The ultimate account of the BBC Visual Effects Department – responsible for such diverse iconic images as Monty Python’s exploding newsreaders on, the Queen Vic engulfed in flames and Blake’s 7’s majestic Liberator sailing through outer space – is told in a new book set for release next month.
Written by former Department staff Mat Irvine and Mike Tucker, BBC VFX: The History of the BBC Visual Effects Department chronicles the work of the department from 1954 until its closure in 2003.
Described as “an essential book for FX fans and anyone who loves television”, the book is packed with never before published stories, photographs and artwork.
The authors draw on interviews with effects designers, concept drawings, production photographs and stills from completed programmes to illustrate how the department worked to bring ideas from script to screen.
The book features in-depth accounts of fifty key shows, representing every genre from sci-fi and drama to comedies and documentaries and reveals just why the Martian’s eyes in Quatermass and the Pit were animated using inflated condoms, and how Mrs Slocombe’s infamous pussy was manipulated by remote control.
Released on 11th November, BBC VFX: The History of the BBC Visual Effects Department is available to pre-order from the seenit.co.uk store
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