UK - The ITV show Surprise Surprise is returing to the small screen, hosted by Holly Willoughby.

Nigel Catmur designed the lighting show which is provided by Richard Martin Lighting (RML). The vast rig encompasses a huge variety of different types of lights and styles, meaning that they integrate into the set beautifully.

These lights include Alpha Wash 575, Alpha Spot 700, Mac Aura, Nova Flower, Robin 600, VL1000TS, VL2000 Wash, Chroma Batten 50 kit, Mac TW1 and still proving as popular as ever - Sharpys. With 42 units on the show, the striking beam is now so recognisable.

Another unit selected by Nigel for the show, which has become very popular recently is the Sunstrip. The latest piece of equipment to be added to RML's inventory, Sunstrip Active is "fully active and has a built-in dimmerpack. In order to make the unit most versatile for many applications you

Cambodia - PR Lighting's broad portfolio of fixtures are being specified increasingly on television shows around the world - from Algeria to Cambodia - in view of their rich feature-set, discreet form factor and quiet operation.

Cambodia is the latest, where a number of automated heads and architectural LED colour-mix FX are being used in a high standard production on Dream Palace, a programme which features leading singers and musicians from around the country.

The show is screened by Hang Meas HDTV - the first High Definition TV station in the country - and takes place in front of a live theatre audience every Saturday night.

Complementing the regal backdrop, with performers entering the stage down the palatial stairs, are 24 of PR Lighting's versatile, compact and fully featured XL300 moving heads, 12 x XL700 Spots and 16 of the newly-launched Arc LED 3108 fixtures

Italy - Clay Paky was once again present - as it has been for many years - at Miss Italia 2012, the number one Italian beauty contest.

Lighting director Fausto Carboni used a very diverse mix of 150 Clay Paky lights, including Alpha Spot HPE 700s, Alpha Wash 700s, Alpha Profile 1500s and Alpha Profile 1200s, in addition to the now omnipresent Sharpys.

"The scenery featured a very large structure, with massive video screens that completely surrounded the stage. There was also a framework inside the video screens consisting of tiles and building materials chosen specifically to give the set a particularly elegant look," said Fausto Carboni.

"With a set like this," Carboni continued, "it was absolutely essential to use the most compact rig possible, so my choice fell on the Clay Paky 700 watt spotlights and washlights. They are compact and lightweight,

UK - LED-based panel lighting is available in some exciting new form factors, but emergent technology cannot shine without commensurate advances in control. Ever comprehensive at the cutting edge, Artistic Licence Engineering will be demonstrating control of two very different planar lighting products that are newly available from Philips - luminous textile and organic LED (Lumiblade) at LuxLive 2012.

The luminous textile solution integrates multi-coloured LED modules within textile panels. These may be combined to produce a wall of mood lighting or dynamic content. Artistic Licence Engineering's dVnet driver is designed for such installations, allowing video to be directly rendered on the luminous textile panels. dVnet achieves this by converting digital video input to KiNet, the streaming protocol supported by Philips.

On a smaller spatial scale, organic LED (OLED) technolog

UK - A new hydrogen fuel-cell powered lighting package from industrial gases and engineering firm BOC provides a solution that is long on staying power and short on emissions, the company says.

Aimed at a range of applications, from lighting an outside maintenance area or a night-time sports practice court, to outdoor temporary events, the latest addition to the Hymera family of hydrogen fuel cell products from BOC, a member of The Linde Group, is an ideal option for locations that cannot connect to grid electricity, say BOC. The package uses high-efficiency, low-wattage lamps with an output equivalent to two 300W halogen lamps.

BOC say its system has significant advantages over both battery-powered or diesel/petrol generator alternatives. When compared with generator performance, the Hymera emits no carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) or particulates. In fact, it only pr

Australia - Resolution X took delivery of the first Martin MAC Viper Profiles in Australia (via Martin distributor Show Technology) and the new units didn't spend long in their new warehouse before making their debut appearance on the AFL Footy Show Grand Final Edition.

The show, an Australian sports television programme dedicated to the Australian Football League, was broadcast live from Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena with a TV audience in the millions, but that didn't stop lighting designer Rohan Thornton from debuting a product he'd never used before.

"I knew it wouldn't be a risk as Martin is famous for their reliability, and the people at Res X would have tested them thoroughly," he added. "The only risk was that I only had 24 Vipers and I used all of them with no spare but I wasn't let down."

Thornton had seen the MAC Viper at the Entech tradeshow and

UK - Nick Gray from London-based creative lighting and design practice Renegade 'imagineered' a dramatic and striking lighting ambience - both outside and inside - London's iconic Tate Modern art gallery, which hosted the new James Bond Skyfall movie world premier's glamorous after-party.

Gray was working for Skyfall after-party event producers AD Events. A demanding production brief included making the after party equally as dazzling and memorable as the premier screening at the Royal Albert Hall.

The event took up the entire Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern (formally a power station), and once again gave Gray the opportunity to work his lighting magic in this most distinctive architectural space.

Gray says, "The Turbine Hall is an amazing environment to work in and already highly atmospheric, so the real challenge was to add requisite 007 qualities like m

USA - Robe's Robin MMX Spots are an integral part of the new Luminosity: Ignite the Night. Powered by Pepsi visual extravaganza at the Cedar Point Amusement Park on the Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio.

These were specified by lighting designer Al Crawford of Arc3design, who worked alongside Lighting director and EOS console programmer Zakaria M Al-Alami (Zak) on the project.

Based in New York, Arc3design is a collective of LDs and technical artists who combine their multi-disciplinary experiences on innovative projects encompassing the genres of concert performance, theatre, dance, corporate and private events and environmental installations.

They were brought on-board to bring imagination, vitality and 'wow' factors aplenty to the Luminosity show by show producers Ryan Stana and Tarrah Hirsch of RWS & Associates Entertainment.

The 20 Robe MMX Spot fixtures ar

UK - Blackburn-based lighting and visuals rental specialists HSL supplied lighting equipment and crew to Cheryl Cole's first solo A Million Lights arena tour, once again working for technical producers Production North.

The lighting design by Peter Barnes, directed / operated out on the road by Neil Trenell of Fix8, proved that imaginative and intelligent use of lighting and effects can bring serious layers of magic to a high-impact show.

The tour was project managed for HSL by Mike Oates who comments, "Production North under the technical direction of Iain Whitehead co-ordinated another superb looking and highly entertaining show, and we were really pleased to be involved."

Barnes and Trenell worked closely with creative directors Fatima Robinson and Beth Honan, who commissioned the set design from Bruce Rogers. They also initiated the video and visuals con

UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) have provided an attractive exterior LED colour-changing lighting scheme for Da Mario Gastronomia Napoletana, an Italian restaurant in the heart of London's busy Gloucester Road area known for being a popular celebrity haunt.

Located a short walk from Kensington Palace, the 120 year old building's beautiful architecture merges Venetian and Gothic styles and was commissioned by Queen Victoria.

Having previously provided the restaurant with a custom multi-zone audio and DJ system for their basement, when deciding to upgrade their exterior lighting system, Da Mario contacted ACSP about the project - who also have extensive experience supplying and installing specialist LED lighting schemes.

Lance Bromhead, who project managed the job for ACSP comments, "It was really vital for the lighting to be elegant, understated and appropriate for the

Lebanon / UAE - The latest Middle East technical production company to invest in Robe products is Sound On Stage, based in Lebanon and the UAE, and run by Mazan and Rawad Saad.

The company, well known as an audio specialist, wanted to expand its operation to include lighting, so recently made an investment in Robe's Robin LEDWash 1200 and 600s, MMX Spots and LEDBeam 100s to kick start its lighting rental stock.

Sound On Stage supplies design services, equipment and crew for a variety of different corporate events / presentations and live concerts and shows.

The deal was co-ordinated by Robe's Middle East Sales manager Elie Battah.

Says Rawad, "We really liked the Robin range for its light weight, which makes the physical handling extremely easy."

He adds that Robe's reputation for reliability and robustness was another key reason leading to their decision, toge

Canada - Pop legend Peter Gabriel gives a rare glimpse of his nostalgic side in his new Back to Front Tour, which recently opened in Quebec City with a full performance of his classic 1986 album, So. Many aspects of the show hark back to the past, and lighting and show designer Rob Sinclair is using Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800 fixtures in an application employed by him 25 years ago.

Gabriel wanted to bring back some of the elements from the tour that launched So, including camera booms with lights mounted on the end, one boom for himself and one for each of the original touring band members who have reunited with Gabriel: bassist Tony Levin, guitarist David Rhodes, drummer Manu Katche and keyboardist David Sancious.

"We brought the technique up to date by having five manually-operated camera booms with three Alpha Spot QWO 800 fixtures on each of the

UK - Black Light has installed an external lighting system at the recently completed, £20m, sports centre at Lancaster University. The project, which presented a number of key technical challenges, highlights the company's national reach and the fact that it can offer turn-key solutions of the highest quality.

"We were asked by the consultant, ARUP (Manchester), to provide a lighting system to highlight the building during dark hours and make it stand out from the street," says Jock Wallace, Black Light's installations manager. "As the sports centre is a brand new building we had to ensure that our work complemented it aesthetically. We also had to be extremely careful that our installation was faultless and that we achieved a perfect finish."

To ensure that the project's goals were achieved, Black Light carried out a demonstration of equipment on sit

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light supplied the lighting to the Horse of the Year Show, a long-standing fixture in the British event calendar, held at the Birmingham NEC. The event features equestrian displays, show jumping, and more. The show is an annual must-see for equestrian fans.

The Horse of the Year Show is organised by Grandstand Media Ltd, with Production Team as the production company led by artistic director Nadia Raibin. The show's lighting design was by Mark Strange, with Ben Fox as technical producer - who gives "a big thumbs up from the whole team to White Light for a great event". White Light supplied lighting for the main Andrews Bowen International Arena along with the smaller Caldene Arena.

"We've been through a few different lighting companies on the Horse of the Year Show over the last few years," comments Ben Fox, &quo

France - Over 200 Robe LEDWash 600 RGBW LED moving lights were again central to Peter Heilig's lighting design concept for the BMW and Mini booths and press launches at the Mondial de l'Automobile 2012 à Paris (Paris Motor Show). This was staged at the Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles and attended by over 1.2m visitors over two weeks.

The lighting fixtures were supplied by Rock Service from Salzgitter in Germany and specified by Heilig after his very successful use of Robe's LEDWash and PureWhites for BMW at the Geneva Motor show earlier in the year.

Thirty-two LEDWash 600s were positioned on the floor at the back of the BMW stand - designed by Mutabor Hamburg - for the press launch and unveiling of the new eco-friendly BMW Concept Active Tourer vehicle at the event.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Martin Professional's M2GO and M2PC lighting controllers are selling strongly in the US.

With over 300 units sold in the US since June, and outstanding sales at the recent LDI exhibition in Las Vegas, Martin Professional's M2GO and M2PC lighting controllers are quickly establishing themselves as the lighting control choice for rental houses across the country, says the company.

"The success of the M1 console has really paved the way for these new M-Series consoles," states Scott O'Connor, product specialist - control at Martin Professional, Inc. "With the M2GO on its way to becoming the standard for rental houses, our M-Series consoles have not finished impressing. We will have more from the M-Series coming soon."

The M2GO is equipped with a fast, dual-core processor with no external computer required while the M2PC is the complementary control surf

UK - Following the successful launch of its Super2fer product at the PLASA Show in September, where it picked up a PLASA Award for Innovation, manufacturer Digital & Future Technologies has announced that it is now working on a new chipset upgrade, which will mean a delay to the shipping of the product.

Chris Crockford told LSi: "This is a blow to our original plans, but it will mean more bandwidth and more box connectivity. We have also found a couple of manufacturing errors with the original boxes when tested in the field, so we are working to correct them, along with integrating the feedback we received from people attending PLASA."

Designed for all aspects of the entertainment industry, the Super2fer allows users to modulate their video, audio, lighting, and IP data through standard 16A mains cable up to 500m from source.

To see Crockford's PLASA Show presentat

UK - Manchester-based lighting, rigging and visuals rental company dbn designed and supplied a large ground support system for the Games Time outdoor stage spectacular, which played its final performance at Derby last weekend.

The show, produced by Walk The Plank and Déda, was a mixed-media performance combining music, dance, video, lighting and pyrotechnics, directed by Lea Anderson and starring members of the local community. Four teams - Red, Blue, Green and Yellow - sporting fabulous carnival style costumes designed and made by Mahogany - competed to win the Games Time Finale.

dbn's Stephen Page was asked to design the truss and lighting for the event, which played four towns - Skegness, Loughborough, Northampton and Derby - celebrating the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the East Midlands.

dbn invested in a new Slick ground support sys

UK - Flightcase manufacturer 5 Star continues to enjoy brisk business this autumn with a wide variety of projects including a substantial supply of cases to Edinburgh-based lighting, sound and AV specialist, Black Light.

The cases - a series of general purpose and custom items - were purchased to protect and transport Black Light's newest equipment investments, including lighting and rigging kit.

5 Star designed, manufactured and delivered the order with their characteristic speed and efficiency so the cases were able to go straight into action on a range of events and hires.

5 Star was selected for its reputation for producing robust, premium quality cases as well as the expedient turnaround, and was project managed for them by John Barsby out of the company's Wisbech HQ.

Eight Eurotrucker road trunks with full trays, one ETC Gio lighting console case, two Selecon Acclaim

Turkey - SGM's new generation LED strobes have arrived on the Aegean coast. In one of the world's biggest open air venues 18 of the XC-5 RGB strobes pulse beneath the night sky of Bodrum. The stylish Halikarnas, which overlooks the Aegean, was completely redesigned this summer by its millionaire owner Süleyman Demir.

Lighting stalwart Andy Graves, of Turkish-based LEDsistem, supplied 18 of SGM's innovative XC-5 RGB strobes among the lasers and special effects that animate this luxurious multi-zone venue. They had been specified by Arch Lite's Matthew Button and Trent O'Connor, who between them undertook responsibility for the architectural, theatrical and club lighting design.

Button, who masterminded the stage lighting design, had no hesitation in choosing the SGM solution over conventional strobes, stating, "In terms of power, this fixture not only outperforms a standa

UK - The Bristol Old Vic, one of Britain's most historic theatres, founded in 1766 by 50 merchants, lawyers and politicians, has been given a spectacular £12.26m makeover in the first phase of a major redevelopment.

Originally designed by the Bristol architect James Saunderson, the theatre is believed to be the oldest working theatre in the UK. Stage Electrics was awarded the contract to design and install a completely new technical infrastructure and production lighting, audio and communications systems. The project has been headed by consultants Charcoalblue with design by John Stevens and project management by John Woodley; architect Andrzej Blonski and builders Galliford Try.

The refurbishment includes the raising of the stalls and gallery to dramatically improve sightlines throughout the Georgian auditorium, a new, flexible thrust stage format, conversion of the pai

South Africa - South Africa was the destination for a roadshow with Robe, Avolites and LumenRadio from 30 October - 2 November 2012. The event was put together by DWR Distribution and demonstrations were held in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

The UJ Theatre, The Playhouse Company and the Baxter Theatre were the hosting venues.

Overseas representatives promoting their latest equipment were Robe's Josef Valchar and Harry von den Stemmen, Phil Blue from Avolites and Peter Kirkup from LumenRadio.

"I feel like I'm coming home every time I come to South Africa," commented von den Stemmen. "When we do demos like these we never arrive with an average mix of products but choose novelties to show clients something different."

Robe focussed on the Robin DLX, DLS and DLF which are versatile and of equal interest to television studios, clubs and just about any

UK - ETC's latest lighting control console, Gio, has seen a surge in sales since it was introduced just a few months ago, with many of the company's UK-based dealers buying them for sales and hire stocks.

The first Scottish delivery was to the Dundee Rep Theatre, supplied by Blacklight, where deputy chief LX Alastair Phillips specified a Gio for their 450 seat performance space. "We were looking to upgrade our existing desk," he explains, "and decided we wanted more hands on control than an Ion offered out of the box. An Eos, on the other hand, was too big to bring out of the control room each time we wanted to program. So, when Gio was introduced, it seemed like the obvious choice."

Gio is one of four current lighting consoles in the Eos family - each with the same application software and operational syntax but with different packaging and physical contro

Denmark - The recently formed Matrix Group has taken on the exclusive Danish distribution of PR Lighting's automated discharge and LED lighting portfolio, with immediate effect.

Established in early 2011 to harness and strengthen the respected companies, Nordic Sales & Staging, Signal Audio and Moto Audio Sales, Matrix Group provides a powerful distribution partner for many international manufacturers. From a base in pro audio it has expanded this year into lighting distribution and sales - with PR Lighting becoming its latest acquisition.

Commenting on the move, Matrix CEO Kenneth Bremer, said: "As part of our strategy we wanted a brand that had a broad and well-made range of lighting products - that was both affordable and had professional specs.

"I asked several people for recommendations and we were introduced to Cui Lin at PR Lighting. We quickly realised the

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