Bray Film Studios (UK)
Bray Film Studios | |
---|---|
Former names | Down Place Bray Studios |
General information | |
Type | Film and television studios |
Address | Windsor Road, Water Oakley, Windsor, Berkshire |
Country | England, United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°29′34″N 0°40′34″W / 51.492881°N 0.676111°W |
Website | |
Bray Film Studios |
Bray Film Studios is a British film and television facility in Water Oakley near Bray, Berkshire. It is best known for its association with Hammer Film Productions.
History
Down Place
Down Place, a large
Hammer Film Productions (1951–1970)
In 1951,[a] Hammer Film Productions bought Down Place, a location they had used in 1950 to film The Dark Light.[6][5] The premises were largely derelict, and Hammer used the building's interior for filming before constructing a sound stage on the estate in 1952.[6][5] The first full production at the studios was the 1951 film Cloudburst.[7]
In 1959,
The final Hammer film produced in full at Bray was 1966's The Mummy's Shroud;[10] by November 1966 the move to Elstree was complete.[8] In 1968, the last member of the Davies family left the house and the wing was converted into luxury flats.[5] At the suggestion of EMI, as ABPC had become, Hammer sought to sell Bray Studios. Initially valued at £250,000 (£4,051,298 in 2019), Hammer sold the site in November 1970 for approximately £70,000 (£1,090,738 in 2019).[8][5]
Post-Hammer era (1970–2014)
Following their purchase, the premises were renamed the Bray International Film Centre and a fifth sound stage was constructed. Production continued at Bray, including
Sale (2014–2019)
In 2014, Hendricks announced his intention to sell the site, explaining that it was not economically viable citing competition from the studios at
Reopening (2019–)
Filming resumed at Bray in 2019 with all three episodes of the BBC's Dracula having scenes filmed at the complex.[16] In June 2020, Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council approved plans to expand the complex with new studios and workshops.[17]
List of productions
- The Dark Light (1951)[5][b]
- Cloudburst (1951)[7]
- A Case for PC 49 (1951)[5]
- Whispering Smith Hits London (1951)[18]
- The Last Page (1952)[19]
- Death of an Angel (1952)[5]
- The Gambler and the Lady (1952)[9]
- Mantrap (1953)[9][c]
- The Flanagan Boy (1953)[9][c]
- Four Sided Triangle (1953)[9][c]
- Spaceways (1953)[9]
- Blood Orange (1953)[5]
- The Saint's Return (1953)[5]
- 36 Hours (1953)[5]
- Murder by Proxy (1954)[9][c]
- Face the Music (1954)[5]
- Five Days (1954)[5]
- The House Across the Lake (1954)[5]
- Life with the Lyons (1954)[5]
- Mask of Dust (1954)[5]
- The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954)[5]
- A Stranger Came Home (1954)[5]
- Third Party Risk (1954)[5]
- The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)[5]
- The Errol Flynn Theatre (1955)[5][d]
- Break in the Circle (1955)[5]
- The Glass Cage (1955)[5]
- The Lyons in Paris (1955)[5]
- The Right Person (1956)[5]
- X the Unknown (1956)[5]
- Dick Turpin: Highwayman (1956)[5]
- Women Without Men (1956)[5]
- The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)[5]
- The Abominable Snowman (1957)[5]
- Quatermass 2 (1957)[5]
- The Steel Bayonet (1957)[5]
- Day of Grace (1957)[5]
- Man with a Dog (1957)[5]
- Danger List (1957)[5]
- The Camp on Blood Island (1958)[5]
- Murder at Site 3 (1958)[5]
- Up the Creek (1958)[5]
- Clean Sweep (1958)[5]
- The Snorkel (1958)[5]
- I Only Arsked! (1958)[5]
- The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)[5]
- Further Up the Creek (1958)[5]
- Dracula (1958)[5]
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)[5]
- Yesterday's Enemy (1959)[20]
- The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)[5]
- The Mummy (1959)[5]
- The Ugly Duckling (1959)[5]
- The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)[5]
- The Brides of Dracula (1960)[5]
- The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)[21]
- Hell Is a City (1960)[5]
- Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960)[5]
- Visa to Canton (1960)[5]
- The Full Treatment (1960)[5]
- Cash on Demand (1961)[5]
- The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)[5]
- The Shadow of the Cat (1961)[5]
- Taste of Fear (1961)[5]
- The Terror of the Tongs (1961)[5]
- Watch It, Sailor! (1961)[5]
- Captain Clegg (1962)[5]
- The Phantom of the Opera (1962)[5]
- The Pirates of Blood River (1962)[5]
- The Damned (1963)[5]
- The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)[5]
- Paranoiac (1963)[5]
- Maniac (1963)[5]
- The Old Dark House (1963)[5]
- The Scarlet Blade (1963)[5]
- Siege of the Saxons (1963)[5][d]
- The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)[5]
- The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)[5]
- The Gorgon (1964)[5]
- Nightmare (1964)[5]
- The Runaway (1964)[5][d]
- Delayed Flight (1964)[5][d]
- Circus of Fear (1966)[5][d]
- The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)[5][d]
- The Plague of the Zombies (1966)[9]
- Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)[9]
- Rasputin the Mad Monk (1966)[9]
- The Reptile (1966)[9]
- The Mummy's Shroud (1967)[9]
- Moon Zero Two (1969)[5][e]
- When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)[5][e]
- I Start Counting (1969)[5][d]
- Trog (1970)[5][d]
- The Music Lovers (1970)[5][d]
- Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)[5][d]
- Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1973)[5]
- Games Girls Play (1974)[5]
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)[5]
- Space: 1999 (1975–1977)[5][e]
- Agatha (1979)[5]
- Alien (1979)[22]
- Loophole (1981)[5]
- Terrahawks (1983–1986)[5]
- Hope and Glory (1987)[5]
- For Queen and Country (1988)[5]
- Poirot (1989–2013)[5]
- Ali G Indahouse (2002)[5]
- Fimbles (2002-2004)
- The Roly Mo Show (2004-2008)
- Mutant Chronicles (2008)[5]
- Rocketman (2019)[16]
- Dracula (2020)[16]
Footnotes
- ^ Other sources suggest 1952[5]
- ^ Filmed at Down Place before Hammer had established the full-time studio there
- ^ a b c d For this production, the studios were credited as Exclusive Studios[9]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Although filmed during Hammer's tenure at Bray, this feature was not a Hammer production
- ^ a b c Although a Hammer production, only the effects unit at Bray was used on this production
References
- ISBN 9781473321885.
- ^ Ambulator: or, A pocket companion in a tour round London, within the circuit of twenty five miles ... The fourth edition. [The preface signed: R. Lobb.]. J. Bew. 1792. p. 78.
- ^ Daniel Lysons (1813). Magna Britannia;: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire. T. Cadell and W. Davies. p. 451.
- ^ "Bray Studios - Chronology". thestudiotour.com. The Studio Tour. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-09-193357-9.
- ^ ISBN 9781840680577.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-5381-2659-2.
- ISBN 978-1-5381-2659-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-5381-2659-2.
- ^ Black, Johnny. "The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert: Behind The Scenes". Classic Rock Magazine. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ISBN 9781780221755.
- ^ Hewitt, Sean (14 September 2007). "David Gilmour: Remember That Night – Live at the Royal Albert Hall" (PDF). Nottingham Evening Post. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ "Plans for film studios revealed". BBC News. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ a b c Cremona, Patrick (3 January 2020). "Where was the BBC's Dracula filmed?". Radio Times. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ Bunce, Alan (18 June 2020). "Bray Studios expansion approved". UK Property Forums. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-5381-2659-2.
- ISBN 978-1-5381-2659-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
- ISBN 1-903889-94-4.