5 Days BBC Drama

It could hardly have escaped anyone’s notice that the BBC and HBO’s superbly conceived, collaborative drama
production ‘5 Days’ was aired this week. This splendidly cast thriller is set in the heat of the British summertime
and concerns the inexplicable disappearance of a young mother and her children and the subsequent five days
of intense police investigations that follow. The five expertly written episodes will run on the 23rd, 24th, 25th,
30th and concluding on the 31st of January.

Behind the Scenes
However, in the fast paced business of television production, sometimes there's drama to be had long before a program ever reaches the small screen and when Proici received a phone call from the BBC production team in late August 2006, Managing Director Martin Harcourt was more than a little intrigued!

It turned out that the production had been seriously let down with the use of their original choice of location for shooting some of the key scenes and, although time was very short, the new location needed to be fitted out to suit the requirements of the filming schedule. That zero date was fixed for September the 8th... just 9 days away!

Having had chance to absorb the brief both the BBC and Proici knew that it was a tall order but the Beeb are world renowned for their ground breaking approach to broadcasting and Proici... well, we do like a challenge!

Pulling out the stops
With the designs tweaked and budgets submitted, August 31st saw a Proici and BBC production team on-site meeting at Elstree Studios where it was decided there was just enough time to re-design the job and submit a new schedule of costs. September 1st saw the designs and costs approved and all of the materials required could finally be ordered.

At 8:00am on Monday 4th September 2006 the Proici project team arrived on site and began what would become known as our own five days of drama. Working 18 hours a day for 5 days straight we were able to complete the sets for handover by 6pm on the 8th September, ready for shooting to commence the following Monday. And all this despite a last minute design change on the 5th September which required the removal and alterations to partitions that had been constructed within the first two days!

Teamwork
It has to be said that projects like this, thankfully, aren't the norm however its just such a project like this that makes us very proud of what we are able to achieve through dedication, good management, applied experience and good old teamwork.

In five short days we provided the 5 Days production team with 120 linear metres of glass partitioning, walls and joinery, creating a Police Station, Press Room, DSI Barclay and Griffins offices.

This was truly a team effort and we at Proici would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to our Project and Installation team and everyone at Komfort Workspace for manufacturing the products so quickly and delivering them to us on time. Were proud to say that so much was achieved by so few, in such little time in order to be seen and enjoyed by so many.

Five days of drama... well it could have been worse. It could have been 24!

"Hope you manage to catch the first episode... it looks great! Thanks again for turning it around so quickly. I know the producers are so happy with it at the BBC"

Anna Pritchard :: Art Director BBC

Proici Associates Limited :: Proici Office Interiors :: Proici Design & Build
10th Floor 88 Wood Street London EC2V 7RS Tel. 0208 528 1047 Fax. 0208 528 1001. www.proici.co.uk

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