200 Drones and a Live Broadcast: Our Night with Stand Up To Cancer
Stunning Drone Formation for Stand Up To Cancer
On the evening of 12th December 2025, the Star Symphony team appeared on UK terrestrial TV over the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for one of our most ambitious projects yet. We were there to support the Stand Up To Cancer live telethon on Channel 4, flying a fleet of 200 drones to help raise vital funds for life-saving research.
Seeing our animations lighting up the Stratford skyline was a proud moment for everyone involved. It wasn't just about the spectacle; it was about the cause.
A Television First for Channel 4
Working on a live TV broadcast brings a unique kind of pressure. For this show, Bango Studios (the team behind the live broadcast at Here East) wanted something that had never been done quite like this before. Our drone animations didn't just appear once; they were featured at every single ad break throughout the entire night.
This meant our pilots and tech team had to be perfectly in sync and called for a special plan. The show was produced at the Here East TV Studios, which many will remember as the former London 2012 International Broadcast Centre and the old home of BT Sport. Being part of the "finale" at LMA, the creative campus at Here East, felt like a fitting way to close out such a high-energy night of fundraising.
One of the special and unique features of the drone system we fly is that our designers can work on a show creation in real-time alongside the customer, we don’t rely on complicated software systems from European software developers like most other drone systems. This meant our designer was able to make changes to the design whilst sat with TV producers in the actual studio on the day of the flight. We can change a design for our customers up to minutes before the show flies. We don’t normally fly the same show or show elements time and time again even for wedding shows, our standard is for unique and bespoke shows every time.
Capturing the Moment with Specialists
When you are flying 200 drones against the bright lights of London, you need a camera crew who knows exactly how to handle the scale of the landscape. We teamed up once again with highly experienced Batcam to handle the aerial filming, who were commissioned by Bango Studios for the show.
Their expertise in live broadcast drone work is second to none. Because of their precision, viewers at home got a front-row seat to the display, seeing the SU2C branding and messages of hope rendered in light across the Olympic Park.
Collaboration Behind the Scenes
A project of this scale simply doesn't happen without a massive amount of legwork behind the scenes. We worked very closely with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) team at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to get this off the ground.
Flying a large drone swarm in such a busy part of London requires a lot of trust and meticulous safety planning. The LLDC team was instrumental in helping us navigate the logistics to make this "TV first" happen smoothly.
Final Thoughts
Stand Up To Cancer is a campaign that touches almost everyone. Using our technology to help Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 reach their goals was a real honour for the Star Symphony team.
If you missed the broadcast, you can still catch the highlights online. Most importantly, if you are able to, please head over to the SU2C website to see how you can support their work. Every donation helps speed up the research that saves lives.
