John graduated from Queen’s University, Belfast with an honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Like many, his interest in lighting began in school while working on school shows and local amateur productions. However it was while at university that John began to work professionally as a freelance theatre lighting designer.   

While he has continued to work on a wide variety of theatrical and other productions, John is perhaps best known for his experience in television lighting and vision engineering. He is arguably one of Ireland’s most highly trained and experienced professionals in these disciplines. John’s television career began when he joined the lighting department in RTE.   

In January 2001 John moved to BBC Northern Ireland where he worked as a Vision Engineer. During this time he was particularly involved in lighting and became established as their leading lighting programmer / operator. He was also involved in a wide variety of vision engineering work for both studio productions and outside broadcasts. Two years later, in January 2003, John took up a position as a Lighting and Vision Supervisor in BBC Television Centre and Elstree Studios, London. He worked on major network productions for both BBC and other companies, such as Channel 4. He later returned to BBC Northern Ireland as a Resource Co-Ordinator where he was responsible for lighting direction, technical management and vision supervision on a wide variety of productions.   

Since John left the BBC in January 2006 he has enjoyed great success as a freelance television Lighting Director and Vision Engineer. To meet rising demand, John established John Gallagher Productions Limited in February 2007.   

John is a member of the Society of Television 
Lighting Directors stld.co.uk