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No, the BBC weren’t in Tokyo covering the Olympics – It was faked using a game engine

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The BBC’s Tokyo 2020 (yes, I know it’s 2021, but they kept the name) studio looked pretty real to casual observers watching the coverage of the recently-concluded Olympics. You’d turn on your TV and you’d think they were actually in a fancy rooftop studio in Tokyo providing their thoughts and commentary. But no.

The BBC Sport team was actually in a comfy green-screen studio in Salford near Manchester, England. The on-screen magic was brought to life thanks to Unreal Engine. Some very clever software mapped the positions of the cameras in the studio, keyed out the presenters from the green background and then composited it with the virtual set in real-time.

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BBC Cameraman head-butted in the nuts by an angry sheep

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They say to never work with animals or children and while I agree with the children part of that, I’ve always been quite partial to working with animals in front of my camera. You just have to be careful of the ones with horns, sometimes, as this BBC cameraman discovered while filming some Cameroon sheep.

While it’s something that will make every guy who sees it both cringe and laugh, there’s nothing quite as funny as the reaction from the ladies presenting the show.

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BBC releases photos of 100+ empty popular TV show sets to spice up your Zoom & Skype calls

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With much of the world now working from home and communicating via Skype, Zoom and other online video conferencing platforms, the standard headshot against the backdrop of a plain wall or a messy bedroom has become a little old.

So, the BBC wants to help spice things up a little for you, and have released over 100 photographs of the sets, sans actors, from some of their most iconic TV shows including Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Absolutely Fabulous and Doctor Who, as well as countless other shows that most people outside of the UK probably haven’t even heard of (but they’re popular here).

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Watch a wild polar bear trying to break into the box protecting a BBC filmmaker

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BBC videographer Gordon Buchanan is on a mission of observing and filming a family of polar bears for one of his latest project. So, he came as close to the animals as possible – but one of the bears decided to get even closer. In this video shared by BBC Earth, you can see the scary moment when the polar bear tried to break into the box protecting Buchanan while he was filming.

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BBC wildlife documentary crew intervene to save penguins’ lives

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It’s one of those things that nature photographers and filmmakers struggle with. When to intervene in the natural course of events. Typically, most don’t intervene, especially when they’re there in a straight documentary capacity. Humankind has interfered with wildlife enough already.

Sometimes, though, it just feels like the right thing to do, as this wildlife documentary crew for BBC Dynasties decided.

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The Apprentice photoshopped photos display impossible hands. The show claims “lighting situation”

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We’ve seen plenty of Photoshop fails in promotional posters or magazines (and this is my absolute favorite). The latest fail has been spotted in promotional pictures for The Apprentice, where fans noticed that some contestants look like they have three hands. Of course, people were quick to joke about it on social media. But BBC claims that it’s not a Photoshop fail, but that a “lightning illusion” is to blame.

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BBC admits they faked some scenes in Human Planet documentary

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In a recent statement, the BBC admitted that one of their documentary series isn’t entirely documentary after all. Some of the scenes from their 2011 series Human Planet were admittedly staged by the creators.

In an episode about the Korowai people of Papua New Guinea, the tribe members were filmed while moving into a treehouse. However, while shooting a new documentary series, the members of the tribe admitted that “they built the treehouses for the benefit of overseas programme makers.”

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Polar bears suspend their “family time” to assist BBC filmmakers

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It’s all you need, really. There you are, in the middle of a field of ice and snow, filming polar bears and their not-so-subtle courtship ritual, and one of your cameras topples over. In this case, the remotely controlled “Blizzardcam”.

Riding on mini skis and propelled by a couple of fan blade motors, the Blizzardcam took a topple going over a bank of snow. It did not escape the notice of the curious courting polar bears. It’s a cute and interesting interaction, made all the more humorous by David Tennant’s narration.

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