Salford Lecturer Redesigns Blue Peter set

Emma Dibb teaches on the BA (Hons) Film, Television and Stage Design, as well as being a practising production designer. She has been the designer dressing the studio on Blue Peter every week since its move to Manchester, but this time (as they occasionally do) they needed a new set.

“How you design differs totally on each and every project - sometimes it will be based on the script, but in the case of BP it was obviously the legacy of the show, the audience, and how we also wanted to promote sustainability.”

The process took place over several weeks.

“It was around 2 weeks of intense work on the set itself, but the design work was a longer process and ties in with many other departments such as the editorial team at the BBC,  graphics and title sequences.”

When she’s not inspiring students at the University, Emma keeps busy working in  industry on a variety of programs, providing valuable experience and insight for her students.

“I currently design mainly children’s programs such as ‘Blue Peter’, ‘Baby Club’, ‘Andy and the Band’, ‘Newsround’, the CBBC HQ set, and ‘Biggleton’. In the past I worked further on children’s programming, the best known after BP probably being CITV’s, ‘My Parents Are Aliens’. I have also worked on lots of films and drama's, including the feature film,  ‘The Full Monty’ but  I really enjoy the creativity and teamwork within children’s program making – especially within the art department!”