Allo Allo - EPIC's gone public

Added: 21/10/2008
Category: Norfolk County Council

To mark its development as one of the most advanced digital production centres in Europe, EPIC, in Magdalen Street, Norwich, is throwing open its doors to the public.

To celebrate the re-opening of the main studio in High Definition, the Norfolk County Council run centre will be holding a public open day on Saturday November 8, with 50 members of the public also being given the opportunity to attend a gala evening the night before (Friday November 7) - where one of TV's best known writers and producers will be honoured.

The evening will see Norfolk County Council celebrate the life and achievement of 'King of Comedy', David Croft, co-writer and producer of “Dad's Army”, “Hi-de-hi”, “Allo Allo”, “It Ain't Half Hot Mum” and “Are You being Served”.

“We wanted a land-mark event to mark the opening of the HD studio, and together with Norfolk County Council, we couldn't think of a more appropriate way of doing it than to honour David Croft, one of the biggest names in world television”, said EPIC Director, Mark Wells.

“David now lives nearby, and when, in the 70s, he brought location production of Dad's Army to Thetford, he ensured there was some part of a Norfolk field which would forever be Walmington on Sea!”, Mark added.

The open day on the Saturday will provide an opportunity for members of the public to come and tour the studios and galleries, with demonstrations of the new equipment, and the chance to get 'hands-on' practice with HD TV studio cameras.

In addition to the public open day, the centre will also host an education day on Wednesday November 5, and a trade and industry day on Thursday November 6.

The education day will see organised parties from schools and colleges touring the facility - learning about the Norwich University College degree courses running in the building, and having the chance to take part in the recording of live TV programmes with veteran TV-presenter, Ian Masters.

The trade and industry day on the following day will see the studios open for production companies and broadcast professionals to see the new facilities, with demonstrations of the new HD equipment provided by the big name manufacturers themselves - names such as Sony, Thomson Grass Valley, Calrec, Telex RTS, Video Rescue and Orad.

Megahertz, the Ely based company which carried out the upgrade ,will also be taking part, with attention focusing on the 6,000 sq ft drama and light entertainment studio, the smaller HD discussion studio and the new blue-screen virtual studio. There will also be demonstrations of the HD post production resources.

The public open day on Saturday November 8 will run from 9.30am to 4pm, with members of the public invited to head down to the centre on Magdalen Street between these times.

In addition, fifty free places for the gala evening the night before, are available on a first come first served basis by calling

01603 727727.

EPIC is owned and operated as a resource for the production industry by Norfolk County Council, and has been largely funded by the East of England Development Agency. The most recent grant from the Agency, of £1.5m, allowed completion of a complete technical overhaul of the centre for High Definition TV production. The centre was previously operated by Anglia TV and was the home for shows such as Trisha Goddard, Vanessa Feltz, Graham Norton and cult children's programme, Knightmare. The centre has recently been designated as a 'Living Lab' of the EU E-Clic project, an initiative to develop broadband and HD production across northern Europe.