PRIMETIME


Banking these numbers up front allowed more time and creative focus to really go to town on them, with bigger set pieces.


Double bubble


“We put the celebrity dancers and partners in the audience – something we’ve kept for this year,” he adds. “And we found new ways to shoot a number – we added different cameras across the front of the judges, for example, and also behind.”


It was still important to socially distance, which made instructing the celebrity dancers difficult, says Gilkison, as he had to call out – not show or touch – to instruct, while remaining physically separated from them by a piece of tape.


biggest highlight of last year: Strictly’s first ever deaf contestant, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and her partner Giovanni Pernice.


“For me, Rose and Giovanni have to be the biggest highlight from last year,” Gilkison continues. “They were wonderful and working with Rose we all learned so much – as much from her, in terms of how we had to adapt to make things work for her, as she learned from us, I think.”


HAVE TO BE THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT FROM LAST YEAR. THEY WERE WONDERFUL AND WORKING WITH ROSE WE ALL LEARNED SO MUCH


ROSE AND GIOVANNI


Before the season began, tutorials were held for all the cast and crew to learn basic sign language – so everyone could communicate with Rose, and to ensure


Rose could communicate anything at all she was unhappy with direct to the crew.


“We had to bubble then bubble again, too,” he adds. “First, 50 or so of us to film all the group numbers in one hit in advance to play out week by week, then as smaller bubbles all the way up to Christmas.”


But all these challenges pale against the Sound and light


“While Rose can’t hear, with a hearing aid, she can pick up some of the music and hear the beat,” he adds. “Because of this, care had to be taken, as if the percussion was too busy it sounded to her like white noise, and


at other times she relied on the vibrations.”


How the sound bounced back in the rehearsal room differed from how it bounced back in the studio. Then, to enhance the cues she could use – such as reading Giovanni’s body language and counting in her head to help with timing – the lighting was changed in time with changes in the music, which also helped.


The series also featured the first all-male partnership of John Whaite and Johannes Radebe, who finished as runner-up.


Overall, says Gilkison, the many challenges of 2021 forged an even tighter family unit on Strictly than usual. And it showed, because as a place of escape and comfort from the difficulties of the outside world, reviews were – again – glowing.


“A family feeling among the contestants and everyone else involved is always a very important part of Strictly, but despite still not being able to mix physically, it was built via WhatsApp,” he observes.


“Though I’ve worked on Strictly now for ten years, S19 really was a truly exceptional year.”


televisual.com 13 BD


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