Studio Sets, Infrastructure and General Technical

Yes - Cat and Mouse used to do a large number of gameshows, but their excellent Skype integration caught Microsoft's eye, and Microsoft made them an offer that was too good to refuse for the company.

I think some of the team behind the gameshow side are now at Kinetic Pixel (who seem to do the same stuff on the same shows) though I may be wrong.

It’s Studio 2. You might not realise it but a slight ‘fog’ has been laid down so that the beams from the light spots stand out. Norton’s set (in TLS 1) had the performance area to camera right of the set partly so that the front section of the audience seating could be removed and a large Technocrane could be positioned there - it wouldn’t have been very satisfactory in the centre area.

Oh yeah. I see the fog now, noticeable when the spotlights are flickered on and off.

Geez. There’s a lot goes into this lighting and stage-setting business!

This may seem like another daft question, but where does that fog come from and how is it released? Is there a smoke machine in the roof?

Normally generated by haze machines which will be located at appropriate points around the studio, with fans to blow it in the right direction as required. Low-foggers give the “dry ice” effect at ground level which you often see on Eurovision and Norton, and use a different type of fluid.

I think there was a split and one of them formed Cat and Mouse and the other Ionoco. Then as you say they were snapped up by Microsoft and I think the TV gfx side was moved to Kinetic.

C&M used to do a lot of the BBC election graphics outside of London - not sure about Scotland but definitely Wales and NI.

Does Millionaire still use Cat and Mouse?

Riverside Studios have a timelapse of their studio changing sets which shows you a bit of what's involved.
http://www.riversidetv.co.uk/studio1lapse.mp4

Great video, some years old now. That Apprentice You're Fired set at the end has to be one of the dullest studio sets in history. I think it's changed now to something more pleasing on the eye but I remember being struck by the sheer lack of imagination that went into the old set made up of little more than some massive circles!

Yes, I always thought that set was a downgrade on the original You’re Fired set which wasn’t very exciting either but looked more the part and less cheap.

Apologies for Katie Hopkins who was trotting out the same lines then as she does now.


I’m surprised that Total Wipeout needed such a large studio space. I guess the rear project screen is the main reason, but I probably always assumed it was green screen. I guess it did allow them to use the cactus prop. Still I find it difficult to believe it needed such a massive space for the end result in screen.

Yet, even with pausing, it doesn't look like Richard Hammond on the set of Total Wipeout. Wonder if it was another overseas versions links being recorded?

Still, puts to bed an answer to a question I've always had - just where were the UK's studio links recorded?

I assumed it was some very small studio in Soho (like Molinaire) or at the old Endemol West/BBC Resources studio in Bristol, given it was half an hour drive from Hammonds home in the Cotswolds.

It does look like it could be Richard Hammond in parts. There is at least one person who isn’t Richard Hammond sitting in it at times, but I guess he could just be someone else working on the show.

I bet some of countries did take foreign versions of Wipeout though and just added in their own links. Not sure why they would need to come to the UK to do it though.

Ah, is that what it was. Couldn't work out why they seemed to move all the seating for that when it didn't look like they needed too.