BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepherds Bush, London
Tours
Tours were available of BBC TV Centre until around 2012, when TV Centre was sold. They’re no longer available, even though part of the building is still used as a TV studio.
BBC sale of TV Centre
The BBC is reportedly planning to sell TV Centre in 2013 in an effort to cut costs. Production will be moved to other facilities. Many departments (including BBC Childrens TV and BBC Sport) will be relocated to MediaCity in Manchester; a 200-acre site at Salford Quays.
History
BBC TV Centre (known as TVC) opened 29th June 1960, after six years of construction.
On opening day, there was still a great deal of the project left to build – the whole site was not completed for a few more years.
The new state-of-the-art building was a huge improvement after cramped conditions in Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove Studios.
The site on which TVC was built was used for the 1908 Franco-British exhibition.
Chief Architect: Graham Dawbarn
Civil Engineer (BBC): Marmaduke Tudsbury
- BBC News article about the opening of TV Centre
- Guardian Photo Gallery about BBC TV Centre
- TV Studio History – BBC TV Centre
2001 – Bomb
The building was damaged by a car bomb located outside Television Centre in March 2001. Staff evacuated the premises and no-one was injured.The attack was attributed to dissident Irish Republicans.
Facilities (to 2012)
- Studio Zero
- Studio One (10,250sq.ft.) – Known as TC1. UK’s largest fully equipped HD television studio
- Studio Two (3,500sq.ft.)
- Studio Three (8,000sq.ft.)
- Studio Four (8,000sq.ft.) – Regular home of ‘Blue Peter’.
- Studio Six (8,000sq.ft.) – UK’s first 1080 50P HD studio (August 2010)
- Studio Eight (8,000sq.ft.) – Known as the ‘comedy’ studio – used for many classic BBC comedies including Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Blackadder etc.
- Studio Nine
- Studio Ten
- Studio Eleven
- Studio Twelve
- Over 60 dressing rooms, including six Hollywood-style “Super-Star Rooms”
- 8 production offices
- 6 green rooms
Birth of a Building
Tales of Television Centre (broadcast in 2012)
Productions shot at BBC Television Centre
TV Series (29) | |||
| Title | Released | Creator / Showrunner | IMDB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miranda | 2009-2015 | Juliet May |  |
| Genius | 2009- | John L. Spencer | |
| Coming of Age | 2007- | Nick Wood, David Sant | |
| The Alan Titchmarsh Show | 2007 - | | |
| Studio TC4 | |||
| Not Going Out | 2006-2010 | Alex Hardcastle, Nick Wood | |
| The Thick Of It | 2005-2012 | Armando Iannucci | |
| 8 Out of 10 Cats | 2005 - | | |
| Mock the Week | 2005 - | Various | |
| Paul O'Grady Show, The | 2004-2009 | Various | |
| Strictly Come Dancing | 2004 - | | |
| Studio TC1 | |||
| Harry Hill's TV Burp | 2002 - | Peter Orton | |
| 2001 - 2009 at Teddington Studios. From 2009 at BBC TV Centre. Series 10 is shot in TC4. | |||
| Friday Night with Jonathan Ross | 2001-2010 | Various | |
| Recorded in Studio TC4. Made in HD between 2009 and 2010. | |||
| Never Mind the Buzzcocks | 1996 - | Various | |
| The Vicar of Dibley | 1994-2020 | Richard Curtis | |
| Absolutely Fabulous | 1992-2004 | Bob Spiers, Dewi Humphreys, Christine Gernon | |
| House of Eliott, The | 1991-1994 | Various | |
| This was the last major drama series to be shot at TV Centre. Subsequent productions were shot on either film or single camera video on location, as equipment became smaller and technology improved. | |||
| Casualty | 1986- | Jeremy Brock, Paul Unwin | |
| Season 1 filmed interiors at BBC TV Centre. Season 2 - 25 filmed in an industrial unit on Waterloo Road in Bristol. Exteriors were filmed in Bristol until Season 26. The exterior of the A&E unit was Gate 3 at City of Bristol College Seasons 1 - 17. | |||
| The Invisible Man | 1984 | Brian Lighthill | |
| The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy | 1981 | Alan J.W. Bell | |
| A single day (28 October 1980) was used just for filming models for episodes 2-6. | |||
| Grange Hill | 1978-2008 | Phil Redmond | |
| 1978 - 1985: Interiors filmed at BBC TV Centre. Exteriors were shot at various real schools around London. | |||
| Blakes 7 | 1978 - 1981 | Various | |
| Shot on film at Ealing Studios and on tape at BBC TV Centre (from November 1977). | |||
| The Good Life | 1975 - 1978 | John Howard Davies | |
| TC6, shot in front of a live audience of around 300 people. | |||
| Fawlty Towers | 1975 | John Howard Davies (s1), Bob Spiers (s2) | |
| Studio TC4 | |||
| The Two Ronnies | 1971 - 1987 | | |
| All programmes were taped on Stage 08 at BBC TV Centre in front of a live studio audience of around 300 people. | |||
| Monty Python's Flying Circus | 1969-1974 | Ian MacNaughton, John Howard Davies | |
| Top of the Pops | 1964-2016 | | |
| Doctor Who (classic) | 1963 - 1989 | Various | |
| Filmed at BBC TV Centre between 1964 and 1989. Almost all of Jon Pertwee's studio scenes were shot here. The new Doctor Who is produced by BBC Wales in their own studios. | |||
| That Was The Week That Was | 1962-1963 | Ned Sherrin | |
| Blue Peter | 1958 - present | Various | |
| Children's magazine show. The first few years were shot at Lime Grove Studios. 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. | |||
TV Special (1) | |||
| Title | Released | Director | IMDB |
| Eurovision Song Contest 1963 | 1963 | Yvonne Littlewood | |
| Presenter Katie Boyle, the scoreboard and the audience were in one studio. Performers and the orchestra were in another. | |||