South West England & CI Thread

I think Spotlight have painted their studio floor black, and it looks awful. It doesn't look level and just looks really cheap. I've only seen it once briefly today, so not sure if anyone can shed some more light on it?

Any news on the progress of their new studios?

I doubt Pebble Mill peelable was applied there then.

News on MT: I hear yellow is on the table (quite literally!). All will be revealed.

Vanessa used to present/report for Westcountry Live. Apparently Lisa Aziz has got rid of the £5million ITV case thingy - but, there are no clues to whether she is returning or not. Her picture and presenter write up still remains on the ITV Westcountry website though - http://www.itv.com/westcountry-east/meettheteam/

Here's a (slightly poor) cap of what I was talking about earlier

Probably time for that PMP to be peeled up I think, time to start again.

That looks as bad as Points West's floor looked in 2004 when they first installed their current set - the floor of Studio-A was the original floor from the former Network Production days and was not in the best of condition. The gloss paint applied softened the top surface even further and the back projector screen actually sank into it. Eventually camera tracks across the floor became so unbearably bumpy they were seldom used and a completely new floor was laid (with Points West reloacting to the newsroom for several weeks while it was done) in 2005.

Sadly, with a new studio on the way, I very much doubt the old one at Plymouth will get an overhaul even though it is clearly knackered!

Just to add about Vanessa Cuddeford (from Westcountry Live) - apparently she will be covering for Ellie Barker when she goes on maternity leave. So, I spose this means Lisa Aziz will not be returning?

Suspect it is Martac (though it looks a bit thick for that) that has been recently layed and not had the bubbles popped. (Wheeling a nice heavy ped over them usually works - if not a craft knife to pop them)

Haven't heard of PMP being used for ages. ( TVC main block use water soluble stuff and wash it off with their nice machines, the 6th floor studios use Martac ISTR - because they don't have suitable drainage for water soluble, and can't use solvent based paints)

Is that the same type of floor they use on shows like 'Mock the Week', where when first put on looks very good, but because they reflect the light so well it shows up even the slightest imperfections like the marks of a camera track?

On an unrelated note, Spotlight viewers won't have seen this, but the BBC Channel Island News had a wee cartoon of David Braine waving on their Christmas endcap last year, which is here if you want to see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxs56y38xi4

Not really a fan of that side of the studio now - the black floor really doesn't help. It looked pretty nice when it was just laminated.

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/bbc_southwest/images/news/bbcspotlight21042008c_large.jpg

Ahhh I knew there was something different but couldn't work out what... wonder why they have done that...

Looks terrible

There is a general move away from laminated wood floors to tie in with the current Network look. Although having said that, Network programmes use a grey floor! In a lot of regions, standard domestic laminated floor was laid onto the existing studio floors. Actually even the heaviest peds move rather well across laminate, so it's not unreasonable for most centres to keep it in place. Removing it might reveal a whole hornets nest of problems to fix with the floor underneath!