New Years Eve celebrations in London would normally be an exercise in crowd management, as hundreds of thousands of people flock to Westminster for a glimpse of the annual fireworks as Big Ben chimes for another year. 2020, however, called for something different as Britain was told to stay at home; braced for it's second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The solution was a pre-recorded, highly-choreographed display featuring some impressive technological and phyrotechnical elements.

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Drone display

Specialist drone display producers Skymagic were commissioned by Jack Morton on behalf of the Mayor of London's office to develop a fitting light show to mark the end of a turbulent year. The display was televised on BBC1 at midnight, and featured 300 drones used to depict some of 2020's defining moments including The Nightingale, Captain Sir Tom Moore, Sir David Attenborough's turtle, and a tribute to video calling's new tagline 'You're on mute'.