Lime Grove Studios
Lime Grove Studios | |
---|---|
Art Deco | |
Location | Lime Grove, Shepherd's Bush |
Town or city | London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°30′13″N 0°13′38″W / 51.50361°N 0.22722°W |
Completed | 1915 |
Opened |
|
Demolished | 1993 |
Owner |
|
Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England.
The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and when it first opened was described by Gaumont as "the finest studio in Great Britain and the first building ever put up in this country solely for the production of films". Many Gainsborough Pictures films were made here from the early 1930s. Its sister studio was Islington Studios, also used by Gainsborough; films were often shot partly at Islington and partly at Lime Grove.
In 1949, the complex was purchased by the BBC, who used it for television broadcasts until 1991. It was demolished in 1993.[1]
Gaumont-British Picture Corporation
In 1922,
The studios prospered under Gaumont-British, and in 1941 were bought by the
BBC studios
In 1949 the
Lime Grove would be used for many BBC Television programmes over the next forty-two years, including:
The Queen and Prince Philip visited Lime Grove on 28 October 1953, when they observed production of the variety show For Your Pleasure, the quiz show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?, and a drama production, The Disagreeable Man.[4]
On 20 January 1966, the first edition of
Lime Grove hosted a revolution in British TV when Breakfast Time began broadcasting from there on 17 January 1983, the start of popular daytime television hosted by Frank Bough, Selina Scott and Nick Ross.
Lime Grove's use for programmes outside current affairs declined over time, and later episodes of the continuing series were made at BBC Television Centre and BBC Elstree Centre. Indeed, in Lime Grove Studios' final years, its official name was Lime Grove Current Affairs Production Centre.[6]
Humble Pie performed Desperation, a Steppenwolf single from the debut albums of both: Steppenwolf and Humble Pie; Natural Born Bugie, their debut single; Heartbeat, a Buddy Holly single, and; The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake, their second single, for a recording-and-broadcast for the BBC. Led Zeppelin performed White Summer and Black Mountain Side there, on The Julie Felix Show, on 23 April 1970.[citation needed]
In 1991 the BBC decided to consolidate its London television production at the nearby BBC Television Centre and to close its other studios including Lime Grove. The last live programme to be broadcast from Lime Grove was
On 26 August 1991, a month after the studios were closed, the BBC transmitted a special day of programming called The Lime Grove Story, featuring examples of the many programmes and films that had been made at Lime Grove in its 76 years as a place of film and television production.[7] BBC Television Theatre close by, near Shepherd's Bush Green, reverted to being the Shepherd's Bush Empire.
By the end, the building was in such a poor state of repair that the remaining BBC staff nicknamed it "Slime Grove". The building was put on the market and eventually bought by a development company, Notting Hill Housing Association, which demolished the studios in 1993, and redeveloped the site into a housing estate. The streets in the estate were named Gaumont Terrace and Gainsborough Court, in memory of the past owners of Lime Grove Studios.[citation needed]
In popular culture
Lime Grove Studios was the setting for the fictional current affairs programme
See also
References
- ^ "The BBC's TV studios in London". tvstudiohistory.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 June 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ 1950s British TV Milestones Whirligig 50s British TV
- ^ a b c "Last programme from Lime Grove Studios". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021.
- ^ Khalil, Hannah (21 May 2015). "Remembering Lime Grove Studios". BBC. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-85716-063-8. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- ^ "Last programme from Lime Grove Studios". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
- ^ Radio Times feature on The Lime Grove Story Archived 2004-01-16 at the Wayback Machine Doctor Who Cuttings Archive