Scottish gaffer Scott Napier has had the good fortune of working on Starz/Sony TV Drama Outlander right from the very beginning through season two, which wrapped up at the start of the year. Although filming jumped from South England to Prague, the large majority took place just a stone's throw away from Scott's hometown of Duns in Berwick!
Shot across Scotland's famous highlands, in forests, wilderness and medieval castles, Outlander is a time-traveling adventure set between the 1700s and mid-1900s. Although sometimes a tricky feat, Scott welcomed the challenge of helping capture the vivid imagery for which Outlander has become famous.
One of the reasons that the show is so popular is because viewers are drawn into the scenes, they have a connection, Scott explains. We filmed in big exterior locations like forests and castles, and although the final product is strong, it was quite relentless and a challenge for us to achieve what was required.
Well-known within the lighting industry, Scott has grown up, so to speak, with Panalux, starting his career in Lee Lighting. A brief stint in maintenance made way for Scott's transition to Electrician on jobs like, Rebus, Sea of Souls, The Last King of Scotland and Your Highness. Scott then made the leap to Gaffer in 2006 before going freelance in 2010. Since then, he has built an impressive portfolio of projects that range from commercials to feature films to television dramas and include Penny Dreadful, Doctor Who, Shetland, Citadel and Filth. Along the way, Scott has collaborated with a number of DoPs, providing a complimentary vision for the likes of Steven McNutt, Nigel Willoughby, Neville Kidd, Cinders Forshaw, Danny Cohen and Tony Imi.
Currently, fans around the world are impatiently awaiting season two (to air mid-April) of Golden-Globe-nominated Outlander. After initially airing two years ago, the series immediately caught fire overseas, particularly in the North American market.
Before Outlander started filming in 2013, small BBC dramas and independent movies made up the majority of Scotland's production work. Since then, Scotland has enjoyed the spotlight as one of the UK's premier filming destinations. Outlander supported by Panalux Glasgow is the country's biggest-ever production and was even dubbed the Scottish Game of Thrones.
After starting off with two sound-proof stages, Outlander production expanded so quickly that another had to be added by the middle of filming season one. On hand from day one, Scott was responsible for assisting in the planning, creation and set up of the studio complex, now boasting an impressive four main stages. At one point, Scott rigged one of the Outlander sets with 50 Highlights overhead and 125 Flobanks.
Having Panalux's expertise and huge selection of kit right on my doorstep makes my job a whole lot easier, Scott says about being able to access the entire Panalux inventory from Glasgow.
Unlike in the studio, remodeling 15th century castles and other historic buildings used on-location was strictly prohibited. Instead, Scott had to cleverly work around mostly solid stone walls by favoring non-heat-producing, battery-powered LED products. Scott and Panalux Glasgow General Manager Audrei Hendry had this in mind when they selected a load of Panalux LED Hilo Softsources, fluorescent Flobanks and NessLED panels, all wireless and all equipped with Panalux's proprietary flicker-free F-Stop technology.
We knew that power generation would be somewhat tricky considering the settings Scott was going into, says Hendry, who has worked closely with Scott since 2004. The wireless lights made the Sparks' jobs a lot easier as they didn't need to run cables everywhere.
In total, Panalux supplied 265 tons of equipment between seasons one and two. According to Scott, Panalux was the only lighting company in the UK with the inventory and fleet to service a production of such size and scope.
When you are in difficult situations, you need to be creative and clever. Access to the right equipment makes these situations a little more bearable. I knew that with Panalux's extensive range of kit, I could make things work regardless of the circumstances my team and I were in.
Panalux has been committed to helping develop Scotland into a major UK shooting destination since they opened. With additional regional offices throughout the UK in Wales and Manchester, Panalux provide a localized service to each market.
I have a good relationship with Audrei, Scott confirms. She is personable and friendly and a great problem solver. When normal issues arise between the lighting provider, the crew and the production company, she knows exactly how to take care of the situation.
From left: Behind the scenes with Spark Callum Milne & Panalux Glasgow General Manager Audrei Hendry; Gaffer Scott Napier.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Scottish gaffer Scott Napier has had the good fortune of working on Starz/Sony TV Drama Outlander right from the very beginning through season two, which wrapped up at the start of the year. Although filming jumped from South England to Prague, the large majority took place just a stone's throw away from Scott's hometown of Duns in Berwick! 
