The latest series of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross is the first high definition production to be recorded at BBC Studios’ new HD Studio, Studio Four. The show is returning for an autumn run starting on Friday 5th September 2008 and will go out in standard definition on BBC One and in high definition on BBC HD, the UK’s first free-to-air high definition channel. BBC Studios, part of BBC Resources Ltd, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, has invested nearly 2 million pounds in HD cameras, lenses, vision and monitoring equipment for Studio Four.

It is the third studio to be upgraded to HD, following the successful conversion of Studio One and Studio Eight. BBC Studios works with a wide variety of production companies and broadcasters. With an increasing demand for HD content, both for transmission and archive purposes, the investment will ensure BBC Studios continues to fulfil the requirements of its customers, whose creative and editorial visions are increasingly in HD. It will also help the BBC achieve its HD aspirations, with all production intended to be HD by 2012.

BBC Studios has installed a Sony MVS-8000 series vision mixer and 8 Sony HDC-1500 cameras. It has also replaced Studio Four’s gallery and lighting gallery monitor stacks and laid new HD fibre links to the central control area. Future BBC Studios’ equipment upgrades will also be to high definition, with an additional focus on 1080p/50. Danielle Nagler, Head of BBC HD says: “BBC HD strives to showcase the best of BBC content and to give audiences a range of the programmes they already love in standard definition. I am delighted that from now on the growing numbers of people able to access BBC HD can watch Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on the channel. Having a third HD studio available at Television Centre I hope will support our ambition to work with both independent and in-house producers to increase the amount of BBC programming we can bring to audiences in HD quality.”