Editing in the BBC was fairly unique in that the editor did all the sound work as well. This discipline had evolved from the days of the razor blade before time code synchronisation and VT capable audio dubbing suites ( (SYPHER). This was especially necessary with quick turnaround programmes. Additionally dexterity in sound mixing over the edit point was the only way to avoid a fairly nasty edit. This involved the use of a ¼" sound machine (TR90 or Studer) to lay off the sound over the edit and would require the ability to perform an audio only record on the edit machine at a point not necessarily linked to the video edit point. Commercial systems did not allow this as a standard feature and those that claimed it as an enhancement were not straightforward to use.
A facet of electronic editing, both two machine remote start and EECO time code controlled edit suite, was the presence of the 'play-in' man, who operated the play-in machine/s and performed the duties of the editor's assistant. This way of working, although sometimes seen by production as cumbersome, was beneficial in the training of editors as the assistant could learn the job hands-on before being cast loose on his own.
EECO was no longer available so the desperate need to introduce several new edit suites and the arrival of C format (1 inch) provoked much investigation of edit controllers, and, bearing in mind the above requirements, it was decided the only viable solution was to build a custom edit system - this was Design Department's Electra. They had already perfected timecode synchronisers and these were in use in both the SYPHER audio dubbing system and also in two and three machine quad edit systems with time code selection using thumbwheels.!
Don Kershaw, along with operational editors and assistants were the main source for specifying the requirements and the layout of the control panels.