here on trial, so we know them very well. They were okay, I suppose, but even though it’s now nearly ten years old, our Lightworks is still the best machine for single-camera drama, and that is what we do. Lightworks is simply unparalleled for what we do every week. That’s due in part to the fact that Lightworks was originally built as a film-style editor for single-camera production. It has remained true to its roots and is simply the best. It has all the right tools, and it is so fast! We’ve got guys here who can edit a half-hour drama in a day on a Lightworks. One of our guys can do it in pretty much half a day. Suffice it to say that our editors can really move on the Lightworks systems.”
With the amount of work that goes through Mersey TV each and every week, there is simply no time to be sentimental about equipment. Founded by Phil Redmond in 1982, Mersey is one of the largest, most successful and respected independent production companies in the UK. Much of the company’s success is the result of its two long-running serial dramas, Brookside and Hollyoaks. Both programs are produced for Channel Four.
With such a heavy workload each week, every minute is precious and time is at a premium.
Deaves and the Mersey TV team have a clear enthusiasm and high hopes for the new generation of Lightworks systems. Like so many others out there, Mersey has been very loyal to Lightworks over the years.
In the final analysis, however, it has been a purely practical choice: “We’ve tried everything else, but nothing else works as well,” says Deaves. “It’s that simple. Other systems might have lots of extra bells and whistles, but not what we really need. Things like the Clipboard are absolutely invaluable. When we were evaluating other systems, we told all these other companies that their systems were too slow, but if they had a Clipboard they might be better. No one else paid any attention.”
See Lightworks at IBC on stand number 7.630 or visit www.lwks.com