Hog 4 in control for The Big New Years & Years Eve Party

Viewers were treated to a musical extravaganza hosted by British musician Olly Alexander in the form of BBC One’s The Big New Years & Years Eve Party. Filmed at London’s Riverside Studios, the two-part concert included guest performances from pop superstar Kylie Minogue and the legendary Pet Shop Boys. The show included a pause for the countdown to midnight and footage of London’s “Big Ben” ringing in the new year before the action headed back to the show as Olly and friends continued the party. 

The Years & Years singer threw a spectacular New Year's Eve party with a captivating lighting design from Gurdip Mahal, featuring more than 40 universes of fixtures. To provide main and tracking backup control of the elaborate lighting rig, programmers Ross Williams and Rob Bradley selected a pair of High End Systems Hog 4-18 consoles – the flagship console of the Hog family – supplemented by two Full Boar 4 consoles and two new HPU Hybrid Processor units.

The main lighting system was supplied by PRG, with crew chief Tim Saunders responsible for the installation aspect and Ben Hornshaw providing WYSIWYG support for two days pre-production off-site. LED was supplied by LED Creative and Light Initiative, with Josh Grace in the position of production designer. 

Williams has been a freelance lighting designer and programmer since 1995 and has won multiple awards for his work in television. Unsurprisingly, he is no stranger the challenges involved in productions of this nature. “These shows with ever-increasing fixture counts and very limited rehearsal time can be quite stressful to say the least, and this one was certainly no exception,” he says. “I definitely appreciate the increased performance and reliability I’ve noticed since first investing in both Hog 4-18 and HPU back in the summer. In combination, this appears to create an environment that enhances the overall user experience and has proved a positive one over a number of high-profile shows throughout the second half of 2021.” 

Having owned almost all varieties of the console, with only the original Wholehog missing from his repertoire, Williams continues to keep a close eye on the latest developments in the Hog family. “The move towards linear patching is a particular recent favorite software-wise, something which appears to be equally appreciated by the system techs too,” he says. “I’m looking forward to seeing where the software goes this coming year as the world hopefully returns to some sort of normality and more shows return.” 

Photos courtesy of Guy Levy/BBC