TV tech roles

ITV Network’s first head of technology discussed the big developments in television or what he referred to as “the fun factory”, from the early 1960s when he worked in ABC TV’s engineering research department at Teddington Studios to ITV in the 1990s.

At ABC he worked on the problems of using colour film in television and, in particular, on The Avengers. He went on to develop the first computer-controlled presentation switcher in Europe.

Jonathan Glazier, studio multicamera director on shows that include Asia’s Got Talent and Million Pound Drop, advised the students to make their own content. “I started with a Super-8 camera [when] the filming and developing costs were very high, but now everybody has a mobile phone camera in their pocket,” he said.