Behind the scenes at the virtual british hairdressing awards

If you were sat at home watching the virtual British Hairdressing Awards, sponsored by Schwarzkopf Professional on Monday night (30 November) you might have been curious to see behind the scenes and find how it was all put together. Well, you've come to the right place! Our roving reporter Charlotte Grant-West headed to the COVID-secure TV studio in Elstree in London where the live filming took place. Here's a peek of all the action.

Welcome to the studio!

This trophy area (aka the personal lounge of Julian Crane, Schwarzkopf Professional's general manager!) was where the winners were announced and the trophies were displayed. A huge thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making it all happen!  

Camera, lights, action

We worked with a fabulous team from Light Fantastic Production Services at the world-famous Elstree studios.  

Our fabulous host!

We posted this teaser pic of our host's feet on social media and you guys guessed in your droves. Let's be honest, most of you got it right!

Iiiiit's Rylan!

Aka the hairdresser's presenter of choice! A former hairdresser himself, this is Rylan Clarke's third year presenting the British Hairdressing Awards, sponsored by Schwarzkopf Professional. And no, that's not a light saber.

The #BHA20 beauties!

Who knew you could make face coverings look so fetching! Our events and marketing team worked tirelessly to bring you the virtual awards. From organising the finalists to be on the right Zoom call at the right time (not an easy job), to managing all the logistic involved in putting together a virtual awards, the #BHA20 team well and truly smashed it!

The socially-distanced HJ team!

In non-pandemic circumstances we normally work a lot more closely ...  

Grub's up!

Well, the awards' dinner looked a little different to the three courses we're used to at Grosvenor House Hotel but food is food! HJ's executive director Jayne Lewis-Orr grabs a bite to eat before co-hosting with Rylan.

Testing, testing 1,2,3

The control room was insanely cool and demonstrated just how much behind the scenes production goes into a live broadcast. (We couldn't get a pic in here when the awards was live because it was a pretty intense atmosphere!)

What's this, did Jayne and Rylan have a fall out ...?

No, it's just social distancing! We caught them just before they went live.

Watching from 'backstage'

It was a joy to watch the production come together from our little screen backstage. We hope you enjoyed the awards show and we managed to bring all the magic of the IRL awards night to your living rooms. Hope to see you in person next year! If you want a reminder of all the winners, head here!