Leading TV lighting designer Martyn Rourke specified 40 Robe moving lights for the intense final of Wawffactor - the Welsh edition of Pop Idol - recorded and broadcast live from Studio 1, The Media Centre in Cardiff for S4C.

The popular Welsh Language series presented by Eleri Sion moved to the larger studio for the final, which followed knock out rounds to reduce the 20 finalists down to the last three. The programme has been ongoing for 6 years, and known as ‘Wawffactor' for the last three. Rourke has lit it since the start.

Producers Alfresco TV stepped the production up a few notches for the final, which Rourke seized as an ideal opportunity to use Robe's powerful 1200 fixtures for the first time. "I'd used the smaller Robe 250 AT range before and was blown away by the results" he explains, "I'd seen the larger fixtures in demos and heard plenty of talk about them, but this was the first real occasion for me to use them on a large scale show".

All the moving lights for the Wawffactor final were supplied by Blackburn-based HSL, together with a selection of LED fixtures, and were combined with the studio's in-house generic rig.

Rourke used 20 ColorSpot 1200ATs and twenty ColorWash 1200ATs, which came complete with special sets of gobos for creating some of the ‘classic TV' break up looks like cones, radials and other ‘sharp beam' effects.

The stage was a large diamond shape and was and integral part of scenic designer Sid Scott's overall design, that also involved different levels of rostra. There was a live band at the rear, and the finalists were accompanied by a set of dancers choreographed by Kim Gavin - so it was a busy multi-layered show in terms of visuals. The Perspex floor was under-lit, and overhead were three circular shaped trusses.

The central truss was raked and featured 8 ColorSpot 1200s around its 6 metre diameter. The two left and right trusses either side also featured Robe fixtures, with the rest either attached to vertically hung trusses or on the floor, the latter scattered around the stage at different levels maximizing the set's interesting topography.

Rourke really likes the range of colours offered by the fixtures, "There's some great saturates which read really well on camera - particularly the reds, ambers and blues in the Washes" he comments. For certain parts of the show, he even found himself tweaking the lights back in intensity - the output was so potent - and at other points he had all the scope he needed to ‘Let It Rock' with full-on shutter chases and other high-impact creations! He was also impressed that  the colours don't deteriorate or ‘bleach out' with the massive output.

"It was a great opportunity to put these fixtures to the test on camera" says Rourke who worked with programmer/operator and all-round intelligent lighting guru Svend Pedersen on the show. Pedersen was controlling the Robes and LED fixtures on his WholeHog II while Rob James ran the studio fixtures off a Compulite Sparktop. The moving light logistics were dealt with by Rourke's gaffer James Gould, and Sean McGlone co-ordinated everything from the HSL end.

"Wawffactor was a great show and I am delighted with what we achieved" says Rourke, adding that he'll definitely be using Robes again. He has some major shows coming up including outdoor events for which he has now found a lamp bright and punchy enough to work efficiently in daylight.

The 2006 Wawffactor final was won by 16 year old student, Einir Mai Dafydd from Boncath, Pembrokeshire.