f0649c TELEVISUAL | THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR THE BROADCAST AND PRODUCTION COMMUNITY | BULLDOG AWARDS 2008
BULLDOGS AWARDS 2008
BEST VFX
Doctor Who

Winner

Doctor Who

March, BBC1, (BBC)

As a science fiction series, obviously the BBC’s teatime favourite Doctor Who has to put a great deal of effort into making sure the quality of the programme’s vfx stands up in front of a very demanding audience. It also has to make sure it’s pushing the quality of the vfx on to even greater heights with each new season of the show. Will Cohen’s team at The Mill consistently pushed the boundaries on this series in an attempt to get its cg as near to movie quality as they could on mere television budgets with a host of fantastical creature animations and imagined cityscapes keeping them busy. The show’s fourth season is already airing and a fifth season is ordered for a 2010 showing. For this third series of Doctor Who’s modern incarnation, the producer was Phil Collinson and the executive producers were the now ex head of drama at BBC Wales, Julie Gardner and the lead writer Russell T Davies.

RUNNERS UP
Spooks

2nd

Spooks

October, BBC1, (Kudos)

Kudos’s spy thriller, now in its sixth season, has to try to match the same level of quality that can be seen in any mega budget US series if viewers are to keep faith with the programme. Its vfx, much of it involved with the computer technology the MI5 spies use to do their job as well as a good few explosions and set pieces, keeps on hitting new heights of excellence. Simon Crawford Collins and Jane Featherstone were the executive producers.

Primeval

3rd

Primeval

February, ITV1, (Impossible Pictures)

Impossible and ITV’s answer to Doctor Who naturally relies a lot on the quality of its cg. Impossible cut its teeth on Walking With Dinosaurs and all of that experience is brought to bear when bringing to life the prehistoric creatures that jump through “anomalies” in the fabric of time to wreak havoc in the modern world. The exec producer was Tim Haines and the effects are created through Framestore CFC who made 13 cg creatures and over 730 animation and vfx shots for this series.