The Man Who Fell To Earth - BBC Series

In June 2021, I was working on a new production of the 1976 Nicolas Roeg cult classic 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' which starred David Bowie as an alien visiting Earth in search of water. This adaptation features Chiwetel Ejiofor as the alien 'Faraday,' who descends on Earth at a turning point in human evolution, and must learn what it means to become human, even as he fights for the survival of his species.

My work in this production was primarily spent constructing the 'Quantum Fusion Machine,' a homemade device built by Faraday from scrap and old farming equipment to produce energy. This set instillation was comprised of multiple sections: A central boiler tank located at the bottom of the inner structure with pipes, valves and canisters; a central column that ran the entire height on the piece supporting its shear weight, whilst bearing decoration like discs, ribs and canisters. 'The Faraday Cage' was a 6.1m wide spherical cage with a hexagonal geodesic lattice design made of steel cable. It surrounded the inner structure and was supported by eight steel ribs and fitted with 688 halogen bulbs.

This incredible structure was so big it had to be designed with transportation in mind, allowing for fast disassembly and reassembly. Throughout the build, we took inspiration from old industrial machines, we also gave everything a rustic effect to enforce the DIY nature of the QFM.