First broadcast on BBC Two on 25th October 2004, Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two is the daily companion show to the BBC’s Saturday night juggernaut.
The show, currently hosted by Fleur East and Janette Manrara, gives fans updates on all the glamour and gossip from Strictly Come Dancing, with contestants, professional dancers, Strictly’s judges and make-up and costume designers as well as celebrity fans dropping in each night.
It Takes Two is filmed at BBC Elstree’s Studio M, a former music studio which previously played host to orchestras recording production soundtracks.
“Later in life, Studio M was used for BBC Drama sets, until 2022 when it was modified to support the production of multicamera light entertainment,” explains Alex Rudge, resource manager at BBC Studioworks, which provides all technical facilities and infrastructure for It Takes Two.
“During this period, adjacent rooms were modified to house the various technical and production galleries required and scene dock doors were constructed to allow light entertainment sets to be brought into the studio.”
The 2022 upgrade also included a ground-supported lighting truss system to accommodate traditional production lighting rigs and flown sets, which is used by It Takes Two.
“BBC Studioworks works closely with the [the show’s] set designer and lighting director to construct the set/lighting rig around early September,” adds Rudge. “During this same period, work starts on building the various technical areas (production and sound gallery, lighting control room, and central apparatus room). These are constructed from start to finish in around a week.”
Due to the nature of It Takes Two and its transmission schedule, the studio is left ‘set standing’ between episodes, enabling the team to film anytime at short notice. “The full It Takes Two de-rig at the end of the series (studio/galleries) takes less than 48 hours, which allows the studio to be repurposed for any number of uses,” adds Rudge.
Flyaway kit
For 2024, BBC Studioworks has created a new flyaway kit for It Takes Two, designed to work with up to ten cameras, but currently built for five Sony HDC 1700 cameras, with one locked-off wide shot, four manually operated and one on a Jib.
“The vision bit of the flyaway kit is based on an Evertz Nexx Router,” explains Sebastian Gomez, supervisory studio engineer at BBC Studioworks. “We are using the 5 RU frame populated with 3 I/O cards which give us 96×96 inputs and outputs of up to 3G-SDI signals. The router also acts as an audio router using the Nexx’s MADI capabilities and creates eight multiviewers for the galleries.”
The flyaway uses a Sony XVS7000 as vision mixer, which Gomez says “might sound like overkill”, but it allows the kit to be expanded if needed. “What I’d say is the most interesting thing of this part of the build is the use of the BNCS control system,” he adds. “All the operators have more flexibility as they can easily route signals, assign tallies, name cameras quickly, and change the layout of the multiviewers at the touch of a button, all presented in simple touchscreen panels.”
In terms of sound, the kit comprises a Studer Vista 5 desk with meter bridge and a flight-cased DSP core and I/O frames. “Flexibility and operability were key elements of the design as well as its integration with both the vision and comms systems,” states Andy Tapley, sound supervisor and technical manager.
The I/O includes seven MADIs for stage boxes, vision router, comms system and miscellaneous – for instance, a DAW multitrack. “In addition, analogue, AES, ADAT and DANTE I/O and a tone generator are included in the system, all in a 20u flight case with built-in patch strips,” adds Tapley.
The comms system is housed in a separate 20u flight case – designed around a Riedel Artist 128 frame, capable of connecting to 32 Riedel panels and offering 24 Bolero wireless belt packs. “It integrates with the Studer frame by MADI, and includes analogue patchable I/O and VoIP connectivity to post production, as well as an IP codec for network, talk back to the BBC’s MCR since we have now moved away from ISDN. Together, these systems are extremely powerful, feature-rich and quickly deployable with ‘ready to go’ templates.”
As Studio M is not a permanent multicamera studio, BBC Studioworks had to find a flexible solution that would allow the team to deploy a temporary technical multicamera set-up, while retaining the same functionality and benefits of a permanent studio install. “The galleries themselves look and feel the same as permanent galleries, with the added benefit of a modular design that allows us to customise the layout to whatever location or room we need to use,” explains Rudge.
BBC Studioworks provides full data wrangling and post production for Strictly Come Dancing, It Takes Two and the annual Strictly Christmas special. Once the Saturday night show launches each September, the edit operates 24/7 with content regularly generated on the day of transmission. “Rushes are backed up to Object Matrix storage, ingested to Avid and delivered to EVS for playing to the studio,” explains John Loughman, post production and record technical manager for BBC Studioworks. “Producers have access to Avids via a secure remote connection. There are three cutting suites and a day and night shift online suite.”
In order to keep content secure and resilient, everything is on-prem which, says Loughman, ensures BBC Studioworks isn’t reliant on external suppliers and is more cost-effective due to the volume of media being handled.
Working on It Takes Two is a big part of the BBC Studioworks team’s year, but it’s something they are delighted to be a part of. “Working on a daily live show has a different rhythm [to Saturday night],” says Rudge. “Both have their own set of challenges and both have rewarding outcomes. BBC Studioworks is proud to be part of the Strictly family!”
