TVBEurope talks to editor Alex Fountain about his work on the BBCs new drama Boiling Point, and how hes followed the project from short to feature to TV
By Jenny Priestley
Published: September 28, 2023
TVBEurope talks to editor Alex Fountain about his work on the BBC's new drama Boiling Point, and how he's followed the project from short to feature to TV
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Having started out as a short film, followed by a feature, Boiling Point makes its debut as a four-part TV series on BBC One on Sunday 1st October.
The plot follows the staff of a restaurant in East London, with the TV series set eight months after the 2021 film.
Head chef Carly (Vinette Robinson) is battling to forge a name for new Dalston restaurant Point North alongside her old kitchen crew, while her former boss Andy (Stephen Graham) is coming to terms with the events of the film.
Vinette Robinson plays Carly As well as many of the actors following the project through its different iterations, a large part of the behind-the-scenes team has also been involved with Boiling Point since the short film, including editor Alex Fountain.
He was working with director Philip Barantini on another short film when the idea of Boiling Point first began. Philip decided that we'd first do it as a short film, given that the short film format is relatively low stakes, explains Fountain. Because he did well on that, Philip then managed to do his first feature. And then after that, the next obvious thing was the Boiling Point feature. Because I'd worked with Philip on those three projects, I ended up being the obvious choice as the editor.
From short to feature The 2019 short film was 19 minutes long, which Fountain says meant it wasn't technically difficult. I was doing more of the job of an assistant editor in the sense that I was kind of a middleman between departments and then spent a long time rendering out versions of it for people to watch.
As part of the process, Fountain was able to spend time on set working alongside Barantini and cinematographer Matthew Lewis. That meant he could watch each take and make suggestions that would help during the edit. I'd say, if I were cutting this sequence, I might actually want an insert shot here because it tells the story better, he explains. If they thought that was something that they wanted they would work out how to get the camera there.
As the team moved onto the 90-minute feature, the technical challenges became more extreme, says Fountain. The film was shot on a Sony Venice, which led to the recording being split across three cards. Once the A card on the camera was full up, we would then start recording on the B card. So the team had to take out the A card and put it in a third card whilst shooting, he continues. We had to test whether that was possible, and then we had to work out whether we were going to do that in a take and things like that.
Ray Panthaki returns as Freeman One of the biggest challenges of the feature was that it was filmed as one shot, meaning that for the initial assembly, Fountain was able to stick the footage from the three cards together. But there was so much else on top of that because in order to get a watchable film out of that was quite tricky. We had about 50-something mic-ed actors and extras. I've never had an edit that looked quite like that before, one video track, and then 60-something audio tracks, and it was quite novel.
A good production team plans for any eventuality, but no one could have foreseen the pandemic hitting the project. The UK's first lockdown cut the shoot in half, which led to debate over which take was the best, says Fountain. Ultimately, we went with what the core team deemed were the performances we wanted. But on my side, there were technical questions as well, because they all had various flaws, like focus problems or VFX issues. Sometimes we'd have issues that people would only spot a week later, like if a person left a bag in the back of a shot, and fiddly things like that, which ended up making it a little bit more challenging.
Lockdown also meant the post production process had to be done remotely. Fountain cut the feature in DaVinci Resolve, and uploaded sequences for the director and producers to view on his personal Vimeo account. Now, things are a lot more remote-friendly. I'm working on shows where most of the editing is remote and we'll have Frame.IO and other systems that allow us to work remotely with the director. But back then, we weren't really aware of how useful these things were. So the only thing I could think to do was upload stuff to Vimeo, he explains.
From feature to TV The feature version of Boiling Point was released in the UK in January 2022 to critical acclaim, receiving four British Academy Film Awards nominations. Then in the following October, the BBC announced the commission of the four-part sequel.
Fountain returned to the project at the request of Barantini as they had worked together once again on ITV's Malpractice. We had the same core edit team, same director, same DoP and we took what we learned from that series and combined it, plus the rogue element of Boiling Point where you kind of do things in a slightly indie way. He adds that the TV series retains the independent spirit of both of its predecessors.
He also shared editing duties with Tommy Boulding. Fountain cut episodes one and three, while Boulding worked on two and four.
Stephen Graham plays Andy One of the big differences of the TV series is that it's been edited using Avid's technology. We were delivering to a post house that works with Avid, explains Fountain. We usually have a post production supervisor, and they tend to want to pick a safe option, which is all totally fair en
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
05/06/2026
Built from the same recordings as flagship library
Sonuscore's LUX Orchestral Strings has been met with widespread praise since its launch in late 2025,...
05/06/2026
High-end converter, interface & headphone amp upgraded
Said to represent the next evolution of RME's all-in-one reference converter concept, the all-new...
05/06/2026
Win a Soundgas Type 636P & Type G preamps
Soundgas, one of the UK's leading vintage and boutique audio equipment specialists have just announced the lau...
05/06/2026
New leadership of Technology Systems Division at Rohde & Schwarz On July 1, 2026, Hansj rg Herrbold and Andreas H gele will take over as Executive Vice Presid...
05/06/2026
Hitachi and Intel announced a strategic collaboration to explore opportunities t...
05/06/2026
05 Jun 2026
VEON's Kyivstar to Expand Digital Mobility Ecosystem with Acqui...
05/06/2026
RT Radio 1 Folk Awards to take place on Tuesday 10th November 2026, Vicar Street, Dublin
Moya Brennan, D nal Lunny, Mary Black and Christy Moore among previou...
04/06/2026
Steinberg DAWs now boast in-depth Tonalic integration
Celemony's innovative virtual session musician plug-in has just received an update that brings ARA...
04/06/2026
Get Hands-On With Over 20 Mic Brands
GearExpo UK is fast approaching, and if you've been looking for a chance to check out some new mics, then you'r...
04/06/2026
Combos feature new Amplifier Intelligence engine
Positive Grid's latest release sees the company introduce two new combo amplifiers that promise to offe...
04/06/2026
BackStory follows four Irish young people as they travel back to their parents' homelands
Modern Irish identity is enriched by cultures and influences from...
03/06/2026
Step sequencer-style panning tool revealed
Alongside their flagship self-titled sound-design platform, Sound Particles offer an array of creative effects an...
03/06/2026
Now features full H90 algorithm library
Eventide have announced the upcoming launch of the H9 Harmonizer Gen 2, a new and improved version of their hugely p...
03/06/2026
Significant discount available until 1 October 2026
Aim Audio have just announced a promotion that sees a significant discount applied to their Essence micr...
03/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to supply CERTIUM advanced communications system to Memmingen Ai...
03/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
03/06/2026
RT confirms multi-channel and free to air coverage of the expanded tournament with enhanced digital features and the return of Total Football for young fans
S...
03/06/2026
03 Jun 2026
VEON to Release 2Q26 Earnings on July 31, 2026 Dubai and New York, June 3, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital operator ( VEON or t...
03/06/2026
RT has today announced Heineken 0.0 as the broadcast sponsor of their FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage.
The sponsorship, brokered by Dentsu, will see Heineken 0....
02/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
02/06/2026
Powerful new vocal-production tool announced
Described as a vocal performance station , Klevgrand's latest plug-in combines pitch-correction with harmo...
02/06/2026
Launched alongside Go Green sale extension
McDSP have just released the latest addition to their APB line-up, DC-2 Dual Compressor, and have also announced ...
02/06/2026
Create custom tools for Ableton Live 12 Suite
Ableton have just introduced a new open JavaScript toolkit that allows anyone to create their own custom tools...
02/06/2026
Now features full H90 algorithm library
Eventide have announced the upcoming launch of the H9 Harmonizer Gen 2, a new and improved version of their hugely p...
02/06/2026
Plus UAD Half Yearly Sale now live
The latest arrival to the Universal Audio range delivers a new native pitch-correction plug-in that's capable of deli...
02/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to present comprehensive performance, conformance and spectrum-m...
02/06/2026
BTL Laboratory becomes Taiwan's first test house with a CTIA Certification c...
02/06/2026
If you've kept up with this article series, you know by now where to start w...
02/06/2026
With new DSP configurations and flexible licensing options, Calrec is removing the barriers to virtualised audio, giving broadcasters the freedom to scale produ...
02/06/2026
02 Jun 2026
VEON Closes USD 1.4 Billion Bond Offering, Refinancing 2027 Notes A...
02/06/2026
Praise for series three:
The Times - sun-dappled pleasure
The Daily Mail - The Homes Counties' Charlie's Angels
The Sun - 4* this [is an] enjoya...
02/06/2026
Wuppertal June 2, 2026
Gudrun Scharler Appointed CEO of Riedel Networks The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel N...
02/06/2026
Trust has become a commercial issue With global advertising spend forecast to exceed US$1 trillion this year*, the commercial consequences of weak governance co...
02/06/2026
June sees Ireland's cultural calendar in full bloom, as RT Supporting the Arts showcases a vibrant and wide-ranging programme spanning music, theatre, visu...
02/06/2026
After The Traitors Ireland launched in 2025, Irish audiences proved to have a taste for the global hit reality show. This Bank Holiday Monday fans can indulge e...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Luxembourg, June 1, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, launched fast and reliable multi-orbit satelli...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
TVBEurope talks to editor Alex Fountain about his work on the BBCs new drama Boiling Point, and how hes followed the project from short to feature to TV
