MAC 700 Wash Lights “Top of the Pops” Last Show

“Top of the Pops” the long-running BBC TV music show, has been broadcast for the last time in its 42-year history. The one-hour finale, shown on BBC Two on Sunday 16th July 2006, looked back over the show’s four decades and featured a number of memorable archive clips.

Roger Williams has been the lighting designer for “Top of the Pops” for two years now and subsequently has learned where the camera gets the most out of the lights. As this was the final show he filled the studio grid with as much as he could, using various lamps and manufacturers, but not trying to “make it too much like a trade show!”

The rig for the final consisted of 30 MAC 500s, 15 MAC 600s and brand new MAC 700 Washes, which were lent to him for that night. Roger used the MAC 600s and MAC 700 Washes to light the various set pieces.

Roger explains, “I used them to light two of the irregular set pieces. I usually use MAC 600s for this, and one of those isn’t quite wide enough to light the whole thing but with the MAC 700s they were perfect. Great zoom, smooth color changes and a very bright and even output; just what I would expect from a lighting manufacturer with a proven history in TV. It’s another lamp I look forward to having a lot of use from. I can’t wait to have a rig of MAC 700s, both Washes and Profiles. I’m a huge fan of the Profiles and have used them quite a lot.”

The lighting design is usually left to Roger once the positioning of the set pieces has been decided on in the Monday meeting. Roger has two preferred rigs - Martin MAC 500 and MAC 600 beams, and washes alternating to provide strong vibrant colors and sharp beams. He used the MAC rig on the two upstage stages with scanners and LED on the main stage to give two different looks. Most of the TOTP set is internally lit with LEDs.

All the lighting equipment came from Richard Martin Lighting (RML). The RML kit is well maintained and they had no problems with fixtures going down.

The TOTP lighting crew consisted of Roger Williams, Andy Dobbs, Mark Smithers, David Bishop and Tom Sutherland. For this show Andy Dobbs operated the main stage (scanners) and David Bishop the two upstage stages (MACs). Mark Smithers was the generic board op.

Roger Williams started at the BBC in 1984 as a studio lighting electrician until 1991. He then got an attachment to the department as a vision operator becoming vision supervisor in 1996 where he quickly became involved in moving lights. He became an LD in 2000 before going freelance in 2002. His credits as a programmer include; Come Dancing; Dance Fever; Just the Two of Us; The Brits; and the Royal Variety Show. Credits as Lighting Director include Top of the Pops; Wogan Now & Then; Departure Lounge; and Killer Shark Live.