Don't Stand So Close To Me

The current TV studio setups can take some getting used to.

Remember when comedians on a TV show could all sit relatively near to each other, squeezing into the same close-up shot at the same time, and almost literally rub shoulders? That's already starting to seem like a long time ago now, as we're getting very used to people being spaced out: what looked odd on our favourite shows a few months ago, as they tried to keep going under new restrictions, now seems oddly normal.

The question is, does that spaced-out approach actually change the dynamics of a show? Anyone involved in the live comedy industry will be very aware that clubs have their own unique ecosystem, and subtle changes to the room layout can make a surprisingly huge difference to the way those places work. So are TV studios the same?

First up, it's worth pointing out that any return to studios beats the Zoom-based model lots of shows switched to early on, and some have stuck with. At least when people are in the same room together you know they're giving the show their full attention: if an act went quiet on one of those video-call versions, you half wondered if they were also playing an online game with a pal, or rolling the dice at SA gaming with some virtual roulette, or bingeing old editions of Play Your Cards Right, just to see a host and contestants in the same room together.

Actually Celebrity Squares is probably due yet another comeback now, as it almost looks like a show designed for the new world of studio TV, with every celeb separated into their own individual box. The Great British Bake Off, again, could almost be a lockdown invention, with everyone happily ensconced on their own separate cooking tables: that new series hardly seems much different from the previous editions, as most of the tricky logistical stuff happened behind the scenes.

The new series of Taskmaster is an interesting one, on the other hand, as that show was already a mixed bag of formats stuck together, when you think about it; pre-recorded tasks, in-studio talky bits, and an in-studio challenge too. It's tempting to assume that the meat of the show is the outside-broadcast tasks, as they're the memorable bits, but actually the studio stuff is the glue that holds everything together; it's now largely forgotten that the show moved to a more intimate studio after the first series, which made a big difference.

So the new format was a bit of a worry, with the audience responses recorded separately too, and they've really gone to town with the distancing. The five contestants are now sitting miles from each other, but then that's possibly a necessity due to the sheer explosions of laughter.

If you've seen the outtake where the comics respond to Katherine Parkinson's pipe-and-egg attempt, the gaps make sense. That clip also explains why the IT Crowd star seemed to be in tears during that whole section.

It's a good enough show to survive any weirdness, it turns out. And anyway, lots of people back home don't really give much thought to studio logistics. University Challenge would seem to have a very distinctive set-up, for example, and the new series features Perspex screens between contestants, so they could keep that look intact.

But very casual viewers would probably be pretty bewildered if they saw a shot of the two rows of students lined up either side of Jeremy. Due to the famous split-screen camera style, many people no doubt assume that the two teams really are sitting above and below each other, like Celebrity Squares.

Blame The Young Ones, Scumbag College, and Vivian's grenade.