Channel 4
Great British Inventions with
Sir David Jason
A ‘special project’ as Technology and Prototyping Expert for Channel 4′s four-part series; Great British Inventions with Sir David Jason.
What a pleasure to dedicate 6 weeks to the making of prototypes that demonstrate some of Britain’s most noteworthy inventions for TV, from the Bell Telephone to then to the British Moon Mission that never was!
The whole thing was filmed in a rustic workshop on a farm in South Yorkshire in a few days. Needless to say, Sir David was a legend.
Below are some props and learning from going through the process…
No Pressure! Sir David enjoying the rocket I made.
Me trying to look nonchalant/natural, but secretly praying it all worked as planned!
If I’ve learned anything working in R&D and TV - never assume anything to go perfect (or ‘perfic’, as David might say), so taking a pre-emptive approach, like making a back-up rocket costing about £1000, is small in contrast with losing a days filming from a glitch may cost 10x-100x that!
Prop-making for TV Production
When asked to design props for all these classic inventions, the conventional thinking would be to ask how to ‘faithfully replicate’ all the test equipment as is. However, if you take the Bell Telephone or Edison/Swan Lightbulb, you’ll be getting into the £1000’s, and many weeks with the specialist glasswork alone! Worse still, Sir David and I would not be able to ‘make it live in front of the camera’, as is the usual expectation of this genre of TV Show.
Even if the budget had been more, I proposed to the production team that we make a virtue out of a fair, (but not infinite) props budget - and truly behave in the spirit of Victorian inventors: This means we should be ingenious and resourceful - and ‘cobble together’ prototypes from cheap and readily available materials to get it working with the least time, cost and effort, but that they remain true to the physics / design or the invention. For example we didn’t needlessly blow a bulb, but used a readily available Jam Jar. Likewise, we didn’t turn a ‘horn speaker’ on a lathe, but instead used a plastic funnel to focus the voice in the ‘Telephone’.
The production team enjoyed this authentic approach, as it was a connection to the past, but also illustrated how even in present day one could invent with the same fervour and speed, for little money, and still create would changing ideas in modest labs and workshops. Although a celebration of British Inventions, I enjoyed the universal appeal of creative invention, problem solving and discovery that this series demonstrates - and of course with great engagement from Sir David, who many will not know is also an Engineer!
In the spirit of Victorian inventors - I used cheap materials to ‘prove the concept’. This wind-tunnel cost only £20, and even ended up being used by school teachers!
This Jam-Jar Edison/Swan lightbulb demo even surprised me in terms of how bright the light was. The ‘lead’ was graphite from mechanical pencils.
Although listed as a ‘prop maker’, I was often involved in the research of the show’s content, which evolved as props were created and new insights found.
This steam powered ‘engine’ illustrated the ‘first principles’ of how steam produced mechanical power. Again, the ‘scrapheap challenge’ mentality was fun to apply.
All the props had to look like they were ‘made in the moment’, which is a tricky thing to ‘fake’. It requires clever design and in-depth awareness of the filming process.
A replica of the first Bell Telephone, albeit with modern (cheap) materials, this still was mind-blowing to really imagine what this must have been like in the 1870’s!
It was in fact as much fun as it looked…
Trailer for this TV series: