BBC Elstree Centre

The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England.

This site was the first of several such complexes colloquially referred to as "Elstree Studios" located in the area. Originally created as a film studio in 1914, the site was converted for use as a television studio in 1960, becoming the main television production site for Lew Grade's ATV franchise for the ITV network. After ATV became Central Television in the early 1980s and moved to a new Midlands-based complex, this site was sold to the BBC in 1984. It is currently a main production base for BBC Television, with the television studios being run by the BBC's commercial subsidiary BBC Studioworks, previously known as BBC Studios and Post Production.

The BBC Elstree Centre site includes the external set for the long-running soap opera ''EastEnders'' and, until December 2021, the medical drama ''Holby City''. With the sale and partial demolition of BBC Television Centre in west London, BBC Television's original head office and primary TV production site, Studio D at Elstree has since been utilised for many of the BBC's large studio productions; such as ''Children in Need'', Comic Relief and the BBC's 2015 General Election coverage.

During the 2010s, BBC Studioworks began operating three additional sound stages, newly equipped for television, at the nearby Elstree Studios on Shenley Road.

History

Film studio

The Neptune Film Company opened the first studios in Borehamwood in 1914. It contained just a single window-less stage (the first 'dark stage' in England), relying on electricity from a gas-powered generator for lighting. At the time, this was an innovation, as the majority of early films were shot in large glass-roof studios which relied on natural light.BBC Elstree
at TV Studio History, URL accessed 6 November 2015 It was said that Borehamwood was chosen as it had a good London train service, but was far enough away to avoid the then-regular London pea soup fogs. At the time, Borehamwood was a small hamlet in the parish of Elstree, named after the larger village of Elstree, as was the railway station of Elstree, and so the studio's location was often referred to as "Elstree", rather than "Borehamwood". Production at Neptune Studios ceased during 1917, and the studios were sold to the Ideal Film Company, who used the site up until 1924.

During 1928, the studios were sold to Ludwig Blattner, who connected them to the electricity mains and introduced a German system of sound recording. The Blattner Studios were leased to Joe Rock Productions during 1934, and two years later it purchased the site, renaming it "Rock Studios". Rock Productions built four new large stages, and began making films, including the drama film ''The Edge of the World'' (1937), directed by Michael Powell.

The studios were owned by British National Films Company between 1939 and 1948, although during this period a large portion of the studio was taken over by the British government for war work.

During 1953, the studios were bought by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., mainly for television production, who renamed them "National Studios", although they were informally known as "Fairbanks Studios". Early productions included the ''Douglas Fairbanks Presents'' series (1953–1957), and a few episodes of ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents''.

ATV

The studios were sold to Lew Grade's Associated Television (ATV) in May 1958. The original intention of the new owners was to use the facility for production of the affiliated ITC filmed series. ''The Adventures of William Tell'' (1958–59) was produced here, but ATV's existing television studios were insufficient for its requirements. A site on London's South Bank had been purchased, but completion of a wholly new complex would be some years in the future, while the need for more studio space was urgent. As a result, the Eldon Avenue centre was re-equipped as an electronic television complex, and most of ATV's live and video-taped shows were made there. The series made by the affiliated ITC, such as ''The Saint'', ''Gideon's Way'', and ''The Prisoner'', were shot on 35mm film at other companies' neighbouring Elstree facilities or elsewhere, mostly at the ABPC Elstree (Film) Studios, and MGM-British Studios.

Originally, some ATV programmes were made at the Alpha studios in Aston, Birmingham, as ATV had the weekday ITV Midland franchise as well as the weekend London franchise until network changes in 1968. After 1970, programmes such as ''Crossroads'' were made at the new Birmingham studios at the ATV Centre. Larger-scale productions, including many drama programmes, continued to be recorded at the Elstree facility for the rest of ATV's existence. In the period of its occupation of the Elstree complex, the smaller Studios A and B were used for schools TV and sitcoms, while Studio C was a drama studio. Studio D, with permanent audience seating, was used for light entertainment programmes such as the ATV Morecambe and Wise series ('' Two of a Kind'', 1961–68) and ''The Muppet Show'' (1976–81).

ATV was restructured as Central Independent Television for the new contractual period beginning in January 1982. One of the conditions of its licence renewal by the governing body of the ITV network, then the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), was that ATV should vacate any London-based facilities and become entirely focused on the English Midlands, the region of the United Kingdom for which it had held the ITV franchise since 1968. For the last 18 months of its use as an ITV production studio, the complex was under the ownership of Central Independent Television; as ATV ceased to exist as a company at the end of 31 December 1981. The studios remained in operation by Central TV up until July 1983 (the final production under Central ownership being a Max Bygraves-era episode of ''Family Fortunes''), when its new East Midlands Television Centre in Nottingham was completed.

BBC Elstree Centre

When the BBC
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