Original EV logoeastern videoNORFOLK · FILM & TELEVISION

EASTERN VIDEO

A Norfolk story.
Still in the
making.

From wedding videos around 1986 to Top Gear and motorsport minicams. A hands-on filmmaking story that grew into specialist camera engineering, Extreme Video and Epic.

Explore our story
Epic production crew setting up a cinema camera on location
THE WORK CONTINUESOn location with Epic Broadcast ↗
ProductionPost-productionSpecialist camerasNorfolk roots. A wider view.
01 / OUR STORY

It started with
a wedding video.
Then the road opened up.

Jonathan Thursby started Eastern Video on leaving school, filming wedding videos around 1986. It began as his sole-trader business, long before the studio and specialist-camera chapters that followed.

Around 1992, he stopped filming weddings as he started working on Top Gear. Those approximate dates come from Jonathan’s own recollection of the transition from wedding work into television.

The work developed into more than operating a camera. Jonathan describes building complete systems around separate cameras and tape recorders, including mounts, batteries, controls, microphones and interfaces, then finding ways to keep them working through vibration, heat and water. Jonathan’s account · 24:00–27:27 ↗

Corporate films, location filming, editing and post-production remained part of the wider production story. The recovered archive below shows how that practical engineering supported the finished film, from motorsport footage to the Lotus Change the Rules production.

AROUND 1986

Leaving school. Starting Eastern Video.

Wedding videos were the beginning of Jonathan’s sole-trader business. The starting point for the production and engineering work that came later.

AROUND 1992

From weddings to Top Gear.

Jonathan stopped filming weddings as his Top Gear work began. A move into television, followed by the specialist minicam work of the next chapter.

1993–2004

Inside the action

Minicam work across the World Rally Championship, British Rally Championship, BTCC and offshore powerboat racing. A chapter of the EV story confirmed by Jonathan Thursby. Explore the minicam years ↓

Different environments.
The same practical thinking.

Rallying, offshore powerboats and ocean racing taught different lessons about keeping cameras alive. In his interviews, Jonathan connects those lessons directly to the next opportunity: applying camera engineering to the heat, pressure and reliability demands of the oil industry. From filming to oil wells · 5:04–6:41 ↗

That became the EV Offshore chapter of Jonathan’s career, a separate business story that later included international growth and Enersol’s acquisition of EV in 2024. It is founder history, not a current Eastern Video holding or an offer of EV technology. Read the EV Offshore story ↗

The production story also gained a permanent home when Extreme Video acquired Epic Studios in 2012. Jonathan describes a long-held ambition to run a television studio and help develop a media hub in Norwich. The early Epic years · 0:00–2:49 ↗

Jonathan’s fuller founder history
02 / FROM THE ARCHIVESELECTED EARLY WORK

Some of the work
that got us here.

From the original website and Jonathan Thursby’s account of the early years.
Historical work, not a list of current clients.

01MOTORING / CORPORATE FILMLotus. Change the Rules.

A worldwide marketing DVD for the Lotus Elise, combining sports-car action, miniature-camera footage, archive material and computer graphics. The production brought material from 16mm film to U-matic tape into one coherent story.

The original awards page records the Institute of Videography’s top corporate production award for 2004, received by Mark Wells and Jonathan Thursby.

Close-up of yellow Lotus bodywork from the original EV website
Lotus image from the original website

The recovered Stikcam launch release connects the production to EV’s camera engineering: its boom-mounted minicam was used to capture moving close-ups of the Elise for Change the Rules. Read the original release ↗

02INDUSTRIAL / TRAININGOffshore safety training.

Offshore safety training features in the original production archive, alongside industrial product demonstrations and corporate films. It is part of the practical, technical strand of the early work.

03BROADCAST TELEVISIONAston vs. RAF.

Listed under broadcast television in the original project archive, “Aston vs. RAF” sits alongside the company's motoring and commercial production work.

041993–2004 / MOTORSPORT & MARINEThe minicam years.

From 1993 to 2004, we handled minicam work across the World Rally Championship, British Rally Championship, British Touring Car Championship and offshore powerboat racing. Small cameras brought viewers into the cars, onto the boats and closer to the action.

Dates and scope from Jonathan Thursby’s account of the company’s history.

Contemporary coverage in July 2002 named Eastern Video and quoted Jonathan as managing director on fitting more cameras into rally cars within tight size and weight limits. Read the contemporary article ↗

That engineering background continued into Top Gear and Clarkson productions. Explore Extreme Video’s selected screen credits ↗

RECOVERED FROM THE ORIGINAL SITE

Small frames.
A wider story.

A few surviving web images from the EV archive, kept small rather than enlarged beyond their original detail.

Explore Extreme Video’s past projects
Rally car driving through water, from the original specialist-filming archive
MOTORSPORTOriginal specialist-filming image
Sailing crew at a yacht’s helm, from the original marine-filming archive
MARINEOriginal marine-filming image
03 / THE NEXT CHAPTER
Epic Studios camera operators filming a studio production
Studio production at Epic Broadcast ↗

The story didn’t
stop at video.

Today, the wider work brings together film and television production, studio facilities, live performance and specialist filming.

Epic’s model developed as the television market changed. In his 2025 interview, Jonathan describes building live entertainment and corporate activity alongside the original production ambition. How Epic evolved · 13:49–16:11 ↗

For crews, studio space, cameras, lighting and production facilities, Epic Broadcast is the practical point of contact. See current services ↗

Extreme Video continues the production and technical-development side of the story, including new research into camera-based perception.

Explore Epic Broadcast

LET’S TALK

A new project.
Or an old connection.

Tell us what you are making, what you need
and where you would like to take it.

GENERAL & PROJECT ENQUIRIESjonathan@easternvideo.co.uk STUDIOS, CREWS & EQUIPMENTbroadcast@epic-tv.com FIND JONATHAN ON LINKEDINJonathan Thursby

Norwich, Norfolk · Working beyond the region.