BBC VFX: The Story of the BBC Visual Effects Department

by Mike Tucker, Mat Irvine

The BBC Visual Effects Department closed its doors in 2003. For almost fifty years it had been responsible for some of television’s most iconic images – from exploding newsreaders on Monty Python’s Flying Circus to Blake’s 7’s majestic Liberator sailing through outer space; from the Queen Vic being engulfed in flames in Eastenders to severed heads dripping blood in The Borgias.

Using interviews with the effects designers themselves, together with hundreds of concept drawings, production photographs and stills from completed programmes, this book tells the story of the VFX Department and celebrates the work of a group of craftsmen who lived by the mantra, ‘If it can be imagined, it can be made…’

Working largely before the age of cgi, the Department was responsible for every kind of visual effect, from physical effects such as rain and explosions, to miniatures and models, to sculpture and animatronics.

Following a preliminary chapter on effects techniques, the book features in-depth accounts of fifty key shows, representing every genre from sci-fi and drama to comedies and documentaries. In each we see how the designers worked, from receiving the original script to creating the finished effects. There are numerous anecdotes about their tricks of the trade. Find out how 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.

Filled with fascinating insights, wonderful stories and numerous photographs and artworks which have never been published, this is an essential book for FX fans and anyone who loves television

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 18, 2010

About the author

Mike Tucker is a special effects expert who worked for many years at the BBC Television Visual Effects Department, and now works as an Effects Supervisor for his own company, The Model Unit. He is also the author of a number of original tv tie-in Doctor Who novels (some co-written with Robert Perry), and three books based on episodes of the television series Merlin. He co-wrote the factual books Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era with Sophie Aldred in 1996, and BBC VFX - The Story of the BBC Visual Effects Department with Mat Irvine in 2010.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been fascinated with the special effects for as long as I can remember - seeing Star Wars when it was first released (yes I was 5 at the time) left an innate fascination with the incredible and the impossible which I think still influences me today. I have always wanted to be able to make the models and dioramas so common in early films (now so quickly and easily replaced by CGI), that and the fact I love watching them being blown up.
No seriously this art of the special effect has always intrigued me, its not the first time I have forgotten the show and sat there wondering how they achieved that. I know that more than one person has quoted that "the best special effect is the one you do not realise is a special effect", which brings me to this book.
Reading this book however gives a mixed set of feelings, sad in that its really a record of a department now gone (it was closed down due to "restructuring") but also nostalgia in that they refer to TV shows I grew up with along with a healthy dose of awe in what they achieved with so little and in many cases so little time.
So I would say for anyone who grew up watching the BBC this book is amazing and is a testament to some incredible talented but rarely seen let alone acknowledged people, it is just a shame that so few are alive today to see what I think is an amazing tribute to them.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the BBC Visual Effects Department closed its doors in 2003, it had been operating since 1954 and was responsible for a lot of iconic images, from Dr Who to Blake’s 7, Monty Python to The Borgia’s and, of course, Kitten Kong in The Goodies.
This starts off with a potted history of the department and, as it’s written by two stalwarts in Irvine & Tucker, there’s a lot of insider knowledge that informs the text. Fifty programmes/threads are covered - some garnering more space than others, of course - and each one reveals how the effects were done, some of the politics behind who did what and why as well as some real surprises. To make things even better, each entry is accompanied by detailed and revealing behind the scenes photographs. The department closed before CGI took hold so although there’s some discussions and examples of it, most of the book is filled with people building and filming physical models and it’s all the better for that. This is a terrific resource and wonderfully written and I would very highly recommend it.