Lime Grove Studios

From the BBC Story website – http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/collections/buildings/lime_grove.shtml

The Lime Grove studios were originally built for the British film industry in 1915. At different times Gaumont, Gainsborough Pictures and Rank Films occupied the site, and some of the great names of British cinema worked there, including Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and David Lean.

The studios were acquired by the BBC in 1949 as a ‘temporary measure’ until its new Television Centre was built in nearby Wood Lane . When the new industry expanded as few had predicted, it soon became clear that the BBC would need a second substantial production centre in London for many years to come.

Lime Grove studios produced a host of memorable shows, including Hancock’s Half-Hour, Andy Pandy, Blue Peter, Steptoe & Son, Sooty, Doctor Who, Panorama, Nationwide, Grandstand and Breakfast Time. In 1992 the studios were closed, and the occasion was marked by a special day of television programmes.

Lime Grove studios were subsequently demolished in 1993 and the site was turned over to residential housing.

The history of the site is commemorated by the street names of the new housing development: Gainsborough Court and Gaumont Terrace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAm9OzqzpdI&feature=related

A time capsule was buried in 1927, and was retrieved before the building was demolished (with little regard for archaeological practice!) by TV presenter Anthea Turner in 1993:

Studio H at Lime Grove was also known as the TMS (Television Music Studio) where bands would lay down their backing tracks on Tuesdays before appearing on TOTP Wednesday’s for transmission Thursdays.


Productions shot at Lime Grove Studios

TV Series (2)

TitleReleasedCreator / ShowrunnerIMDB
Doctor Who (classic)1963 - 1989VariousIMDB Database page about Doctor Who (classic)
Blue Peter1958 - presentVariousIMDB Database page about Blue Peter
Children's magazine show. The first few years were shot at Lime Grove Studios, then at BBC TV Centre. The show has buried time-capsules at TV Centre (for excavation in 2029) and at the Greenwich Millennium Dome site (to be recovered in 2050). The Blue Peter garden (from 1974) is adjacent to the staff canteen at TV Centre.