An unreliable and wholly unofficial history
of BBC Television Centre...
...with grateful thanks to several current and ex BBC staffers who have passed some fascinating documents and other information to me.
(Revised August 2019)
photo thanks to Peter Sumpter
contents of this web page...
stage 2 (restaurant block and TC9)
puppet studio/video effects workshop
(a potted history of early colour cameras)
stage 4 (the spur including TC8, TC10, TC11)
the television rehearsal rooms
stage 5 (including TC0 and TC12)
stage 6 (including the studio that never was)
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Jennifer Saunders on the BBC in general and Television Centre in particular: 'The BBC was more than a channel. More, even, than a production company. The BBC was a national resource. It trained and produced the greatest technicians in television, most of whom then eventually went on to work in the film industry. It was a centre of learning and creativity, with an executive culture that trusted the creative staff to do their job. It was the place everyone wanted to work, despite the fact that you got more money on ITV. It was full of TV history. Dawn and I loved just to walk round the corridors and see what else was happening. Who was in the studios? Who was writing what? It had great studios, totally made for purpose. Make-up rooms and dressing rooms were all perfectly placed to service each studio, and there were small tea bars between each one for snacks and refreshments. If you needed a proper lunch, you went to the canteen that overlooked the Blue Peter garden. If you wanted a posh lunch, you went to the silver service restaurant that was on the balcony above the canteen. Same food, but with a waitress serving your peas with two spoons. Executives would eat there with guests or stars. This was before the days when they all felt they had to get a limo to the Ivy and spend unnecessary amounts of licence fee.'
from 'Bonkers: My Life in Laughs' by Jennifer Saunders.
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An Overview
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An early plan for TVC dated around 1960. TC8 was the only one of the planned three studios along the spur that was eventually constructed. |
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TVC under construction. The White City stadium is in the background. This was used for the London Olympics in 1908. |
Firstly, TC or TVC? From Television Centre's earliest days it was known throughout the BBC as 'TC'. Hence the studio numbers - TC1, TC2 etc. At some time it became TVC - not officially, not through some managerial decree but certainly by the turn of the century it was widely referred to by the initials 'TVC'. I was a member of staff from the mid '70s and worked mostly in the building until I went freelance in 2002. I can't remember when the change occurred but certainly now I feel more comfortable calling it TVC so apologies to those senior to me who find that strange.
Now let's get on with the history...
Of all the TV studio centres in the UK, Television Centre was by far the largest. With eight medium to large production studios, four small ones and a further number of news and weather studios it dominated the industry from the 1960s right up to its closure in 2013. The building itself was huge - only seven stories high (plus basement and the mysterious sub-basement), apart from the East Tower, but the area it covered was considerable. As well as the studios, scenery block and restaurant block there were countless numbers of offices. When they ran out of space in the 1980s they built even more offices on the roof of the scenery runway that encircled the main block. Thousands of people worked there every day - most not having a clue what everyone else did. There was a waitress service restaurant, two cafeterias and many snack bars, coffee bars, delis and tea bars all over the building, not to mention the BBC Club. The Centre contained a travel agent, a hairdresser, a dry cleaner, a florist (called 'Auntie's Blooms') and even a branch of WH Smith.
Its statistics are pretty extraordinary. The main block was 500 feet in diameter and at basement level covered three and a half acres. In the studios nearest the railway line (TC1 - TC3) the walls were constructed 2ft 3ins thick to provide sound insulation. When opened, the building contained 85 dressing rooms, sufficient for 613 artists. There were originally 43 lifts plus 2 escalators to the basement level. The ventilation system was the largest non-industrial system in Europe with 19 air-conditioning plants, 22 ventilating plants, 8 extract plants and 2 'absorbtion refrigerating machines'. Gosh.
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The heat and vent control - somewhere in the bowels of the building. This was where temperatures were adjusted when the TM2 phoned someone up to say that the studio was a bit too cold. I do hope this wonderful old panel has been saved by someone. Note that TC6 is divided into two - it was going to be two studios until shortly before it opened but they changed their minds. Clearly, nobody thought to inform the heat and vent man. I expect he was called 'H.Tel. H&V'. Everything and everyone in the BBC used to be referred to by initials. Apparently, the actual adjustments were carried out elsewhere in the latter years of the Centre but this panel was left connected as nobody knew exactly what it did and they could hear relays clicking inside it so it was thought best to leave it well alone. |
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In 2015 I was invited to look round the area of TC1-TC3 that was in the process of being rebuilt internally, ready for re-opening in 2017. The entire heat and vent system was being replaced - except for some of the giant fans, which were being refurbished. It was astonishing to see all these areas in the sub-basement of which I knew nothing - huge chambers, labyrinths, ducts and rooms containing giant fans and heat exchangers. A bit like the engine room of a huge ocean liner. Below is one of the dozens of fans that were refurbed or replaced.
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The Centre was originally supplied with 2 separate feeds from the national grid, in case one went down. Later, one of these was withdrawn by the electricity supplier when Battersea Power Station was closed and the one remaining feed did indeed fail on at least three occasions to my knowledge. To cope with this, emergency generators were installed for vital areas such as news and presentation and the power plant that originally only heated the water was, during the 1980s, replaced with two gas turbines that were intended to generate electricity as well as providing hot water and cooled air as a by-product. This system is known as 'combined heat and power' or CHP. Unfortunately, the system never worked. (Their history of unreliability is probably a suitable subject for another website or book.) On this very subject I have been contacted by Andrew Prince...
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'Problem was they tried to be too clever and tried to extract the heat from either the main or the reserve generator. Point of interest, I was tasked with testing them once overnight. We advised the occupants of TVC that we were doing this and they should switch off PCs etc overnight just in case. Come the night we powered the CHP up, disconnected TVC from the mains and tried to load the generator up. I went around all the studios and put on all the studio lights we could and surprise - we could not create the load we wanted. Just goes to show what power is wasted overnight by things being left on. Footnote, when it came to re-connect TVC to the national grid, the breaker would not go in. It took several attempts before it held. Phew, there were a few white faced people there that night.' |
Despite best intentions, not all the original design choices were good ones. The official 1960 BBC book about the building proudly states that the roofs of the studios were covered in asbestos tiles and that the trusses supporting the studio grids were 'fire-proofed, their members being covered with sprayed-on asbestos fibre.' Guess what. In 1988 asbestos was unexpectedly 'discovered' in TVC's studios and they were all shut down for examination. Perhaps the BBC managers should have read the BBC's own 1960 book and they would have known some time before. Anyway - each studio was closed for detailed examination and after a few weeks depending on the seriousness of the risk was brought back into service. In the case of some, the asbestos was removed and with others it was encapsulated, with an intention to remove it at some later time.
The removal or containment programmes for each studio lasted for many months or in the case of TC1 - years.
Almost inevitably, this problem re-emerged in 2006. It was then announced that further work would be necessary on three of the studios - TC2, TC3 and TC5. This was subsequently carried out, one studio at a time, beginning with TC2 from late summer 2006. The studio reopened after a very expensive process of removal early in 2007 when work on TC5 began. This was complete by the summer of 2007 when TC3 was closed, reopening early in 2008. Seven of the main studios had their original soundproofing stripped to the brick walls and new panels installed - making them look like new studios. Only TC8 remained as it was originally built since no asbestos was used in its construction. Following this process, all eight of the main studios remained free of asbestos - or any that was left was well encapsulated.
Rumours persisted to the end however that the building was still contaminated. To an extent, this was true (some remained in cable ducts) but huge amounts of work had been done in the studios at vast expense over the years and they were constantly monitored for any trace of contamination. My guess is that the three remaining studios are probably now amongst the 'cleanest' in the country, particularly following the internal rebuild during 2015.
It's hard to say for certain how many other studios and film stages in London have been affected. Any built before the late '60s are likely to have asbestos somewhere in their walls or insulation. Even ITV's studios on the South Bank, built in 1972, had ugly black plastic sheeting stuck to the walls for the final few years in order to contain it.
Within the TV industry, the BBC certainly took this issue seriously - they spent literally millions of pounds removing or encapsulating the asbestos in this building.
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click on it to see greater detail |
Construction and alterations never ceased since building commenced in 1951. The sound of distant drilling disturbed countless transmissions and recordings over the decades. In fact, it was such an extraordinary building that there literally can't be a person alive that has been in every part of it. I was based there for 26 years and often worked there as a freelancer over another 11 years right up to its closure but only ever saw a fraction of the building. Its unique circular design meant that many people, myself included, often exited a door onto a corridor and had to pause for a second to work out the best route to where they were going. Many is the time I said cheerio to someone as we went off in different directions only to meet them again a minute or two later, slightly embarrassed as we bumped into each other - having taken completely different routes to arrive at the same place. It happened so often that people barely remarked on it. Or perhaps it was just me.
I wrote at the beginning of this project that TV studios were factories. That rather trite description probably applied to this building even more than most. (Indeed, the then head of BBC Television described it as such on the day it opened.) The sheer scale of its operation made this inevitable. However, it was also a corporate headquarters and a news centre and anyone entering the reception area that faced Wood Lane in its latter years would be hard pushed to get any sense that this building contained television studios. Compare it with the reception area in ITV's headquarters on the south bank, or Teddington or Fountain or Pinewood TV. It's almost as though from the 1990s the BBC's senior management was slightly embarrassed at the fact that inside this building were studios still making television purely for entertainment. As far as they were concerned, the BBC was first and foremost a news organisation.
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This marvellous cutaway drawing was sent to me by Bernie Davis. The original print was found in a skip by John Rossetti who had it scanned. It had crease marks and stains but thanks to Bernie spending a few hours in Photoshop it is now here for us all to enjoy - and wonder at. It reminds me of those drawings that the Eagle used to print of classic British inventions like the Spitfire or the Forth Bridge. And quite right too. This drawing truly indicates what an astonishing feat of design and architecture the Centre was. There was no other building like it anywhere in the UK - and probably in the world. If you were ever in any doubt that all the main studios should have been kept on as a working centre then just take a close look at this. The plan is dated 23rd July 1958 and it shows how the building was expected to look when it was completed. In fact there were several small changes. There is no East Tower shown on the foreground 'works block'. That was built in 1964 as something of an afterthought. Studios 8, 9 and 10 are indicated running down the spur, but only TC8 was actually built. TC1 has the tank in its floor - complete with ladder, enabling people to climb in and out (for a swim?). The roof alongside the two presentation studios was apparently intended to be used as an outdoor studio area. There are several other little interesting features too within the building - like a papier maché workshop - but what does strike one is how little actually changed from this drawing to how the building was eventually used. The basic design was spot on and enabled the studios to be operated highly efficiently right up to 2013. Click on the plan to view it in all its glory.
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Of course, some things did change in its later years and many aspects of the Centre became nothing like it was when I began to work there in the late 1970s. In those days the offices in the main circular block were taken up with the various departments of make-up, wardrobe, cameras, sound and lighting. Above them were the production offices of the drama department and the light entertainment department. The design department occupied the upper floors of the scenery block at the back of the building and dozens of designers and assistants had their offices there. All production was in-house - nothing was made by independent companies or freelancers so these departments were considerable and employed many of the top people in the country in their respective fields.
Now of course, more than half the BBC's output is made by independent companies. Even its own in-house production company (confusingly now called 'BBC Studios') uses freelance crews. The BBC no longer has its own make-up, wardrobe or design departments. All were made redundant in the mid nineties and these people and their successors are now freelance. Around that time the camera, sound, electrical and lighting departments became staffed to a minimal level and began to employ freelancers on a daily basis. Following a round of voluntary redundancies in 2009, there were even fewer staffers on the books. By 2011 almost all the technical staff had gone. From the 1990s, some shows were crewed entirely by freelancers whilst most had a mix of staffers and freelancers on the camera and sound crews.
Many independent production companies booked studios at TV Centre to make their programmes for the BBC. Also, some companies used TV Centre to make shows for other channels - in particular Channel 4.
From early in the 1990s - and this became the most significant difference to the nature of the building - the kind of programmes made in television studios began to change. In the '60s, '70s and well into the '80s the studios were full of drama: series, serials and single plays. Entertainment was variety-based with big showbiz music and comedy spectaculars occupying studios on a regular basis. Some have suggested that the Centre went into decline at this point and its closure was inevitable. However, the evidence suggests that its use evolved as programming tastes and fashions changed and right to the end it was often very busy indeed.
So - for its final couple of decades what was made here? Well - sitcoms like One Foot in the Grave, I'm Alan Partridge, Only Fools and Horses, Miranda, Ab Fab and Not Going Out; sketch shows like The Fast Show, Mitchell and Webb, Armstrong and Miller, Catherine Tate, Dead Ringers and Little Britain; gameshows like Jet Set, Pointless, Goldenballs, Hole in the Wall, In It To Win It, Eggheads and Who Dares Wins (although some of these had to move in 2009 to Glasgow for political reasons); panel shows like Mock The Week, Shooting Stars, Buzzcocks, Big Fat Quiz and 8 Out of 10 Cats; chat shows like Parkinson, Jonathan Ross, Alan Titchmarsh, Piers Morgan, Alan Carr and Paul O'Grady, features programmes like Watchdog, Crimewatch and 10 o'Clock Live; cookery shows like Britain's Best Dish and The Hairy Bikers' Cook Off; news, weather, kids shows like Live and Kicking, Friday Download, Show Me Show Me, Dick and Dom and Blue Peter, music shows like Later With Jools and Top of the Pops, entertainment shows like Noel's House Party, Friends Like These, Strictly Come Dancing, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do, I'd Do Anything, Last Choir Standing, So You Think You Can Dance?, Let Me Entertain You, Tonight's the Night, Harry Hill's TV Burp, Genius, A Question of Sport, Room 101, Live at the Electric, The Voice and... well, you get the idea.
At one end of the building was TC1, which still is a very large studio. In the '70s it was used for major dramas like I Claudius, The BBC Shakespeares, various operas, and big variety shows like Morcambe and Wise and The Two Ronnies. It was ideally suited in the latter years not only to Saturday night spectaculars Like Strictly Come Dancing or The Voice but also the big one-off events such as Children in Need, Comic Relief, Sport Relief and of course every four or five years - the general election. It's worth pointing out that in the final decade, six of the main production studios were busy for most of the year making programmes that were not sport, news or children's programmes so were unaffected by the disappearance of those departments to Salford and W1.
Despite the relentless misinformation put out by senior BBC managers (who had never actually made a TV programme there themselves) about the Centre being 'ill-equipped for the digital age' it remained very busy right up to the end. Its studios were not only the best designed in the country but were refurbished and refitted for HD between 2006 and 2011. They were very efficient to run, not the most expensive to hire and were popular with many independent programme makers as well as the BBC's own production departments. Its location directly opposite two tube stations and a short walk from the Overground made these the easiest studios to get to for audiences and all the people working on the programmes. It was no coincidence that most of London's scenery, prop hire and lighting hire companies were based only a short distance away. The opening of Westfield just down the road in 2008 made the Centre an even more popular place to work.
TVC also of course had a unique place in the culture and shared memory of almost every adult living in the UK. The building itself was as easily recognised as Buckingham Palace and somehow felt like home to millions of viewers who had never even been there. It was destroyed by people with no personal experience of the process of making television who relied upon consultants for advice - but they of course were not directly involved in the television industry either. By the time everyone woke up and realised what a calamitous decision had been taken it was too late. Those responsible moved on from the BBC to well-paid jobs in other industries and indeed in other countries in some cases.
Of course, when it was first being planned nobody could possibly have imagined that a future Director General would one day decide to sell it off to raise a few million quid. In those days, decisions were taken based on well-researched facts by people with direct programme-making experience.
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Early Plans As soon as the war was over the BBC knew they would need to build a 'television centre'. They acquired Lime Grove Studios and shortly afterwards the Shepherds Bush Empire (Television Theatre) and Riverside Studios but these were stop-gaps and the intention was to move all television production into this new purpose built centre. A site of 13 acres, previously occupied by part of the Franco-British Exhibition was bought shortly after the war. This 140 acre exhibition had consisted of several highly ornate pavilions all faced in white which came to give this area of London just north of Shepherds Bush the name 'White City.' Following the original exhibition and - let us not forget! - the 1908 Olympic Games, the buildings hosted several other exhibitions and expositions. (What's the difference?) The last time the site was employed for its original purpose was for the British Industries Fair in 1929 although some areas were used for 'textile fairs' until 1937. In 1936 much of the site was taken over by Hammersmith council who built the South Africa Estate of flats surrounding the stadium. During the war some of the buildings were commandeered for the manufacture of parachutes. (Incidentally, the only remaining buildings dating from the exhibition were demolished as recently as 2004, when the site on the other side of Wood Lane was cleared prior to construction of Westfield.) By 1949 the remainder of the site was derelict and the BBC purchased 13 acres originally occupied by the 'Court of Honour' - although several councillors objected strongly and thought that the land should have been used for housing. The only thing that remained of this extraordinary, spectacular exhibition site until 2017 was a 2m square of ornate terracotta tiles on the ground outside TC1 but this was removed by Stanhope when they re-laid the flooring in this area. Well done them. (It even had a little brass plaque explaining what it was. That was removed too.)
The story of how architect Graham Dawbarn came up with the design is well documented but I'll repeat it anyway. Given a fifty-page brief, he is said to have retreated to a pub for inspiration and with a plan of the oddly-shaped site in his head he pondered on the problem: How to fit eight to ten studios in this area - giving easy access to scenery and separately to artists, crew and audiences. Gazing at it for a few seconds he doodled a question mark on an envelope and the penny dropped. The shape was perfect. This is the story that all visitors to TV Centre were told over its lifetime. However, Arthur Hayes has written to me casting some doubt on this. He worked with Dawbarn for seven years from 1956 so came to know him well. He says that this would have been most uncharacteristic of the way he used to work. The timing isn't right either. These are the points that Arthur doesn't think fit the story...
Arthur Hayes continues - 'So far I have found no documentary evidence as to when the Brief was handed to GRD but it must have been before the end of November and, quite likely, was at the meeting between GRD and MTT. It is evident that, whenever the handover took place, GRD worked rapidly and decisively in order to produce a definitive layout by the 10th December. I think it was a phenomenal feat, one that could only be achieved by first absorbing the contents of the voluminous brief. But that, I believe, was very much in his character. Equally impressive is the fact that a full design scheme and a model was produced for approval by the Board of Governors on the 30th March 1950.'
In other words, Dawbarn is more likely to have already been working on his ideas for the project during the ten days before Dec 3rd (or later), when the back-of-an-envelope sketch was drawn. Only a week after that he presented a detailed design scheme to the BBC which surely would have been beyond the powers of even the fastest working genius. So - sorry to spoil a really good story but it is more likely that the sketch was simply made when Dawbarn was explaining to someone in the pub what was already in his head, rather than a doodle that gave him inspiration. On the other hand - maybe, just maybe, those first ten days left him with no workable ideas at all, the BBC had omitted to mention to him that they had been thinking of a circular design for the Centre for several years (see below) and the final inspiration did actually come to him over that pint in the pub - and he really was able to work that fast. In any case, it was a brilliant scheme and still succeeded as the most efficiently designed studio centre in the UK - possibly the world. No other building has come close.
He planned to build most of the studios around a circular hub containing video recorders in the basement - so cable lengths to each studio were minimized. Equally important in those analogue days was ensuring that all the studios were electronically in sync with each other and with incoming sources like telecine and VT machines. The circular shape helped enormously with this. Around the VT area would be dressing rooms in the basement and on ground floor level. The studios would be spread outside a circular corridor on the ground floor in a large/small alternate pattern, enabling tea bars or 'assembly areas' to occupy some of the space next to the smaller studios. On first floor level above the dressing rooms and assembly areas would be the studio control rooms and apparatus rooms - all with easy access to each other. The fan of studios would create wedges between them where other areas could be fitted - camera stores, prop stores, dimmer rooms and even a puppet studio. A larger wedge between two of the studios would contain a wide access route between the front and back of the studios on the ground floor whilst above this would be the transmission suites, presentation studios, telecine areas and central apparatus room. Outside the studios would be a covered road or 'runway' enabling scenery to move between studios and to and from the scenery block - a large construction connecting the main block at the rear of the building. Outside the scenery runway would be a road enabling vehicles to move easily round the site. The circle of studios would extend along a spur that could be built in phases with more studios as and when required over the years. The spur would connect with the scenery runway at the back and the artists' corridor at the front. A concept plan was drawn up, a model made, and in 1951 construction began on the first building - the scenery block. However, the foundation stone for the main block was not in fact laid until 1956. There was a pause of a few years before building could commence on the studios. The government was going through financially straitened times following the war and they could not afford the huge capital investment that was required to be borrowed. As it transpired, the delay was very helpful as the plans could be further developed and refined.
The original plans had some of the studios rather different from the way they ended up. TC2, 5 and 7 were eventually built as originally conceived. However, TC1 and 6 were going to be the same size as each other - a very long and relatively narrow 75 x 120ft wall to wall with a grid height of 45ft. More interestingly, TC3 and TC4 were initially both planned to be a similar 75 ft wide and 120 ft long but the end 40ft was to have a grid height of 60ft enabling scenery to be flown as in a theatre. (These dimensions are taken from a magazine article dated 27th May 1950.) The enforced pause before building commenced brought about a squaring-off of the studios, a new idea to make TC6 divisible into two and a realisation that TC1 could lengthen to occupy the scenery runway space and widen by 25ft without ruining the concept of the whole building.
The building was intended to be constructed in phases or 'stages'. This highly confusing term remained in use at TVC to the end. Thus you would see signs indicating 'Stage 5' or 'Stage 6.' Most people in the industry would naturally assume these to direct the observer to a studio, given the nature of the building. But no. Stages 5 and 6 were construction phases and came to refer to parts of the building. Another BBC term that is often taken for granted is the naming of studios. To avoid confusion, every BBC studio in the country was given a unique name with prefix letters relating to its building. Thus 'TC1' is Television Centre studio 1. The newly appointed head of BBC Resources in 2001 however decided that this was misleading as visitors might think that TC1 was a telecine suite, not a studio. Really? Thus all the dozens of signs around the building were changed to read 'studio x'. Nevertheless, everyone in the industry still referred to them as 'TC whatever' so I shall here. Apparently, it would appear that he did not think that signs directing people to 'stage 5' or 'stage 6' were confusing at all.
Stage 1 was the construction of the scenery block (officially called the design block) which was completed in 1953. At the back of the building a scenic artists studio was constructed enabling backcloths to be painted. This extraordinary construction was 65ft from basement floor to roof beams. A platform half way up the room enabled the artists to paint massive cloths 30ft high and to reach all the parts of the cloth simply by raising or lowering the canvasses which passed through a slot between the platform and the wall. When finished, the cloth could be rolled up and stored in the basement or slid through a slot in the wall into the ground floor area. This space still remained during the final two decades, hidden behind a locked door, and was occasionally rented out. There was a small dirty window between a staircase and the platform area which I discovered early in 2006. A few flats were leaning against the wall but there was no sign of any cloths having been painted recently. Large flexible tubes hung from the roof - one assumes to improve the ventilation and draw the paint fumes out.
On the ground floor was an area originally used to manufacture and store scenery. A carpentry and machine shop created the sets which were then assembled in the setting space before being disassembled and stacked on trucks to be towed round the scenery runway to the studio. The scenery would then be brought back and taken down in a huge lift to be stored in the basement or repainted and adapted for use in another programme. In another part of the basement was a large prop store where items for dressing sets were kept. Props were later stored in the area on the ground floor of the East Tower building. The old prop store in the basement of the Design Building was rebuilt as a climate-controlled secure storeroom for what looked like orchestral scores (not that I went snooping about or anything) - for the last years of the Centre the rest of the basement was used for general storage - although during the early 2000s a kids gameshow used this area to build a huge set. Geoff Posner (for it is he) recalls that the curiously named 'Movement Control' used to be on the ground floor of the Design Block. He also recalls that the prop store in the basement... '...had thirteen artificial legs in the Artificial Legs section, not to say M******t Q***t. Now M******t's job was simply to book the musical instruments needed for all the shows in TC. Nothing else. Needless to say she went home at 3.30 most days.' I probably ought to make it clear that such practices ended many, many years ago! I have protected the lady's name to avoid any possible embarrassment. No doubt her manager was fully aware what time she went home. I'm sure the 1970s camera managers in my department were equally aware that when a six-man camera crew was scheduled to a studio with only four cameras, one or two of us usually went home after the morning rig. I can imagine how this reads to most people who thought that this was the sort of thing confined to British Leyland - yes I am now just as appalled as you are at what went on in those days but I wonder how many other British companies turned a blind eye to similar practices.
During the 1980s a large open-sided shelter running around the outside of the ring road surrounding the main building was constructed to store scenery in trucks. From the early 1990s all scenery was made by private companies and nothing was manufactured here any longer. The only scenery stored on site was for shows whilst they had a regular booking in a studio. Sets were destroyed when they were no longer needed, whereas before the changes imposed in the 1990s, flats and other items would be saved if they could be, repainted and used on many different programmes. Thus, rather than 'the BBC' owning the scenery, it was and still is is now bought or hired by each individual programme department or independent production company which naturally does not have the budget to store it afterwards unless there is definitely going to be another series of the same show. This was one of the many changes brought in by John Birt. Actually, there is one exception to this. Paul Hayes has informed me that the original Dr Who Tardis fell apart in the 1970s and was replaced with another that was used until the final Sylvester McCoy episode in 1989. Despite the official policy of not storing scenery, this Tardis was never destroyed but over the years was quietly moved from place to place and hidden around the building. I suppose nobody could quite bring themselves to give the order to load it onto a truck for disposal. After all, it hardly took up much room. (At least, on the outside.) Of course, the new 2004 series was made in Wales with its own new 'machine' but the original (extremely tatty) Tardis was still on site in 2005 and was used for a spoof opening to Jet Set on the day in April when the new Dr Who was first transmitted. I had the dubious honour of lighting this sequence. Spookily, I also lit the same thing in 2006, with Eamonn Holmes exiting the Tardis in the Blue Peter Garden on the day the next Dr Who series began. Curiously, a while after this website revealed the fact that it still existed, it was dug out of its hiding place, the dust blown off it and for a couple of years was proudly displayed outside the audience foyer entrance. (See below.) I'm not claiming any credit for this but I'm certainly glad to see that someone had the sense to make the best use of it. It later dematerialised and was replaced with a rather smarter version, which I suspect was constructed purely for visitors to TVC to examine and be photographed with. I don't believe it was ever used on any Dr Who episode. The original spacecraft's whereabouts once again became a mystery. However, I'm informed by Mark Johnson that in 2011 it was spruced up by Mark Barton Hill and put on display in a Dr Who exhibition in London, from where it shifted in space to rest in the 'Dr Who Experience' in Cardiff. It also re-appeared on the One Show's closing programme from TVC on 22nd March 2013. Meanwhile, the 'visitor attraction' version vanished and in 2012 appeared proudly displayed in the foyer of Peel's dock10 studios in MediaCity Salford where it stands to this day. Bloody nerve if you ask me since those studios are not owned or run by the BBC and Dr Who has absolutely no connection with the place.
The photo below shows the interior of the scenery block. Adam Tandy has written to let me know that he understood that the original Dr Who production designer (Peter Brachacki) got the idea for the treatment of the interior of the Tardis walls from this roof. I see what he means. In fact, I think even the David Tennant 'Welsh' version had an echo of it. (This unique design, incidentally, impressed English Heritage so much that they recommended a grade 2 listing for the building in 2008. They were ignored of course.) However, as with so many 'facts' to do with TVC this story, widely believed, is probably not true. I have been contacted by Jan Vincent-Rudzki who interviewed Peter Brachacki in the mid '70s, specifically about his design for the Tardis. He told him that he got the idea for the Tardis walls from the 'pop-out' dispensers pills come in. In fact, early black and white episodes used actual photo blow-ups of pill containers stuck onto the walls. Mind you looking at the scenery block skylights, that's exactly what they look like too.
For the first thirty-five years of the Centre, above the scenery workshop were the drawing rooms (no, not that sort of 'drawing room') and offices where all the designers used to work. It was very handy for lighting directors, costume designers, producers and directors to be able to pop over one of the bridges and meet them informally, look at the plans, drawings and samples of materials to be used and discuss the progress of the set design for a programme. Nowadays this is is mostly done on the phone or via email which isn't quite the same. Geoff Posner recalls 'the track down the corridor of designers and their assistants with numerous bottles of wine balanced precariously on the tilted drawing boards...' amongst many other happy memories of the good old bad old days. As soon as the building was complete it was used to construct scenery which was then loaded onto lorries and transported to the studios in Lime Grove, Television Theatre and Riverside Studios. The offices were occupied by the team designing and constructing the main block and the head of the television service was also based here.
From the 1990s the design block had no designers in it - nor was any scenery built in it. It later officially became the 'drama building' as it contained the offices of the drama department. No drama was actually filmed here of course. However, I guarantee that if you had asked almost anybody working at TV Centre where the drama building was they wouldn't have a clue. Ask where the scenery block was and quite a few would certainly know where you meant. In 2011 the ground floor was vacated by the Studios and Post Production business (which was owned by, but not part of, the BBC.) I gather that the BBC were charging so much to the company they owned that they could not afford the rent. The studio stores moved over the road to a warehouse in Ariel Way in the summer of 2011 and the scenery store was occupied by the old Blue Peter set, which was shown to visitors until the building closed.
Stage 2 followed on straight away and was the construction of the restaurant block. This overlooked a small area of grass and shrubs that soon would become the famous Blue Peter Garden. The building was completed in 1955 and at first was used as rehearsal rooms and office space. I'm told by Ron Isted that the basement used to to house the Television Music Library (sheet music, not discs) between 1956 and 1960. It began its intended use as a restaurant block in June 1960, with cafeteria-style seating on the first and third floors and waitress service on the second floor. The kitchens were on the ground floor and connected with the main block via a tunnel and lifts, enabling food to be brought on trollies to the sixth floor hospitality suite. They thought of everything! The waitress service floor closed in the mid-nineties, the top cafeteria reduced in size and some of the block reverted to office space as eating in the 'BBC canteen' was far less popular than it used to be. (Countless disparaging references to the canteen in comedy shows over the years probably didn't help.) In fact, so much so that late in 2008 it closed at weekends. Food became available via tea bars and delis spread around the building - but at weekends when all the office staff had gone home and the only people there were the ones actually making programmes there was only one tea bar open for some of the time. Incidentally - in November 2006, the old 2nd floor restaurant (what used to be called the 'waitress service') was turned into a huge hairdressing salon studio with hidden cameras for BBC Three's Celebrity Scissorhands - a live reality show that somehow raised money for Children in Need. Apparently the 'celebrity' trainees were: 'Eighties pop icon, Steve Strange; winner of The Apprentice, Michelle Dewberry; Radio 1 DJ, Scott Mills; actress and Dynasty star, Emma Samms; Right Said Fred frontman Richard Fairbrass; TV presenter Sarah Cawood; singer Rowetta (Happy Mondays, X Factor); actor and TV presenter Ortis Deeley (Kidulthood, Live and Kicking); and TV personality Darren Day' it says here. I'm afraid I missed it. Geoff Posner suggested a very sensible use for part of this building in 2007. As a seasoned producer/director of many comedies over the years, he pointed out how hard it was to find rehearsal space. The old BBC rehearsal rooms in Acton were no more, so sitcoms were mostly using draughty, cold and smelly church halls around London. He suggested turning a floor in this building back into a rehearsal room for the following few years until the BBC decided what they were going to do with it. Blow me down, but that's exactly what they did and some BBC Comedy shows for a while used the old 'Waitress Service' floor to rehearse sketch shows and sitcoms. Glory Be! (More on the rehearsal room saga a little below. Be patient!)
Before leaving stage 2, I should mention the small studio that was established there in 1996.
TC9 was created in a single storey building overlooking the Blue Peter Garden. This area, extending from the restaurant block, was originally designed as a 'foyer lounge' - hence the glass brick wall. It probably never had this use, being used initially as a builders' canteen, then becoming a store for the make-up department. This department was closed in 1995 and the studio was subsequently created to be used by the Children's department for continuity links and other short programmes. TC9 was an irregular shape, about 30 x 30ft average dimensions with a very low grid. It also had a corridor and small seating area which could be used for interviews. It was fitted with Thomson 1657 cameras which had been in use in Pres A for a year or so. These could have the head separated from most of the electronics by an umbilical cable so that a very small camera was actually carried by the cameraman, enabling a great deal of movement. This freedom from fixed shots was seen as very exciting by the young directors of the links transmitted live from here, who often could not understand why this introduced lighting problems. Since the LD was also the console operator and had only one electrician for assistance, relighting between sequences could be somewhat lively to say the least. Because of the way the links were shot, quite substantial relights were usually necessary. It has to be said that not every sequence that went out from this studio over the years demonstrated perfect portraiture and subtle balance of foreground and background from the lighting point of view. In fact, on occasions the fact that the presenter had any light on them at all was something of a miracle. And I speak from some experience. In 2004 the studio ceased linking children's programmes on the main broadcast channels and became the continuity studio just for the CBBC channel. From late 2006 it was decided that links between children's programmes would be much shorter - often with no presenter in vision and the studio would no longer be required. TC9 was still under a 'service level agreement' between BBC Studios (as it then was) and the Children's department so it could not be used for general programming. It remained empty for about nine months but in September 2007 it became the home of two regular programmes - TMi, the Saturday morning show that had previously come from MTV's studio in Leicester Square, and SMart. (Yes, that really is how it's spelt.) The latter programme was presented by Kirsten O'Brien, who in a way returned home as she was for a long while one of the regular CBBC continuity presenters. The studio was mothballed once again in Jan 2008 as the cameras had become old and unreliable but it was brought back into use again in the autumn and again in 2009 and 2010 for further series of TMi, using TC2's old Thomson cameras. TC9 was decommissioned in 2011.
I have touched upon it already but of course alongside the Restaurant Block was the Blue Peter Garden. This had camera cable points linking it to the first floor corridor in the main block so that up to three cameras could be driven from the gallery of whichever studio was in use for the show that day. There was no actual 'Blue Peter Studio' - the programme used any of TC1, TC3, TC4, TC6 or TC8, whichever was available. The garden had a semi-permanent camera tower that was sometimes used for high wide shots and before hand-held cameras were available, one of the studio's cameras would be mounted on a mobile camera crane and pushed around the garden, avoiding the steep slope and the pond.
Stage 3 involved the most complex construction and took four years before the Centre became operational. It consisted of the main circular building (the doughnut) and the completion of studios 1 - 7. Four studios would initially be brought into service within the first few months - 2, 3, 4 and 5. The design of these was based on experience gained from working at Lime Grove and in particular Riverside Studios, where various experiments involving gallery layout and lighting systems were tried out. The Centre officially opened with TC3 operational on 29th June 1960. TC2, 4 and 5 opened over the following 14 months in that order. The shells of TC1, TC6 and TC7 were constructed around the same time but they were not fitted out until a few years later.
TC2 and TC5 were both 60 x 40 metric feet within firelanes and TC3 and TC4 about 90 x 70 metric feet within firelanes.
TC2 soon became the home of the new wave of satirical comedy shows such as That Was the Week That Was and The Frost Report.
Of the larger two original studios, TC3 was earmarked as a drama studio and TC4 for light entertainment. The difference was in the acoustic treatment of the walls - TC3 had a shorter reverberation period so was more suited to speech. I have to say that I was never aware of this, having worked on many occasions in both studios, so possibly any acoustic difference was altered in later years. (Both studios in any case had new acoustic wall panels fitted following the removal of asbestos - TC4 in 1988 and TC3 in 2007.) Anyway, during the early years at least, TC3 was the preferred studio for drama. TC4 also had a variable acoustic system involving microphones and speakers around the roof and walls. This was called 'ambiophonics'. The system is said to have worked quite well, but according to a sound supervisor of the time it had the disadvantage that the delays to the different speakers would only be correct for one position within the orchestra. That (and probably the scarcity of such programmes) meant that it fell into disuse. It was soon overtaken by artificial electronic reverberation systems, although interestingly, a similar system was included in Limehouse studio 1 when that was built in 1982.
TC3 and 4 were both originally equipped with black and white cameras but the Centre had been planned with colour in mind. These two studios were re-equipped in 1969 and 1970 respectively with EMI 2001 colour cameras. Both studios in their last years had very swish gallery suites. TC4 was fully equipped for high definition in the summer of 2008 and TC3 in 2011.
Back in 1960 the original camera choice was interesting. No doubt in a desire to support both major British camera manufacturers, half the studios - TC2, 3 and 7 - were equipped with Marconi MkIV cameras and the other half - TC1, 4 and 5 with EMI 201 cameras. I have been given an interesting recollection by a cameraman of the period. He informs me that the EMI lens turret was designed for 5 lenses (although only four were fitted) and apparently was slower in changing lenses than the Marconi - particularly when going between the ones that involved crossing the blank plate. Apparently, for LE this was seldom an issue but for drama it could be crucial. In a scene with two cameras taking over-shoulder 2-shots until the crucial dramatic moment when a close-up was called for, there might only be one second when the vision mixer cut to the other camera for the reaction shot before cutting back for the close-up. If the turret was still turning then the cut would be forced to be late. There was at least one drama director of the day who allegedly refused to work in the studio with the slower turret because it compromised his shooting style. His plays or episodes of drama series had upwards of 500 shots in half an hour.
Studios 3 and 4 were almost mirror images of each other although oddly, TC4 was actually 1 foot wider than TC3 at 71 metric feet within firelanes. This may be because the walls of TC3 were thicker in order to keep out the noise of the Hammersmith and City tube trains. By some quirk of fate there is a 'whistle' sign beside the track right by TV Centre so every train seemingly pointlessly gives that curious hoot that tube trains produce each time they pass the building. As testament to the designers of the building, this has never disturbed a recording. The studios were equipped with the same design of long lighting bars as had been tried out in Riverside. Each was initially fitted with two 2kW fresnel lanterns and two multi-bulbed fill lights although this was adapted for each production. The lighting bars also at first had a parallel bar hanging a few feet beneath although quite how these were intended to be used remains a mystery. The bars were spaced the same as in Riverside - 2 feet from end to end and a whole six feet apart. This wide spacing has frequently caused many a headache to lighting directors, particularly when trying to position lights accurately over a drama or sitcom set. Although the bars were replaced with a new design in the 1980s the wide separation remained the same. Very annoyingly, despite all the millions spent on refurbing studios 1-3 between 2013 and 2017, nothing was done to improve the lighting grid in this studio. (In monopole studios like Teddington, TLS, Elstree and Pinewood the tracks are/were close together, enabling each light to be positioned exactly where the LD needs it to be.) Also, in TC6 and TC8 the bars were much closer together. In fact, when ITV took over TC3 in 2018 they installed extra trussing between the lighting bars to fill in the gaps.
These new studios adopted the dimming and lighting control systems that had been tried out at Riverside - Strand C-type consoles connected to variable resistor and auto-transformer dimmers, remotely controlled by an electro-magnetic clutch system. The heat generated by hundreds of these dimmers must have been phenomenal. Apparently, TV Centre was the first place to adopt normal mains voltage in the studios. Previously a voltage of 130 volts (why?) had been used. The BBC were also terribly proud of the fact that the lights in these new studios were 'remote controlled.' For someone who has become used to using automated lights like Vari-lites and Macs on various entertainment shows I found this claim somewhat surprising until I eventually found out what they meant. It seems that these were the first BBC studios equipped with luminaires that had attachments enabling an electrician to adjust pan, tilt, and spot and flood using a pole. Previously, every lamp had been adjusted by an electrician working off a set of ladders. I would hardly describe this as 'remote control' but seriously, this was a significant advance. I can work with an experienced pole operator to set 100 lamps and be finished in two or three hours. To do this using ladders would probably triple this time if not more.
TC5 (60 x 40ft within firelanes) was the last of the original four studios to open - in August 1961. For the first decade or so it was the home of schools broadcasting and according to a 1970 BBC booklet 'adjacent to studio 5 is an area specially designed and serviced for schools programmes.' I assume this refers to the old puppet studio which must have become some sort of preparation/graphics area. Other programmes were also made here but for various reasons, most likely because no schools could afford colour televisions in the early 1970s, TC5 was converted to colour long after the other studios - probably in 1973. Its cameras were the last version of the EMI 2001 with upgraded electronics and arguably produced the cleanest pictures. With TC2 closed between 1969 and 1981 and TC7 occupied with Play School and Swap Shop/Saturday Superstore, TC5 became the studio used for cookery shows, discussion programmes, magazine shows like The Holiday Programme and panel shows like Call My Bluff and Ask The Family. The studio was mothballed around 1985 - reopening in 1987 with Link 125 cameras. TC5 then became the home of BBC Sport, which was its only use until 2011 when Sport moved to Salford and the studio closed for good. For many years the floor was divided in two with black drapes. The lighting gallery became a second production gallery, so different sport programmes at each end of the studio could go out on BBC1 and BBC2 simultaneously. The lighting gallery was moved downstairs into the technical store and most of the cameras were remote controlled - the operator sitting alongside the LD and racks operator.
One great advantage all the studios at TVC had over London's other TV studios was in the provision of motorised scenery hoists. In monopole studios a few motorised hoists are sometimes available but these have to be carried into position and placed where needed in the grid. Most scenery is therefore supported using hemp ropes and hauled up by hand. At TV Centre this was hardly ever necessary. Every studio had dozens of scene hoists that could be tracked into position and raised or lowered at the push of a button. The hook was attached to a steel line that was fixed to the flattage or ceiling piece that needed to be supported. This made scene setting here much quicker, simpler and probably safer - and arguably gave designers more flexibility with their sets. In TC3 and 4 each hoist was initially only trackable within a span of about 10 feet but during the major refurbs of the 1980s more were installed and they could then track across the whole studio between the lighting bars. This improved system was originally installed in TC1, 6 and 8. TC1 has even more hoists, some capable of supporting immense loads.
During the '60s, '70s and '80s, the Centre contained some extraordinary facilities, many of which most people working there probably had no idea existed. For example - Tim Dorney, engineer in News dept, has written to inform me that during the 1970s he discoved that there was a room at the base of the South Hall where grand pianos were stored. The door was never locked and he tells me that he passed many a lunch hour practising on one of several beautiful instruments, all of which were always in perfect tune.
Videotape and Telerecording The Centre was designed with the basement or 'hub' being set aside for the new technology of videotape recording. The BBC called it 'VT' - everybody else called it 'VTR'. (When giving a cue for a pre-recorded insert, BBC directors learnt to say 'run VT' - meanwhile, ITV directors said 'roll VTR'. I've no idea why the difference.) By placing the VT department in the hub, the cable runs to each studio were kept as short as possible. (Mind you, programmes at Television Theatre, half a mile down the road, were also recorded here in later years. Indeed, when all the machines here were busy, some shows were recorded at TVI, five miles away in Soho, so long cable runs were perhaps not quite as crucial as was originally thought. The 2-inch 'quad' Ampex machines were very much new technology and were phenomenally expensive to buy. In 1960 the BBC was paying around £30,000 per machine. Bear in mind that around that time the cost of the average house was only £3,000. By comparison, in November 2008 (when I wrote this) an average house cost £224,000. That would put the price of a VT machine at £2.24m! You could pick up a reconditioned second hand one in 2008 for about £20,000. (I couldn't find a 'new' price on the Internet.) Tape too was horrendously costly - around £120 per hour. Another quick search of the internet in 2008 found the popular format of Digital Betacam available at less than £12 for one hour's recording. Then take into account inflation over the past 50 years and the difference in price is obvious. That's why so many '60s and '70s programmes were wiped and the tape used again. Apparently, the videotape area in the basement was not ready when TC3 opened and a couple of machines were installed temporarily in the apparatus room of Pres B (which had not yet opened). Even when complete there were initially only four, then seven more videotape recorders in the basement for the first few years. By comparison, during the last two decades of TVC each studio had its own VT machines - sometimes as many as eight or more might be in use to record the main output of the studio, a back-up copy and a number of 'iso' recordings. These are isolated feeds of individual cameras, enabling the programme to be edited more slickly at a later date. The Post Production area in Stage 5 had well over a hundred more machines. It seems astonishing that for the first few years the whole of TV Centre had only eleven VTRs in total for recording and editing programmes. Even by 1970 there were only 16 VT booths - which was the maximum allowed for in the original design of the area.
Of course, many programmes were recorded - but not necessarily on tape. Beneath TC6 was a large area set aside for the telerecording department. Telerecording on film was a well-established means of saving programmes for archive purposes or for export. When the Centre opened, most film telerecording was still carried out down the road at Lime Grove. Garth Nicholson wrote to me in December 2008 with more info - and a comment on an astonishing recording of Dad's Army that had its colour restored from an original black and white film recording...
It is perhaps worth pointing out that programmes recorded on film were of poor quality compared with the live pictures. Most engineers considered that the pictures, particularly in the early years, were barely broadcast quality. From 1946 to the mid '50s the BBC did not transmit telerecorded programmes unless they absolutely had to. Even a play with a repeat broadcast later in the week was perfomed live again. The reason we have those old BBC telerecordings is that the programmes were exported in that form to Commonwealth countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Research into improving the quality of the image did produce some results as the years went by and by the mid '50s more programmes were being recorded and transmitted on film. In fact, according to BBC handbooks - in 1959 the BBC telerecorded 1,300 programmes and re-transmitted 600. In other words, more were archived for possible export but 600 is still quite a sizeable number of TV programmes (on only one channel, don't forget) that were recorded on film for later transmission.
The telerecording area under TC6 became the BBC's very well-used and highly respected research library during the 1970s. This provided invaluable support to all kinds of programmes for the next two decades. In the mid 1990s under the new Birtian commercial way of working it was declared unable to 'pay its way' so it was closed. It even made the national papers when someone leaked that the record library was having to charge more to lend a disc to a production for an hour or two than for them to buy a new copy. Bonkers. The area later became a videotape archive. When the VT department moved to Stage 5 in 1992 the hub area of the basement was transformed into open-plan offices with a huge glass roof. Goodness knows how much that must have cost. This became the HQ for 'TSPR' - the original trading name (with ancient Roman imperial overtones) for the newly commercial BBC Studios business. Latin scholars are invited here to come up with a suitable acronym. It actually stood for Television Studios Production Resources - how boring is that? In future years they would become 'Studios and Post Production' and then 'Studioworks.' I have hardly done the VT and telerecording departments justice here. For much more information and many old photos I recommend visiting the ex-BBC VT engineers' website on www.vtoldboys.com.
As well as the main studios there were several other smaller areas completed at this time. On the fourth floor in the central wedge between TC3 and TC4 was the main network control area for what was then called BBCtv and the planned second channel. A corridor led from the lifts towards the back of the building and on either side were the control rooms, apparatus rooms, voice-over booths and from 1963 a small room containing the 'Noddy' camera that could be remotely tilted up to look at the revolving globe logo and down to look at a clock. Incidentally, perhaps not surprisingly, there was also a 'Big Ears' - a twin magazine caption scanner.
At the end of the corridor was another control room on each side that looked into a pair of studios, side by side. These were presentation studios and were known by all as Pres A and Pres B. They had been designed for continuity announcers such as Michael Aspel, Kenneth Kendall, Judith Chalmers and Nan Winton but within a few years the BBC decided to adopt out-of-vision announcers. Thus the studios became available for other uses. They were quite small - at 32 x 22 metric feet wall to wall with a firelane crossing the middle. This could never be obstructed! It's not quite clear when in-vision announcements ended but there was a new intake including Meryl O'Keefe in 1963.
Pres A was the first to open in 1960 - Pres B opened in about 1963/4 with EMI 201 vidicon cameras. It was then converted to colour in 1966 and became the home of Late Night Line-Up - a daily arts and topical discussion programme. This studio thus became the home of the BBC's colour camera tests. It is likely that the tests in studio H at Lime Grove ended around this time. The colour camera tests in 1966 initially involved three Peto-Scott (Philips) PC60s. These were the cameras that had been chosen to equip the BBC's first colour OB units. Later, a three-way test was undertaken using a prototype EMI 2001, a Marconi MkVII and a Peto-Scott PC60. In order that the tests were fair, two of the cameras had a cue dot superimposed in the top left or right of the frame. These were changed every night so the engineers watching at home did not know which camera was which. They recorded their opinions and the results were later compiled. This story has been confirmed to me as being accurate by an engineer who was involved and by the studio director who worked on the experiments at the time. He later went on to direct the first colour shows in TC6 - themselves still very much an experiment. The camera chosen to equip TC6 and TC8 in 1967 was the Marconi MkVII. The reason for this choice is arguable and is discussed later on this web page. (See 'A Potted History of early colour cameras.') Pres A was converted to colour in 1968 (with TC6's Marconi Mk VIIs) and became the weather studio. Between forecasts it was used to make trailers involving captions and slides with a voice-over actor in a nearby sound booth. VT clips were played in and the people in the presentation department who made these trails became adept at producing very slick and professional-looking 'ads' for BBC programmes. This was one thing ITV took many years to get right. The ITV companies did not have an equivalent department or dedicated staff so their trails were much simpler - often nothing more than a caption voiced over by the continuity presenter.
One of the trickiest jobs as a young and inexperienced cameraman was doing the 'weather pan'. One camera had a locked-off shot looking at the Atlantic chart. The weather man - Jack Scott, Michael Fish, Ian McCaskill etc - then moved to a smaller chart showing today's weather. This was being framed by another camera. At some point he would take three or four paces right to the next chart showing tonight's weather. Since there was no script and it was unrehearsed you had to take your own cue when to pan. It sounds simple but was highly nerve-racking as there were many false moves as he might take a pace camera-right and stretch across the chart to indicate East Anglia or the weather in the North Sea. Some individuals would move very briskly and if you were not careful he would leave you behind. Of course, if you incorrectly started to pan too soon then you either had to continue and leave him behind or stop and pan back in a rather pathetic manner. This, of course, is when he would notice that you had begun the move and as you panned back to the left he would leave the frame on the right. You can imagine the various cock-ups possible on this, the simplest of camera moves. At some point they all must have happened although never of course by me. No really. Honestly.
Pres B was used for a variety of simple shows over the years including The Sky at Night, Points of View and Barry Norman's Film '72 (and onwards) series. Amazingly, two of these shows continue to be made but sadly, the Film 'xx programme was axed in 2018. The Sky at Night is thought to be the longest continuously-running TV series in the world, and is now shot on location. Its main presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, fronted the show for over 55 years until his death in 2012. David Scott-Cowan has written to me to point out that a separate programme department was created to devise programmes that would fit into this tiny Pres B studio. It was based in the 'temporary' wooden building - originally the builders' site offices - that sat in front of TVC along Wood Lane during the '60s, '70s and '80s. The programmes included The Book Programme with Robert Robinson and Did You See? with Ludovic Kennedy. As mentioned above, around 1968 these studios were equipped with three Marconi Mk VII colour cameras each, which had previously been in use for a few months in TC6. These were very, very long. About five feet long in fact. Add a cameraman standing behind each one and there wasn't much studio left. All the more astonishing then that Pres B was the original home of The Old Grey Whistle Test. It began in 1971 and occupied the studio one night a week instead of Late Night Line-Up. If you ever wondered why they used bare studio walls as a set, and the cameras never moved, then just picture the scene: A live band plus three enormous cameras squeezed into an area about the size of someone's living room. It's a wonder there was space for whispering Bob Harris on his stool in the corner. Some truly astonishing bands and solo artists performed live in this tiny studio for Whistle Test over many years. The show was also later made in any of the other studios that happened to be empty - always using the bare studio walls of course.
In the early '90s the weather moved to a purpose-built suite containing several studios on the 2nd floor of TV Centre. Pres A was then taken over by CBBC and used as a continuity studio - its original purpose in fact. In 1995 the BBC1 and BBC2 transmission suites moved two floors down to the old telecine area following that department's move to the post-production area in stage 5. The old control rooms on the fourth floor were converted into continuity suites for the BBC's new digital channels. Once Studio 9 was opened next to the Blue Peter Garden in 1996, Pres A was closed. Pres B also closed towards the end of 1996. Alan Brett has written to me. He worked for a hospital TV studio and informs me that he was invited to go and help himself to anything useful from the old network control rooms. Whilst there he looked in the Pres studios and on the wall was a setting plan for Barry Norman's Film '96. It was dated 18th November 1996. It's reasonable to assume that this was the last programme ever made in the studio. Sadly, Barry died in 2017 but his gift for summing up a feature film in a few carefully chosen words - and his influence on the films we all chose to watch as a consequence - will never be forgotten.
As a little aside - Duncan Stewart (who later kept Riverside Studios going - and still does!) informs me that around 1985 he went to Pres A with his Dad who was replacing the studio's dimmers. They were simply getting a bit old. Some of the dimmers were duly saved from the skip and installed in Old Windsor Memorial Hall, where in 2013 they were still working perfectly. They don't make 'em like that any more!
The network control for the two main channels moved down to the second floor, occupying the area previously home to telecine. The old studio control rooms and associated areas were later converted into new digital continuity areas for BBC1 and BBC2. Pres A and B remained as empty shells until 1999, when they were rebuilt with a mezzanine floor and converted into more transmission suites and technical areas, coming into service in 2000. However, even this did not last and early in 2005 the playout department for all the BBC and UKTV channels moved to a highly secure and sophisticated purpose-built area in the new media village at White City, just down Wood Lane. That operation is no longer run by the BBC but by a private company - 'Red Bee' - which was formed in late 2005. Red Bee was in its turn later taken over by Ericsson. As far as I know, this suite of rooms was unoccupied throughout 2006 and into 2007. In Jan 2007 I explored the area and found that it had been completely transformed from the way the old control rooms and studios were originally laid out. Even the wall dividing the two studios had been demolished - with only a couple of pillars remaining. That must have been quite a job. There were a number of rooms - one or two quite large - with smart carpet, glazed partitions and hardwood doors. The only clue as to what used to be there was the area up the new stairs at the back onto the mezzanine floor that was built within the space occupied by the two studios. Although this was now an empty office with suspended ceiling and carpeted floor, the shape and size of the old Pres studios could still be made out. They seemed very small.
As mentioned above, during the late '90s the transmission suites for BBC1 and BBC2 were situated two floors down from their original location. Matt Phelps has written to me about his memories of this period... 'It was a 2 person suite - the Network Director and the Announcer, who sat in a glass booth off the left of this suite facing back towards you. The big green digital countdown in the middle of the stack was the 'weather counter' which was fired from this position and could also be seen in the 'self op' weather studio. If it went wrong, or you forgot to set it before a weather report, it usually sent the weather people into a fury! This room always stank of diesel fumes - especially in the Continuity booths - for reason that we never quite got to the bottom of during my 6 years there!'
The main phase of construction of TV Centre also included a couple of other interesting areas. In the corner of TC4 was a soundproof door leading to a studio about 20 feet square called TC4A. It had no equipment of its own but did have wall boxes with sound sockets connected to TC4's mixer. It was intended as a small band room and was occasionally used for this purpose in the early years. It could also be used as a stand-alone studio for simple single-camera interviews but although it was soundproofed it had no fixed production lighting facilities. When the studio was last refurbished it was reduced in size and converted into a kitchen and food prep area for TC4. Through a door in the opposite corner of TC4 was another small wedge-shaped studio - although somewhat larger than TC4A and quite a bit higher. This was the puppet studio and it had connecting doors to the studios either side so cameras could be wheeled in to make recordings. It had no sound or vision facilities of its own. It did have a simple scaffold grid with lamps on pantographs but how they were controlled I have no idea. It was intended to replace the old puppet theatre in the tin shed in the yard at the back of Lime Grove but was only used for a few years.
Gordon Murray was the head of the BBC's Children's department and also produced their puppet programmes but by the time the new studio was opened he was beginning to become somewhat disillusioned. He apparently didn't think the BBC really appreciated what he was doing for them. He probably made around fifteen Rubovian Legends programmes in the new TVC studio. He was keen to move on from this method of filming as he was also becoming frustrated by the limitations of using puppets with strings. He produced a pilot called The Minute Men (minute men - geddit?) using stop frame techniques rather than strings but his bosses in the BBC were not impressed. Other short films met a similar reaction. Rather depressed at this, he left the BBC in 1964 and set up his own studio in Albert Mansions, near the Albert Hall. The Children's Department was closed at his departure and the puppet studio was never used for this purpose again. Or was it?! Roger Singleton-Turner has written to me to let me know that in 1973 he shot some inserts to Paul Ciani's series Outa-Space in the puppet studio. This involved some prehistoric monster puppets. Two years after he left the BBC Gordon Murray went on to have huge success with his own company making Camberwick Green and then Trumpton. One assumes that the senior manager who had driven him from the BBC did the decent thing and shut himself in a locked room with a loaded revolver. Well - somehow I doubt it. Meanwhile, Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate created Smallfims and sold such classics to the BBC as The Clangers, Bagpuss and Noggin the Nog. The days of stringed puppets on TV seemed to be over. Well, at the BBC they were. Sylvia and Gerry Anderson of course had other ideas and kept the technique alive - ultimately producing such 'Supermarionation' classics as Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet at their APF/Century 21 studios in Slough for ATV. (See elsewhere on this website for their history.)
As mentioned above, the puppet studio probably became assigned to the schools television department around 1964 for the creation of graphics. TC5 was the home of schools broadcasting and the puppet studio had good access via a large door to this studio as well as TC4.
Around 1983 this little studio became the video effects workshop where post production work was done on shows like Dr Who and various other dramas using BBC-developed multi-level overlay and early digital video processors. In the workshop there was space for a camera and a small blue screen as well as VT machines and a complex video mixing desk with loads of bolt-on toys (see above). However - its creation had been a long time coming... Back in the mid 1970s a very small department of experts - who came to be called 'Electronic Effects Operators' had been formed - consisting of Dave Chapman, Dave Jervis and Mitch Mitchell - under the management of Bob Wright. They were used primarily to operate the inlay and overlay desks in studio galleries during the recording of shows. However - they realised that some effects were best achieved after the recording. In fact, you might say 'post-production' - although nobody called it that back then. Previously, any video effects would have been done in the gallery at the time of recording. Editing was simply that - making a final cut of the show. Such things as colour grading for video material or any kind of video post production were almost unheard of back then. Mitch describes how a typical effect was created... 'The Blake's 7 teleport effect with the white line was a hand drawn matte for instance so could only be applied to a pre-filmed sequence or after the video was layed down to tape. These things were only possible after the availability of the video frame brought about by 1" C format and frame stores of which Quantel were the main UK protagonists.' These complex effects were done in ordinary studio galleries whilst the studio floor was being used for a set and light day. However, this wasn't ideal to say the least. Mitch thought that it was 'nuts' to be using studio galleries for this kind of work. Also - some were better equipped than others. He pressed hard to have a dedicated area created for this expanding area of TV production. The requirement was for a room containing vision mixing and video effect facilities, some VT machines and a camera with a small area of blue screen and space to shoot models and miniatures. The old puppet theatre was the perfect place but despite management promises that it was about to happen it was many years before it did. As well as the obvious issue of the cost of setting it up it is possible that the union had concerns about these individuals apparently doing the work of several separate specialists. Remember that in the 1970s the unions in Britain were not known for their flexibility and willingness to embrace change. In fact, Mitch and the others were all union members, had all been cameramen and were already in some ways doing the work of vision mixers. However, it has been pointed out to me that it was just as likely to have been the management of the various departments involved who would have been equally obstructive, arguing over whose empire this new facility should come under. Anyway - sadly, after much frustration Mitch moved on in 1980 to do this kind of work for a newly created independent post-production company. A year or two after he left, the video effects workshop was eventually opened. A few other EEOs were created to join the two Daves - Robin Lobb, Adam McInnes, Nick Moore, Danny Popkin and Ian Simpson. The work done in this little studio was ground-breaking for its day and it was used not just for sc-fi programmes but also to paint backgrounds onto wideshots in dramas, add snow or other weather effects - in fact much of the kind of work done by very sophisticated CGI today. Despite the success of the workshop, by the early 1990s things had moved on and video effects work was being done in post production suites either in the new stage 5 at TVC or independently by companies in Soho, so the workshop was eventually closed. The area became used as a store for the visual effects department with many Dr Who props being left there. Bob Richardson remembers seeing several Daleks huddled in a corner, lit only by a dim emergency light. Sounds the stuff of nightmares! During 1997 the area was converted into the Sport graphics area as it was linked to TC5. For the previous few years Sport Graphics had been based in a tech room on the other side of TC5. This in turn became the lighting, vision and remote camera operating gallery. On 13th December 1997 the area went live, working into Grandstand. It continued in operation right up to the end of 2011. Most of the kit was the same as had been installed 14 years previously - there was not much point in upgrading it with the move to Salford looming. With all its CRT monitors I'm told it got very hot in there on a Saturday afternoon!
The last Sport programme from TC5 and its graphics area was (appropriately) Final Score on 26th November 2011. The studio remained mothballed until 31st December but then became part of the S&PP portfolio of studios and available for hire by anyone. The old Sport set remained until November 2012 - purely to be seen by the regular groups of visitors who toured the Centre every day. However, early in 2012 all the cameras, vision mixers, monitors, lights - in fact anything that could be removed was removed rendering the studio unuseable. Well... not quite. As its swansong TC5 was brought back into life for the 2012 US Presidential elections in November. A greenscreen was hung and Jeremy Vine presented the 'state of the parties' graphics from this studio. Why in here and not in TC4, say, is a mystery.
The final part of this phase of the construction of Television Centre was the completion and fitting out of studios 1, 7 and 6 - in that order. This would finish the building as it was initially designed. Further expansion along the spur was in the concept phase only and no detailed plans existed at that time.
TC1 opened on 15th April 1964. (I seem to remember watching a Blue Peter special from that studio on the day or very soon afterwards.) It was of course equipped with monochrome cameras (EMI 201s) and would have to wait until 1968 before it was colourised using EMI 2001 cameras. The BBC boasted at the time that it was the largest television studio in Europe although actually Associated-Rediffusion's studio 5 at Wembley was much larger at about 13,400 sq ft gross when it had its huge dividing doors open.
The studio is 10,800 sq ft gross or 100 x 88 metric feet between firelanes and its size has proved immensely useful for all kinds of productions. Originally it was going to have a section of the floor that could have been lowered with motors. The official BBC book about the Centre published in 1960 states 'A pit is provided, fifty feet long by thirty feet wide which can be filled with water and will have above it a sectional floor that can descend to a maximum depth of 7 ft 6 ins.' The idea went away before it was built but that part of the studio apparently still has a different maximum weight loading from the rest. I can't think what kind of television production would safely be able to make use of a tank containing thousands of gallons of water and in the event I suppose others couldn't either. I imagine that the problem of how to make the join in the floor so perfect that cameras could track over it without any disturbance to the picture also proved to be a bit of a headache. It does indicate though that at the time of designing the building, cost was almost irrelevant and all they wanted were the best possible studios with the best possible facilities.
TC1 was used often throughout the '70s and '80s for major dramas and operas. Most of the BBC Shakespeares were recorded in here - using very expensive elaborate sets. These were like mini feature films shot on video over several days. I was privileged to work on several of them as a lowly camera assistant, sometimes being allowed to take the occasional static midshot. Every month there was a major drama shot in the studio - mostly under the Play of the Month or Performance strand. Operas were also recorded in the studio - the orchestra was in another studio with a televised link of the conductor on monitors all round the set. The last drama series made in TC1 was probably The House of Eliott in 1994 and the last single play recorded here was probably Henry IV Part 1 in 1995.
Major light entertainment shows used it too of course, notably The Two Ronnies and occasionally Morecambe and Wise as well as the show nobody speaks of - The Black and White Minstrel Show - which inexplicably continued to be made right up until 1978. It has however not been a popular studio with some comedians - they feel its internal volume dissipates laughter and audience reaction. I lit a series of Shooting Stars in TC1 in 2002 and Vic and Bob hated it. However, some episodes of Fawlty Towers were recorded in it and I lit I'm Alan Partridge in this studio in 2002. (The series set in his house and caravan.) The studio was always the home of General Elections - its huge size enabling impressive sets to be built that ITN could never hope to compete with. Over the decades the studio was fitted out with all kinds of connectivity - hundreds of phone lines, video and audio inputs and computer links. All this was ripped out and re-installed in BBC Elstree D at huge expense in 2013, ready for the next General Election. (That £200m they sold it for keeps looking less and less like a good deal doesn't it?) Blue Peter was also an occasional user of the studio. Its set was designed such that it could fit in any of the studios. It was moved around TVC into whichever studio was empty on that day. When it happened to be in TC1 they usually made the most of it and had large demonstrations of dancers or radio controlled cars or anything that could use all the space. The Christmas edition almost always came from TC1 - the scene dock doors were opened and the Salvation Army Band and hundreds of choristers marched in. Sadly, in their tiny studio two floors up in Salford's MediaCity, such things are no longer possible.
In 1988 the studio was closed for a major refit. The galleries were all completely rebuilt - lighting and sound swapping to the opposite sides of the production gallery. The opportunity was taken to remove all the asbestos in the studio - the wall panels were removed and new ones fitted. It was decided to close Television Theatre at this time and TC1 would become its replacement. New retractable audience seating was installed and a lobby was built at first floor level allowing audiences to enter the studio at the top of the seating rostra. The seating was built on wall 2 - one of the long walls rather than wall 1, where it had always been set before. This was in my view a mistake. What resulted was a wide, shallow floor area for sets, with lots of wasted space either side of the fan-shaped seating block. All this work took a great deal of time and the studio did not reopen until January 1991.
Noel's House Party was a regular booking from 1991 - 1999 but other shows such as the Wogan show and National Lottery Stars used it too. In the last few years before the building's closing it came into its own with popular shows like Strictly Come Dancing, 'Maria', 'Joseph' and 'Nancy', Let Me Entertain You, Last Choir Standing, Maestro and the audition phase of The Voice. These big spectacular productions simply won't fit into any other London TV studio except for Fountain at Wembley (now sadly closed) and latterly, the George Lucas stage at Elstree and LH2. For many years TC1 enabled the BBC to present shows that were visually second to none. Its final show in 2013 was a special in which Miranda Hart interviewed Bruce Forsyth and was recorded on 25th March.
The studio reopened at the end of August 2017 following another major refit. The audience seating was removed and the upper access for audiences is no more. There is now a continuous run of new seating all along wall 2 that pulls out to reveal an impressive 600 seats but still leaves a huge floor area available - much more than the previous seating gave and a greater area than TLS studio 1 had. The original intention was to 'lock and leave'. In other words, mothball the studio until the planned reopening date of 2015. However, this proved impractical for various reasons. The wall boxes were all been replaced as the cables leading to them had been cut by the contractors so all the wiring is new too. New dimmers were fitted. Well, not exactly new - they are the ones from TC6 and TC8 and were about 15 years old but seem to work well. There are now half the number of dimmers that the studio used to have. The theory is that most entertainment shows use LED and moving lights so the number of tungsten lamps in use is less than it was in years gone by. The sound, production and lighting galleries were all completely stripped in 2013 and the kit went to the George Lucas stage at Elstree. New 4K kit and cameras were purchased and installed in 2017. The lighting data control system has been described to me by the technicians I work with as the best in any studio and I gather the sound department are equally impressed with their installation. When it reopened at the end of August 2017, TC1 was effectively a brand new studio - the best equipped in the UK. I was lucky enough to work on one of the first shows back in - The Russell Howard Hour - which occupied the studio every Monday and Tuesday from early September to Christmas. I found the studio facilities superb. It was very odd to be working there again. Inside the studio itself it all looked very, very familiar - like being back home - but once through any of the doors, the corridors and all the rooms surrounding the studio were completely new. All around the Studioworks corner of the site, building work was was of course still going on. Andy James was project manager for BBC Studioworks so he deserves a great deal of credit for the success of the refit.
TC7 was almost exactly the same design as TC2 and TC5 (and also with long lighting bars) although it was a couple of feet longer. According to the SMPTE Journal it opened on 4th July 1965. It was originally due to open in '62, then '63, then '64. Confusingly (and incorrectly), according to the 1963 BBC Handbook it opened in 1962 but an IEE publication, 'The BBC Television Centre and its Technical Facilities', dated May 1962, states that 'TC7, as well as TC1 and TC6, will be gradually equipped and brought into service during 1963 and 1964.' In fact, TC6 did not come into service until 1967 so that was postponed too. Its design was very similar to the first four studios and the equipment fit was also along the same lines. It originally had black and white Marconi MkIV cameras and was the first studio at TVC to be converted from b/w to colour (TC6 and TC8 opened in colour), being equipped with EMI 2001s. TC7 became the third colour studio at TVC, opening on 4th May 1968, after a short working up period. (This info from BBC Engineering Division document 'Technical Description TC7', dated June 1968). Play School moved here from Riverside and was based in this studio for many years, providing excellent training opportunities for young cameramen and boom ops and not so young trainee lighting directors. I still have in my garage a set of colour filters dating from the late 1980s that I carefully cut out and stapled together to create a very interesting underwater effect around the cyclorama end of the studio. The director said she was very impressed but I think she was just being kind.
TC7 was used in later years for The Late Show, after it moved from Lime Grove, although of course dozens of other relatively small scale shows including panel games like Call My Bluff, cookery programmes with the likes of Delia Smith and childrens programmes such as Bodger and Badger were made in this studio. The original three series of Vic and Bob's Shooting Stars from 1995 to1997 also came from here. In 2002 it moved to TC1, which was quite a contrast. From 1976, each Saturday TC7 was given over to live kids' TV - starting with Multi-Coloured Swap Shop until 1982 when it was succeeded by Saturday Superstore, then Going Live and finally Live and Kicking. After a couple of series L&K moved to TC6 in 1997 - officially only occupying the same floor area as TC7 but, surprise surprise, the set gradually stretched over the years until it almost filled that studio.
I have been sent an anecdote by Mike Renshall relating to BBC vision mixers, similar to the one above. They could generate fancy 'wipes' by using a plug-in module - these were kept in a small flight case by the studio engineers. The pattern of the wipe was illustrated on the cartridge that you plugged in for the desired effect. Mike was a trainee engineer, working in TC5, when...
From 1997-2013, TC7 was part of the BBC News empire. Each weekday Breakfast came from here, followed by Working Lunch, Newsround and Newsnight. In the latter years The Six o'Clock News came from this studio too. At weekends it was the home of Frost on Sunday which was replaced by the Andrew Marr Show. A very busy little studio indeed. Richard Holland has written to me, recalling an occasion in 2003 when one afternoon he heard the rushing of water - he was a studio engineer and years of training and experience had taught him that this was not a good sound. Floods of water were pouring in through the roof of the apparatus room. He moved swiftly to shut down all the equipment before an electrical short made things even more exciting. It transpired that guttering on the roof had not been cleared and the resulting pool had found an alternative means of escape. The studio was unuseable for the rest of the day but it was back in action for the next day's Breakfast. In the meantime, Newsround was moved to TC11, followed by its normal show Liquid News, followed by Newsnight. Despite the fact that the set was entirely different, thanks to putting some suitable graphics on the screens, most viewers probably didn't notice a thing. I'd say that's a typical example of the people working in TV Centre rising to the occasion and overcoming a disaster with little fuss so the show can go on.
In 2013 this rather sad poem was posted on the production gallery wall: Stop all the studio clocks, cut off the gallery phones, Prevent the journalists from barking about a juicy bone, Silence the signature tune and with muffled wipe bong Bring out the TC7 end credits & let the mourners come. Let boom cameras circle, whirring overhead, Framing the double-wall inset the message 'TC7 Is Dead'. Put red W1 lanyards around the necks of the crew While NBH security guys admit only the few. TC7 was our North, our South, our East, our West, Our Working Lunch and our AM Sunday best, Our Newsround, our Newsnight, our HardTalk, our song; We thought TC7 would last forever: We were wrong. The lights are not wanted now: Put out them all; Pack up the set and dismantle the Barco wall; Pour away the Breakfast Tea and sweep up the floor. For nothing now can ever come from here... anymore. Please email me if you know the author. He or she definitely deserves a credit.
Back in the early '60s the 'works block' was also finished on the east side of the site. This was topped with a 13-storey office block - the East Tower - which was completed in 1964. Although built at the same time as the rest of the main block it was not part of the original design and does not appear on any of the early models or drawings. It seems like an afterthought and looked quite out of place with the rest of the site. Its materials did not match those used on the other buildings and its design was typical of the type of bland office block of the period which seems surprising, given the unique nature and high quality of the design of the rest of TV Centre. For the final couple of decades it was occupied mostly by the Children's department. The production office for Live and Kicking was on the top floor I seem to remember - I had the great pleasure of lighting that and previously Going Live for a few months each year for most of the 1990s. Children's even had a couple of very basically equipped small studios in the building which were used for Newsround and CBBC continuity. The Children's department left the East Tower during 2011. It was demolished in 2016.
TC6 is an interesting case. At the time the shell of the studio was built it was intended to install dividing doors and two sets of galleries. It was therefore rotated through 90 degrees compared with all the other studios and had its long wall running along the scenery runway. The idea of being able to split it was abandoned before the studio was fitted out. The lighting bars in TC6 were slightly further apart along the centre line because the grid was designed to make allowance for the doors that were never fitted. Because this studio was 'sideways on' people occasionally described it as being long and narrow. In fact it was the same width as TC3 at 70 metric feet and only two feet longer than the other medium studios at 92 metric feet. The opening of TC6 was delayed until 1967 so that it could become the BBC's first colour studio. BBC2 began to transmit some OBs and films in colour from July of that year. The first production made in this studio was Once More With Felix starring Julie Felix. (Remember her? Just me then.) In December a 'full' colour service began - although inevitably there were a few programmes that were still monochrome.
In the on-line reminiscences of his career, Dick McCarthy recalls TC6 opening in September 1967. The earliest confirmed date I can find is a programme with the unlikely name of Hand Me My Sword, Smith which was recorded on 12th September, so the Julie Felix show must have been recorded before then, earlier in the month.
The first single play was No Such Thing as a Vampire, which was probably in the studio from September 13th. It was directed by Paddy Russell. Recalling the occasion in 1998 she wrote 'Being the very first colour production made by the BBC [well, nearly], I vividly recollect the corrections needed to colour balance the new studio cameras. My comments to the Technical Operations Manager that faces in Transylvania did go green occasionally was not appreciated!' She continued, 'With No Such Thing as a Vampire the frequent stops to adjust the colour balance made it all the more difficult for the cast to get up to pitch again. I also recall an inordinately long camera line-up at the beginning - ninety minutes I think it was!' Producer Harry Moore's principal concern was said to be the lack of maneuverability of the new colour Marconi cameras, which he feared would severely restrict the range of shots available to his directors. He felt that his staff were used to the flexibility of the more lightweight monochrome cameras and that under the new conditions the visual scope of the colour plays would bear little difference to the early studio recordings of the 1950s. Sadly, no recordings still exist of this milestone in TV history for us to make a judgement. Of course, costume drama was a perfect subject for colour and the first series made in TC6 was Vanity Fair, starring Susan Hampshire. This began recording in October 1967. Another drama made in TC6 was Portrait of a Lady.
Back to the late '60s and the dawn of colour on BBC2... TC8 was designed as a light entertainment and comedy studio with TC6 specialising in drama. One or two cameramen also recall working in TC7 around this time with Marconi MK VII cameras but all the BBC engineering documents and press reports are clear that only TC6 and TC8 were operating at the time. However, the three studios did share a common apparatus room so it is possible that on occasions TC7 was used by rolling some cameras through from one of the other studios. TC7 officially reopened as a colour studio in May 1968 with EMI 2001s. These three studios would provide many of the new programmes made in colour for BBC2 from the autumn of 1967 well into 1968 when TC1 was colourised. TC3 and TC4 followed in 1969 and 1970 respectively.
TC6, 7 and 8 were all intended to open in 1967 with colour cameras to support the new service on BBC2. This was complicated by the change of mind over the cameras - so Marconis were installed in 6 and 8 only but within a few months they were replaced by EMI 2001s after TC7 had opened with these cameras. As mentioned above, it was also decided that these three studios would share a common apparatus room but this proved to be a bit of a nightmare for the studio engineers to operate. After a few years, walls were built and each studio had its own separate area and dedicated engineers like all the other studios. Roderick Stewart has written to me with an amusing anecdote...
One other item of interest about these three studios - they were initially designed to be dual 525 and 625-line capable. This came as a surprise to me when I discovered it as I would have thought that exporting BBC programmes to the US was not a high priority in those days - unlike ATV at Elstree. However, I have been informed by one of the engineers responsible for the installation that TC6 did indeed make at least one programme in 525-line NTSC which was subsequently converted to 625-line PAL by the BBC's standards converter. The programme was a play - Charley's Aunt - starring Danny La Rue and made in 1969. Apparently, at the time the studios were designed there were no 625-525 standards converters, only ones converting from the US standard. (625-525 standards converters came a little later.) Thus, to make a programme for export to the US you had to make it in 525 lines. It also seems that one current affairs programme for the USA came out of TVC for the London contributions and was made in 525-line NTSC. Interestingly, there were some problems using the 525 lines/60Hz system as the frequency sometime 'beat' with the studio lighting causing a flicker. The lights were fed by normal 240 volt AC current which of course alternates at 50Hz. ATV's studios at Elstree apparently got round this by using a DC feed to their lighting, which therefore did not flicker. Roderick Stewart has some more information on the 525-line capability of these studios...
TC1, TC6 and TC8 were designed with a new short lighting bar system with one dual-source luminaire on a rolling trolley on each bar. Each bar was only 4 feet long and spaced with their ends 3 feet apart. (In TC1 this distance is 4 feet.) Each row of bars was spaced four feet apart, rather than the 6 feet in 'long bar' studios. This arrangement gave much greater flexibility to the lighting director. Top light entertainment LD Dickie Higham used to have his own studio classification which baffled many a colleague (including me) until the penny dropped. According to him, TC1, TC2, TC3 and TC8 were all 'long bar studios.' The rest were 'short bar' ones. He was, of course, referring to the distance from the studio to the BBC Club.
Before leaving TC6 it is worth noting that from 1993 this was the only studio at the Centre to have its production, lighting and sound galleries at ground floor level. They had previously been on the first floor like all the others but due to the layout of the studio being lengthways, an area was available on the ground floor that had previously been used as large make up and wardrobe rooms and a lighting preparation area. A 14 month refit that also included the removal of the asbestos from the studio was used to make the move downstairs. This was the time when the studios were opening up to independent production companies. TVC was now in direct competition for business with the ITV studios on the South Bank (TLS). Their galleries were on the ground floor which is very popular with directors, producers and lighting directors, who often have to make many trips to and from the studio floor. Other studios around the country built since the 1980s also had galleries constructed at ground floor level. The requirement to have windows looking out over the studio floor was no longer necessary. TC6 did indeed prove to be very popular with many productions for this very reason. Never Mind the Buzzcocks was one of a number of shows that found a home here. All the more baffling then that when the new studios were built at BBC Glasgow and MediaCity in Salford, their galleries were placed an extraordinary 2 floors up at gantry level. It is as if all the lessons learnt over decades of programme making were forgotten overnight and an unnecessary annoyance to production teams was introduced without a care. In 2010, TC6 became the fourth studio at TVC to be converted at huge expense to HD. It was also the first in the country to be 3D capable, all of which makes its completely unnecessary closure less than three years later all the more tragic. Its final programme was, appropriately, an edition of Pointless in December 2012.
Stage 4 was the construction of the first section of the spur. In 1959, months before the building had opened, a meeting was held to discuss what would be included in the first section of the spur. They decided that it would contain another medium to large studio - TC8 - and the new news centre. Preliminary work began in 1963 and by 1966 the basic shell of the building was complete. The occupation of the news area was postponed, however, by the World Cup. The BBC, as host broadcaster, had to house the world's TV companies for the contest so the space was turned into facilities for them. A temporary studio was built, equipped with EMI 203 black and white cameras, which following the World Cup was used as the weather studio whilst Pres A was being colourised. Once this was over work could resume on equipping the studios and newsrooms.
TC8 opened in the autumn of 1967 with Marconi Mk VII colour cameras. It was intended as a specialist comedy and LE studio and had built-in retractable audience seating. The design of TC8 benefited from the experience gained from working in the older studios.
TC8 soon became the most popular studio in TV Centre. It was 2 feet wider than the other medium studios - and every inch counts when you are building a set. The built-in audience seating gave it a classier feel than the other studios - almost like a theatre - and it had a lot more space left on the studio floor when you were using an audience. Actors, comedians and performers loved it. Its galleries were well laid out, the ventilation system was better, the makeup and wardrobe facilities were very good, there were loads of motorised scene hoists all over the studio, the lighting bars were closely spaced so lights could be hung almost exactly where the LD needed them to be, there was a large prop room leading onto easy access from the ring road - everything felt right for every department - from when the studio opened to when it was forced to close in 2013.
It was the favourite studio for literally hundreds of the greatest comedy and light entertainment artists in Britain's TV history. The programmes made in here included Sykes, The Liver Birds, Monty Python, Q, Are You Being Served, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Open All Hours, Dad's Army, Citizen Smith, Up Pompeii, Porridge, The Goodies, The Good Life, Reggie Perrin, Not the Nine o'Clock News, Fawlty Towers, Butterflies, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, To the Manor Born, Yes Minister, Only Fools and Horses, Bread, Hi Di Hi, Blackadder, Alas Smith and Jones, 'Allo 'Allo, May To December, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, Just Good Friends, In Sickness and in Health, Ever Decreasing Circles, French and Saunders, One Foot in the Grave, The Fast Show, Lee Evans - So What Now?, Absolutely Fabulous, The Brittas Empire, Dead Ringers, As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, Dinnerladies, 2 Pints of Lager..., The Catherine Tate Show, Little Britain, Mitchell and Webb, Not Going Out, Yes Prime Minister and Miranda. Those are just a selection of comedy shows - maybe 10% of all those made in the studio. There were just as many entertainment shows that included the likes of Morcambe and Wise and The Two Ronnies. Even Hole in the Wall with its swimming pool was made in TC8. OK, maybe best forgotten along with quite a few others but there were plenty like Bob Says Opportunity Knocks, The Dick Emery Show, Blankety Blank, National Lottery Live, Jet Set, In It To Win It, Parkinson, Saturday Night Armistice, The Paul Daniels Magic Show, Look: Mike Yarwood, Dave Allen at Large, Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge, Top of the Pops, Tonight's The Night, Shooting Stars, Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Mock The Week etc etc etc and those are just the ones that happen to occur to me now. There will be at least another 30 or so that you are bound to remember if I could be bothered to look them up on Wikipedia. Right to the end it remained the favourite for many in the industry. Closing it was a genuine tragedy carried out by people who had never been involved in making any studio TV programmes in their careers and were utterly ignorant of the damage they were doing. Rather like a bunch of sport fanatics demolishing the National Theatre because it looks a bit ugly from the outside. When it closed it was equipped with the latest HD kit, was still the best designed studio in the country and would have continued to have had bookings for decades to come.
TC8 was also the first studio with thyristor dimmers controlled by a computer memory console - the Thorn Q-File. This console was subsequently installed in TV Theatre and all the other studios at TVC except TC6 and Lime Grove D and E. These three studios were equipped with the Strand MMS - 'Modular Memory System.' This was a console with fader wheels rather than the motorised faders of the Q-File. It had a slightly different operating philosophy from the Thorn desk which some liked, others not. It was in fact the predecessor to the Galaxy - without question the best lighting console ever developed for TV studios. For many years, almost every studio in the UK was equipped with one - they were available to purchase, in improving versions, from the early '80s to the mid '90s. Their manufacturer, Strand Lighting, offered no similar replacement when they stopped manufacturing them. Unfortunately, they and all the other console manufacturers subsequently sold consoles that were aimed at the theatre and moving light market. Very few operators or LDs believed these were as suitable for television as the old Galaxy. Thus, these old lighting desks soldiered on until the last one at Pinewood in 2015. Spare parts were acquired from old consoles being replaced in theatres or studios all over the world. The BBC even bought an old second hand Galaxy from Russia.
TC7 and TC8 were later equipped with a radical re-development of the Q-File called the 'Thornlight.' It had obviously been designed by a committee and was in some ways rather clumsy to operate. However, once you got the hang of it it was extremely flexible and I personally really got to like it. These were later replaced by Galaxys, as eventually was TC6's MMS, until by the late 1980s the only studios still with a Q-File were TC1 and Television Theatre.
The two news studios on the 6th floor of the Spur, N1 and N2, were not entirely fitted out with brand new kit, as you might have expected. According to engineer Bob Taylor, no less than 65 large lorries were used to transport cameras, other technical equipment and all the office contents to TVC from Alexandra Palace. The move began on the night of Friday 22nd September 1969. Astonishingly, they had to be ready for a broadcast into Grandstand the following morning and fully up and running by Monday. People worked for days without going home, grabbing a few hours sleep when they could on camp beds in a conference room in order to complete the move without any hitches. Actually, Roger Wilson has pointed out that the first news bulletin from TVC was not from N1 or N2 but from the newsroom - the lunchtime headlines insert into Grandstand. He tells me he spent most of the time preventing editorial staff from wandering into shot as they no idea where they were supposed to be. Each studio had 4 Marconi MkVII cameras - remotely controlled from the gallery. Three were brought from Ally Pally and the other five had previously been used in TC8 for less than a year between 1967 and 1968.
Both news studios were originally about 30 x 40 ft. This was a bit of a disappointment to the news department, who had become used to working at Alexandra Palace in studios almost twice as big. It is odd actually, that they were so small and consequently somewhat limited in their potential use. However, in 1984 N2 was enlarged to include the lobby area and prop store that was sited adjacent to the two studios. It thus became about 40 x 50 ft but one end had a low ceiling. This enabled a big wideshot of the studio set to be done at the beginning of the Nine o'Clock News around that time. I'm sure there are plenty of anecdotes of incidents during news broadcasts from these studios. Please send me some if they are relatively short and of course amusing/interesting. Well-known ones of course include Jan Leeming surviving an exploding light bulb above her head whilst on air in 1980. On May 23rd 1988 the 6 o'clock News was invaded by several women protesting against Section 28. Sue Lawley kept cool under fire whilst Nicholas Witchell sat on a passing lesbian to try to shut her up. The most impressive part of this was that the protestors actually found the studio. Most people who worked at the Centre had no idea where it was. Then there was the 1976 Peter Woods incident - some assumed a little the worse for wear after a few hours in the BBC Club. In fact it occured at seven thirty in the evening, during a five-minute bulletin into BBC2. After several slurred attempts to read out the trade figures he gave up, saying "Apparently, the trade figures are an awful lot." Simon King has written to me - he was working in News at the time. He reckons that this bulletin was an insert into a current affairs programme - possibly Newsday - presented by Robin Day. He recalls Peter Woods being faded out pretty quickly and Robin Day saying something like 'Well, we leave the newsroom there earlier than expected and...' In any case, hundreds of viewers phoned in to complain. His condition was later blamed on the effect of medication 'for sinus problems.' The news was always recorded 'PasB' on a domestic video recorder but on his website Bob Taylor, studio engineer, owns up to having removed the tape on the spur of the moment and erased it to save Peter's blushes. The official announcement was that the machine had been faulty. The incident didn't seem to affect Mr Woods' career however, and he was even included in the famous Christmas Morcambe and Wise dancing newsreaders sketch singing the last line. A little postscript to this incident: I'm reminded that despite the 'official' video recording having been lost, Kenny Everett used to play it during his anarchic radio show. How he got hold of it is a mystery but apparently a unit in the bowels of Broadcasting House had the job of transcribing news broadcasts so used to make an audio recording of the TV news. 'News Sound Recording' dept in the Spur of TVC also it seems would have had an audio copy so the mole who leaked the tape to Mr Everett might have worked in either of those departments. Or of course, neither.
Another anecdote from Roger Tone's memory bank was recounted to me by Ian Hillson. It seems that Robert Dougall, one of the old school BBC newsreaders, liked to sit on his 'lucky cushion' when he was in front of camera. He was known as being icy cool and with a somewhat subtle sense of humour. For a bet, one of the crew (who shall not be named here) placed a fully-charged whoopee cushion under the favourite 'official' one and the studio crew awaited the inevitable result when Mr Dougall sat down. He was a little late into the studio and sat down rather gingerly just before transmission. The whoopee cushion failed to detonate so all those in the know spent an agonising 10 minutes during the bulletin praying that it would not go off during a particularly serious piece to camera. The studio director, fully appraised of the situation, instructed the floor manager confidentially over talkback, "If it goes off on-air I expect you to say 'excuse me'..." It didn't - and Mr Dougall went to his grave never knowing how very close to an embarrassing incident on camera he had been. Roger Wilson tells me that the cushion was subsequently placed on various reporters' chairs - they had a habit of rushing into the studio and flinging themselves down with disastrous consequences. Fortunately, this only happened in rehearsals - it was the floor manager's responsibility to ensure the chair was clear for touchdown during transmission.
N1 and N2 were closed in 1998 when the new News Centre opened in Stage 6. They became the 'property' of BBC Resources who renamed them TC10 and TC11 but that department could not afford to refurbish them so they were left unused for a couple of years. TC10 (30 x 40ft) was the home of daily afternoon shows The Phone Zone from April 2000 and then TOTP@Play, both broadcast on satellite channel UK Play. When this channel closed down in September 2002 the studio was unused for a while but then became the home of the Virtual Reality (VR) department until 2004. However, it is not known what VR programmes were made here. During this period it was also used to make two new series of Treasure Hunt for Fremantle in 2002 and 2003. From 2004, TC10 entered a 'service level agreement' with the Children's department and was used for presentation and continuity for childrens programmes on BBC1 and BBC2 replacing TC9 in this role. From April 2006 the daily Level Up show was based here. This replaced X-Change on CBBC channel. Level Up ended its run in Sep '06. This studio was then on long-term booking to Children's dept until they moved to Salford and various children's series used the studio during that time. The studio was closed once Children's moved north but the studio floor was occasionally used for single camera interviews etc. TC11 (50 x 40ft) was opened as the home of Liquid News from February 2002. At the extended end of the studio with the lower ceiling the 60-Second News set was built. Both these programmes went out on BBC Three. Liquid News became very popular with a small but dedicated audience. Initially it was based in TC0 and then moved to this studio to make way for CBeebies. The original presenter, Christopher Price, had a dry innuendo-laden style and the show became very much his vehicle. Tragically, he died suddenly on 22nd April 2002, at the age of just 34. Robert Nisbet was their main showbiz reporter, enthusiastically covering frothy stories from exotic locations all round the world. He later became the Regional Director for the UK's Rail Delivery Group. A spectacular career change arguably on a par with that of Nick Clegg. The show was quite expensive to produce and gradually reduced in audience terms following Christopher Price's death. It was axed on 1st April 2004. TC11 then became the home of BBC Three's 7o'clock news. This in turn ended in December 2005. The studio was subsequently used for a few news-related bookings, including covering for the main news studios whilst they were being refurbished in 2006. It then returned to the BBC Studios portfolio and was available for general use. I understand that TC11 was occasionally used by the Sport department. In the autumn of 2008, 2009 and 2010 it was used for the daily Strictly Come Dancing spin-off series - It Takes Two. Previous series had been made at independent studio The Hospital Club, with its lovely Thomson LDK 6000 HD cameras, so the rather less sophisticated JVC KY-29D cameras in this studio certainly provided a bit of a challenge to the lighting and engineering departments, to say the least. Fortunately these dreadful cameras were replaced by the Sony E-30 cameras from TC6 in the summer of 2010, which although SD were still very nice indeed and only 6 years old. In 2011 James Corden's 'round table meeting' sketch for Comic Relief was shot in here over a number of days using a host of A-list celebrities and politicians. The studio was closed in the autumn of 2012 and its equipment removed.
Back to the history of the building... During the 1980s the site was developed further. Offices were built behind the scenery block which also contained the telephone exchange - hence it became known as the EBX block - and opened in 1982. The multistorey car park for 964 cars just snuck in before such things became completely impossible for planners to agree to and also opened in 1982. It was said at the time that planning permission had only been granted by the council on the condition that it would be used by those working unsocial hours. Astonishingly, once opened many such people found it very difficult to obtain car park passes and it appeared to be at its fullest between 09.30 and 17.30 during weekdays. Fancy that. A Blue Peter time capsule was buried inside the concrete ramp near the entrance. The brass plate indicating its location was removed early in 2013 - possibly by a souvenir hunter. The car park will eventually be demolished and replaced with affordable housing as part of the redevelopment so what will happen to the time capsule? I have read one report that this time capsule was removed at some time and re-buried in the BP garden and this was one of the two that was found damaged. Can you confirm this - or is it still here?
Yet more office space had to be found so a ring of prefabricated buildings were set on top of the scenery runway. This became known as the 'periphery' and these offices containing 15,000 sq ft opened in 1985, blocking the view of the park previously enjoyed by those sitting on the terrace outside the BBC Club. This view had been carefully planned by Dawbarn in the original design and was no accident. Still - these were the 1980s and offices had to come first, obviously.
Television Rehearsal Rooms
In 1978 a steering group had been set up to examine what could be included in the project to complete TV Centre - in other words, stage 5. The 'Television Development Committee' chaired by Robin Scott would examine four or five possibilities. One of the intentions was that this final phase of construction would partly replace the existing facilities at Lime Grove and TV Theatre. Their conclusion was to construct stage 5 in two phases - the first would provide a new videotape area containing 100 machines (in fact it became 130) and accommodation for staff from Lime Grove. The second phase (stage 6) would see the construction of a replacement for Television Theatre (TC9). It was assumed that the project would be complete by the mid 1980s. In fact, construction of stage 5 did not commence until January 1985 and was completed in February 1988. It contained no television studios although at the time it was still assumed that the new TC9 in stage 6 would be built within a few years. The huge task in designing the new studio was begun. By October 1985 the plans were well developed - even to the extent of building a large scale model in which acoustic tests could be undertaken. The huge volume of the new studio - far greater than any other built by the BBC - was raising issues of reverberation within the building and the possible penetration of traffic noise. Thus the research and detailed plans for TC9 gathered pace. To support the weight of the new building, piles 100 ft deep had to be driven into the ground. Its largest single girder was 22 metres long and weighed 12 tons. Despite these superlatives stage 5 was a monolithic brick-faced block that did not quite match the colour or style of the previous construction. The back of the building was in my view particularly unsympathetic to the original design.
Stage 5 included the BBC post production areas on its upper floors. 130 VT machines were installed. Rather different from the 16 machines the VT area in the hub was originally designed for. The move of the VT department to stage 5 did not take place immediately. They had to wait for a new tape format to be established before equipping all the suites. This format was the D3 cassette. Developed by Panasonic, the BBC was its first major customer. A few suites were opened in 1991 and used for training but the big move to stage 5 happened in January 1992. The BBC's post production department had been created in 1989 - combining film editing with VT editing and sound dubbing. This new department was, as its name suggests, more concerned with what happens to the programme after it has been made rather than during it. From 1991, the new D3 cassette enabled every studio to be equipped with its own machines in the studio's apparatus room which were remotely operated by the studio resource manager who sat in the production gallery. The new VT suites in stage 5 thus became almost entirely used for editing. In the late '90s as each studio was converted to digital widescreen, the tape format in general use was changed to Digital Betacam. This used the superior component system of recording whereas D3 recorded composite pictures. It took many years and several tape formats but with Digital Betacam we at last had a recording system in use that in playback was indistinguishable from the original live pictures.
In 2006 the BBC announced that over the next few years it planned to go over to a tapeless system of recording and transmitting programmes, meaning that everything would be stored on hard disk or server. This was to avoid having to digitise recordings prior to editing, grading and dubbing. The transferring of the final edit to a master tape would become a thing of the past with programmes being transmitted as data directly off a hard drive. This was to simplify the whole post production process and cut costs. In fact, not much was done about this for two years - it was not until 2008 that the BBC announced a grand scheme to transfer all its archive material as well as all new recordings onto digital media servers. This was to be called the Digital Media Initiative. You may have heard of it. They spent a reported £98.4m on the project and it was abandoned in May 2013. Despite the good intentions, 'going tapeless' has taken many years to achieve - the catastrophe of the BBC's DMI became front page news and this certainly didn't help. However, this was not just a BBC thing - most other facilities and channels took far longer than anyone anticipated to leave the security and familiarity of tape. Even in 2013 about half of all programmes were still being recorded on tape and subsequently digitised for post production work although by the end of 2014 the majority of programmes were at last being recorded directly onto hard drive.
TMS/TC0
The new stage 5 included a Television Music Studio (TMS) on the ground floor. It was built to replace the previous TMS (studio H) in Lime Grove and was equipped to a very high standard. It opened in July 1989 and was planned to have sufficient space for 40 musicians. It apparently had an automated Neve 48-channel sound desk together with 2, 8 and 24-track ATRs. (I was previously mystified as to what these initials stood for. It was more than a year before Aiden Lunn wrote to me to point out the obvious. ATR stands for 'audio tape recorder'. Doh!!!) The main floor area was 52 x 26ft but it also had a very large control room at 35 x 21 ft and a separate smaller soundproof 'loud' booth which was 21 x 15ft. The whole studio was a floating box within a box construction. The walls had variable acoustic panels that could be turned round for hard or soft surfaces, and it had a silent ventilation system. Unfortunately, the new TMS only had a working life as a sound studio for a few years. With the new commercial way of working introduced in 1993 (snappily named 'Producer Choice') each studio had to bid for bookings in competition with those outside the BBC. Despite its superb facilities it was priced too high and therefore did not get the use it deserved. It struggled to pay its way for a year or two until the decision was make to close it. It might seem curious to some that closure was a better idea than cutting the hire cost to attract business but that was the way BBC managers' minds seemed to work. Around 1995 the studio found a new use. It reopened as a 'virtual reality' studio following a name change. It was considered unwise to call it TC9 as the BBC policy in the '90s was to close studios, not open new ones. Senior BBC management might not understand. Therefore it became TC0 ('TC zero') which also had a nice 'virtual' ring to it. Matt Goodman has written to me claiming to be the one who thought that one up, and who am I to doubt him. The studio was initially equipped with a 2-D system called 'Virtual Scenario'. Around 1997 this was upgraded to a 3-D system called 'Free-D'. Richard Russell worked on this project. He informs me that Free-D was first shown publicly at IBC in 1997. It had been developed by BBC Research Dept. and many people thought it would be very popular with programme makers. The system allowed actors or presenters to move freely in front of a blue screen whilst the camera could track, pan, tilt and zoom. Hand-held cameras could also be used. Sensors detected all these parameters partly by looking at 'targets' mounted all over the studio grid and the system automatically locked the background behind the artist. This background could be a photograph or more interestingly a computer-generated 3D world. I mentioned 'blue screen' but it was even cleverer than that. The cameras had a ring of blue LEDs around their lens and the cyclorama and floor were made of grey fabric impregnated with millions of highly reflective glass beads (rather like a road sign). Thus the camera saw the cloth as bright blue but the actors could be lit in any colour to match the background. Free-D was a great idea but sadly few producers initially liked it or understood its implications and only a handful of VR programmes were made in TC0. These included Record Breakers Gold - although in fact this show probably only used the 2-D system.. Richard Russell also recalls another children's series, probably broadcast live on Sundays, which involved children searching for objects that they couldn't see (although the viewers could, through the magic of VR). The system didn't really come into its own until about 2004 when ITV News adopted a virtual set - followed over later years by more sophisticated VR sets and in 2018 by Sky News and in 2019 by BBC Sport. General election programmes have also made use of the technology but very few entertainment programmes have. As a small studio, TC0 was perhaps not the best environment to fully explore the potential of Free-D. Therefore, VR 'targets' were installed in the grid of some large studios. One quarter of TC4 had them mounted between the lighting bars - I lit an experimental VR programme in there in July 1997. TC1 was fully equipped for Fightbox and Elstree D for the series Bamzooki.
Shortly after the studio closed as a sound studio, the control room was converted into a dubbing suite. Thus it was not possible for it to become the new vision and production control area for TC0. At one end of the main studio was a timber bridge running across the room's width that was originally intended to be used for musicians. A single control room for sound, vision and production was constructed beneath it. This effectively reduced the studio's length by about eight feet. A basic floor-supported lighting truss was constructed within the studio - the ceiling would not take the weight. VR proved to be a commercial disappointment and after a few years - probably in 1999 - the gear was removed and the studio was booked for a conventional series (if that's the right expression) when The Chris Moyles Show took up residence. This went out on digital channel UK Play. When this series ended after some months it was followed by another daily show - The Phone Zone. Some time later this show moved upstairs to TC10 to become TOTP@Play and TC0 became the home of BBC Choice's entertainment news show - Liquid News which began broadcasting in May 2000. When this in turn moved upstairs after nearly a couple of years to what had become TC11 the studio was occupied by the presenters of the CBeebies channel from February 2002 until the end of 2007. In January 2008 they rather surprisingly moved to studio 4 at Teddington. It seems that the studio was probably not used at all in 2008. However, one wonders how many production managers seeking a studio for their next show even knew it existed. There was a rumour for a while that it might be turned back into a sound studio but nothing came of that. In 2009 it was used for the occasional single camera shoot and as a rehearsal room for sitcoms. Early in 2010 the BBC's Research and Development department was relocated from Kingswood Warren to Centre House Block D - on the other side of Wood Lane. (They have since moved to MediaCity in Salford.) TC0 was allocated to them for their experiments, since there was no suitable space in the other building. Thus, the department that devised the various virtual reality systems returned home, as it were. In September 2010 they carried out what was probably a world first in this studio - a combined use of Super Hi-Vision pictures and stereoscopic 3D. The band The Charlatans performed a concert that was broadcast live to Japan. Apparently the images were quite extraordinary! Super Hi-Vision (now known as 8K UHD) has a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels. The current HD standard is 1920 x 1080. The format may soon be used in cinemas but is unlikely to be available for home use before 2020. BBC R&D are working along with NHK to develop ways of compressing the extraordinary amount of data that is involved in producing pictures so sharp. Until they do, it will not be possible to use this system domestically. However, only a few years ago it was thought impossible to transmit HD channels on Freeview. Thanks to the work done by BBC R&D, there are now several HD channels available via your aerial.
Incidentally - the old sound control room was itself turned into an ad-hoc TV studio for a kids' live interactive puppet series called Nelly Nut in 2004. This room was 35 x 21 ft so was actually very slightly larger than the old Pres A and B. This formally become known as TC12 and for a while was the home of one or two CBBC programmes including Sportsround. It then became the continuity studio for CBBC - the 21st century version of the famous broom cupboard. Early in 2008 that operation moved to a room in the East Tower and the studio was closed. It was then used again as a control room for TC0 by the R&D department and TC12 as a studio no longer existed.
Around 2000 an area on the ground floor of stage 5 previously used as the lamp store was converted into 'The Foyer'. (The lamp store moved to the scenery block). The Foyer was a large area capable of holding two studio audiences - about 650 people - before they made their way to their studios. It contained a licenced coffee bar and also a BBC shop selling merchandise. It took many, many years for the BBC to realise that an audience that had been kept waiting outside in the January rain for an hour or more before coming into the studio would not laugh as loud as one that was nice and warm and had had a glass of wine. Unfortunately, now that studios 1-3 have reopened, audiences are once again kept waiting outside in the freezing cold. That's progress.
Stage 6 was, as we have seen, very nearly a superb television studio that would have been the envy of the whole industry. Nearly, but not quite. During the '70s and '80s the entertainment department had been putting pressure on the BBC's senior management to construct a new studio in the remaining space at the end of the spur at TVC. It would replace Television Theatre but would be far more flexible in its use. It was to have a floor area about 98 x 85ft wall to wall but with the addition of large audience rostra on two levels. (So somewhat larger in both length and width than LWT's studio 1). The BBC producers were fed up with the way that LWT's big shows looked so much more impressive than theirs made in TC8. Even TC1 didn't look as good once you filled it with the usual mobile seating.
Detailed plans were drawn up over several years for this new TC9. It was to have a grid height of 72 ft (TC1 is 'only' 45ft high) which would enable scenery to be flown on counterweight systems. There would be a permanent audience rostra seating 400 which could be extended with moveable 'wings' and the studio would have its own foyer, make-up, wardrobe and scenery handling areas. There was even to be a large band room with its own control room - oddly duplicating the new music studio a few yards away in stage 5 which was almost exactly the same size. Terry Brett was asked to represent the lighting side of things. He was a busy LD at the time but attended many meetings of the steering committee. He told me in 2006 that he was still waiting for someone to inform him that the project had been cancelled - let alone thank him for all the work he put in. According to Terry, there were a couple of problems with the studio's design that had to be overcome. One concerned the trough that was to run round the bottom of the cyclorama so that groundrow lights could be hidden, thus creating an 'infinity cyc'. One challenge was how to create this trough whilst still leaving enough headroom in the news department garage beneath. Terry describes another issue that arose:
Before stage 6 was built in 1998, the ring road past TC8 came to an abrupt end and a ramp took it down to the level of the front car park. Terry tells me that somewhere under the ramp a couple of experimental sections of trough were built complete with hydraulic lids. I wonder if it's still buried under there...??? Cameraman Jeff Naylor was asked for his advice on a particular issue...
I see that some things never change.
The idea was to close TV Theatre and transfer Wogan, or the show's successor, to the new studio. It would also of course be available for other big Saturday night shows. There is little doubt that this studio would have become the best equipped LE studio in the country and would have been much in demand for big gameshows and music/entertainment shows. Sadly, despite all the work done on the project it was abandoned very soon after Michael Checkland became DG. The studio had been enthusiastically supported by Bill Cotton but it was cancelled within a week of his retiring from the job of Managing Director of Television in 1989. It was becoming fashionable with some around that time to declare the age of the big TV studio over. Also, the new director general and his assistant John Birt were introducing far more stringent financial control over all the BBC's costs and expenditure - so with accountants rather than programme makers running the BBC the project didn't stand a chance. If only construction had begun a few months earlier it would almost certainly have been completed and become the busiest studio in London! Instead, TC1 - which was due to be refurbished - would be given a more fundamental refit, with built-in retractable audience seating and redesigned stairs with a new glazed foyer area at first floor level for the audience. After nearly three years work the 'new' TC1 opened in January 1991 but was not a patch on what might have been. The legacy of the old plans could be seen in the rather oddly shaped curved podium that extended from the base of Stage 6 towards the Horseshoe carpark. This was part only of what was going to be the grand entrance to the new theatre leading in turn to the foyer on the first floor and taking audiences into the main studio auditorium at the back of the seating (as happens in West End theatres). There was even an idea for LED lights announcing tonight's performance displayed around the semi circular facade above the entrance doors. Stage 5's rear elevation made a bit more sense too when the original proposals are understood.
So what did become of stage 6? Well, it became the BBC's News Centre. It was opened in July 1998 by Sir Christopher Bland. It seemed a good idea to John Birt to bring radio news away from Broadcasting House in central London to join TV news several miles away at Television Centre. Guess what? The journalists didn't like it. So Greg Dyke gave the go-ahead to rebuild much of Broadcasting House to take the radio news back there as well as the TV news. They eventually returned in March 2013. Stage 6 was also finished off with a new reception area complete with Henry Moore sculpture (later removed), facing Wood Lane. It all looked very smart and businesslike. The old reception became the 'stage door' and still occasionally featured on various shows.
Stage 6 opened in July 1998 and the Real IRA tried to blow it up in March 2001 with a taxi parked outside. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Although the damage looked superficial (one assumes that such an attack had been foreseen) it took about two years before the scaffolding came down and an even stronger bombproof wall of glass was revealed.
TVC came under attack on several occasions over the years. Apart from the Real IRA, it was surrounded by thousands of screaming pubescent girls when bands such as Take That performed on Saturday morning kids' shows. If you don't think that sounds too bad you should have been there! Only slightly less scary was the occasion when evangelical militant Christians tried to prevent people from entering or leaving the building during the Jerry Springer the Opera controversy in January 2005. Then, when leader of the BNP Nick Griffin appeared on Question Time in TC6 on 22nd October 2009, several hundred angry protestors demonstrated outside the gate - about 25 breaking in as far as the Stage Door (the former main reception). On the same night three other audience shows were also being recorded - Harry Hill's TV Burp (TC3), Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (TC4) and Piers Morgan's Real Lives (TC8). About 1,000 ordinary punters with tickets therefore had to be got into the building past the shouting protestors - as well as the QT audience and the panelists - but somehow the security staff did it - and got them out again safely. I should declare an interest here, having lit the televised version of Jerry Springer the Opera, several editions of Live and Kicking and been in the building lighting TV Burp on the night of the BNP Question Time. (For the record, the ignorance shown by many of the protestors of what was actually depicted in Jerry Springer the Opera was astonishing and proved to me how otherwise intelligent people can be hoodwinked into believing anything if instructed by skillful and manipulative leaders. At least I had seen the show - several times - which most of those interviewed clearly had not.) Other incidents have included the women's invasion of the 6 o'Clock News in 1988 when Sue Lawley kept her cool and Nicholas Witchell sat on a lesbian. Meanwhile, in March 2000 a media studies student (no really) vaulted over the low turnstile in main reception and found his way to the main newsroom. He is said to have gone on the rampage, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, getting 'within feet' of Anna Ford. Having smashed monitors and thrown a coffee table through a window, he explained afterwards that he was upset by Greg Dyke's style of leadership and thought the licence fee was too high. Apparently he threatened to kill anyone who tried to stop him but eventually somebody did and he ended up in a mental hospital. This happened incidentally after security had been tightened following the murder of Jill Dando. After that, access from reception into the building was completely redesigned with a high glass wall containing motorised turnstiles that only let one person through very slowly and could, in theory, trap someone half way round. Then there was the invasion of the live Lotto draw in TC4 during Jet Set on 20th May 2006. This was by six members of Fathers for Justice, one of whom allegedly received a distinctly less than friendly welcome from presenter Eamonn Holmes. The director cut to a close-up of him remaining calm and collected but those working on the show have told me what was happening just out of shot! Respect due to Mr Holmes. Soon afterwards, Camelot decided to move the draws to the rather more secure ex-British Forces Broadcasting Service (SSVC) studios run by Arqiva in Buckinghamshire.
Construction and refurbishment continued at TVC for the whole of its life. Individual rooms and whole floors were from time to time gutted and rebuilt. Studios too were given refurbs every few years. The running of the building itself was taken out of the BBC's hands in 2001 and became the responsibility of a company called Land Securities Trillium. The early days of this new operation were sometimes not as smooth as they might have been. A studio resources manager has told me a story that cannot possibly be true. Allegedly, shortly after Land Securities Trillium took over, he phoned the new number to ask for the air conditioning to be made cooler in the studio he was working in. He was connected with an office in the north of England. The operator requested the studio's 'room number', what floor it was on, the address of Television Centre and various other details. Finally, he was told the job number and informed that the work would be carried out next Tuesday. Thankfully, I believe this and other similar teething troubles were ironed out within a few weeks. In July 2006 the contract to supply facilities management passed to a company called Johnson Controls. I assume they too learnt pretty quickly to adjust studio temperatures faster than next Tuesday.
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The Centre as it was in its final years. Click on the image to see in detail. |
It would be impossible to list every programme ever made TVC - some are probably best forgotten anyway. What I shall foolishly attempt to do here is to list by decade a range of typical productions. They are in no particular order. I am bound to have missed some really obvious ones. Where I know it, I shall indicate the studio in which it was made. It's worth pointing out that although some shows almost always came from the same studio others moved about quite a bit, depending on available space. TC3, 4, 6 and 8 were all about the same size so a show designed for any one of these would fit in another. Where I have indicated a studio it doesn't mean that it didn't also use others.
There are quite a few where I haven't put the studio even though I have a pretty good idea. For instance, TC8 was for years the favourite studio for sitcoms but unless I am sure, I have not noted it here.
Some series spanned years or even decades so I have simply noted them when they started (or moved here from other studios).
Anyway - here goes...
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1960s |
The Wednesday Play (many highly regarded individual titles), Play For Today, Softly Softly, Dr Finlay's Casebook, Compact (TC2), The Forsyte Saga (TC4 - last b/w drama), Vanity Fair (TC6 - first colour drama), 30-Minute Theatre (TC7), Theatre 625 (TC1), Billy Budd (opera - main set in TC1, orchestra in TC2), Sherlock Holmes (TC1), Stand Up For Nigel Barton (TC4), Steptoe and Son, Not Only...But Also, Till Death Us Do Part, Dad's Army, That Was The Week That Was (TC2), Not So Much a Programme - More a Way of Life (TC2), BBC-3, The Lance Percival Show, Come Dancing (TC2!), Tomorrow's World, Frost Over England, It's a Square World, Morecambe and Wise (TC1 and TC8), Sykes (also at Riverside), Harry Worth, The Dick Emery Show (TC8), Marty (Feldman), The Liver Birds, Meet The Wife, The Rag Trade, All Gas and Gaiters, The Likely Lads, Marriage Lines, Monty Python's Flying Circus (TC6, TC8), Spike Milligan's 'Q', Comedy Playhouse (TC4), Top of the Pops (TC2 briefly then all large studios), International Cabaret, Beat Room (TC3), The Black and White Minstrel Show (TC1), Jackanory (probably every studio at some time), schools programmes (TC5), Ask the Family (TC5), Top of the Form, Call My Bluff (TC2, TC5), The Late Show (TC2), Points of View (Pres B), Late Night Line-Up (Pres B), The Sky at Night (moved here from Lime Grove to Pres B and the corner of several other studios), Holiday '69 and onwards (TC5), Play School (TC7 from Riverside.) |
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1970s |
Elizabeth R, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, I Claudius (TC1), Pennies From Heaven (TC6), Play of the Month (TC1 usually), Play of the Week, War and Peace, Testament of Youth, Secret Army (TC8, TC1), To Serve Them All My Days, The Onedin Line, The Pallisers, Churchill's People, BBC Shakespeares (TC1 mostly), Telford's Change, Professional Foul, The Duchess of Duke Street, The Flying Dutchman (opera - main set in TC1, orchestra in TC3), Hansel and Gretel (opera - main set in TC1, orchestra in TC3), Dr Who (moved to TVC from Riverside and Lime Grove - used most large studios), Blake's 7, The Two Ronnies (TC1 plus others), Are You Being Served?, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Open All Hours (TC8), Citizen Smith (TC8), Up Pompeii!, Porridge, In Sickness and in Health (TC8), The Les Dawson Show (TC8), Rentaghost, The Goodies, The Good Life (TC6), The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Fawlty Towers (TC1, TC3, TC6, TC8), Jim'll Fix It, Blankety Blank (TC8), Parkinson (TC8), The Old Grey Whistle Test (Pres B plus others), Butterflies, To The Manor Born, Blue Peter (TC1, 3, 4, 6, 8), Grange Hill (various studios before moving to Elstree in 1985), Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (TC7), Film '72 and onwards (Pres B) |
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1980s |
The Chronicles of Narnia, Tenko, Lord Peter Wimsey, Performance (TC1 usually), Marie Curie, The Ginger Tree (TC4 - first HD drama series), Juliet Bravo, Bomber Harris (TC6), Yes Minister (TC8), Only Fools and Horses (TC8), Bread (TC8), Hi-De-Hi, Blackadder, Russ Abbot, Alas Smith and Jones, 'Allo 'Allo (some series), Birds of a Feather (series 1), May To December, Just Good Friends, Ever Decreasing Circles, Colin's Sandwich, Three of a Kind, Children in Need (TC1), Noel Edmunds' Late Late Breakfast Show (TC8), The Paul Daniels Magic Show (TC8), Lenny Henry Show (TC8), Victoria Wood as Seen on TV, French and Saunders (TC8), A Bit of Fry and Laurie (TC6), Bob Says Opportunity Knocks (TC8), Bob's Full House, Saturday Superstore (TC7), Going Live (TC7), Double Dare (TC4), Chucklevision, Newsnight (TC2, then TC7), BBC Breakfast (TC2 then TC7), Crimewatch UK (most studios at some time), Watchdog (TC2 and 5) |
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1990s |
The House of Eliott (last multicamera studio-based drama series - TC1), One Foot in the Grave (TC8), The Fast Show, Absolutely Fabulous (TC8), Rory Bremner (TC6), Knowing Me Knowing You, Saturday Night Armistice (TC8), The Thin Blue Line, The Brittas Empire (TC8), As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, Never Mind the Buzzcocks (TC6), I'm Alan Partridge (TC1), Dinnerladies (TC8), Nelson's Column (TC8), Get Well Soon, Office Gossip (TC8), Hippies (TC8), Shooting Stars (TC7 for two series then TC1), They Think It's All Over (TC6), Live and Kicking (TC6), The Stand-Up Show (TC7 then TC6), Terry Wogan's Friday Night (TC1), Ruby (TC2, TC4), The Full Wax (TC1), Comic Relief (TC1), Vanessa, Auntie's Bloomers (TC8), The National Lottery Live (TC8) The Late Show (TC7), Song for Europe (TC4), Later With Jools (TC1 and TC3), Noel's House Party (TC1), The Generation Game (Jim Davidson version - TC4), Bodger and Badger (TC7), Run the Risk (TC1), The Boot St Band , Grandstand (from Lime Grove to TC5), Match of the Day (from Lime Grove to TC5), 2000 Today (TC1) |
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2000s |
My Family (series 1 only), 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (TC8, TC6), The Crouches (TC8 & TC1), Lee Evans - So What Now? (TC8), Dead Ringers (TC4), Catherine Tate Show (series 2 & Christmas special - TC8), Little Britain (TC1 & TC8), Swiss Tony (TC8), National Lottery Stars (TC1), TOTP (returning from Elstree and Riverside to TC3), Distraction (TC1), Boys and Girls, Without Prejudice? (TC4), Friends Like These (TC1), Wright Around the World (TC4), In It To Win It (TC1, TC4, TC6, TC8), Jet Set (TC4), Eggheads (TC6, TC3, TC4, TC1), The Keith Barret Show (TC8), Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (TC4), Liquid News (TC0), Come and Have a Go, Hard Spell, Strictly Come Dancing (TC4 then TC1), Strictly Dance Fever (TC1), X-Change (TC2), The Saturday Show (TC6), Dick and Dom in Da Bunglow (TC2 then TC6), Mock the Week (TC8 and TC6), Level Up (TC10), The Soap Awards (TC1), New Paul O'Grady Show (TC6 and TC8), 8 out of 10 Cats (TC6 and TC4 for C4), Grownups (TC6 and TC8), That Mitchell and Webb Look (TC8), A Question of Sport (TC8), How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? (TC1), TMi (TC9), The Charlotte Church Show, Any Dream Will Do (TC1), I'd Do Anything (TC1), Alan Titchmarsh Show (TC4), Let Me Entertain You (TC1), Who Dares Wins (TC1), Lab Rats (TC8), Goldenballs (TC8, TC3, TC4 and TC1), The Omid Djalili Show (TC8, TC1, TC4), Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding-Dong (TC8), It Takes Two (TC11), Last Choir Standing (TC1), Hole In The Wall (TC8), Would I Lie to You?, Maestro (TC1), Ready Steady Cook (TC2 from Capital), Are You Smarter Than Your 10-year-old (TC1, from Maidstone), Miranda (TC3, TC4), Armstrong and Miller (TC8), Coming Of Age (TC8), Piers Morgan's Life Stories (TC8), Tonight's The Night (TC8), Alan Titchmarsh Show (TC3, TC4), Harry Hill's TV Burp (from Teddington TC3 then TC4) |
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2010s |
Watchdog (TC2 - returned from office location in 2010), Pointless (TC1, TC8), Michael Ball Show (TC3), Hairy Bikers' Cook Off (TC4), Not Going Out (TC8 - from Teddington), Fast and Loose (TC6), 10 O'Clock Live (TC6), Gory Games (TC3), The One Ronnie (TC8), Britain and Ireland's Top Model (TC2), Compete For The Meat (TC8), Friday Download (TC3), King of...(TC6), Embarrassing Bodies Live (TC4), Minute To Win It (TC6), The Impressions Show, The Marriage Ref (TC4), The Ones (TC6), Oedipus (TC4), Alan Carr Chatty Man (TC6), 24 Hour Quiz (TC4), I Can Cook (TC2), Show Me Show Me (TC6), Trust Us With Your Life (TC8), Room 101 (TC4, TC8), Britain's Best Dish - The Chefs (TC3), Chris Moyles' Quiz Night (TC6), Up For Hire (TC6), Breakaway (TC3), Epic Win (TC4), Frank Skinner's Opinionated (TC8), I've Never Seen Star Wars, Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up (TC6), So You Think You Can Dance (TC1), Watson and Oliver (TC8), Fee Fi Fo Yum (TC3), Ab Fab specials (TC4), Argumental (TC8), Show and Tell (TC3, TC4), Genius (TC6), A Question of Taste (TC8), Mad Bad Ad Show (TC4), Just a Minute (TC3), Matt Lucas Awards (TC3), Morgan Spurlock's New Britannia (TC4), No Strings Attached (TC2), Mad Mad World (TC1), The Voice (TC1), You Cannot Be Serious! (TC4), Get Well Soon (TC2), Lucky Sexy Winners (TC8), Don't Sit in the Front Row (TC3), Breakaway (TC4), Meet the Parents (TC6), Big Fat Quiz (TC8), Yes, Prime Minister (TC8, TC4), Dara O Briain's School of Hard Sums (TC4), Tipping Point, Beat the Pack, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (TC4), Live at the Electric (TC8), Five Minutes to a Fortune (TC8), Up the Women (TC3), Let's Dance for Comic Relief (TC1), Big Chat with Graham Norton (TC3), Name Dropping (TC3), When Miranda Met Bruce (TC1), Cash Point (TC2), Vic and Bob's House of Fools (TC3), Goodbye Television Centre (TC1). following the refit... The Jonathan Ross Show (TC1), The Russell Howard Hour (TC1), Strictly It Takes Two (TC2), Pointless (TC3), Sounds Like Friday Night (TC1), The Graham Norton Show (TC1), The Big Narstie Show (TC1), Good Morning Britain (TC3), This Morning (TC3), Lorraine (TC2), Loose Women (TC2), Peston (TC2), Sunday Brunch (TC2), Your Face or Mine (TC1), The Last Leg (TC1), QI (TC1) |
Just to emphasise again - a number of programmes carried on from one decade to the next - so what already looks like a busy 2010-2012 was actually even busier, with many well established series carrying on (eg Strictly, Buzzcocks, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock The Week, TV Burp, 2 Pints, Miranda, Later With Jools etc.) In fact, 2010, 2011 and 2012 were the busiest years at TVC for a long time and studios were being booked right up to the closing in March 2013. I have not included pilots - which again added to the studios' use particularly in later years.
It's interesting that TC3 seems to be relatively poorly represented above in some decades. Some of those programmes above without a studio indicated were possibly made in TC3 but I can't confirm that. During the '60s and into the '70s it was a favourite studio for dramas - the titles of many individual plays are sadly forgotten. During the 90s it was not converted to digital widescreen due to lack of funding so was often empty. From 2002 - 2006 it was the home of Top Of The Pops and was the home of Later With Jools for a number of years.
On the drama front, there were a number of easily forgotten series that came and went and several striking single plays that often appeared under the banner of 'Play of the Month', 'Play for Today', 'Performance' etc. Again, during the '70s and '80s the BBC were famous for their traditional Sunday teatime dramas - often of Dickens' work. These were usually made in TC3, TC4, TC6 or TC1. The amount of drama made in these studios gradually faded during the 1980s until only a handful of series were being made by the turn of the decade. With the ease of shooting using digital video on location and the improvement in the quality of super-16mm film all BBC drama was being made using a single camera on location or in film studios by 1994 - or was being shot in its own dedicated studio like EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City.
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Sound operator David Gledhill has been kind enough to send me a list of some of the dramas he worked on, mainly on Jim Atkinson's crew 5. He says these were recorded in TC3, TC4 or TC1. Of course, after transmission most if not all of the videotapes were wiped to be used again on other shows in order to save costs. FESTIVAL - August For the People ('64), Lysistrata ('64), Say Nothing ('64), A Florentine Tragedy ('64), The Inner World of Miss Vaughan ('65), Ring Around the Moon ('65) OUT OF THE UNKNOWN - The Counterfeit Man ('65) THE WEDNESDAY PLAY - In Camera ('64), Mr Douglas ('64), Stand Up Nigel Barton ('65), Vote Vote Vote for Nigel Barton ('65) THEATRE 625 - No Trams to Lime Street ('65), Ironhand ('65), World of George Orwell: 1984 ('65), Focus ('66), Chicken Soup With Barley ('66), The Melody Suit ('66) PLAY OF THE MONTH - Luther ('65), A Passage To India ('65), The Joel Brand Story ('65) David was only working at Television Centre from 1963 to 1966 but this list, made by just one of the half dozen or so camera crews that specialised in drama, gives an indication of how much of this kind of work was created here in this period.
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Incidentally, there is a lack of mention of music specials with the likes of Shirley Bassey, Jack Jones, Sammy Davis Junior etc. although I do remember there seeming to be a constant flow of such programmes - especially during the seventies. Many such shows were of course made down the road at TV Theatre on Shepherds Bush Green.
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I have been sent photocopies of the front pages of the scripts for what is still considered by some as the best sitcom ever made. I refer of course to Fawlty Towers. Only 12 episodes were recorded over two series. For those who like such things - here's where they were made and please note how long they had to record them in series 1. Only one and a half hours! For series 2 they had a whole 2 hours. Also note the gaps between episode 1 and 2 and between episode 10 and 11. Interesting too that the show moved so much between studios from week to week.
...and finally - I just had to include this memo from the BBC's Comedy Script Editor. I'm glad to see that lack of critical judgement in the BBC's management was just as bad then as it has always been.
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Measurements are in metric feet (30cm) and relate to working area within firelanes unless there are no firelanes. I have highlighted the dates when cameras were replaced. Over the years technology has moved on. It has followed this pattern: monochrome, 4-tube colour, 3-tube colour, CCD 4:3 colour, widescreen colour, digital widescreen colour, 1080i high definition, 4K UHD. (3D was a development that followed HD - TC6 was the first studio to be fitted with this tecnology.) Between 2006 and 2011 BBC Studios installed HD cameras in TC1, TC8, TC4, TC6, TC3 and TC2 (in that order.) TC1 made the first stereoscopic 3D programme in the UK in the summer of 2009 using hired kit. It reopened in 2017 with 4K cameras.
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TC0 |
45 x 28 ft wall to wall. Originally built as TMS (television music studio). Opened in July 1989. Mural of musicians and instruments on corridor wall outside the studio indicated its origins. Closed as sound studio and converted to 'virtual reality' TV studio renamed TC0 probably in 1995. Record Breakers Gold and one or two other shows made here using VR. VR kit removed around 1999 and studio used for The Chris Moyles Show and then The Phone Zone - daily shows for UK Play channel. From May 2000 used for Liquid News for BBC Choice. From Feb 2002 - January 2008 was continuity studio for CBeebies channel. (CBeebies then moved to Teddington studio 4 and later to TC10) Equipped with JVC KY-29D cameras. Hardly used after CBeebies left. Occasionally booked for single camera shoots. Sometimes used as a rehearsal room. In early 2010 TC0 was taken over by BBC Research and Development Dept as their experimental studio. First 8K Ultra -HD stereoscopic test broadcast in the world carried out here in 2010. Closed in 2013. |
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TC1 |
100 x 87 ft. (Originally 90ft wide before audience seating installed.) Opened in April 1964 with EMI 203/6 cameras. Converted to colour with EMI 2001 cameras in 1968. During '70s used for several operas and major dramas like I Claudius and BBC Shakespeares. LE included Black and White Minstrel Show and Morcambe and Wise Show. Closed for major refurb and asbestos removal in 1988. Re-opened in Jan 1991 with Thomson 1542 CCD cameras (first at TVC). GVG 1600 vision mixer. QII lighting console installed. 96-channel stereo sound desk installed. Control galleries completely rebuilt. New 384 seat audience rostra fitted. Acoustic wall panels all replaced. Lighting hoists all replaced. In 2000, cameras replaced with digital widescreen Thomson 1657Ds, vision mixer replaced with Sony 7000 series and lighting console changed from QII to Galaxy. In 2003 VR 'targets' fitted in grid for Fightbox VR series - also used for general election. In summer 2005 sound desk converted to 5.1 digital audio ready for high definition. TC1 was then used for various kinds of shows from comedy:- I'm Alan Partridge, Little Britain - to LE: - Strictly Come Dancing, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - and major event programmes: - General Elections, Comic Relief, Sports Personality of the Year and Children in Need. This studio staged the live final of ITV's Kids' Stars in Their Eyes in March '06 when Granada's studios in Manchester were closed for some months due to asbestos scare. TC1 was fully equipped for high definition in August 2006 with 10 Sony HDC-1500 cameras, Sony MVS 8000 vision mixer and HD monitors in refurbished production and lighting galleries. Received a new vision matrix during the summer of 2008. Made first stereoscopic 3D programme in summer of 2009 for Sky using hired kit. The last Blue Peter from London was made here on 28th June 2011, the programme subsequently moving to MediaCity in Salford where it is based in a studio one seventh the size of TC1. (That's progress.) This studio closed in March 2013. Most of its technical kit was moved to stage 1 at Elstree to be used by Strictly Come Dancing. Audience seating removed during 2015 - new seating block replaced it. All wall boxes and wiring were replaced. Dimmers from TC6 and TC8 were installed. All technical infrastructure was renewed including Sony HDC-4300 4K cameras.. Reopened at the end of August 2017 with The Jonathan Ross Show for ITV. The Russell Howard Hour for Sky 1 followed immediately after. |
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TC2 |
60 x 40 ft. Opened in 1960 with Marconi Mk IV cameras. Home of weekly soap Compact and satirical comedy shows like That Was The Week That Was throughout '60s. Not converted to colour so closed in 1969. Used for storage of audience seating units throughout '70s. Re-opened in 1981 with five Link 125 cameras and GVG 1600 vision mixer. New lighting hoists and Kohoutek dual-source lights installed. First studio at TVC to be equipped with Galaxy lighting console. Breakfast Time and Newsnight moved here in 1987 from Lime Grove. Equipped with Thomson 1542 cameras around 1991. News dept moved to TC7 in 1997. Basic widescreen refurb in 1998 with Thomson 1657s and Sony 7000 series vision mixer. From Jan 2002 used for daily X-Change programme on CBBC channel. This programme ended in March 2006 after 2,032 shows. The studio was officially closed at the end of March as asbestos was said to have been discovered in the air conditioning system. However, it was used for one or two programmes in summer 2006 with a temporary A/C plant. It was then decided to reopen the studio after all so removal of asbestos began in August 2006. The cost of removal is said to have run into millions of pounds. It reopened in Jan 2007, temporarily as the Sport studio whilst TC5 had its asbestos treated. It became available for general programming from the summer of 2007. TC2 was an interesting addition to BBC Studios' portfolio. They had not had a small/medium studio to offer general clients for a number of years as all three of these studios had been permanently tied up with Children's, Sport and News. Received TC4's 4-year-old Sony E30s in summer 2008. Fitted with a new Calrec digital sound mixer in Jan 2009. Equipped for HD using 'fly-away' kit and cameras hired or borrowed from other studios in September 2009 for new series of Ready Steady Cook. Had an HD refit in the summer of 2011 which involved the permanent installation of the flyaway kit the studio had been sharing with TC3. In its last years TC2 suffered from very old dimmers (probably 30 years old), many of which had become unreliable causing lights to randomly flicker. These were replaced in 2017. TC2 closed in March 2013 and reopened in September 2017 with Strictly It Takes Two. Permanently booked by ITV Daytime from Jan 2018. |
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TC3 |
90 x 70ft. Opened in June 1960 as drama studio (very 'dead' acoustic) with Marconi Mk IV cameras. It was the first studio to open at TVC. Colourised in 1969 with EMI 2001 cameras. Major refurb in 1985 - six Link 125s installed at same time as new Grass Valley 1600 24 channel vision mixer. Galaxy 2 console and 541 new dimmers installed. New lighting hoists fitted. Permanent retractable audience seating installed. Asbestos treated in 1988. Thomson 1542 CCD cameras installed in 1992. These only 4:3 PAL so work reduced during 1990s until digital widescreen refurb in 2001 for return of TOTP. Galleries also rebuilt at this time and sound facilities upgraded to be suitable for several live bands on the same show. No cameras purchased so Thomson 1657 widescreen cameras 'borrowed' from other studios when required on a daily basis. Sony 7000 series vision mixer installed. Red Assembly area converted into 'Star Bar' for use by TOTP. New Sony BVP-E30 cameras installed in 2004. Later With Jools used this studio from 2004 using HD cameras via an OB unit. Further work on asbestos removal began in the summer of 2007 leading to closure for several months. Reopened in January 2008 with new black wall panels. In 2009 first HD programme was Eggheads using 'fly-away' kit. Became home of Harry Hill's TV Burp in 2009 after seven years at Teddington. Received a full HD refit in the summer of 2011 - 8 x Sony HSC-300 cameras and new Sony mixer and OLED monitors. Reopened in time for Britain's Best Dish, which was previously recorded at TLS. TC3's cameras moved to Elstree D in 2013. This studio closed in March 2013. All technical infrastructure renewed during refit including Sony HDC-2500 HD cameras. Reopened in October 2017 with Pointless. Permanently booked by ITV Daytime from Jan 2018. |
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TC4 |
90 x 71ft. Opened in Jan 1961 as LE studio with variable acoustic ('ambisonics') and small band room (TC4A). Initially equipped with EMI 203/4 cameras. During '60s was favourite studio for sitcoms before TC8 was available. In 1967 was the studio used to make all but one episode of The Forsyte Saga - the last major drama shot in black and white. Colourised in 1970 with EMI 2001 cameras. £2m major refurb in 1983. Link 125s installed. GVG 1600 vision mixer fitted. Galaxy console and new dimmers installed. New lighting hoists fitted and permanent retractable audience seating installed. Grass Valley 1600 vision mixer fitted. Asbestos removed around 1988 and new acoustic wall panels fitted. Thomson 1542 CCD cameras installed in 1992. Major refurb to digital widescreen in 1995. Galleries rebuilt and new Thomson 1657 cameras installed. GVG 4000 vision mixer fitted. Galaxy Nova console installed. VR 'targets' installed in quarter of grid for VR shows in 1997 but hardly ever used. New Sony BVP-E30 cameras installed in 2004. New sound desk installed summer 2007. Refurbished in summer 2008 with eight Sony HDC-1500 HD cameras and Sony MVS 8000 vision mixer, HD monitors and VTRs. Sound also converted to 5.1 surround. Regular home of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross from 2001 - 2010. TC4 was used for all kinds of programmes but gameshows in particular were a regular booking during its final decade or two. Cameras and electronic infrastructure removed to go to Elstree stage 8 in Jan 2013 - programmes until closure used an OB scanner for facilities. This studio was lost in the redevelopment and closed in March 2013 along with the rest of the building. BBC S&PP were very keen for TC4 to be saved along with TC1 and TC3 and a plan was drawn up that included it but it was not to be. Money ruled. |
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TC5 |
60 x 40ft. Opened in Aug 1961 with EMI 203/4 cameras. During 1960s was home of schools television, although other programmes made here too - especially panel games. Last studio at TVC to be colourised with EMI 2001s around 1973. Studio mothballed for a while in mid 1980s. Re-opened in 1987 after 2-year refurb (!) and equipped with GVG 1600 vision mixer and Link 125s. Link 130s originally specified but had to be abandoned when they proved unuseable so major change to camera system mid way through installation. Thomson 1657 widescreen cameras installed around 1995 along with 2 x Sony 7000 series vision mixers. Lighting gallery converted into second production gallery enabling two sport programmes to be run from different ends of the studio simultaneously (on BBC1 and BBC2). Studio divided by thick black drapes. Lighting gallery moved into old prop store and also remote camera controls fitted enabling a reduction in the size of the camera crew. 'Virtual' green screen sets used for several years. Old puppet theatre/video effects workshop converted into sport graphics area in 1997. Around 2001 new 'real' permanent set built on two levels to be used by all sport programmes. New set design in 2005. Further work on asbestos removal discovered to be necessary in 2006. This began early in 2007. Old acoustic wall panels removed and new ones fitted. Sport returned to the studio with another new set when asbestos removal was complete in summer 2007. Production Gallery 2 (and incoming/outgoing lines) converted to HD for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Six year old ex TC6 Sony E-30 cameras installed summer 2010. Vacated by Sport dept at the end of 2011. Temporarily brought back into life for US elections in Nov 2012. This studio was lost in the redevelopment. |
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TC6 |
92 x 70ft. In original plan was to be two studios divided by doors but this was never actually done. Opened in September 1967 as BBC's first colour studio. Cameras were Marconi Mk VIIs but were changed in 1968 for EMI 2001s. In 1977 replaced with 3-tube Link 110s with Varotal lenses. (Very prone to blue flares!). 1988 closed for 10 weeks to encapsulate and part remove asbestos. Studio closed in July 1992 and reopened in September 1993 after major refurb as TVC's first serial-component digital studio. The refurb took 14 months. Included in the refurb was the complete removal of all remaining asbestos in the studio, cable ways and air conditioning. Acoustic wall panels replaced. 8 x Thomson 1647 Sportcams installed. First refurbishment done under new 'Producer Choice' commercial regime and planned to cost a third less than previous refurbs. Many so-called non-essential things left out but many carried out over following few years when found to be essential after all. Gallery suite moved downstairs to ground floor after 'new customers' - independent production companies - requested this. (Old gallery suite on first floor became 'red button' interactive control room for digital TV channels.) First studio to have all colour monitors fitted in production gallery. (Previously, only the transmission and one preview monitor had been in colour.) Thomson 'Synonym' temporary vision mixer installed as production model not ready. Galaxy Nova installed. New Calrec Q-series sound desk with 60 channels. Thomson 9500 vision mixer fitted probably in 1994. Upgraded to digital widescreen in 1998 with Thomson 1657s. Gallery monitors replaced. TC6 was home of Saturday morning kids' TV from 1997-2006 with Live and Kicking, The Saturday Show and Dick and Dom in Da Bunglow. Also very popular with independent production companies. Never Mind the Buzzcocks a regular booking from 1996. TC6 received TC8's 2-year old Sony E30 cameras in August 2006. New sound desk installed summer 2007. Received HD upgrade with 8 Sony HDC-1500 cameras (including 1080/50P capability) in July/August 2010 making it the fourth fully equipped HD studio at TVC. It became the first 3D capable studio in the UK - with 3D stereoscopic monitors in the production gallery. The equipment from TC6 (but not its cameras) was used to refurbish Elstree D. The final recording was an edition of Pointless on 21st December 2012 but equipment remained in place well into 2013 due to delays in refurbishing Elstree D. This studio did not survive the redevelopment. |
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TC7 |
62 x 40 ft. (So 2 feet longer than TC2 and TC5). Opened in July 1965 with Marconi Mk IV black and white cameras. Colourised with EMI 2001 cameras, reopening in May 1968. It was the first studio in the UK with these cameras. Home of Play School from 1968 when it moved here from Riverside until 1988. Refurbished in 1979 with Link 110 cameras. (The EMI 2001s were sent to the newly-opened Greenwood Theatre for another 2 years' use.) Link 110s replaced with Link 125s from another studio in about 1992. In 1994 Thomson 1647s installed and a major refit carried out which included rebuilding and enlarging the gallery suite in preparation for it to be used for news-related programmes. Sony 7000 series vision mixer installed. TC7 was home of Swap Shop, Saturday Superstore, Going Live and early series of Live and Kicking before News dept arrived in 1997. Thomson 1657 widescreen cameras installed in 1997. New Sony BVP-E30 cameras installed in 2004. New Sony 8000 vision mixer installed over Christmas 2007. Newsround moved to Salford in autumn of 2011. Breakfast moved to Salford in April 2012. TC7 was vacated by Newsnight in October 2012 when it transferred to New Broadcasting House, W1. It continued to be used for the 6 o'clock News until 15th March 2013. TC7 was lost in the redevelopment. |
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TC8 |
90 x 72 ft. Opened in the autumn of 1967 with Marconi Mk VII colour cameras which were replaced with EMI 2001s in 1968. Designed as LE studio and the only one at TVC to have retractable audience seating designed from the outset. No asbestos said to be used in its construction so only studio not to have had wall panels replaced. Only studio with ventilation ducts spread all over grid so air conditioning usually very good here. First studio with Q-File lighting console and Thyristor dimmers. In 1978 fitted with Link 110 cameras with Schneider lenses (much nicer than Varotals.) New sound desk installed in 1981. Link 125s ex TV Theatre installed in 1991 along with 16 channel GVG 1600 vision mixer also ex TV-Theatre. Mixer later replaced with 24-channel GVG 1600 ex Lime Grove. Major refurb including rebuilding of gallery suite completed in November 1994. (The visitor's 'well' in front of the monitor stack in the production gallery was removed.) New widescreen Thomson 1657 cameras and Thomson 9500 vision mixer installed. This was the first digital widescreen studio at TVC. Sound desk and dimmers not replaced at this time and major headaches caused to both sound and lighting departments for several years until eventual upgrading about five years later. New Sony BVP-E30 cameras installed in 2004. Vision mixer also replaced with GVG Zodiak which a year later was moved to TC9. Sony DVS9000 vision mixer installed in 2005. Equipped with Sony HDC-1500 high definition cameras in summer 2006 and full HD vision installation completed in January 2007 including new Sony MVS 8000 vision mixer. New 5.1 sound desk installed in Jan 2008. TC8 was the favourite studio for comedy for many years and dozens of sitcoms were made here. After TC1 it had the largest working floor area when the audience seating was in use. It always was the most popular studio at TVC amongst programme makers. Miranda was the last sitcom series to be recorded in this studio in October 2012. The studio continued in use recording a gameshow - Five Minutes to a Fortune - until 26th March 2013. Its equipment was then transferred to stage 9 at Elstree. Under the redevelopment plans it was for a while considered to be kept on by Stanhope and the BBC since stage 4 (the Spur) was going to be retained - and TC8 was part of stage 4. However, it was not to be. This studio is certainly the one that is missed the most. It was razed to the ground in the late summer of 2015. |
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TC9 |
Was at one time to be the name of a new TV Theatre to be built as the second part of stage 5. Plans abandoned in 1989. The later TC9 was an irregular shape, about 30 x 30ft average dimensions but also had a corridor and small seating area which could be used for interviews. Converted from old make-up store on the ground floor of the Restaurant Block in 1996. Fitted with Thomson 1657 cameras which had been in use in Pres A for a year or two. Used as continuity studio for children's programmes on BBC1 and BBC2. Converted to widescreen in late '90s. In 2004 became continuity studio for CBBC channel and CBBC on BBC Prime. Ex-TC8 GVG Zodiak vision mixer installed in 2005. The studio no longer used for CBBC continuity from late 2006. TC9 unused for about nine months even though it was on long-term booking by Children's dept. However, from Sep 2007 it became the new home of SMart and TMi. Old Thomsons said to have become unreliable and overdue for replacement. Studio mothballed again early in 2008 but was brought back into use in autumn 2008 for another series of TMi using TC2's ten year old Thomson 1657s. After several more months of inactivity it was used again for TMi from September 2009 and again in 2010. Blue Peter occasionally used TC9 in 2010. Since the BP Garden is outside the door it is perhaps surprising this hadn't happened before. Early in 2011 the studio was closed and its equipment removed. |
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TC10 |
30 x 40 ft. Originally news studio N1 - initially used for BBC1 news bulletins - opened in 1969 with 4 x Marconi Mk VII colour cameras from AP & TC8. In 1981 replaced by Bosch KCP 60s. In the early 1990s replaced with Thomson 1647 CCD cameras. Closed in 1998 when news moved to stage 6. Renamed TC10 but not refurbished due to lack of funds. Eventually reopened with JVC KY-29D cameras in 2000 for UK Play channel to use for The Phone Zone which then became TOTP@Play daily afternoon show. This channel closed down in September 2002. From 2002 - 2004 was used as VR studio. During this period was also used to make new version of Treasure Hunt for Chatsworth. From 2004, TC10 was used for presentation and continuity for children's programmes on BBC1 and BBC2 replacing TC9 in this role. From April 2006 daily Level Up show based here. This replaced X-Change on CBBC channel. Level Up ended its run in Sep '06. This studio was then on long-term booking to Children's dept and various children's series used the studio. From summer 2010 became home of CBeebies, which returrned from Teddington. Studio closed in 2012 and equipment removed. However, used for Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe in Jan 2013 using 'One Box' flyaway kit. |
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TC11 |
50 x 40 ft. Originally news studio N2 - opened in 1969 with 4 x Marconi Mk VII colour cameras ex TC8. In 1981 replaced by Bosch KCP 60s. Initially used for BBC2 and weekend news bulletins. In 1985 the lobby area and props store between N1 and N2 was taken over by this studio and its size increased - although this addition had a low ceiling. This studio then became the home of BBC1's Six and flagship Nine o'clock News. In the early 1990s cameras replaced with Thomson 1647 CCD cameras. Closed in 1998 when news moved to stage 6. Renamed TC11 but not refurbished due to lack of funds. Opened again early in 2002 with JVC KY-29D cameras when Liquid News moved here from TC0. 60 Second News set built in the low-ceilinged end for the new BBC Three channel which replaced BBC Choice in Feb 2003. Liquid News ended in April 2004. The studio was then the home of BBC Three's 7o'clock news. This was axed in December 2005. The studio was used early in 2006 as a temporary news studio whilst the main studios in Stage 6 were being refurbished. Around 2006 Sony 8000 vision mixer installed. TC11 became part of the BBC Studios portfolio again and available for general programming. Used for Strictly Come Dancing spin-off It Takes Two in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Sometimes used as a rehearsal room. TC11 received some of TC6's Sony E30 cameras in the summer of 2010. 2011 Comic Relief 'Smithy round table meeting' sketch shot here. Studio closed in 2012 and equipment removed. |
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TC12 |
About 30 x 20 ft. Originally built as control room of music studio. First used as TV studio in 2004 for interactive CBBC show Nelly Nut. Later used for other CBBC shows including Sportsround. Up to 2 cameras were borrowed from TC0 as and when required. From late in 2006 became the continuity studio for CBBC using a CSO (chromakey) backing to overlay presenters on top of graphics. New presenter/puppet CBBC continuity from summer 2007. This moved to converted studio in East Tower early in 2008. Studio used by BBC R & D dept. until they moved to Salford in 2013. |
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Pres A |
32 x 22 ft. Opened in 1960 as monochrome studio with EMI 201 vidicon cameras. Originally intended as in-vision continuity studio but only used as this for a few years (until at least 1963). 3 x Marconi MkVII colour cameras installed in 1968 ex TC6. Became used as weather and trails studio. Link 110s installed around 1980. Weather left to go to new purpose-built weather centre in TVC around 1990. Thomson 1657 cameras installed around 1994. Used as continuity studio for children's programmes until closure in 1996. Cameras moved down to TC9. Was never converted to widescreen. The studio was later converted to offices. |
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Pres B |
32 x 22 ft. Opened around 1964 as monochrome studio with EMI 201 vidicon cameras. Originally intended as in-vision continuity studio for planned second channel (BBC2) but never used for this purpose. Colour tests with 3 Peto-Scott (Philips) PC60s, then 3 different cameras in 1966. 3 x Marconi MkVII colour cameras installed in 1968 ex TC6. Used for a number of small shows including Late Night Line-Up, Points of View and Barry Norman's Film 'xx series. Famously, the original home of Old Grey Whistle Test. Link 110s installed around 1980. Due to fewer and fewer bookings the studio closed around the end of 1996. The studio was later converted to offices. |
with thanks to Mike Emery for collating much of the above information regarding cameras and to Ian Trill for vision mixer info.
If you spot any errors or can fill in any of the blanks do get in touch!
I am of course aware that there were a number of news and weather studios distributed around the building. However, these do not come under my self-imposed remit of only including studios around London that make a range of different programmes. I know I have included the old news studios N1 and N2 above but only because they then became used for general entertainment programmes when they were renamed TC10 and TC11.
However, just for the record there were in stage 6 three news studios - used for the BBC News Channel (N8), BBC World News (N9) and the regular main bulletins on BBC1 (N6) - except for the 6 o'clock News which came from TC7. These all ended on March 15th 2013 when operations moved to New Broadcasting House. I'm told that there was no N7 as it might be confused with TC7 - therefore the BBC Club was referred to as N7 when planning a swift pint. (Rather similar to studio 6 at LWT.)
The last programmes
For some reason many people are interested to establish which was the last programme made in each of the studios. I have a copy of the final studio schedule so am pretty sure it's right. Anyway - here goes:
TC1 - March 25, 2013 - When Miranda Met Brucie
TC2 - March 29, 2013 - Hat Trick pilot. Do you know its name??? (this may have been a pencilled booking that was not taken up. Can you confirm? Prior to that was a pilot called Cashpoint on March 20 although the galleries were used for the Madness concert on March 22 )
TC3 - March 29, 2013 - Who's Asking? (pilot)
TC4 - March 29, 2013 - CBeebies pilot. Do you know its name??? (This was a single-camera shoot as the galleries had been stripped of all equipment in January. The studio was used for several shows between Jan and March using an OB scanner for facilities.)
TC5 - November 6, 2012 US Election special. (Sport dept vacated the studio on November 26, 2011)
TC6 - December 21, 2012 - Pointless
TC7 - March 15, 2013 - 6 o'clock News
TC8 - March 26, 2013 - Five Minutes to a Fortune (Last sitcom was Miranda on October 14, 2012)
The final few years...
Stage 6 had since 1998 been occupied by Television and Radio News. This department moved to New Broadcasting House in central London in March 2013. The weather department also moved to BH at the same time.
During 2011 and into 2012 Sport and Children's departments transferred to Salford. News, Sport and Children's departments were occupying the small studios TC5, TC7, TC9 and TC10. Blue Peter used to book a large studio one or two days a week almost since the building opened but from summer 2007 it used the much smaller TC2 - and then only occasionally.
Thus, between 2011-2013 a considerable amount of activity using the small studios moved from this building.
The main studios however remained very busy right up to the end of 2012. TC4 and TC6 were then closed to remove their kit - although TC4 was used for some shows in 2013 using an OB unit because of the shortage of studios in London. The other two main studios were fully booked up to the end of March. By main studios I mean TC3, TC4, TC6 and TC8. These four studios are the most popular size of about 90 x 70 ft. Almost all comedy and entertainment shows are made in studios this size.
So - What was going to happen?
The final five or six years of TVC saw its fate go from seemingly inevitable complete disposal and demolition to something that at least preserves a minimum amount of programme-making capability. I shall attempt to sum up the various changes of fortune below...
In January 2007 the BBC heard that the licence settlement for the following six years would be below the rate of inflation. The planned move of Sport and Children's departments to Salford from 2011 was to be ring fenced as was the commitment to pay for digital switchover. The BBC Trust stated that it did not intend to see programme standards eroded. Thus, they had to make some significant savings elsewhere.
One area where the BBC hoped to make savings and also raise some cash was through the disposal of surplus property. They announced on 18th October 2007 that the BBC Trust had agreed in principle to the sale of Television Centre by the end of financial year 2012/13. A spokeswoman is reported to have said 'This is a full scale disposal of Television Centre and we won't be leasing it back.' This unequivocal announcement was either not noticed or perhaps simply not believed by many people working in the industry as it seemed utterly preposterous - certainly, when the building actually did close on the predicted date it appeared to come as a great surprise to many. It is my belief that if influential people working in the industry had reacted strongly in 2007 to what had just been announced then more studios could have been saved. (Compare this with the Hat Trick/Avalon campaign to save BBC3 in 2015).
The closing of TV Centre was justified to the press by various announcements including one allegedly from a senior BBC manager who claimed that Television Centre is 'an analogue dinosaur in a digital age.' If this ill-informed comment did indeed come from someone senior in the corporation then the BBC truly did have serious problems. The eight main studios were then and remained right to the end the best equipped and many would say the best designed studios in the country. If these were no good then heaven help the rest of the industry.
The BBC hoped to raise a relatively modest £300m from the sale. (In fact they sold it for only £200m.) After the announcement was made, there was an assumption from some in the press that this meant that the building would be demolished and replaced with offices, housing or an extension to the Westfield retail park that had recently been built on the other side of Wood Lane. I even heard that the owners of Queen's Park Rangers might have been interested in building a new stadium here. Of course, these were all whispers of rumours.
In fact, whether the sale of the building would be to a developer who would simply demolish it, or to a company who would keep the studios open and redevelop the rest of the site, was never made clear. The fact is that from January 2007 until the beginning of 2013 - nobody, including the Director General, was actually in a position to be able to confirm exactly what would happen to Television Centre. Back in 2007, the future of the building in any case rather depended on the sale of BBC Resources - in particular, BBC Studios: the business that operated the studios themselves (not the current 'BBC Studios' - the commercial arm of the Corporation.)
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The attempted sale of BBC Resources... A separate plan, hatched in 2007, was indeed the intention to sell off BBC Resources. This consisted of three divisions - Studios, OBs and Post Production. The Costume and Wig department, popular though it was, was simply closed early in 2008 and the BBC left their purpose-built rehearsal rooms in Acton, where Costumes and Wigs had been located. The three remaining divisions of BBC Resources were due to have been disposed of by April 2008. It was assumed, when the announcement was made that TV Centre would be sold, that the studios would by then no longer be operated by the BBC but by a private company. However, the attempt to sell the business during the winter of 2007/2008 came to nothing. It therefore appeared that at some point in the future the BBC would be faced with an interesting choice. Either sell the building to a developer who intended to clear the site (and be presented with the considerable problem of what to do with the Studios business and its staff) - or sell it to a company who would keep the studios open as an independent business - or keep the Studios business running as part of the BBC and sell off the rest of the site. The first choice would probably have raised more cash but it would have meant that the profitable (and much needed by the industry) BBC Studios business was simply closed down and the staff left with nowhere to go. This would hardly be a popular decision with programme makers, let alone the staff. Just to be clear - 'BBC Studios' at this time was part of BBC Resources and was the business that ran the actual studios unlike the version of 'BBC Studios' now, which is the programme making and commercial arm of the BBC. Simply closing the studios without an alternative arrangement for the business would certainly not have been in the best interests of the BBC anyway, since they would still need London based studios for their own production teams and for the independent companies who make programmes for the BBC. The five large studios here represented almost half the available fully equipped TV studios of that size in the London area. If simply closed then the shortage of studio space would mean serious scheduling problems and inevitable increased costs for programme makers. (Which of course is exactly what happened from 2013.) Back in 2007 it had been assumed that the new owners of BBC Studios would have used the following few years to build new studios elsewhere (probably Pinewood) or convert film stages into studios so the staff - and existing programme contracts - could move there. This of course partly happened when BBC S&PP (see below) took over a couple of stages at Elstree in 2013.
Just for the record, it seems that one company was interested in purchasing the whole of BBC Resources but their offer was not acceptable. The decision was made to sell the divisions separately and BBC OBs were sold off - to SIS Live. This company took over the existing contracts with BBC Sport but in the summer of 2013 when they were due to be renewed, not a single one was retained. All the contracts to supply OB facilities for the various sports went to other OB companies. Perhaps not such a good buy for SIS after all. They decided to close their OB business in March 2014 - so, very sadly, what remained of the BBC outside broadcast department is no more. On 5th June 2008 it was announced that BBC Post Production would remain a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC as a suitable buyer had not been found. The facilities were retained in TV Centre until its closure in March 2013. The division was drastically slimmed down and facilities were taken over in Charlotte St in Soho. However, within a matter of months it became clear that the business model was not working and in the summer of 2013 S&PP announced that they would leave Charlotte St at the end of the year. They now only have a presence at BBC Elstree providing post for EastEnders and Holby City (and are offering facilities to other productions on a 'job by job' basis) plus for a while they had a relatively small unit in South Ruislip that specialised in digitising old videotape recordings. Quite a contrast to the vast post production department of only a few years before.
As for the Studios division - although ITV were said to be in discussions, it would appear that only one company - Pinewood Studios Group - made it through to the final stages in the negotiations. According to the Guardian, one of the sticking points was the pension liability of BBC Studios staff. Whatever the reasons, the sale did not happen. On 7th March 2008 Mike Southgate, CEO BBC Resources, declared 'business as usual' for BBC Studios including the upgrading of TC4 to HD in the summer of 2008. With the sale of the business having come to nothing due to the financial crisis and recession, the value of the site itself continued to plummet during 2008. Early in 2009, the old Studios and Post Production divisions were merged to form a new company, snappily named 'BBC Studios and Post Production'. (BBC S&PP) Although it seemed unlikely that there would be another attempt to sell the business in the following few years, the 'Delivering Quality First' document issued by the BBC in September 2011 did include an interesting statement. It said that the BBC would 'seek new ideas and potentially external investment for our resources business.' The then chief executive of S&PP, Mark Thomas, issued a statement to staff which said 'We must accept it is very unlikely the BBC will be able to fund all our ambitions, including remaining at Television Centre or moving to a new location.' The biggest problem in selling off the business in 2008 was said to be taking on the pension liabilities and conditions of service of all the staff. During the early part of 2011, many staff were offered redundancy. There were then no staff cameramen (apart from one), sound crew or lighting directors remaining and only the bare minimum of staff engineers. The number of resource managers was also reduced to a handful with freelancers running most shows day by day. This reduction in overheads helped the profitability of the business and also of course made it much easier to sell it off at some time in the future, although to be fair this now seems very unlikely.
In the spring of 2016, BBC Studios and Post Production was renamed BBC Studioworks. This was to avoid confusion with 'BBC Studios' - the new name for the BBC in-house production department which was now operating as a separate company, wholly owned by the BBC.
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To list or not to list...
Perhaps the clincher that ensured that at least some parts of the building would be around for a while is its architectural merit and its place in the nation's cultural history. Possibly familiarity bred contempt but in declaring an intention in 2007 to simply dispose of it, the BBC's senior managers seemingly failed to look around at the property for which they were the current custodians.
Selling the building for it to be demolished was always likely to be somewhat problematic. The local council had made it clear in the past that they wished to preserve the building and would have taken a very dim view of any major modifications to it, making the granting of planning permission for any new development highly unlikely. National organisations interested in preserving the country's heritage too were likely to protest strongly at any attempt to lose this rare icon to late 1950s architecture.
In fact, one of the BBC's architects who was heavily involved in the design of Stages 5 and 6, including the abandoned TC9, wrote to me in 2006 to clarify the situation at that time regarding the listing or otherwise of the building...
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'...it is not currently listed grade 2 but just on a local authority list of buildings of merit, also sitting within a conservation area, the aim of which is to preserve and enhance the setting of TVC and White City Station. I have argued on behalf of the BBC not to have it listed as the nature of television operations is such that we are constantly altering the building inside and out and to have to obtain listed building consent each time would be very inhibiting. However, I have no doubt it would be spot listed should any radical future site proposals surface.'
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When the announcement was made of the intention to dispose of the site there was a petition to No 10 signed by large numbers of people. English Heritage subsequently looked into its status with regard to giving it a Grade II listing. Perhaps rather surprisingly to some, they came back with a very strong recommendation on 30th June 2008 to preserve not just the facade of the building - but to keep it as a working television centre. Not only did they want the main studio block preserved but also the scenery block and the restaurant block!
Rather depressingly a BBC spokesman immediately began to argue their case but they did issue the following statement...
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'The BBC has announced that it does not intend to occupy the whole of TVC after 2012 but any reference to detailed development plans for the building and site is premature. We recognise the historical importance of the building and will be looking for a solution that best preserves the interests of the BBC and licence payer but there are no firm plans currently on the table.'
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It is worth noting that by the summer of 2008 they were no longer saying that they planned to wholly leave the site and abandon it to its fate. The tone was certainly different from the original statements made some months earlier. To see what the fuss was all about, the statement on the English Heritage website is worth quoting in full...
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Peter Beacham, Heritage Protection Director for English Heritage, said: “This building is not just architecturally important. As one of the first purpose-built television studios in the world, it represents the moment when Britain led Europe into the television age. The BBC itself is an important part of our British identity and Television Centre has acquired an iconic presence. “The nation has an immense fondness for this building and what it represents for our culture. We all feel we know areas such as the Blue Peter garden and the studios where people have watched significant moments in broadcasting over the last 50 years: from early Doctor Who to Top of the Pops, Terry Wogan and Children in Need. “We know the BBC is rightly proud of their building and their heritage, and we are enthusiastically working with them to make sure that marking TV Centre’s national importance will not affect its ability to adapt to changing technology or new uses. We are glad that, following the current Heritage Protection Bill, we will be able to put in place a modern type of designation that involves a Heritage Partnership Agreement. This will make sure that the site remains just as flexible, despite being of undeniable national interest and one of very few monuments to television history.” English Heritage has assigned special interest only to the very best parts. These are the scenery workshops, with its barrel-vaulted ceiling and rows of circular rooflights; the light and airy 1950s canteen that overlooks the Blue Peter garden; and the distinctive circular drum that houses offices and the main studios. This has some very good 1950s design and architectural features including dazzling mosaics, a gilded sculpture of Helios in the centre of the drum and the familiar pattern of atom-like discs on the front. with thanks to the English Heritage website |
It was announced that the final decision on the listing of the site would be made by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) later in 2008. However, by the end of the year there had been no such announcement. In December, I wrote to the Culture Secretary to ask whether he had made his decision.
On January 15th 2009 I was sent the following email by a representative from the DCMS:
'I can inform you that the decision on this application has not yet been made. Officials from DCMS and English Heritage visited the site in November 2008 and DCMS officials are still in the process of gathering expert advice. A thorough assessment of all the evidence, including reports from English Heritage, will be carried out and we aim to put recommendations shortly.'
In fact it was not until 10th July 2009 that the announcement was made. A letter was sent to the BBC from the DCMS that stated that TV Centre would be listed at Grade II.
Barbara Follett, the architecture minister, was quoted as saying "BBC Television Centre has a special place in our shared history and heritage. The home of BBC television news since 1969, and the place where Blue Peter, Doctor Who and Fawlty Towers first came to life (well, one correct fact out of three isn't bad for an MP I suppose), it has been a torture chamber for politicians and an endless source of first-class entertainment for the nation – sometimes both at the same time. I am delighted to be able to give it the extra protection that listing provides."
However, as with all these things, it was not quite that simple.
Despite the recommendations of English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the government decided to award special grade II status only to the central ring of offices, the courtyard with its statues and fountain and the exterior walls of TC1. They declined to include the scenery block, the restaurant and studios 2 - 8. Indeed, they also said that the interior of TC1 is not covered by the 'special' status.
However, the announcement also stated that while other studios in the building, as well as the scenery block and canteen, did not meet the level of architectural or historic interest needed for special listing, they will nevertheless gain grade II status because of their “structural attachment” to the more notable parts of Television Centre.
I subsequently sought clarification of this rather confusing situation and my understanding was as follows:
The whole building was listed giving a measure of protection but only the central ring and TC1 - i.e. not the other studios - were described as being of SPECIAL interest. Excluding parts of the building from 'special' status removed uncertainty for incomers and made conversion/partial redevelopment easier to apply for. However, I was told that to demolish ANY part, even the appallingly ugly East Tower, would require listed building consent and therefore a demonstrable improvement to the setting and use of the heritage areas.
So - Where did that leave us?
In November 2008 an interesting email was sent to BBC staff by DG, Mark Thompson. In it he stated that due to the financial crisis and large number of empty offices across the UK it was unlikely that the Centre would be sold by 2013. In his words - 'We'll need to review this timetable.'
As it turned out, the timetable was (for the moment at least) set in the late summer of 2010 when the BBC Trust, hoping one assumes to keep the government off their backs, volunteered to freeze the licence fee for two years. This in effect meant a reduction of millions of pounds in the income of the BBC so it was essential that savings would have to be made wherever possible. In September 2010 the BBC declared that they would 'definitely' leave TV Centre in 2013. They even announced an evening of live TV to be held one day in 2013 to mark their departure from the building. (They didn't mention that it would be hidden away on BBC4).
In November 2010 property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton were appointed to oversee the redevelopment of the building. The BBC were said to be intending to sell the building but - some partially good news - rent back some of the studios to continue making programmes at the site. They also said that they might move BBC Worldwide into the building and base one of the BBC orchestras here.
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This 'artist's impression' was released by the BBC in May 2010, indicating how they saw the future of TV Centre once they have left. It's worth pointing out that the exciting buildings in the foreground are in fact the Westfield Shopping Centre. TVC can just about be made out in the background - or at least what's left of it, with what appears to be a bonfire burning in the central courtyard. |
In the summer of 2011 events moved on yet again.
The Centre was put on the market on 13th June, with purchasers having to register their interest by 1st July. This caused a flurry of unfavourable comment in the industry and the press, with many reacting as though this was a huge surprise - even though the BBC's intentions had been pretty clear since 2007. Let's be honest, this was the last time any serious campaign to halt the disposal of the studios might have had some success but the majority of people in the industry were too busy working on their own programmes and paid little attention to the impending disaster.
The BBC spent the next few months considering the various options and choosing a winning bid. They needed to maximise the amount raised from the sale as the BBC was now even more broke than it was when this process was started. This of course was due to the licence fee being frozen by the government until 2016 - which represented a significant cut in real terms.
Confusingly, within the BBC's press release of 13th June 2011 was the clear statement that the BBC 'will now remain in the Centre until 2015', suggesting that the leaving date had been postponed by two years. This date was still being quoted in the press well into 2012. However, all departments were soon back on a timetable to leave by the end of March 2013. It seems that the 'Delivering Quality First' document, issued to staff in October 2011, brought the date forward again.
'Delivering Quality First' was the Orwellian BBC name for cuts of around 20% across all departments. This has meant that the BBC has also vacated most of the White City/Media Village buildings, retaining just the Broadcast Centre - and more people than were ever originally planned are now working in New Broadcasting House in W1.
However, when they said that they would be leaving in 2015 (or in fact 2013), the BBC were not including S&PP. Part of their press statement made this clear. It stated that 'the existing Studios and Post Production business will continue to operate following the sale of Television Centre, either remaining on site or in a new location.' It would all hinge (as it always has) on who was to buy the Centre. TVC was either to be sold outright to a purchaser with their own development plans or to a company who would work in partnership with the BBC to enable the studios (or at least some of them) to continue in operation. The BBC also stated that they would like to see a 'visitor destination' on the site and they reportedly saw the benefit in creating a hub for creative businesses.
This was now a missed opportunity for a developer to take on the whole site but retain all 8 main studios within the scheme. The BBC should have made this a condition of the sale. The redevelopment by Allied London of the old Granada Studios in Manchester is an excellent example of how this could have been achieved here. They have kept on all the old TV studios as well as the two large sound stages used by Coronation Street. The surplus buildings around the site have been demolished or refurbished and are fully integrated into a major scheme involving offices, flats and a new performance venue. All this could and should have been done here at White City.
In September 2011 a couple of interesting bits of news emerged. One was that most of the 11 companies shortlisted to purchase the building were looking to form a joint venture arrangement which would involve keeping some of the studios in operation. One of the interested companies was said to be Internet giant Google. Others were reported to include property development companies Argent, Delancey and Stanhope.
The other news was that the BBC had for a while been in secret negotiation with the Olympic Park Legacy Company over occupying the International Broadcast Centre building after the games. This, it is said, would have included moving EastEnders from Elstree to that site and may also have been seen as a location to construct some studios to replace those at TVC. However, this plan was abandoned. The BBC said it was not able to commit in the medium term to the Olympic centre so it became available for other companies to occupy. In fact, BT Sport built their new studio centre there - which at that time nobody could have predicted.
In November I heard that the shortlist of purchasers had reduced to five - four of which planned to keep 'most' of the studios open. In December this list was said to be down to 3 contenders and rumour had it that all planned to keep some studios in operation. The announcement of the winner was due to be in March 2012 but this deadline came and went.
It transpired that the BBC was now intending to hold on to 51% ownership of the building, thus guaranteeing that some studios did remain open. It is not clear exactly when this change happened - or if indeed this had always been the intention. However, the shortlist was said to be down to two companies and an announcement of the winner was due in the early summer.
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So - finally... The announcement came on 16th July 2012 with more details emerging on 20th when completion took place. Interestingly, the BBC decided to retain ownership of the building but sell its lease. This was sold to Stanhope plc, a property development company. The BBC retained the freehold but this could be bought by Stanhope at some time in the future. The sale of the lease was for £200m plus 'future overage payments.' The finance was backed by Mitsui Fudosan UK and Alberta Investment Management Corporation. Stanhope announced in January 2013 that they were also to receive a £50m loan from Royal Bank of Scotland to help pay for the reconstruction. £200m is of course a great deal less than the £300m the BBC originally hoped for. They announced that the whole TVC site would be extensively redeveloped but the exterior of the original main block facing Wood Lane would be retained. They planned a mix of leisure, office and residential facilities. The site would be opened up as envisaged in the GLA's 'White City Opportunity Area Masterplan' of April 2011.
From April 2013 the BBC rented back the whole site from Stanhope whilst they completed the removal of all useful kit and decommissioned the CCA (or Central Apparatus Room as I still like to call it.) Most of the interesting signage had been removed from the walls in the weeks leading up to closure by people working in the Centre who assumed it would all end up in a skip. One well-known celebrity was briskly escorted off the premises by security when he was found brazenly unscrewing a studio sign. A few auctions were held to sell anything of any value. There were hundreds of bits of technical gear that had been lovingly and painstakingly installed by BBC engineers over the years, all helping to make programme-making just a little bit better. None of that can be replaced. A few thousand pounds were raised - a drop in the ocean.
Stanhope were planned to have vacant possession of everything except TC1-TC3 and stage 6 in April 2015. In fact, the keys were handed over at the beginning of October 2014, the 'BBC' letters being removed from the front of TC1 the day before.
When the Centre closed, the S&PP business moved to the refurbished BBC Elstree D, which has since housed Children in Need and the General Election results programme amongst many other productions. Stages 8 and 9 on the Elstree film studio site (owned by Hertsmere Council) were also leased and converted into TV studios. They are slightly smaller than TC3, 4, 6 and 8. They were given TV floors, and a gallery suite was constructed in Portacabin-type buildings next to stage 9 as well as fitting out the existing control rooms between the stages. These are used for stage 8. The cameras and other equipment were taken from TC3, 4, 6 and 8 and moved to Elstree. The George Lucas Stage was fitted with a control room suite within the building for Strictly Come Dancing and other shows. The cameras and other equipment for this were taken from TC1.
The original intention was to 'lock and leave' studios 1-3. However, this soon proved completely impractical and apart from the lights being covered in plastic bags and left hanging in the grid, all the technical equipment was removed. The gallery suites in all three studios were completely stripped of all gear. Dimmers were removed and replaced in TC1 and TC3 by the old ones from TC6 and TC8. A new technical apparatus room was constructed to be shared by all three studios - reminiscent of the one intended for TC6, 7 and 8 back in the 1960s. All the wall boxes in the three studios were replaced and the cabling renewed. This was because the old power distribution and mains power supply had to be replaced with new plant. It was actually cheaper to start again than try to trace where all the old cabling went. Underground cable ducts had traces of asbestos so they could not be used to pull new cables through, adding to the complication. Enormous amounts of work were carried out during 2015 to completely gut the basement, ground floor, first floor and second floor around studios 1-3 ready for BBC Studioworks (formerly BBC S&PP) to return in 2017. The basement now has a number of brand new green rooms, edit suites and many dressing rooms. There are production offices on the first floor and more offices on the second floor. The heat and vent system was completely refurbished and ducts and pipes renewed as some still contained asbestos. New boilers and chillers were installed where the periphery offices used to be on top of the scenery runway. Heaven only knows how much all this cost.
BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC, not to be confused with the BBC World Service) took over stage 6, which was completely rebuilt internally - with a giant curved staircase linking the floors in the middle of a new atrium. It is completely unrecognisable from when it was occupied by the main reception area and BBC News. Worldwide moved from the BBC Media Village at White City just up the road in 2014. The lease for those buildings was sold - to Stanhope as it happens. This is particularly interesting as it represents a reversal of the original idea, which was to move out of TV Centre completely and move some departments to the Media Village. BBC Comedy - then part of 'BBC Studios' - also moved into stage 6 in 2016. 'BBC Studios' is now the name of the whole commercial side of the BBC and incorporates the old BBC Worldwide as well as the programme making departments.
There was a well-supported rumour some months before the final announcement that BBC Worldwide would occupy some of the studios at TVC, using them as exhibition spaces, conference rooms and visitor attractions, sharing one or more with Studioworks for them to use in busy periods. Indeed, one of the BBC orchestras was going to take over one of the studios. However, I understand that this interesting idea was abandoned 'as the sums wouldn't add up.' This was a very seriously missed opportunity in my opinion.
TC1, TC2 and TC3 have survived but very sadly no other studios remain. It is no secret that the Studios and Post Production business (Studioworks) would dearly have loved to hang on to at least one more medium studio - they know that those are the ones most in demand. I know that detailed plans that included the retention of TC4 were drawn up - indeed I nearly saw them for myself on one occasion but as they were slid across the table towards me they were whisked away from my sight by another person - 'I don't think he needs to see that!' is what was said. (Clearly, I would have loved to have seen the drawings. Maybe one day I will? Heavy hint.) A member of staff has told me that the BBC originally brought in consultants to see what the industry requirement for studios was likely to be in the coming years. They apparently recommended keeping all 8 main studios. This was not what the BBC wanted to hear so they were told to go away and think again. The answer apparently was that the absolute minimum would be to keep TC1, TC2 and two medium studios - TC3, and TC4 or TC8. Unfortunately, it seems that somebody high up in the BBC, possibly under pressure from Stanhope, decided to ignore this advice so we have ended up with only three studios - one of which is far less useful than the other two. Of course I can't prove the above but it was told to me by someone I believe was telling the truth. (Do contact me in confidence if you can verify this - or indeed if you disagree with it.) I have also been told that S&PP would far rather have ended up with TC4, TC6 and TC8. Not exactly surprising - these three would have been much easier to sell to programme-makers than TC1, 2 and 3 and programmes could have been moved from studio to studio to give more flexibility in bookings - just like they used to be.
BBC Studioworks have taken out a 15 year lease on studios 1-3 from 2017. An enlarged 'red assembly' has been recreated, occupying the area previously used by the Star Bar, TC2's make up room, some toilets and some corridors. The two staircases going down to the basement have been restored. It seems that special dispensation had to be agreed on historical grounds as they no longer comply with building regs!
There is an area next to TC3 for the storage of scenery and props. This is the space previously occupied by the corridor behind the lifts and the old green room next to TC3. Not exactly huge, but the scenery runway round TC2 and TC3 is also available of course. The space surrounding the studios is now open to the public raising all sorts of questions over security and crowd control. Anyone who has witnessed thousands of screaming girls at the TV Centre railings as the latest heart-throb boy band is performing in one of the studios will know what I mean. Good luck with all that. Rather disappointingly, audiences are now expected to queue up and wait in the cold outside TC1, just like they used to in the bad old days before The Foyer was built.
Of course, one medium studio (TC3) was never going to be enough to cope with demand. This size of studio (90ft x 70ft) is the most popular for many programmes from sitcoms to gameshows, panel shows to chat shows and all things between. The inclusion of only one medium studio represents an extremely poor decision on the part of the BBC senior management. It is not just the BBC themselves who need studios, it is all the independent companies who make programmes for the BBC - and of course for all the other channels too. One does suspect that the importance of providing studio space of the right size was not understood at all by the decision makers. TC1 is too big for many shows and TC2 much too small. The situation got much worse of course in 2014 when Teddington's main studio closed and then in 2018 when TLS closed its two studios of this size. What has infuriated many is that even TC3 will not be available for programme makers for the foreseeable future, since ITV Daytime now occupy it on a permanent basis. We really did need to hang onto TC4, TC6 and TC8!
My understanding is that the independent production companies who regularly used TVC were asked whether they would need studio space in the future. I gather that most responded that they would and were very concerned at the proposals to close a number of medium studios. I am afraid that one can only conclude that these concerns were ignored by the BBC. It appears that only the requirement of their own in-house production department was addressed. Unfortunately, most comedy and entertainment shows that appear on BBC channels are made by independent companies rather than the BBC themselves. These are now struggling to find studio space which has pushed up costs (as predicted on this website several years ago) and I'm told that some programmes have not been made at all because there was no studio available at the time of artist availability. Certainly I have experienced programmes being delayed by many months due to the lack of a suitable studio. Some shows are now being recorded on film stages rather than in TV studios. These are usually well outside central London making it difficult to attract studio audiences. The costs are often much higher than using a fully equipped studio as extra days have to be scheduled for rigging lights etc and all the technical facilities have to be hired in. Standing sets for a series have to be used, occupying a stage for weeks on end rather than just booking a TV studio on the days it is required as the lighting cannot be turned around on a daily basis. The hire of the film stage and the lighting rig for all those days, most of the time doing nothing, inevitably adds to costs.
Meanwhile, in Manchester the old Granada Studios were due to be demolished to make way for a scheme involving flats, offices and a hotel, very similar to here. However, sense prevailed and the studios themselves have been retained with the buildings all around being redeveloped. This proves what could have been done with TV Centre. All 8 studios should have been kept on and the rest of the site redeveloped. In 2020 there are still many unsold flats at TVC, the new East Tower has not yet been started, the Dodds Yard houses have not been built and the multi-story car park houses are still a car park. The BBC should have insisted that the studios were retained and Stanhope could still have built loads of flats and made a profit.
The actual plans... The plans were revealed to the public on 5th February 2013. There were no great surprises - the proposals had been known in principle for many months. Some revisions were announced in April 2014 but these did not affect the studios. The whole site has been opened up to the public - the gates on Wood Lane have gone and the horseshoe car park has become a public landscaped 'square'. The central Helios courtyard is also open to the public and a footpath passes through the building to the right of the South Hall to link up with Hammersmith Park. Since the end of 2014, Stage 6 has housed BBC Worldwide - now confusingly called BBC Studios. It was announced in April 2014 that rather than an internal refurb, stages 4 and 5 would be completely demolished and replaced with a new purpose-built 10 storey office block. This is intended to attract media companies and includes a branch of Soho House private members club with a garden and pool on the roof. The ground floor has a few cafes and restaurants. Stage 4 previously contained TC8, which was constructed some years after the rest of the building. It is a great shame that the opportunity was not taken to incorporate the studio into this public area and use it as a cinema, arts theatre, conference hall, exhibition space and even, on occasions, as a TV studio.
TC1, TC2 and TC3 have been retained - the area behind the South Hall is a scenery/props/lighting storage facility. Delivery access is via the existing ring road running round the site - past the new flats. Lorries will unload below the windows of the new flats in the East Tower when they are eventually built. The obvious solution to noise disturbance would have been to roof over this section of the ring road but I gather the architects would not countenance the idea as it would spoil their artistic concept of the entire site. Studioworks requested this but they are not the client - Stanhope is - so their request carried little weight. Ahem. S&PP (Studioworks) were planning to return in the winter of 2014 ready to reopen the studios in April 2015. However, in the summer of 2014 it was officially announced what many people in the industry had already guessed. They would not reopen the studios until the late summer of 2017, when in theory most of the demolition and rebuilding of the rest of the site would have been completed.
TC4-TC8 have all been demolished. They have been replaced with an inner ring of flats occupying the old offices overlooking the central courtyard. Behind them is a narrow strip of grassed and planted area. Then a ring of flats follows the outer line of the old building. The old offices in the central ring that face Wood Lane and spread round past TC1 to TC2 have become a hotel. The old Stage Door reception area and South Hall are the entrances to the hotel and flats respectively. The restaurant block (which English Heritage wanted to be listed) has been demolished and will eventually be replaced by an office block.
A small housing development is to be built in Dodds Yard. The East Tower and scenery block have been demolished. A new much larger tower containing flats was to be built replacing it but somewhat closer to Wood Lane. This has been put on hold - property prices have stagnated so the developer is waiting for them to rise again before constructing the tower and associated flats. It could be several years before it is built. The multistorey carpark is also to be demolished and replaced with 'affordable housing' but it could be years before this happens too.
As previously mentioned, there is a crew and artists informal seating/assembly area on the ground floor between TC1 and TC3, somewhat larger than the old Red Assembly. This was intended to have memorabilia of TV Centre on the walls - signage etc - but unfortunately most of this was removed by souvenir hunters in the weeks before closure. Early plans also suggested that this would be an audience holding area but this idea was soon scrapped as being impractical. Early plans also indicated a stage door in the basement with access via new stairs but this idea also went away. The studio entrance/stage door is now where the doors used to be at the end of the main corridor next to TC1. The first floor has the control rooms, shared apparatus rooms, new toilets and two 'daily' production offices. The second floor has open plan offices - this is now occupied by ITV Daytime. The basement beneath TC1-TC3 consists of dressing rooms, stores, edit suites, green rooms etc. The rest of the basement is a car park for 466 cars - but this of course is for the use of the flats, hotel and offices. There is incidentally only one small lift serving the whole of the studios building.
What has been achieved by Studioworks in these three studios and the area around them is excellent in the circumstances. They deserve praise for the general high quality of the fit-out. However, talk to anyone employed by Studioworks and they will tell you they REALLY wish they had at least 1 more studio. The quality of the refurbishment of the rest of the site by Stanhope also deserves praise. It is of a very high standard but it could of course have looked just like this if all the studios had been retained.
Of course - in a bizarre twist of fate - in February 2017, ITV announced that they would be folding their TLS business and closing the excellent studios on the South Bank in March 2018. They said that they planned to return to the new building when it was completed in a few years time - it would contain 3 small studios for ITV Daytime. They placed a booking on TC2 and TC3 from the beginning of 2018 to last at least 3 years. So those studios became unavailable for anyone else to use. They are filled with Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, Loose Women and This Morning. TC2 is also the home of Peston and Channel 4's Sunday Brunch. To make matters worse, within a few months ITV announced that they had no intention of returning to the South Bank after all so their occupation of TC2 and TC3 is now permanent. Meanwhile of course, where have most of the shows gone that previously used TLS studio 1? Studioworks have been very happy to book Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, QI, Saturday Night Takeway and several other shows in TC1. So in effect, with the reopening of these three studios the industry regained no studios at all and the shortage continues.
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The sums and costs involved...
Television Centre was sold for just £200m.
The redevelopment of Broadcasting House and equipping news and weather studios there cost £1.04bn. The cost of moving the CCA from TV Centre up the road to the Broadcast Centre in White City is estimated to be around £50m. This is the hub of all the BBC's TV communications in and out of the UK. It took many months to move some of the kit and of course a great deal of new equipment had to be purchased.
Moving Radio 5 Live and Children's and Sport departments from TVC to MediaCity in Salford has, according to the BBC, cost £942m. This includes relocation expenses paid to staff - many of whom reluctantly left London. The BBC were tied into a 10 year deal with Peel Media - the company that owns the MediaCity (dock10) studios. They were committed to spending £82.8m over 10 years simply to hire studio space. Previously they would have used their own studios in TVC - the productions' hire fees would have then gone into investing in newer kit in the BBC's own studios and making constant improvements for the benefit of everyone. Any profits made by BBC Studioworks stay within the BBC. The money the BBC and independent programme makers now spend in Salford instead of TV Centre is pure profit for Peel.
The BBC have not completely left TVC of course. According to press reports, Stanhope will receive around £12m per year in rent for the 3 studios (Studioworks) and stage 6 (BBC Studios).
BBC Studioworks have taken over stages 8 and 9 in Elstree film studios and built a fully equipped control room suite for the George Lucas Stage - originally for 2 years, later extended to 4 and now beyond that to at least March 2024. They have constructed new production, sound and lighting galleries, created a new apparatus room and production offices, fitted out prop stores, refurbished dressing rooms and bought 200 new lighting monopoles. They also have to pay a large annual rent to Hertsmere Council who own the studios. All of this has cost an undisclosed but obviously very large sum indeed.
Studio D at BBC Elstree has been completely refurbished. It has now become the key studio used for general elections, Children in Need and other shows that need multiple phone and other comms in and out of the studios. All this was previously installed at TVC but has been ripped out. These complex communications have had to be re-routed to BBC Elstree at great expense. The galleries in studio D were stripped to the walls and completely rebuilt to cope with these large scale productions. A switching centre for multiple live OBs associated with elections was built in studio C's galleries at huge expense. None of these costs which run into tens of millions would have been necessary had they simply stayed at Television Centre. Much of this funding has presumably come from central BBC coffers. There is no way the Studioworks business could have afforded it.
According to the National Audit Office the cost of building New Broadcasting House, Pacific Quay in Glasgow and moving to Salford was £2bn. That's two thousand million pounds not spent on programmes.
Programmes made in Salford or Glasgow use local camera, sound, scenic and electrical crews and make up & wardrobe assistants. However, heads of these departments are freelance and most are based in or near London. Therefore every production made outside London involves paying transport and accommodation costs for key personnel such as producers, director, researchers, writers, set designer, lighting director, camera supervisor, make up and wardrobe supervisors - plus of course the performing artists. These costs cannot be avoided - the industry is no longer staff-based but freelance. Experienced freelancers simply won't work in Salford or Glasgow unless they are paid their expenses. Every production wants the best people to be working on it and this freelance talent is mostly London based. These people are not 'Londoners' but have come from all over the UK and chosen to live near London as it is still the hub of the television industry as well as film, theatre and music in the UK. None of these extra costs apply to programmes made in or near London.
The BBC claim that TV Centre was costing too much to maintain. However, they could have sold off the outer ring of buildings and redeveloped the upper floors of the doughnut and stage 5 - whilst keeping the 8 main studios which were almost all fully fitted out with the latest HD kit and required no serious money to be spent on them for years.
From just a quick look at the costs above, it does seem that moving almost everything from TV Centre has cost the BBC far more than staying put and selling off part of the site - rather than selling off all the site and renting part of it back. They did not need to tie themselves into an £83m deal with Peel - they could still have moved Sport, Childrens and Radio 5 Live to Salford if they really had to but did not need to commit to using Peel's studios for entertainment and comedy that cost more to use than studios in London. They did not actually have to move news to Broadcasting House which would have saved a vast amount with the reconstruction of that building. If saving money was the main driving force behind all this then refurbishing and modernising stage 6 and expanding into stage 5 for News would have cost a fraction of what it cost to build New BH.
Also, The One Show could have been based in TVC where the Helios courtyard or horseshoe car park would have been a far more suitable place to stage music and other activities rather than the front of New BH, where it must really irritate and disturb all the people working on serious news there.
Even though the very expensive construction of New Broadcasting House did go ahead, there was no inevitability that this should lead to the closure of Television Centre. Stage 6 could still have been occupied by BBC Worldwide (BBC Studios) as has happened. The other departments that were based at White City could have moved to TVC rather than being crammed into New BH, which was never designed for them. Worldwide could have run a visitor attraction in the basement of the hub - with sections including props and sets from famous dramas and comedies and of course Dr Who. One of the studios could have been modified to be used as a conference centre when needed by Worldwide in quiet times for studio bookings. Another proposal which should have been taken up was to use one of the smaller studios - TC5 say - as a rehearsal room for one of the BBC orchestras.
Several of the decisions taken by the BBC Board of management under Mark Thompson were heavily criticised in the press and by MPs. However, the selling of Television Centre was arguably the worst as it is having the greatest long-term effect on the industry. To be fair, the decision to move news to BH was taken under Greg Dyke's leadership but this decision was taken in October 2000, 13 years before the actual move took place. There were plenty of opportunities to revise the plan in the intervening years when the immense costs became apparent.
The desire for the BBC to better represent the whole country is absolutely right. Much of the content of some programmes has for a long time been far too metropolitan - particularly in news and current affairs. It certainly makes sense for drama productions to be made by local crews all round the UK - this happens all the time now and the range and quality of work has benefited hugely from this. However, it is hard to see how making gameshows, talent shows, panel shows and sitcoms in Salford and Glasgow makes the BBC less London-centric. How many viewers know where these shows are made? How many care? Citizen Khan would have looked and sounded identical (although would almost certainly have cost less) if it had been made in Television Centre rather than Salford. When Nick Knowles steps onto the Who Dares Wins set in Glasgow rather than in TVC - how is that better for the average Scot? How is it better indeed for people living in Bristol or Barnsley or Birmingham or Barry Island?
Just looking for example at the Sarah Millican Television Programme - it was made in HQ2 in Salford but its production office was in Glasgow so the final credit was 'BBC Scotland.' So recording it in Salford made even less sense. They could still have had the office in Glasgow but made it at TV Centre where it would have cost less and all of the guests could have actually been in the studio rather than the awkward situation where one each week had to be interviewed via a satellite link - all the way from London.
The anger and frustration felt by many working in the industry at the decision to demolish most of the studios at TVC is still widely felt. It is not only because of the cultural and artistic legacy, it is because of the practical advantages of having a number of studios based in one place. The decision was taken by managers apparently with no experience of making music, entertainment or comedy programmes in studios. They employed consultants to advise them - who were also not people currently making programmes. Even so, it appears that their original recommendations were ignored. It seems that the wishes of the independent TV production companies who make most comedy and entertainment programmes were also ignored. What is particularly galling is that most of those responsible have moved on - some including ex-Director General Mark Thompson are not even working in the UK any more.
The excuse given for demolishing most of the studios was that it would have cost too much too keep them on. As Danny Baker pointed out, a similar excuse was given when all those videotapes from the '60s and '70s were wiped. Those responsible have never been forgiven and I suspect that Mark Thompson and his board of management will never be forgiven for what they did. There has been a lot of misinformation spread around. Michael Grade, on The One Show, said that it would cost £200m to convert the studios to high definition. In fact all the main studios were converted between 2006 and 2011 and were at the time of closure the best equipped studios in the country. No wonder they were being booked by programme-makers right to the end. One hopes that Lord Grade was simply misinformed and that his chairmanship of Pinewood-Shepperton had not coloured his views.
The closing of the main studios at TV Centre was a national disgrace and those concerned should be ashamed at what they did. There was an opportunity to keep the studios but redevelop the rest of the site but ignorance of how the studio industry works or plain lack of imagination seems to have affected their judgement. The redevelopment of Granada Studios proves how this could have been made to work.
What has been clear all along to many in the industry is that the BBC still needs a reasonable number of fully equipped studios for its own use and for the independents who make programmes for them. It is indeed bizarre, if not to say gravely irresponsible, that the BBC has created a situation where there are not enough fully equipped television studios of the right size in the UK's capital city - a city with a worldwide reputation for all forms of entertainment and culture.
After all, they spent over a billion pounds in redeveloping Broadcasting House in central London, making it the best equipped radio and television news centre in the world. They created an excellent drama centre in Cardiff, have also moved the BBC Wales HQ to a new more central location in Cardiff and a few years ago completed an expensive new broadcasting centre in Glasgow. So to severely curtail the television comedy and entertainment side of their business - increasing costs through a shortage of studios - is perverse to say the least and wholly inexplicable to other broadcasters around the world.
London has been and always will be the creative focus of the UK's entertainment, music, theatre, cinema and television industries. In recent years it has become more than that - a truly global city attracting talented people from all over the world.
Sadly, having just one available studio at TVC is insufficient for London's needs. Even that studio - TC1 - is the wrong size for many shows. The 90 x 70 foot studio is what most productions need. Even though stages 8 and 9 at Elstree have been kept on they are not a direct replacement for the missing TVC studios. Their location and lack of a nearby tube station mean that studio audiences find it much harder to get to them than TV Centre. Their design and fit-out prevent rapid turnarounds from one show to the next. They also lack the ancillary storage and back-up facilities of the TVC studios.
I was given the opportunity to personally make the case for retaining TC8 as part of the proposed 'Television Factory' to the BBC's Head of Commercial Design Development and Planning and to the BBC's Head of Workplace, who was also the head of the joint BBC/Stanhope working party that was planning how the Centre would be redeveloped. Although I was politely received, nothing came of our conversation or the detailed paper I submitted putting the case for keeping TC8 within the proposed scheme.
Many well-known people have commented publicly on the BBC's decision to sell off most of TV Centre. Let's face it - none of them favourably. These include almost all those who appeared on the Goodbye From Television Centre programme. Alexander Armstrong said in an interview early in 2013:
"The BBC is a brilliant, infuriating, delightful cornerstone of our culture but it drives me round the twist. I will never forgive them for selling off BBC TV Centre. It's probably the best studio facility in Europe, possibly the world, and it's being sold off for flats and a luxury hotel."
In the Goodbye from Television Centre programme it was quite clear that almost everyone who was invited onto the show to reminisce about 'the good old days' was in fact very upset and angry about what had been done. 'I'd like to kick them up the arse' shouted Brian Blessed and I suspect that a very long queue would form behind him to join in. Michael Grade, chairman of that show and as it happens - chairman of Pinewood-Shepperton, looked distinctly uncomfortable at times as it began to dawn on him that his guests were not simply going to tell a few funny stories but were genuinely moved and upset at this appalling decision.
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A campaign to save all 8 main studios was launched in April 2013, nine months after the redevelopment plans had been announced. Probably nobody could quite bring themselves to believe it was really happening until the doors finally closed for good. It was simply called Save TV Centre Studios and had the backing of Equity, The Writers' Guild, the Musicians' Union, BECTU, the NUJ and many others. A number of well known celebrities, journalists, actors and musicians gave their support and there was a petition with a large number of signatures. Unfortunately, despite a great deal of hard work being put into the group by a few individuals it was unable to reverse any of the decisions already taken by Stanhope and the BBC. One can't help wondering what the outcome would have been if this campaign had begun at least 18 months earlier, when negotiations were still on-going between the BBC and various developers. I suspect it would have had a much greater chance of success. Very sadly, trying to make changes long after the deal had been done behind closed doors was always going to be a very hard mountain to climb.
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There are dozens of people who took photographs of the Centre before it closed and posted them on-line. There are also two very good Facebook pages - 'BBC TVC' and 'Memories of BBC Television Centre'. If you are on Facebook I strongly advise visiting both. There is loads to see and read. Joe Godwin has also posted a superb slideshow on YouTube of photos of various parts of the building taken on January 1st 2013, accompanied by a number of familiar Kids' TV theme tunes. Well worth a look here.
Another beautifully made video showing snippets of TVC programme gems superimposed on the building has been made by Ed Stradling. Be prepared to shed a tear but see it here.
One of the many performers to criticise the closure and whose knowledge and intelligence is beyond question is David Mitchell. In 2011 he wrote the following whilst musing on new ways the nation might celebrate special days:
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Television Centre Day (always the last Tuesday in August - the day before the department stores put up their Christmas decorations) This should be a day when the nation comes together to celebrate its proud tradition of masochistic decision-making, the unique British characteristic of allowing ourselves to destroy things that almost everyone likes, to be able to accept a line of argument, however nonsensical, purely because it leads to a conclusion that will cause us pain. The day will feature a parade of bendy buses from Euston station to a block of flats in Shepherd's Bush where they used to make TV programmes. The media coverage should generate business for local hotels as a large number of journalists are expected to travel down from Manchester. copyright David Mitchell - The Observer |
...and finally, Roger Bunce has written an excellent piece putting the case for keeping the studios at TVC. It appeared on the 'Save TVC' website in April 2013. If you read nothing else on this website you must read this. It is absolutely superb.
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1: The Architecture. BBC Television Centre is a design classic - an iconic example of that futuristic, space-age architecture of the late 1950s and early 60s. It belongs to an exciting, experimental period of design that gave us the Festival of Britain, Coventry, Brasilia and Tracy Island. Modern construction techniques, involving gleaming glass and steel Cathedral, are blended with traditional treatments, including brick, tile, timber and mosaic, to create forms that are entirely original. There is sculpted concrete, but it is used sparingly, with none of the dingy, graffitied slabs that became fashionable in the later 1960s. The whole building is a work of art, and the staff within are motivated and energised by the aesthetics of their surrounding. Those who wish to demolish such an imaginative vision, are taking philistinism to a level unknown since the days of Goliath. It is clear from the original documents that the architects were not just building a studio centre, they were deliberately creating a permanent monument. They describe it as "A new London landmark" - hence the sculptures and fountains. They succeeded. From the start, programme-makers were so inspired by TV Centre's art and architecture that they were using it as a backdrop for their productions. From the Opening Night, via Square World, Record Breakers, Top of the Pops and Blue Peter, right up to the closing night 'Madness' concert, Television Centre has starred as a location in its own productions. Broadcasts from the central circle or the front car park became such common occurrences that exterior plugging points were installed for cameras and microphones. And, as a result, the architecture of BBC Television Centre is known to viewers all over the country - and overseas. It is an immediately recognisable symbol. There is no other building quite like it. The uninspired structures at Salford Quays will never be used in this way, nor will they ever gain such widespread public recognition. They are just bland rectangular slabs, like so many others. As for the gaping, pointless void of the BH Newsroom, it looks like a singularly ill-favoured shopping mall! Another of the original concepts of TV Centre is that it could be endlessly adaptable. It could be extended, or contracted, re-equipped or rebuilt, in accordance with operational needs. It would never be necessary for the BBC to leave!
2: The efficiency of the building. Behind the sculptures and the mosaics there is another TV Centre: the functional TV Centre; the programme-making machine. And this is another masterpiece of design. When TV Centre was being planned, the Senior Management of the BBC included Senior Producers and Chief Engineers: people with an intimate understanding of programme-making both from the creative side and from the nuts-and-bolts practical realities. They had learned how studios work from their experiences of Alexandra Palace, Lime Grove and Riverside. Working with the architects, they were able to design a complex which was ideally laid-out for speed and efficiency of operation. Everything is in the right place. The dynamics work. The encircling Ring Roads ensure the delivery of scenery and equipment. The Assembly Areas funnel the cast from their dressing rooms, via Wardrobe and Make-Up, into the studios. Everyone and everything arrives at the right place at the right time, ready to go. At the peak of its operation, one studio could mount a different programme each day and could be completely reset and relit each night. Turnarounds were accomplished with all the slickness of a Formula One pit-stop. And there is a natural buzz and excitement that comes from working at that level of efficiency. As Victoria Coren has said, "I didn't realise, until making a film about it closing down, what a fantastic building this is - how purpose built - how fit-for-purpose - or how loved." (Did you notice the phrase 'Fit-for-Purpose' there?) One might have expected that the BBC's new studios, at Salford and New BH, would have improved upon TV Centre and be even more 'fit-for-purpose'. Sadly, it is not so. Stories of bad layout, poor planning and lack of foresight abound. It is as though no one had ever built a television studio before; no one had learnt from past experience. But, the Senior Management of the BBC no longer includes Producers and Engineers. Today it consists of career bureaucrats, who have only minimal understanding of programme-making, television or broadcasting. Worse, they don't believe that they need to have any such understanding. Had the BBC progressed from TV Centre to something even better, I might have shrugged sadly and accepted that this is the nature of progress. The fact that the BBC is regressing from TV Centre to studios that are less well-designed and much less 'fit-for-purpose' cannot be justified by any argument.
3: The meeting place of talents. One of the advantages of having so many studios and different types of programmes at one site was that Television Centre became a meeting place for talented people from different genres and different disciplines. Children's Programmes could talk to Drama; Quizzes could talk to Comedy; Production people could take advice from Technical People (without having to pay for it!). All knew that they were talking to experts in their field. And because everyone felt that they were working for the same organisation, experiences and advice were shared freely. It was in these exchanges that new ideas were born. If you have two geniuses, each with a good idea, then you have two good ideas. If you let the two geniuses talk to one another, then three, four or five good ideas will emerge from the conversation between them. When half a dozen geniuses meet up, preferably with a glass in their hands, the ideas explode exponentially. And that was how Television Centre worked. It was not just a programme-making factory, it was an ideas factory - an imagination factory. (N.B. This is an argument, not just for the preservation of the Studios, but also for the Club, the Canteen, the Tea Bars, and all the communal areas where those impromptu planning meetings took place, and where the programme ideas cross-fertilised.) The current Senior Management of the BBC is sadly lacking in any understanding of the creative process. Their dystopian vision of the future places different genres at different sites. The geniuses will never meet and their ideas will not be exchanged. Meanwhile, a largely freelance workforce will naturally be protective of their knowledge and unwilling to share advice.
4: History and Heritage. Many of the celebrities who have deplored the sale of TV Centre have done so from a nostalgic point of view, quoting all the classic programmes that were made there. It is not an argument that should be dismissed as too emotional. Heritage matters. The reason that most public buildings are preserved is because of the history that was made there. BBC Television Centre was first purpose-built TV studio complex in the country - and in the world. As such it is a historic monument of national, and international, importance. It is a heritage site. As Michael Parkinson put it, "It's as culturally important, in my view, as the Royal Opera House, or the National Theatre." Arguably, this is an understatement. Only a small proportion of the population have ever enjoyed a production at the National Theatre: even fewer at the Royal Opera House. Yet productions from TV Centre have been enjoyed by virtually everyone in the country, and by millions all over the world. There are other, older opera houses in the world. There are other theatres. But there is only one BBC TV Centre, and it was the first of its kind. To demolish it would be an act of cultural, historical and architectural vandalism comparable with simultaneous bulldozing of the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House, the Palladium, the British Museum and many other venues of education, information and entertainment. Historians will doubtless look back on this loss of a national asset and compare it with Dr. Beeching's railway closures - another misguided attempt to save money, which actually succeeded in wasting money, and did irreparable damage to the country's infrastructure.
5: The sheer financial waste. The BBC sold TV Centre for about £200 million pounds. This figure is not profit. The cost of moving BBC Programmes and facilities out of TV Centre needs to be subtracted. In order to move Sport and Children's Programmes to 'the North', the BBC has invested over £800 million in Media City at Salford Quays. This figure does not include the cost of staff relocation, nor the continuing travel and accommodation costs of staff and cast who are still commuting from London, nor the ongoing cost of hiring studios that the BBC doesn't own. We must also subtract the reported £1 billion spent on moving the news operation from a virtually brand-new newsroom at TV Centre, to a much larger, and uglier, newsroom at New BH. Together, Children's, Sport and News represent only a minority of the programmes made at TV Centre. For all the others there is the cost of hiring and modifying temporary studios, until some of them are able to return to TV Centre. Finally, CCA is still located in TV Centre. (Did the Management even know it was there?) It is due to be moved to other locations at an estimated cost of a further £50 million. Nor should we forget the money paid to Management Consultants, without whom the overstaffed, overpaid bureaucrats of BBC Management seem incapable of actually managing anything. At a very conservative estimate, the the sale of TV Centre has wasted over £2 billion of Licence Payers' money. Only BBC Management could 'sell the family silver' and make such a massive loss on the deal.
6: No consultation with the Licence-Fee Payers. Those who decided to sell TV Centre were not its owners. They were only temporary custodians. Boris Johnson, during his tenure as Mayor of London, would not be expected to bulldoze Trafalgar Square and build flats on it. Nor should a short-term Director General of the BBC have been allowed to sell a national landmark without consulting its true owners. TV Centre was paid for by the Licence Fee Payers. They/we are its true owners. The Licence Fee Payers are now expected to cover the billions that have been lost. Yet they/we were never consulted. (Nor were the staff or the Programme Makers.) It may be too late to prevent the financial squandering but it is not too late to demand a Public Enquiry into how this mis-management occurred; to ask for full publication of the accounts; to name and shame the individuals responsible, and to take measures to reduce the ongoing waste.
7: The loss of studio capacity. If BBC Management has any consistent vision for the future, it seems to be that they no longer wish to own studios. They would rather rent or lease them. But this leaves them extremely vulnerable to market rates. Any reduction in supply will cause an increase in demand and a reduction in competition. Prices will go up. The closure of Television Centre means the loss of 8 large to medium-sized broadcast studios, and 4 or 5 smaller ones. Teddington Studios are also due to close. Together, they represent a substantial proportion of the studio capacity in the London area. Such an abrupt reduction in availability will create an anti-competitive situation in the market, enabling the remaining suppliers to significantly increase their prices. The BBC may, therefore, have scored a massive financial 'own goal'. Their cunning plan was to sell studios because it is cheaper to rent, but the loss of those studios will, itself, make renting more expensive! If, however, Television Centre studios remain available to programme-makers, albeit under different ownership, they will increase the competition in the market and help to keep prices down.
8: The creation of a near-monopoly. Two of the studio centres likely to gain work from the closure of Television Centre, and therefore benefit financially, are Pinewood and Shepperton. Their chairman is Michael Grade, who was chairman of the BBC until about a year before the closure of TV Centre was announced. Pinewood and Shepperton are owned by The Peel Group (formerly Peel Holdings), who also own MediaCity at Salford Quays and are, therefore, the primary financial beneficiaries of the BBC's 'move to the North'. The Peel Group also owns Teddington Studios, but intend to close them, thus reducing competition and driving more work to their other centres at Pinewood and Shepperton. Personally, I suspect that the BBC's role in the creation of this near-monopoly is more cock-up than conspiracy. But questions need to be asked. Any enquiry should demand to know why BBC bosses have used Licence Fee Payers' money to give The Peel Group a disproportionate share of the market - particularly since this will be of benefit to a former BBC Chairman. I note that during the BBC's evening of programmes about TV Centre, the primary spokesman supporting the closure, both on The One Show and on Goodbye Television Centre, was Michael Grade. He did not declare his financial interest.
9: Studio operation incompatible with residential property. Current plans involve converting much of the TV Centre site into a hotel and flats. But studios and residents may not make comfortable neighbours. From the studio viewpoint, public access will create security problems. From the residential viewpoint, studio programme-making is a 24 hour operation, and is rarely quiet. The rumble of lorries, the off-loading of scenery and technical equipment (and the familiar clang of scaffold poles) late into the night will be a constant irritant. And that's before we think about loud music programmes, rioting rock-stars and over-excited audiences. Some of the noise nuisance could be reduced by insisting that all resets and re-rigs take place during daytime, but that would immediately double the number of studios needed to make the same number of programmes.
10: Studio operation incompatible with a building site. It gets even sillier. I had assumed that the BBC were going to abandon the site between 2013 and 2015 because this was the period during which the rebuilding was due to take place. There would be obvious problems trying to make programmes on a building site: the constant noise and vibration of bulldozers, pneumatic drills, excavators and demolition, creating an atmosphere full of cement dust (and newly liberated asbestos). But I now learn that the bulldozers aren't due to start until 2015 - about the same time that BBC Studios are moving back in! Cue predictable disaster. Which poses the question, why did the BBC decide to leave in 2013 and waste a fortune hiring and modifying temporary studios for a couple of years, when 8 of their own perfectly functioning studios were still available to them?
11: The total absence of any reason to leave. Maybe the strongest argument of all is simply that there is no rational reason for the BBC to leave Television Centre. It is a colossal waste of Licence-Payers' money and a major disruption to programme makers which achieves nothing whatsoever. The decision to leave seems to have been an obsessive, compulsive urge amongst certain members of the Senior Management team, most of whom have since been required to leave, clutching generous 'rewards for failure'. The reasons that they have given for the move are listed below. It will be seen that none of them bear much relation to reality.
Reasons given by BBC Management for the abandonment of Television Centre:
1: To make money. It sounds like a sick joke now, but this was the original reason given for selling TV Centre. It was announced on 18 October 2007 that, because of a £2 billion shortfall in funding, the BBC would "reduce the size of the property portfolio in west London by selling BBC Television Centre by the end the financial year 2012/13." Translating management jargon into English, this means simply that they were selling the building to raise cash. With the Westfield Shopping Centre anticipated, and property prices in the area likely to rise, BBC Management thought they could make a once-only, short-term profit on the sale. We now know that they have actually managed to make a catastrophic loss. The cost of moving out of TV Centre must be over ten times the income from the sale. Any other homeowner, selling a valuable property in London in order to downsize to a cheaper place in the country, might expect to have had some cash left over. Only BBC Management could fail so disastrously.
2: To make the BBC less London-centric. Because of lower approval ratings in the North of England than in the South, the BBC decided to move some of its operations from London to Salford Quays. This is often given as a 'Politically Correct' excuse for closing Television Centre. But the sums don't add up. Most of the mainstream programmes produced at Television Centre have not gone to to the North. They have been scattered to various temporary studios around London and the Home Counties. Sport has been sent to Salford, but that could only be used as a excuse for closing TC5, one of the smaller studios. Children's Programmes have also be ordered to Salford, which might excuse the closure of TC9, an even smaller studio, and half of whichever studio Blue Peter might be using that week. The movement of News to New Broadcasting House might also justify the closure of TC7, another of the smaller studios, and the TV Centre Newsroom. But this leaves absolutely no excuse for closing any of the large or medium-sized studios at Television Centre - TCs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8. All the comedies, light-entertainment, chat-shows, quizzes etc. which were made there have been left with no alternative home.
3: Television Centre is getting old and needs maintenance. Yes, most buildings of a certain age need a lick of paint and a dollop of filler occasionally. But no one has suggested bulldozing the Albert Hall, the Palladium or the Houses of Parliament just because they need maintenance. At Television Centre the problem has become worse because, since making the decision to leave, routine maintenance has been badly neglected. So, if we put the metaphorical horse and cart in the correct order, and cause before effect - It is true that Television Centre needs maintenance because of the decision to leave. It is NOT true that the decision to leave was taken because Television Centre needed maintenance. Even if it were true, it would be the equivalent of buying a new car because the ash tray was full in the old one!
4: Programme-making has been moving out of studios onto location. This argument is about 20 years out of date. In the early 1990s, BBC Drama Department decided that they wanted to make 'Films' not 'Television Plays'. They abandoned the old-fashioned, multi-camera, 'as live' style of shooting in favour of the even older-fashioned, single-camera, 'as film' style. The last major studio drama series, The House of Elliot ended in 1994. As drama and documentaries left, the BBC needed less studio capacity and therefore closed down Lime Grove, TV Theatre and the Greenwood. They even mothballed some of the studios at TV Centre. But fashions can swing in both directions. Programmes were soon moving back into TV Centre. The mothballed studios were reopened, and additional studio space had to be created around the building. TC0 and TCs 9, 10, 11 and 12 were opened. Shows were being shot in offices, dressing rooms, galleries and even corridors. The success of Strictly Come Dancing brought glossy-floored, big studio spectaculars back into fashion. Budget cuts forced smaller programmes back into studios since working live, or 'as live', saved editing and post-production costs. High-definition led to a need for more detailed, more substantial scenery with the result that more studio time was occupied with scenic construction and standing sets, which created a need for yet more studio space. Even after the departure of Sport, Children's and News, TV Centre studios were as busy as they had ever been - right up until the time that they were forced to close.
5: Television Centre has problems with asbestos. More old news. This argument is about 25 years out of date. Asbestos problems were identified in TV Centre studios in 1988. Since then the asbestos has been stripped out or encapsulated. It is no longer a problem, (unless, of course, someone does something incredibly stupid, like knocking the place down and building a hotel). There are still asbestos and structural problems in the East Tower, but few people would complain if that was demolished.
6: Television Centre has out-of-date technology. Does anyone know who coined the phrase, "Television Centre is an analogue dinosaur in a digital age."? It would be nice to know, if only so that they can be publicly pilloried. It is difficult to know whether the Senior Management of the BBC were really so badly out-of-touch with their own business that they actually believed this, or whether they were resorting to desperate lies in order to justify an obviously stupid decision. Just because TV Centre was opened in 1960 does not mean that it is only capable of producing black-and-white, 405 line television! Anyone who has worked there, or anyone who has ever turned on a Tele, knows this to be untrue. The technology has been constantly updated - to 625 lines - to colour - to stereo - to digital, hi-def widescreen. A number of studios were equipped for Virtual Reality, and one (TC6) was even capable of broadcasting in 3-D. Up until its forceable closure, TV Centre contained some of the most up-to-date, state-of-the-art equipment in the world.
7: Television Centre is not 'Fit for Purpose' You know they're getting defensive when they resort to meaningless managerial jargon. Those who say this are either lying, have never worked at TVC, or are desk-bound bureaucrats. No one who has ever worked at the sharp-end of TV could believe it. An endless succession of Cameramen, Engineers, Directors etc, could be produced to explain exactly why TVC is entirely 'Fit for Purpose' and, more importantly, why it is much MORE 'Fit for Purpose' than either Salford Quays or New BH! If they get really desperate they may even claim that TV Centre has been tainted by Jimmy Savile. (Didn't he come from Salford? Better cancel the move to the North!) The decision to leave TVC was taken years before the scandal arose, and cannot, therefore, have been a true motivation. Actually, most of Jimmy Savile's programmes were made at TV Theatre. Stricter security would have made abuse much less likely at TV Centre, although some must have happened. But no one has suggested demolishing Stoke Mandeville Hospital and ending all the good work that is done there, just because of the behaviour of one nasty, creepy man.
Final Question? One question we are certain to be asked, and it has been puzzling me, is why it has taken us so long to start this protest. I can only answer for myself. I think it is because I couldn't believe that it was really going to happen - even BBC Management couldn't be quite that stupid. There has always been a comedy element to the leadership of the BBC. It dates far back to quotations like, "What is this 'Go On Show'?", or the memo telling Michael Bentine that, "BBC Television Centre is not to be used for purposes of entertainment."; or the apocryphal story that some executives believed that "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was a documentary about aerobatics. I particularly liked the 'Ariel' headline, which explained how important it was for Sports Department to be established in their new home at Salford in time for the London Olympics! As a fan of the 'Tintin' comics, the knowledge that the most senior figures in the management were called 'Thompson and Thomson' (one with a 'p', one without) seemed entirely appropriate - even if they didn't wear bowler hats. But the announcement in 2007 that they were planning to sell TV Centre seemed to take corporate idiocy to an entirely new level. Even their cartoon namesakes wouldn't do anything that ridiculous. At each stage of the process, new evidence arose which should have convinced any sentient observer that the policy was misguided. In 2009 the central parts of the building were Grade 2 listed by English Heritage. Surely, the bureaucrats would take note and realise that they could not sell off a national treasure. Yet, they carried on. It soon became apparent that the cost of leaving the building would greatly exceed any income from the sale. At this point even the accountants should have recognised their mistake. The most innumerate bean-counters would surely notice that they were about to lose over two-billion beans. Yet, they carried on, with blinkered determination. Comedy gave way to complete farce when it was announced that the BBC, who had vowed never to return, would need to lease back three of the studios they had just sold. At last, it seemed, they were admitting that they had got their sums wrong. It would only be a matter of time before they realised that they would need all the main studios. But no, they steamrollered on with their pathological obsession. Then the Trust finally stepped in. Thompson and Thomson were paid to leave, followed rapidly by their successor. Now the destruction that they had begun seemed certain to stop. Yet, it blundered relentlessly on: a now headless and pointless juggernaut. BBC Television Centre closed its gates on 31st March 2013 - one day before the new DG took over. The unbelievable had actually happened, despite all the evidence that it couldn't possibly. This, for me, was a tipping point. Another was watching the Goodbye Television Centre programme, and hearing a succession of celebrities condemning the sale. We 'Techies', who work behind the camera, always thought that closing TV Centre was a stupid idea. But no one has ever listened to us. Now, however, I discovered that the on-screen talent was of exactly the same opinion. These were people who had only seen TV Centre from the 'front'. They had never experienced the behind-the-scenes magic of the ring-road operation, or an overnight set and light. Yet they felt the energy and atmosphere of the place. Nor was it only the mature celebs who spoke out. The youngsters, who had far less reason to be nostalgic about the place, were equally vehement. I suppose that is when I ceased to be sad, and became very, very angry.
Roger Bunce - April 2013
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Copyright information: As on the rest of this website - please do not use or ask permission to use any of these images in books or other publications or on TV programmes or commercially run websites. Many of the illustrations are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders according to the original copyright or publication date as printed on the artwork or publication and are reproduced here for historical reference and research purposes. If you do own the copyright to any image displayed here and wish it to be credited or removed, please contact me and I shall of course be happy to oblige.
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An apology - firstly for all those errors which are almost certainly still sprinkled throughout the above. I shall do my best to put them right when I discover them or when somebody contacts me with the facts! Secondly - I am very aware that I have almost completely ignored sound in all my comments about studio equipment. It's not that I'm not interested, rather that I am far better informed about cameras and lighting and frankly there is very little information out there about which sound mixer was installed in what studio and when. That's my excuse anyway. |
Many of the above images are taken from old out of print books and documents. However, I am particularly grateful to Bernie Newnham and his superb BBC tech ops history site on www.tech-ops.co.uk. Many happy memories have been rekindled by reading it I have shamelessly 'borrowed' a few stills from the site but I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in the operational history of TV It's much more interesting than this one!