I worked at TVC for a year,back in the mid 80s. I was based in East Tower,but spent most of my lunch breaks standing in viewing galleries staring down, somewhat star struck, (I was only 19/20) watching rehearsals for TOTP or set construction and camera rehearsals for various dramas. Or I'd stand in a queue in the cafeteria behind That's Life presenters,or kids from Grange Hill. One week,I was given the job of switching on the power in one of the studios first thing in the morning, around 8 a.m. (they needed an hour or so to warm up,apparently). I was standing around admiring the space when a voice behind me said "Good morning, sir!" I turned,and found myself facing Ronnie Barker. He was delightful; funny; and clearly dedicated to his job, as he was in the studio at 8 a.m. in full costume! Wonderful memories...and now,all gone. Couldn't they at least have kept some of it as a museum??
I don't get it. If you own a building you have an asset. If you sell it, sure you get the short term capital, but then you're stuck renting somewhere else and will have nothing at the end of it - you're paying for somebody else's asset. Maybe the studios were outdated, but they could have been refitted. This just seems like short-termism and asset liquidation. I'm sure a few people got very rich selling those flats, where is the public's share of that?
I worked there between 2001 and 2016 as security. I was part of the fire/security control room team and often had the keys to open and lock studios. My I.D card gave me full access to TVC, White City reception and full access at Centre House as well as The Lawns building on Shepherds Bush next to Barclays bank. In 2016 I was the last person ever to leave the site to hand over the building to Stanhope. You could say I was the one to turn off the lights before leaving, I know a lot of staff members stole signage as we had to approach anyone we caught, but I wish I took the sign off the door for the Fire Control Room G505a.
A classic example of a place where the whole became far greater than the sum of all its parts. A goose that laid endless golden eggs, that the moron/crooked BBC management (delete as you deem apt) thought could be asset stripped and sold off. Result - no more golden eggs, just the skeleton of a goose that was cooked. A classic example of Thatcherite thinking, where there's a price tag on everything, and values and integrity fly out the window, blown away by nit-wit (or crooked, delete as appropriate) bean counters.
Nostalgia aside - I have never worked for the BBC so can't easily say whether the closure of TVC was worthwhile or not, but as a resident of Yorkshire, I think there is benefit in spreading out operations around the country, especially to the north. To lower income northern families like mine, London is basically 'off limits'. So moving to the likes of Manchester etc makes a lot of sense to help bring jobs out of London and to those areas.
Television Centre was the epicentre of creativity as it brought together highly talented producers, directors, actors and technicians who shared their craft to produce high quality dramas, comedies, documentaries, news and current affairs programmes and variety shows. What we now have is an insipid industry churning out low budget, low quality content. Technology may change but creativity needs to be nurtured and supported through the kind of collaboration that Television Centre provided.
Thank you for your video of the complex. I didn’t realise how much land television Centre occupied., yes it must be sad for someone who worked there but I do think they’ve done a nice job of restoring the building and keeping it looking iconic
I worked at TVC from '03 to the point they turned the lights off (my dept. was the last one out the building). My childhood was defined by the BBC and I never wanted to work anywhere else. I'm just pleased I got to work here, at least for part of my career. It was a wonderful place, but even by mid-00s was in dire need of a massive refurb, so much of the infrastructure was worn out. Amusingly I returned for a look around on almost the same day you did for this video - uncanny!
I rarely comment, but this video and reading the comments made it hit home to me how the loss of BBC TV center has meant a lot to me. I truly loved the BBC as a child and loved the programs and celebrities. I nagged my mum insessently to take me to visit the TV center - which we did one day. I still remember us climbing some trees so I could look into the Blue Peter garden!! We even saw Noel Edmunds driving out of the studios while we were there! To anyone who worked there I just have to say a heartfelt thank you. The BBC has a place in my heart and I am sad how that terrific building has been repurposed, but glad it still exists! However, I'm not so downbeat as some people - I know things look bad, but we need to pick ourselves up and get on with reinventing ourselves.❤
Great film, thanks for making and posting this. I started my career in the BBC in the PBX answering phones, then moved in to Pres. Control , then the DTA sadly moved into the Broadcast Centre which I always thought of a very sterile building. I remember the entrance to TVC under the arches via the Multi Story Car Park had a Food Van most mornings which served the best Sausage in a Roll in the entire building.
An absolute crime what they done to BBC television centre a multi-purpose building that made everything from backdrops to TV cameras should have been left alone and not moved programs to Salford. we've knocked down all our history of our programs made their. I used to watch swap shop with Noel Edmonds Saturday mornings he once took us on a tour of the BBC and next door they were recording it ain't half hot mum and the next studio was little and large then the next something else was being recorded he even took us to the BBC canteen the galleries I was so fascinated by all what a magical place to work. My next door neighbour used to work for the BBC television centre on lighting he once took me a tour around the BBC I was so fascinated I wanted to work there but never did I wish I had.😢
How sad glad we visited this place with a friend on a Studio Tour and it was on a Children in Need Live broadcast. Saw Kylie Minogue, several others and Terry Wogan for which We had a picture taken. What Memories this place had! Reminds me of Teddington Studios demolished back when.
I'm in my late 20's and made the "pilgrimage" to the "updated TVC" when I was last a tourist in London. It was well worth seeing but I completely understand what you mean, it has become a shadow of what It once housed. I walked the ring road at night trying to imagine how it once was. As someone who loves many of the productions that came out of TVC in the 60s - 90s It deserves to be kept and i'm sort of glad the BBC still have production facilities there in the form of at least a few studios. I work as a cammo in the modern tv industry and its certainly changing everyday, less value is placed on the quality and more on quantity of content broadcast. Sad I missed the golden days of TV born in the wrong decade i reckon.
Looks real great..... I need to venture across to here. And its actually all open now, went here about 15 years ago to watch a few TV shows being made. and they were strict about security - security gatehouse with metal detector and all fenced off.
I visited the TV centre many years ago not in it but looked around the front and back as far as was allowed. Glad I did now, I also found the BBC TV Theatre as well.
I worked for the Beeb from the early 70s until the turn of the century, in a position that took me to, I think, every BBC site in London (over 60 buildings). TC though was undoubtedly my favourite - it had a unique aura about it. A short visit to the Club demonstrated what made it special. That entertainment giants would be rubbing shoulders (quite literally at times) with office staff and technical crews produced a great feeling that ‘we were in this together’. I believe the decision to sell TC was made on wrong information, or at least misinterpreted. Television changed from that point onward and it is now impossible to say whether it was a consequence or would have done so anyway. This was however a nice look at what remains, and the next time I am up in London, I will try and head over there and take a good look for myself at what remains, and maybe shed a tear.
I had a desk and a workshop over the top of studios 12 and 13 that was originally observation galleries so big soundproofed windows that overlooked empty studios.
This film reflects Britain all over. Constructive industries undermined or gone. Replaced by endless flats/hotels/shopping centres. The people lose job, home, services and speculators here and abroad get richer and richer. Unsustainable.
So sad, but at least the building survives - my first day at TV Centre I thought I would never find my way back to our office the Spur! Thanks for posting
I would say it is a metaphor for everything that has happened in this country. As a country all our assets have been sold/given away and almost everything has to be bought back in again. There's nothing left to sell and there's no physical capacity to make money. Once stuff has been sold off, well done you've solved your short term financial problem, now what?
Always wanted to go and see the BBC when I was a kid but told it was a long way away. Swap Shop on a Saturday morning, TOTP etc. Finally got there in November and at the age of 61 still in awe of the building. One of my sons is lucky to work for BBC Studios there, I am so jealous. 😀
Luxury flats! Luxury Flats! Luxury Flats! Who are these people that can afford them and how many of them are there? Don't listen to the politicians, there's plenty of money around.
This reflects the typical self destructive attitude of England since 1997. BBC TV Centre was built with optimism and positivity. It brought and created so much enthusiasm and talent that produced so much great unique programming that the world aspired and enjoyed. BBC TV Centre was the unique beating heart of the BBC and once you destroy that then it dies. Talent fades, people are distributed and retire, inspiration is no longer created, programming is much worse off as a result . Shops and restaurants are ten a penny, bland and pointless. The UK, especially England loves to sell it's soul to the highest bidder because it no longer cares or cannot be bothered to maintain and protect it's unique heritage.
I always loved BBC Television Centre as a child and wanted to work there one day always took interest in any program that showed behind the scenes, I also feel the building is as important as historical sites.
Thanks for taking the time to make this update for us Jamie. I never worked at TVC but I got to accompany a colleague (at around the time you made your 2013 video) on a tour. We could go anywhere we wanted. Walking into an empty studio through the doors to the ring road was one of the weirdest emotions I have ever experienced. It was complete sadness for what we were losing but when I started listing all of the programmes I grew up with in my head it became overwhelming. It was the silence and complete lack of anybody that was most amazing. Nostalgia is a strange thing. Who knows what the right or wrong decision will turn out to be? One thing we do know, is that you have made two brilliant, high quality films that will be watched for many years to come. Thanks again.
as a kid growing up i remember TV Centre via Blue peter , topgear , cbbc and children in need to name a few kind of sad I never got to visit before it became apartments
I thought the entire building had been demolished so I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the round building and the "Television Centre" wall with the white dots still exist!
I started my career at the beeb in the East Tower and moved to the Design Building at about the same time that you were there. I treasured my MCP ticket. 😂 Interesting to see how it’s developed. Thanks for sharing.
Often wonder had the decision been made by ITV earlier regarding The London Studios (LWT) on the South Bank in selling it off as they did, would they took a lease on part of TV Centre and had TC5 to TC8 with use ofTC1 for larger productions as they kind do now. They could even have sold off Grey’s Inn Road and moved ITV News to TVC.
Thanks for putting this video together quite Bittersweet seeing the changes, I worked in the doughnut /ring corridor for a week or so installing optic fibre on the ground level and basement (lots of fun graffiti) area in 2006. Having grown up watching the beeb and being familiar with the building and studios it was quite an experience being amongst the working throng, standouts were meeting Andy peters, seeing Jeremy Paxman and Graham Norton who was filming strictly dance fever, I was up a pair of ladders working above a false ceiling and when I descended I was surrounded by 30 or so young women wearing leotards doing stretches. It’s nice to see some of the flourish has been retained, I especially liked the main foyer in the doughnut as I was leaving Jordan turned up in a horrid pink limousine…
Interesting - Christmas night choice of viewing. ITV had an Old Morecambe and Wise. The choices of viewing are enormous. The days of large TV studios are numbered!
TV Centre has always been iconic in various ways and it's difficult not to let emotion sway our opinions, but it was ground breaking when it was built in bringing all the crafts together around a series of purpose built studios a short tube/taxi ride from the West End and Soho. There must still be value in having so much talent and equipment on a single site. TV programmes are still being made today even if the technology of how they are made and broadcast/streamed has changed. Perhaps if the BBC had let out the offices and studio time to other creative industries, instead of selling it off, it could have brought in income and remained a hotbed for UK TV/film/music talent - which is supposedly one of the UK's strengths and strong exports. TV companies, film companies, musicians still need spaces to peform and record their work. TV Centre could have been that.
I think Television Centre was the greatest Television Factory ever created. It was designed to produce the majority of the content of 2 channels, it turned round programmes in 24 hours, whereas most other studios required 3 days, it produced cheap television at at time when the technology was extremely expensive. Growing up in the sixties it seemed an incredibly wonderful place that the BBC celebrated. Somehow I was lucky enough to work there for 30 years. Yes technology has changed, the film industry has taken over drama production resulting in very few home grown dramas because they now cost a fortune. We used to turn out a hours worth of drama in 2.5 days in the studios! now not even soaps are produced at that speed, yes they may look better/expensive but are the stories and acting better? I don't think so, cheap meant that you could try things, be experimental without committees deciding its worth. The unique concentration of creative talent based at Television Centre meant you learnt fast from the best. I fear that in todays fragmented world of freelancers skills are being lost, and television is the worst for it. Because British television is failing to produce innovative content audiences are deserting it for the likes of this!
It’s sad and disappointing what’s happened to it I used to work there in the Comedy Department in the 90s and Early 00s yes they still have studios but it’s not the same most of them are gone the BBC has moved to Manchester and mostly Scotland now the memories will stay with me forever the BBC shouldn’t have sold it they could’ve redeveloped it
Fascinating, thank you for this! Growing up I dreamed of working here. The huge campus-style TV studios (Including regional ITV) are still exactly the kind of environment I would love to work in. Alas, I don't think you would find that outside of movie studios (And most of them seem to be converted warehouses rather than planned studio complexes)
Excellent film. TVC was always very iconic, even to people like me who had never visited it. Its interesting to have a look round it in modern times :).
Remember the days like me, when the studio P A said , change set as soon as you can studio, we're on Telecine, hundred pounds a minute ! The signal was piped to EMI at Hayes for recording in those days!🧐
I don't have a tv licence anymore. So much crap on the tv these days and the licence fee going up year after year I'm not the only one. Thousands of people don't watch tv now days and that number goes up year after year .
A place I worked for nearly quarter of a century. Very sad it had to close, but as you say - things have changed, technology moved on, and the BBC not what it was. Notable that other big broadcasters are in out-of-town sites (Sky, Discovery etc.) but the BBC thought itself so important to retain Broadcasting House in the middle of town. Like you said - I watched TVC as a child and was desperate to work there. My first day working I watched from my 2nd floor office Tomorrow's World doing an item live from within the doughnut. I was very excited seeing cue lights on the cameras match what was coming off air on BBC1!
I am pretty sure This Morning is filmed there as I remember seeing outside shots and noticing the new outside and the television centre frontage which of course was confusing given it is an ITV show!
been years since i left london it is a shame the creative talent has gone .... but regards the building i think the development is sympathetic and stylish ..... it is a remarkable building in its design from the 60s .......
Oh my word. Hadn't realised it had changed that much. Main question is what happened to the BBC club in TVC? Spent many happy evenings there in the 90s.
While I agree with you re technology shifting, the studio SPACE - the actual floor space, the lighting grids, the facilities around it to support them are what will be missed by future generations - set storage, construction, loading docks and so forth. Gallery / Control rooms and the associated equipment probably not - expensive to maintain, power, cool, service, operate from a operation and operator perspective - but once space is gone, its gone for good...
All I remember on the final night of Television Centre was the programme they put on with numerous figures from over the years, all describing the choice as a terrible mistake.
Interesting video. It was ludicrous to sell off this iconic centre. It was as much at the core of BBC identity as anything else you can name, and should have been retained at all costs. OK, so I'm glad it retains some studios and indeed the place is still iconic; I've been there recently for a recording, but it was criminal to let it go. The BBC has had a unique relationship with its buildings, and for me they are and were important. Think of how important Bush House was to the BBC World Service! Yes, in that case it was not their building and they had to leave, but I cannot help but think of the legendary broadcasts made from there every time I approach it from the North down Southampton Row on a bus! Such is the case with BBC Television Centre; in my youth I attended a recording of Top of the Pops. The visit to the building itself was as exciting to me as the programme! I still have the wristband.
With the kind of money BBC Studios makes, you would think they'd have bought the entire building and converted part of it into a television museum that would have attracted many visitors. But no, there was more money in selling it off to private contractors who immediately turned it all into luxury flats. A real shame. The one thing I wonder about is where the Blue Peter Garden is. I'm sure it used to be somewhere very close to Television Centre. Probably long since gone/built over, no less.
Great insight to the TVC, but as technicalities even as back as late 90s got more developed. There was slowly less need for a massive building over time. By the time you got to when the building closed. The BBC had better facilities elsewhere
The walkway at 2:50, did that exist as a path to the back of the ring road? I discovered it last year while walking through the park behind TVC...I always try going that way when I'm in London.
Nostalgia is great, but times change. I loved TVC as much as everyone else, but older buildings often cost more to maintain and heat than newer constructions. Plus, with developments in media technology etc. one does not need sites such as this anymore. It’s the same with the old telephone exchanges and huge computer centres - the same functions that they performed can now be carried out by technology a small fraction of their size. Moving BBC away from London to Manchester and elsewhere has spread the job opportunities across the country. It’s right we mourn the loss of TVC, but let’s be thankful that they did at least retain the doughnut which is the iconic part of the site. It would, however, be interesting to know just how many ‘affordable homes’ have been built on the site. Not many I’m guessing, and for me, that’s the main crime.
Is it progress? As Sir Starmer would say in PMQT… NO! Such a pity, now it's all luxury flats. Always found the BBC TV Centre a very exciting to drive past back in the 1990's. Thanks for the upload.
I guess a plus side is tgat a lot of the original archetecture still remains and has been slightly considered during the refit. Glad to see the beeb sort of retuning to the site. Always sad to see a slice of history go but this could have been so much worse.
I found these online. Was the bbc now fit for purpose, or a drain on the licence fee payer?: The BBC reportedly pays around £12 million per year in rent for three studios and stage 6 at the Television Centre in rent for the 3 studios (Studioworks) and stage 6 (BBC Studios). The BBC's move to Salford was budgeted at £942 million, which included the cost of the relocation and the operating costs for the Salford site up to 2030. The BBC was able to manage the move within budget while maintaining broadcast continuity. MediaCity in Salford costs the BBC £3m more a year to run than the national average for a similar building The budget analysis lists costs including £170m on rent by 2030, £218m on new TV studio services and £15m on new radio and orchestra studios. With costs including a lease which is estimated to be £50m, £37m on fitting out the buildings, plus a further £64m on "people-related…
I work in a TV stuxio (outside London), and we've had very little business since early 2023 - the BBC were probably right to sell off this space when they did!
Digital tec changed the need for all that space needed.hd cameras are a lot smaller the need to store vt spools and the size of the equipment...different world
Interesting video. Quite appropriate now that TV is no longer relevent, that where it was made is now ripped up into flats. The real value was in the old programmes and the culture they portrayed. That no longer exists. It really does represent a moving on in culture, time and technology. The 'luxury' flats look quite austere and like something out of the Soviet bloc.
Out of interest, did anyone here - or does anyone here know someone who may have worked on production for the BBC Choice show Backstage?... And if so, they wouldnt happen to know of any surviving footage from any episodes at all, would they? I'm specifically looking for the Phantom Menace release episode that also featured Mark Westbrook (hairdresser). Iirc, it was broadcast from Broadcasting House or thereabouts, rather then TVC.
I worked for make up running the make up girls mirrors and all there make up equipment to different studios or outside broadcast I was based right under the restaurants and looked outside to the blue Peter garden the stars that had to come in threw the ground floor up to the restaurants was a eye opener great memories
What studio is good morning Britain shot in? I guess the arguement as well is so much bbc stuff is made by production companies and location shooting is done so much it’s more economically viable
Views on this will be entirely subjective. There will be some members of the population that will possibly be quite glad the place is being at least partially demolished. Those that didn’t have an entirely happy experience with some of the ‘talent’ that prowled the corridors. In any case, the iconic elements of the structure have been preserved, as they should be, and the generic office buildings removed to make way for the new development.
Life and technology changes, things move on, Architecture from any period has good and bad points, developers/ speculators are always keen to look for opportunities to make a profit,that's business, the environmental impacts are easily brushed away, increased carbon footprints could easily be taxed more heavily,but costs just get passed on to the consumer, the taxation a government gets frequently gets p155ed up the wall, look at HS2 etc So no easy answer.
Terrible waste, preceded by destruction of Pebble Mill and Oxford Road and followed up by Llandaff BH Cardiff. At Least Belfast has decided to refurbish BH and Blackstaff. Bristol Whiteladies next for the wreckers ball...
I’m no fan of Clarkson or Top Gear but that the BBC basically gave away its biggest earner to Amazon over a tiny incident which didn’t involve the police perhaps demonstrates the broken thinking occurring in the organisation. Sure, dock Clarkson a year’s pay or suspend him for a while, but killing Top Gear was sheer financial lunacy. As for the building, it would have made a great but expensive museum; I hope it was thoroughly documented before everybody left. It’s certainly a place where dreams were made to come true. It’s a shame that buildings of an era aren’t more prized- I see the same happening in Prague where spaces in which literal central-European despots planned wars are being renovated away into wine bars and luxury flats. Soon all the “ugly beauty” of communist era design will be gone.
Good riddance. BBC should solely charge their own viewers and stop leeching off of other channels viewers. If they can't afford that, they should shut up shop and leave broadcasting to the people who can afford to do it fairly. We don't make people pay a supermarket licence to sainsburys to be allowed to receive gifts or to use a food bank.
Glad the main structure has been kept and some studios remain. I do also think it is progress that many studios are now outside London for the BBC such as Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff. It did feel that the BBC productions were too Londoncentric throughout the 80s and 90s.
TVC was far more than just studios. You didn't mention the central wedge (Presentation, CAR, weather etc.), Stage 4 (news until the mid 1990s), Stage 5 (post production), and stage 6 (News from mid-1990s). Having working in the central wedge and Stage 4, I can confirm that it would have been incredibly expensive to refurbish to latest technology and even then it would have been a massive compromise if it was refurbished. It was 100% the correct decision to get rid of this 1950s dead-end, decaying monstrosity.
I worked at TVC for a year,back in the mid 80s. I was based in East Tower,but spent most of my lunch breaks standing in viewing galleries staring down, somewhat star struck, (I was only 19/20) watching rehearsals for TOTP or set construction and camera rehearsals for various dramas. Or I'd stand in a queue in the cafeteria behind That's Life presenters,or kids from Grange Hill.
One week,I was given the job of switching on the power in one of the studios first thing in the morning, around 8 a.m. (they needed an hour or so to warm up,apparently). I was standing around admiring the space when a voice behind me said "Good morning, sir!" I turned,and found myself facing Ronnie Barker. He was delightful; funny; and clearly dedicated to his job, as he was in the studio at 8 a.m. in full costume!
Wonderful memories...and now,all gone. Couldn't they at least have kept some of it as a museum??
I don't get it. If you own a building you have an asset. If you sell it, sure you get the short term capital, but then you're stuck renting somewhere else and will have nothing at the end of it - you're paying for somebody else's asset. Maybe the studios were outdated, but they could have been refitted. This just seems like short-termism and asset liquidation. I'm sure a few people got very rich selling those flats, where is the public's share of that?
I worked there between 2001 and 2016 as security. I was part of the fire/security control room team and often had the keys to open and lock studios. My I.D card gave me full access to TVC, White City reception and full access at Centre House as well as The Lawns building on Shepherds Bush next to Barclays bank. In 2016 I was the last person ever to leave the site to hand over the building to Stanhope. You could say I was the one to turn off the lights before leaving, I know a lot of staff members stole signage as we had to approach anyone we caught, but I wish I took the sign off the door for the Fire Control Room G505a.
Tragic. I remember Terry Wogan on the live tribute the night it closed and he went off script and said the BBC was making a terrible mistake.
A classic example of a place where the whole became far greater than the sum of all its parts. A goose that laid endless golden eggs, that the moron/crooked BBC management (delete as you deem apt) thought could be asset stripped and sold off.
Result - no more golden eggs, just the skeleton of a goose that was cooked. A classic example of Thatcherite thinking, where there's a price tag on everything, and values and integrity fly out the window, blown away by nit-wit (or crooked, delete as appropriate) bean counters.
Nostalgia aside - I have never worked for the BBC so can't easily say whether the closure of TVC was worthwhile or not, but as a resident of Yorkshire, I think there is benefit in spreading out operations around the country, especially to the north. To lower income northern families like mine, London is basically 'off limits'. So moving to the likes of Manchester etc makes a lot of sense to help bring jobs out of London and to those areas.
Television Centre was the epicentre of creativity as it brought together highly talented producers, directors, actors and technicians who shared their craft to produce high quality dramas, comedies, documentaries, news and current affairs programmes and variety shows. What we now have is an insipid industry churning out low budget, low quality content. Technology may change but creativity needs to be nurtured and supported through the kind of collaboration that Television Centre provided.
Thank you for your video of the complex. I didn’t realise how much land television Centre occupied., yes it must be sad for someone who worked there but I do think they’ve done a nice job of restoring the building and keeping it looking iconic
I worked at TVC from '03 to the point they turned the lights off (my dept. was the last one out the building). My childhood was defined by the BBC and I never wanted to work anywhere else. I'm just pleased I got to work here, at least for part of my career. It was a wonderful place, but even by mid-00s was in dire need of a massive refurb, so much of the infrastructure was worn out. Amusingly I returned for a look around on almost the same day you did for this video - uncanny!
I rarely comment, but this video and reading the comments made it hit home to me how the loss of BBC TV center has meant a lot to me.
I truly loved the BBC as a child and loved the programs and celebrities. I nagged my mum insessently to take me to visit the TV center - which we did one day. I still remember us climbing some trees so I could look into the Blue Peter garden!! We even saw Noel Edmunds driving out of the studios while we were there!
To anyone who worked there I just have to say a heartfelt thank you. The BBC has a place in my heart and I am sad how that terrific building has been repurposed, but glad it still exists!
However, I'm not so downbeat as some people - I know things look bad, but we need to pick ourselves up and get on with reinventing ourselves.❤
Great film, thanks for making and posting this. I started my career in the BBC in the PBX answering phones, then moved in to Pres. Control , then the DTA sadly moved into the Broadcast Centre which I always thought of a very sterile building. I remember the entrance to TVC under the arches via the Multi Story Car Park had a Food Van most mornings which served the best Sausage in a Roll in the entire building.
An absolute crime what they done to BBC television centre a multi-purpose building that made everything from backdrops to TV cameras should have been left alone and not moved programs to Salford. we've knocked down all our history of our programs made their. I used to watch swap shop with Noel Edmonds Saturday mornings he once took us on a tour of the BBC and next door they were recording it ain't half hot mum and the next studio was little and large then the next something else was being recorded he even took us to the BBC canteen the galleries I was so fascinated by all what a magical place to work. My next door neighbour used to work for the BBC television centre on lighting he once took me a tour around the BBC I was so fascinated I wanted to work there but never did I wish I had.😢
How sad glad we visited this place with a friend on a Studio Tour and it was on a Children in Need Live broadcast. Saw Kylie Minogue, several others and Terry Wogan for which We had a picture taken. What Memories this place had! Reminds me of Teddington Studios demolished back when.
More empty flats for speculators/money launderers! Just what London needs!
I'm in my late 20's and made the "pilgrimage" to the "updated TVC" when I was last a tourist in London. It was well worth seeing but I completely understand what you mean, it has become a shadow of what It once housed. I walked the ring road at night trying to imagine how it once was. As someone who loves many of the productions that came out of TVC in the 60s - 90s It deserves to be kept and i'm sort of glad the BBC still have production facilities there in the form of at least a few studios. I work as a cammo in the modern tv industry and its certainly changing everyday, less value is placed on the quality and more on quantity of content broadcast. Sad I missed the golden days of TV born in the wrong decade i reckon.
Looks real great..... I need to venture across to here. And its actually all open now, went here about 15 years ago to watch a few TV shows being made. and they were strict about security - security gatehouse with metal detector and all fenced off.
I visited the TV centre many years ago not in it but looked around the front and back as far as was allowed.
Glad I did now, I also found the BBC TV Theatre as well.
I worked for the Beeb from the early 70s until the turn of the century, in a position that took me to, I think, every BBC site in London (over 60 buildings). TC though was undoubtedly my favourite - it had a unique aura about it. A short visit to the Club demonstrated what made it special. That entertainment giants would be rubbing shoulders (quite literally at times) with office staff and technical crews produced a great feeling that ‘we were in this together’. I believe the decision to sell TC was made on wrong information, or at least misinterpreted. Television changed from that point onward and it is now impossible to say whether it was a consequence or would have done so anyway.
This was however a nice look at what remains, and the next time I am up in London, I will try and head over there and take a good look for myself at what remains, and maybe shed a tear.
I had a desk and a workshop over the top of studios 12 and 13 that was originally observation galleries so big soundproofed windows that overlooked empty studios.
This film reflects Britain all over. Constructive industries undermined or gone. Replaced by endless flats/hotels/shopping centres. The people lose job, home, services and speculators here and abroad get richer and richer.
Unsustainable.
So sad, but at least the building survives - my first day at TV Centre I thought I would never find my way back to our office the Spur! Thanks for posting
Sinister looking layout. A bit like government gchq in Cheltenham! Big brother stuff!
I would say it is a metaphor for everything that has happened in this country. As a country all our assets have been sold/given away and almost everything has to be bought back in again. There's nothing left to sell and there's no physical capacity to make money. Once stuff has been sold off, well done you've solved your short term financial problem, now what?
Always wanted to go and see the BBC when I was a kid but told it was a long way away. Swap Shop on a Saturday morning, TOTP etc. Finally got there in November and at the age of 61 still in awe of the building. One of my sons is lucky to work for BBC Studios there, I am so jealous. 😀
Luxury flats! Luxury Flats! Luxury Flats! Who are these people that can afford them and how many of them are there? Don't listen to the politicians, there's plenty of money around.
This reflects the typical self destructive attitude of England since 1997. BBC TV Centre was built with optimism and positivity. It brought and created so much enthusiasm and talent that produced so much great unique programming that the world aspired and enjoyed. BBC TV Centre was the unique beating heart of the BBC and once you destroy that then it dies. Talent fades, people are distributed and retire, inspiration is no longer created, programming is much worse off as a result . Shops and restaurants are ten a penny, bland and pointless. The UK, especially England loves to sell it's soul to the highest bidder because it no longer cares or cannot be bothered to maintain and protect it's unique heritage.
I always loved BBC Television Centre as a child and wanted to work there one day always took interest in any program that showed behind the scenes, I also feel the building is as important as historical sites.
Thanks for taking the time to make this update for us Jamie.
I never worked at TVC but I got to accompany a colleague (at around the time you made your 2013 video) on a tour. We could go anywhere we wanted.
Walking into an empty studio through the doors to the ring road was one of the weirdest emotions I have ever experienced. It was complete sadness for what we were losing but when I started listing all of the programmes I grew up with in my head it became overwhelming. It was the silence and complete lack of anybody that was most amazing.
Nostalgia is a strange thing. Who knows what the right or wrong decision will turn out to be?
One thing we do know, is that you have made two brilliant, high quality films that will be watched for many years to come.
Thanks again.
Thanks so much for your kind comment. Glad you enjoyed the films it makes it worthwhile knowing people are enjoying watching them.
as a kid growing up i remember TV Centre via Blue peter , topgear , cbbc and children in need to name a few kind of sad I never got to visit before it became apartments
I often like to go and tap-dance around the fountain, a la Roy Castle.
Great video
I thought the entire building had been demolished so I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the round building and the "Television Centre" wall with the white dots still exist!
I started my career at the beeb in the East Tower and moved to the Design Building at about the same time that you were there. I treasured my MCP ticket. 😂 Interesting to see how it’s developed. Thanks for sharing.
Shame you no longer have access for a nosey around inside like the old days! Thanks for this update
Often wonder had the decision been made by ITV earlier regarding The London Studios (LWT) on the South Bank in selling it off as they did, would they took a lease on part of TV Centre and had TC5 to TC8 with use ofTC1 for larger productions as they kind do now. They could even have sold off Grey’s Inn Road and moved ITV News to TVC.
I was offered a job there, but instead chose another at ATV Elstree. So glad I did. Best decision of my life.
Yes, very sad it went. The studios at Lime Grove, just down the road from there, went to Luxury flats too!
Thanks for putting this video together quite Bittersweet seeing the changes, I worked in the doughnut /ring corridor for a week or so installing optic fibre on the ground level and basement (lots of fun graffiti) area in 2006. Having grown up watching the beeb and being familiar with the building and studios it was quite an experience being amongst the working throng, standouts were meeting Andy peters, seeing Jeremy Paxman and Graham Norton who was filming strictly dance fever, I was up a pair of ladders working above a false ceiling and when I descended I was surrounded by 30 or so young women wearing leotards doing stretches.
It’s nice to see some of the flourish has been retained, I especially liked the main foyer in the doughnut as I was leaving Jordan turned up in a horrid pink limousine…
Interesting - Christmas night choice of viewing. ITV had an Old Morecambe and Wise. The choices of viewing are enormous. The days of large TV studios are numbered!
TV Centre has always been iconic in various ways and it's difficult not to let emotion sway our opinions, but it was ground breaking when it was built in bringing all the crafts together around a series of purpose built studios a short tube/taxi ride from the West End and Soho.
There must still be value in having so much talent and equipment on a single site. TV programmes are still being made today even if the technology of how they are made and broadcast/streamed has changed.
Perhaps if the BBC had let out the offices and studio time to other creative industries, instead of selling it off, it could have brought in income and remained a hotbed for UK TV/film/music talent - which is supposedly one of the UK's strengths and strong exports. TV companies, film companies, musicians still need spaces to peform and record their work. TV Centre could have been that.
I think Television Centre was the greatest Television Factory ever created. It was designed to produce the majority of the content of 2 channels, it turned round programmes in 24 hours, whereas most other studios required 3 days, it produced cheap television at at time when the technology was extremely expensive. Growing up in the sixties it seemed an incredibly wonderful place that the BBC celebrated. Somehow I was lucky enough to work there for 30 years. Yes technology has changed, the film industry has taken over drama production resulting in very few home grown dramas because they now cost a fortune. We used to turn out a hours worth of drama in 2.5 days in the studios! now not even soaps are produced at that speed, yes they may look better/expensive but are the stories and acting better? I don't think so, cheap meant that you could try things, be experimental without committees deciding its worth. The unique concentration of creative talent based at Television Centre meant you learnt fast from the best. I fear that in todays fragmented world of freelancers skills are being lost, and television is the worst for it. Because British television is failing to produce innovative content audiences are deserting it for the likes of this!
Absolutely criminal !
It’s sad and disappointing what’s happened to it I used to work there in the Comedy Department in the 90s and Early 00s yes they still have studios but it’s not the same most of them are gone the BBC has moved to Manchester and mostly Scotland now the memories will stay with me forever the BBC shouldn’t have sold it they could’ve redeveloped it
Fascinating, thank you for this! Growing up I dreamed of working here. The huge campus-style TV studios (Including regional ITV) are still exactly the kind of environment I would love to work in. Alas, I don't think you would find that outside of movie studios (And most of them seem to be converted warehouses rather than planned studio complexes)
Excellent film. TVC was always very iconic, even to people like me who had never visited it. Its interesting to have a look round it in modern times :).
Its sad to see. I visited here back in 1992 when I got invited to visit CBBC. memories of childhood ❤❤❤
The spirit of auntie Beeb will always be here ❤❤
It’s such a crime a lot of tv dramas now mostly made in the north west of England
Remember the days like me, when the studio P A said , change set as soon as you can studio, we're on Telecine, hundred pounds a minute ! The signal was piped to EMI at Hayes for recording in those days!🧐
I don't have a tv licence anymore. So much crap on the tv these days and the licence fee going up year after year I'm not the only one. Thousands of people don't watch tv now days and that number goes up year after year .
A place I worked for nearly quarter of a century. Very sad it had to close, but as you say - things have changed, technology moved on, and the BBC not what it was.
Notable that other big broadcasters are in out-of-town sites (Sky, Discovery etc.) but the BBC thought itself so important to retain Broadcasting House in the middle of town.
Like you said - I watched TVC as a child and was desperate to work there. My first day working I watched from my 2nd floor office Tomorrow's World doing an item live from within the doughnut. I was very excited seeing cue lights on the cameras match what was coming off air on BBC1!
I take it the fondly remembered Blue Peter Garden of my childhood is no more?
Sadly it now has a building on top of it.
It would have been good to have a list of the programmes made in each studio eg Blue Peter etc.
I am pretty sure This Morning is filmed there as I remember seeing outside shots and noticing the new outside and the television centre frontage which of course was confusing given it is an ITV show!
Yes you are correct… as mentioned in the film ITV use the studios that are managed by BBC Studioworks.
The absolute highlight for me was the prank that Armando Iannucci pulled on Bob Monkhouse in the reception of Television Centre.
been years since i left london it is a shame the creative talent has gone .... but regards the building i think the development is sympathetic and stylish ..... it is a remarkable building in its design from the 60s .......
Oh my word. Hadn't realised it had changed that much. Main question is what happened to the BBC club in TVC? Spent many happy evenings there in the 90s.
While I agree with you re technology shifting, the studio SPACE - the actual floor space, the lighting grids, the facilities around it to support them are what will be missed by future generations - set storage, construction, loading docks and so forth.
Gallery / Control rooms and the associated equipment probably not - expensive to maintain, power, cool, service, operate from a operation and operator perspective - but once space is gone, its gone for good...
Has acton rehearsal rooms gone to ? And what happened to sheperds bush theatre?
Yes Acton rehearsal rooms also now luxury flats and the theatre is privately owned.
All I remember on the final night of Television Centre was the programme they put on with numerous figures from over the years, all describing the choice as a terrible mistake.
Interesting video. It was ludicrous to sell off this iconic centre. It was as much at the core of BBC identity as anything else you can name, and should have been retained at all costs. OK, so I'm glad it retains some studios and indeed the place is still iconic; I've been there recently for a recording, but it was criminal to let it go. The BBC has had a unique relationship with its buildings, and for me they are and were important. Think of how important Bush House was to the BBC World Service! Yes, in that case it was not their building and they had to leave, but I cannot help but think of the legendary broadcasts made from there every time I approach it from the North down Southampton Row on a bus! Such is the case with BBC Television Centre; in my youth I attended a recording of Top of the Pops. The visit to the building itself was as exciting to me as the programme! I still have the wristband.
With the kind of money BBC Studios makes, you would think they'd have bought the entire building and converted part of it into a television museum that would have attracted many visitors. But no, there was more money in selling it off to private contractors who immediately turned it all into luxury flats. A real shame. The one thing I wonder about is where the Blue Peter Garden is. I'm sure it used to be somewhere very close to Television Centre. Probably long since gone/built over, no less.
The main parts are grade 2 listed buildings so will be kept safe from the ball and chain
Great insight to the TVC, but as technicalities even as back as late 90s got more developed. There was slowly less need for a massive building over time. By the time you got to when the building closed. The BBC had better facilities elsewhere
The walkway at 2:50, did that exist as a path to the back of the ring road? I discovered it last year while walking through the park behind TVC...I always try going that way when I'm in London.
This walkway did not exist as this would have been full of dressing rooms or offices with the original walkway going across this one.
Is this a reupload? I'm sure I watched this a couple of weeks ago.
Not a re-upload… there was one put up before Christmas which precedes this one and was shot in 2013.
Nostalgia is great, but times change. I loved TVC as much as everyone else, but older buildings often cost more to maintain and heat than newer constructions. Plus, with developments in media technology etc. one does not need sites such as this anymore. It’s the same with the old telephone exchanges and huge computer centres - the same functions that they performed can now be carried out by technology a small fraction of their size. Moving BBC away from London to Manchester and elsewhere has spread the job opportunities across the country. It’s right we mourn the loss of TVC, but let’s be thankful that they did at least retain the doughnut which is the iconic part of the site. It would, however, be interesting to know just how many ‘affordable homes’ have been built on the site. Not many I’m guessing, and for me, that’s the main crime.
Is it progress? As Sir Starmer would say in PMQT… NO! Such a pity, now it's all luxury flats. Always found the BBC TV Centre a very exciting to drive past back in the 1990's. Thanks for the upload.
I guess a plus side is tgat a lot of the original archetecture still remains and has been slightly considered during the refit. Glad to see the beeb sort of retuning to the site. Always sad to see a slice of history go but this could have been so much worse.
I think it look great. I would love to see inside one of the flats.
The critical question is, what has happened to the Blue Peter Garden and was the Time Capsule dug up?
It was dug up and now there is a building on the original site.
I found these online. Was the bbc now fit for purpose, or a drain on the licence fee payer?:
The BBC reportedly pays around £12 million per year in rent for three studios and stage 6 at the Television Centre in rent for the 3 studios (Studioworks) and stage 6 (BBC Studios).
The BBC's move to Salford was budgeted at £942 million, which included the cost of the relocation and the operating costs for the Salford site up to 2030. The BBC was able to manage the move within budget while maintaining broadcast continuity.
MediaCity in Salford costs the BBC £3m more a year to run than the national average for a similar building
The budget analysis lists costs including £170m on rent by 2030, £218m on new TV studio services and £15m on new radio and orchestra studios.
With costs including a lease which is estimated to be £50m, £37m on fitting out the buildings, plus a further £64m on "people-related…
What happened to all the staff that kept the building running? did they transferer to Broadcasting House
I done work experience at BBC TV Centre in 1995
I work in a TV stuxio (outside London), and we've had very little business since early 2023 - the BBC were probably right to sell off this space when they did!
There was i know other offices nearby on the road that doctor who used and sheperds bush theatre so they owned a lot round there
Digital tec changed the need for all that space needed.hd cameras are a lot smaller the need to store vt spools and the size of the equipment...different world
You said there was 8 studios, what happened to studio 9 aka 90s cbbc has that been demolished and what about the blue Peter garden?
The 8 studios I mention are the ones that were purposely built for TV production there were numerous small others along the way.
Interesting video. Quite appropriate now that TV is no longer relevent, that where it was made is now ripped up into flats. The real value was in the old programmes and the culture they portrayed. That no longer exists. It really does represent a moving on in culture, time and technology. The 'luxury' flats look quite austere and like something out of the Soviet bloc.
So the Blue Peter garden was destroyed/ built on too,?
Yes there is a building on there now.
Out of interest, did anyone here - or does anyone here know someone who may have worked on production for the BBC Choice show Backstage?... And if so, they wouldnt happen to know of any surviving footage from any episodes at all, would they?
I'm specifically looking for the Phantom Menace release episode that also featured Mark Westbrook (hairdresser). Iirc, it was broadcast from Broadcasting House or thereabouts, rather then TVC.
Is the Blue Peter garden still there?
There is now a building on that site.
Getting rid of BBC Television Centre, "genius?" ... Seriously???
I'd call it "vandalism!"
ironic how lifeless it feels now that's its all places to live
Send your letters to London W12 8QT
Always wanted to work in TVC as an electrician but stay in wrong end of country
I worked for make up running the make up girls mirrors and all there make up equipment to different studios or outside broadcast I was based right under the restaurants and looked outside to the blue Peter garden the stars that had to come in threw the ground floor up to the restaurants was a eye opener great memories
What studio is good morning Britain shot in? I guess the arguement as well is so much bbc stuff is made by production companies and location shooting is done so much it’s more economically viable
Views on this will be entirely subjective. There will be some members of the population that will possibly be quite glad the place is being at least partially demolished. Those that didn’t have an entirely happy experience with some of the ‘talent’ that prowled the corridors. In any case, the iconic elements of the structure have been preserved, as they should be, and the generic office buildings removed to make way for the new development.
Life and technology changes, things move on, Architecture from any period has good and bad points, developers/ speculators are always keen to look for opportunities to make a profit,that's business, the environmental impacts are easily brushed away, increased carbon footprints could easily be taxed more heavily,but costs just get passed on to the consumer, the taxation a government gets frequently gets p155ed up the wall, look at HS2 etc
So no easy answer.
But where's the Blue Peter garden and Petra's statue ?
There is now a building on top of it.
Why didn't they sell Bush House instead???
Terrible waste, preceded by destruction of Pebble Mill and Oxford Road and followed up by Llandaff BH Cardiff. At Least Belfast has decided to refurbish BH and Blackstaff. Bristol Whiteladies next for the wreckers ball...
I’m no fan of Clarkson or Top Gear but that the BBC basically gave away its biggest earner to Amazon over a tiny incident which didn’t involve the police perhaps demonstrates the broken thinking occurring in the organisation. Sure, dock Clarkson a year’s pay or suspend him for a while, but killing Top Gear was sheer financial lunacy.
As for the building, it would have made a great but expensive museum; I hope it was thoroughly documented before everybody left. It’s certainly a place where dreams were made to come true. It’s a shame that buildings of an era aren’t more prized- I see the same happening in Prague where spaces in which literal central-European despots planned wars are being renovated away into wine bars and luxury flats. Soon all the “ugly beauty” of communist era design will be gone.
Good riddance. BBC should solely charge their own viewers and stop leeching off of other channels viewers. If they can't afford that, they should shut up shop and leave broadcasting to the people who can afford to do it fairly. We don't make people pay a supermarket licence to sainsburys to be allowed to receive gifts or to use a food bank.
Glad the main structure has been kept and some studios remain. I do also think it is progress that many studios are now outside London for the BBC such as Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff. It did feel that the BBC productions were too Londoncentric throughout the 80s and 90s.
Another Dinosaur takes its place in History.... So long and take all those Skeletons in the Closet with Ya....
Auntie? More like pervy old uncle.
TVC was far more than just studios. You didn't mention the central wedge (Presentation, CAR, weather etc.), Stage 4 (news until the mid 1990s), Stage 5 (post production), and stage 6 (News from mid-1990s). Having working in the central wedge and Stage 4, I can confirm that it would have been incredibly expensive to refurbish to latest technology and even then it would have been a massive compromise if it was refurbished. It was 100% the correct decision to get rid of this 1950s dead-end, decaying monstrosity.
They are mentioned in my other post 👍
Same story with Bush House ..... cut backs in the early 2010s .