BBC Studios And Post Production In A League of Their Own

Now in its fifth series on Sky 1 and Sky 1 HD, the hugely popular comedy panel show, A League of Their Own, owes its award-winning success to its continued quest to be funnier, more risqué and daring each time it airs.
Hosted by the irrepressible James Corden, with team captains Jamie Redknapp and Freddie Flintoff, the show pits top comedians, celebrities and sports stars against each other in an irreverent test of their sporting knowledge and prowess. From tasks such as arranging David James’ haircuts in chronological order to the ever-more adventurous physical sporting challenges, this winning formula has seen it become a regular fixture of Sky’s entertainment programming in recent years.
This desire to push the boundaries of what’s possible in TV entertainment brings many opportunities. Unsurprisingly it also creates many creative, technical and operational challenges for the CPL Productions team and BBC Studios and Post Production, who deliver technical crew and facilities at their Elstree Studio D.
The meteoric rise in the show’s popularity has impacted the production in many ways, not least from a simple scale point of view. The first two series were squeezed into medium-sized studios but it quickly became clear A League of Their Own had outgrown its humble beginnings. Enter all 9000 square feet of Studio D at Elstree.
As Jules Silvester, studio manager at BBC Studios and Post Production, says: "The great thing about Elstree Studio D is that audience seating is not taking up valuable floor space – effectively you have the full 9000 square feet to play with to design your sets and action. The set is double the size of the first two series and has a fantastic array of camera positions which means we don’t miss any of the action."
The breadth of Studio D’s ancillary facilities – including a production office, costume, make-up and dressing rooms, two smaller adjacent studios, an executive viewing area, four general purpose rooms with gallery connectivity, edit suites and green rooms – were also key in the decision to upgrade. As Silvester points out: "We tend to think of all these rooms as blank canvases and let the production’s specific requirements dictate the best function for them. Their beauty is their versatility - for example, we can quickly change a green room into an edit suite. Needless to say, A League of Their Own is using every room available.
A League of Their Own tests the creative and technical capabilities of the production team and flexibility of the studio space like few other shows. If it wasn’t enough to capture the energetic quartet of Corden, Bishop, Flintoff and Redknapp and all their antics in the regular quiz show format, the scale and complexity of the weekly sporting games add yet another dimension. With this in mind, rather than cram in the audience, the show’s producers have opted for an audience capacity of 420 so that the production doesn’t encroach on the visual expanse of the games area.
Silvester takes up the story: "One week we may have a water tank holding 22 tonnes of water for a synchronised swimming challenge; the next we may have a race track to pit the contestants against an Olympic cyclist. It’s very much about thinking on our feet – it’s the only show with activities in the studio on such a large scale that literally change every week. So we work very closely with CPL in the studio before going into full production mode so they can test out the show’s crazy games well in advance."
To back up CPL’s camera, sound and lighting crew, BBC Studios and Post Production provides a full support service for the production - including studio management, engineering, electricians and scenic hands.
To make the most of talent, space and crew availability, typically the team will record eight shows over an intensive three-week period. To give an idea of the scale of the show, the average CPL production team is about 50 swelling to a massive 130 on a show day, including crew and guests – all of whom need feeding and looking after. So it’s a major undertaking and needs to run like a well-oiled machine.
Unsurprisingly, the size and intricacy of the operation also places heavy technical demands on the crew. While the studio comes with a saturated grid of 80 5k Dual Sources and 40 Dominos, lighting director Chris Rigby designed a very efficient plot comprising mostly of Macs and Clay Paky Sharpys. This kept the weight down in the games area leaving ample capacity in the grid for the massive rising video wall weighing in at nearly four-tonnes.
Camera wise, the standard set-up comprises 10 standard cameras, including five heavy Vinten Pro-Ped pedestals, a crane and a Sony HDC-P1 slung from the grid. Depending on the complexities of the games, the team also has the option to add an eleventh specialist camera. For instance, for one particular game involving big cryo-baths, the team rigged up an infrared thermo camera to show the dark blue bodies of the unfortunate panellists plunging into near freezing water. And on another occasion, they set up a super slo mo camera on the desk to capture Frank Lampard kicking a ball through ten sheets of glass (sugar glass of course!).
Each series brings with it a mantra for the games to be ‘bigger, bolder and better’. "Our job," says Silvester, "is to make sure we can technically and creatively realise CPL’s wonderful creative visions. We have to ensure we can physically make the games work in the space and also take into account the health and safety aspects of dealing with water, fire, weapons, animals - or a mixture of them all! Luckily we have years of experience in dealing with all sorts of variety acts so we can always help them achieve their objectives safely - however weird and wonderful."
Often it’s the quirky little stunts that sometimes provide the biggest challenge. Last series the team wanted to surprise everyone - including the regular panellists - by smuggling a full size camel into the studio for John Bishop to make a grand entrance on!
"Having a camel on site without anyone noticing was hard enough but managing to sneak it into the studio, round the fire lane twice (including rehearsals) had to be approached with a military precision to ensure the talent did not bump into us unexpectedly," says Silvester. But it paid off – the reaction of the other panellists and the audience confirmed that it was mission well and truly accomplished.
Planning, planning and planning are what makes a production on the scale of A League of Their Own a success. But even the best-laid plans can go awry. Then it comes down to how the team deals with those unexpected issues. As Silvester mentions it was the reaction to a problem outside of their control that was his particular series highlight - and which amply demonstrates the ‘going that extra mile’ philosophy.
He recalls: "We had an extremely fast turnaround one week, and had to move from a couple of giant jacuzzis containing 19 tonnes of water on one day to beach volleyball with six tonnes of sand on the next. Production had booked the suck truck to be there for 9am to empty the jacuzzis, which should have left us time to get the volleyball set up for rehearsals at midday. Unfortunately the suck truck had a technical problem and after half an hour it was clear that it only qualified for the later half of its name! With no other appliance in the area my team decided to literally put all hands to the pump to empty the baths manually. Within minutes, everyone available from runners to management was pitching in with buckets and bins and there was an almighty cheer when we realised we had shifted over half a tonne of water per person in about an hour!"
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