Point-of-View video helmets made by Camera Corps are being used on the new series of Gladiators on Sky One.

Two miniature cameras with integral cameras are mounted in a boxer's helmet and linked to a Mini-DV recorder in a protective backpack.

The cameras are able to capture the sights seen by contestants as they battle their way through the show.

Camera Corps' operations director Matt Frost explained: “We used a camera configuration which we had originally developed for firemen. Being solid-state, the cameras are extremely robust. We opted for Sony Mini-DV recorders on the basis that their very low-inertia scanners would tolerate robust movement."

According to Shine producer Nick Badham the original plan was to use the helmet cameras to capture supplementary video for podcasting on the Gladiators website. But, he says, "the quality and dynamism of the images proved so good that we included many clips into the broadcast programmes.”

Gladiators, a Shine production for Sky One, is made at Shepperton Studios.

Camera Corps provides, amongst other things, high-level cranes, motorised tracking cameras, underwater cameras, bullseye-mounted archery target cameras and fire-proofed high temperature cameras.

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