Millennium Studios / Studio 2000 Borehamwood

1993 – 2006; 2009 – present

(revised March 2020)

Elstree Light and Power (ELP) is a lighting hire company that evolved from Meteorlites – a company that was established in 1976 specialising in rock concert lighting.  They developed a system of pre-rigged trussing that enabled complex lighting rigs to be rapidly set and struck.  This efficiency was noticed by one or two BBC OB lighting directors around the late 1980s who started to use Meteorlites to provide the lighting for televised concerts, shows and events.

I was console operator on some of these TV productions and had great fun with a 90-way Celco controlling hundreds of Parcans.  For one entertainment series recorded in Jersey in 1988 I operated two consoles side by side (about 12 feet long in total) controlling over 1,000 Parcans and other lights mounted on a ground support truss over a massive stage – the rig designed and built by Meteorlites.  I needed a chair on well-oiled wheels for that one.

Following the success of their work on BBC OBs, the company headed by Ronan Wilson decided to move away from the world of concert lighting and concentrate on lighting for film and TV.  (After all, the guys running the business were not quite as young as they used to be and maybe constant touring was beginning to lose its appeal?)  In August 1993 they based themselves in Borehamwood, not far from Elstree Film Studios and changed the company name to Elstree Light and Power (ELP).  They also supplied some lighting equipment to the BBC at their Elstree studios for Top of the Pops and other shows.

I should mention at this point that Ronan is one of the industry’s great innovators.  As well as inventing the pre-rigged truss in his rock and roll days he has devised ingenious solutions to rigging and staging problems for many TV shows.  He came up with the idea of a studio on legs that could be sited on top of an OB truck for sports events like Formula 1.  ELP have also been responsible for supplying the lighting rig for Question Time, which is staged in every kind of venue from sports halls to arts centres to prestigious historic locations, where it is essential that no damage of any kind is caused to the fixtures and fittings.  Other shows they have supplied kit for include The Proms, The Royal Wedding, Robot Wars, Strictly Come Dancing at Wembley and Blackpool, The Voice, Britain’s Got Talent, Top Gear, Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central, The One Show etc etc etc.  They have also provided lighting equipment for many dramas including  Lewis and Waking the Dead.

ELP named their new premises Millennium Studios.  They were bigger than the company needed to store their considerable range of lighting and rigging equipment.  Office space was rented out to film and media companies.  Much of the Elstree Film Studio site just down the road was in the process of being demolished to make way for the new Tesco store so a number of companies previously based there moved up the road to Millennium Studios including Hammer Films.

On the ground floor of the warehouse an area was set aside to be used as a sound stage.  It was (and still is) 80ft x 44ft. It became available for use in January 1995 and was known as ‘X’ stage.  It had a suite of rooms supporting it that included production offices, construction workshop, wardrobe, make-up and green room. 

The stage was not equipped with technical facilities (apart from lights, obviously) but was used by a number of TV companies to make single camera drama and entertainment shows or multicamera productions using derig facilities.  Some children’s programmes were made here – including the first series of The Mysti Show for the BBC in 2004.

In 2005 the Trisha show moved to Channel 5 from ITV and also moved studios from Anglia in Norwich to this studio.  (The following year it moved to Maidstone.)

Incidentally, the bar area near the studio was attractively dressed and furnished with some unique bar stools.  These were adapted from the carcasses of Link 110 TV cameras that had been skipped by the BBC and ‘rescued’ by ELP.  They were certainly a talking point although not necessarily the most comfortable seats in the world.

Around 2006 ELP decided to move out to much larger facilities at Alconbury – which used to be a USAF airbase.  (I remember going to a very impressive airshow there in the 1980s.)  The facilities here in Elstree were closed down.  ELP dropped the ‘Elstree Light and Power’ name and became known purely by the initials.

Then in 2009 Ronan Wilson purchased hangars and other facilities at Thurleigh, Bedforshire and ELP moved once again.  The airbase used to be an MoD establishment specialising in military research.  It was used for testing various missiles, Harrier, Concorde and some flight simulators.  That site is now called Millennium Studios.  The stages there specialise in providing rehearsal facilities for band tours but can be used for shooting movies, TV drama, pop promos or commercials.  ELP also own one of the vast old airship hangars at Cardington in Bedforshire.  It is an extraordinary 617 x 180ft and is 52 ft high.  A number of films and TV productions have made use of its colossal space.  See the ‘Rest of the UK’s Studios’ section for more info.