With a completely new format and arena-style seating, the event was designed by Imagination with lighting designer Gurdip Mahal for BBC Television. The BBC's production managers, Karen Dorling, Jon Sweeney and John King, along with Imagination production manager Lee Wateridge, called in Vertigo Rigging to design and rig the enormous lighting grid required to cover both stage and audience.
Vertigo project manager Claudia Connelly comments: "The NEC had quite a logistical challenge as the Sports Personality show came in the morning immediately after the Clothes Show - they were de-rigging the night before. We came in at 8am and rigged all 140 motor points for Sports Personality in 12 hours flat, ahead of schedule. Because of the two shows running virtually back to back, they asked us to coordinate between the two as far as possible, and one result was that we kept elements of the Clothes Show's sound system, supplied by Delta Sound, in place for this event."
Vertigo's 17-strong crew - including Connelly - rigged the entire set and lighting rig, along with four giant LED screens from Creative Technology. Vertigo also supplied and rigged all the show's extensive drapes. Lighting came from AFM with gaffer Stuart Pring.The lighting grid itself consisted of straight runs and boxes over the audience, while the asymmetrical set was designed to create a wide variety of lighting looks and positions. In all, Vertigo rigged some 500m of James Thomas truss as well as a number of items that were custom built by Vertigo's fabrication department.
With champion rider Zara Philips jumping for joy at picking up the coveted silver trophy ahead of golfer Darren Clarke and gymnast Beth Tweddle, the BBC was celebrating too - with the live audience figure up from last year's 5.1 million to 5.8 million.
(Lee Baldock)
