The show aired for the first time on Saturday 26 February and sees the students perform live from the Academy every night on BBC One. At the end of each show, one is expelled until just three are left for the final showdown during Red Nose Night on Friday 11 March. Extended backstage coverage of the show is also running for digital viewers on BBC Three and BBCi.
Show lighting is by Mark Kenyon and Roger Williams, and features 69 Chroma-Q Color Blocks providing a wide variety of effects lighting as part of the overall rig. Lighting includes 25 Color Blocks around the rear perimeter of the stage at floor level in an arc batten format, built into the set and facing the cameras. A further 12 units are mounted vertically but individually on the walls either side of the stage, and four horizontally, as side fill/mini blinders again facing the cameras. Finally, 28 truss mounted Color Blocks are used at one-meter centres to wash the audience.
100 Color Blocks have also been supplied to BBC's Television Centre to be used as part of the sets lighting for Red Nose Night on Friday 11 March.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
