Goodbye Auntie - Final Look Around BBC TV Centre Before Demolition

[@jd4925]

This should have been a National Heritage building. An iconic design that survived beyond the era until the developers took over 😢.

[@Problembeing]

It’s criminal to destroy such an iconic building with all that history. So many ugly and horrific buildings get turned into heritage sites, but this GENUINE piece of British heritage gets let for the bulldozers. Unconscionable.

[@dubsy4835]

I was a Police Officer in Wales in 1982 and met a BBC news crew sound engineer during a party conference. He had so much down time that he began collecting police memorabilia as a hobby.. he offered me some tickets for a show if I gave him a badge from my uniform.. I upped the ante and offered him a genuine police helmet for a trip around this building.. he jumped at the chance. I sent him the 'goods' and I had a great Saturday mornings tour.. went to lots of places that 'normal people' didn't have access to.. met lots of faces I recognised 'from the telly'.. great memories.. RIP Mike Hillman. 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@thingsbeginningwithj]

How strange... I worked at TV Centre many times but the last time was in the dying days. I loved the place. Not just the quirky and beautifully strange building, but the atmosphere and the ethos. It really was very special. On my last day I took myself on a photographic tour, recording memories of what was by then a tragic, mostly empty ghost of its former self. Because so few people were left I was able to access all kinds of previously out of bounds areas, - everything from the staff canteen kitchen, to the basement storage areas, the news room and even the studios themselves. I got lots of great photos... And yesterday, after not having thought about TVC for a long time, I got a strong pang of nostalgia (not a feeling I am prone to) and a great urge to look through those pics again. It was as bittersweet as ever... Then today, this video is reommended to me! As I said, very strange...

[@bitesizetv6146]

Wow that is weird! Glad you enjoyed going back down memory lane.

[@nexpro6985]

Was invited to Television Centre by Richard Woolf once. I got to see hearts of gold being recorded. It was very professional.

[@michaeldibb]

I remember when Blue Peter had to dig up their Year 2000 time capsule and move it because the BBC were building a large extension onto television Centre over the top where it was currently buried. Never thought such an Iconic building with so many happy memories of all the shows made there would be shut down. Thanks for the explore.

[@AlanTaylorCRSmusicproduction]

Looking at all those dilapidated rooms, stairs and studios it reminded me of my childhood watching Swap Shop, Blue Peter etc. Sad that this once great building is being destroyed in the name of progress but I guess the roundel part of the center is listed and cannot be pulled down? This building is a monument to the days when the beeb was relevant and actually produced programing for everyone.

[@steveradford5460]

Nostalgic reminder of a school careers visit to Television Centre in 1971 or 72. Near the main reception there was a display case containing a transparent arm from a Dr Who robot (or Cyborg). Electronic components within visible. School mate Richard and I were studying this arm when someone approached from behind, arms around both our shoulders " Ern's got one of them!" It was Eric Morecambe!

[@grahammitchell9415]

We were a TVC family. My Father was a house service electrician for17 years, my wife was in Technical Services and Business Unit for 15 years and I was a Technician in Mechanical Work Shop for 18 years.

[@Lighting_Desk]

I was under the impression that this would be converted not demolished. So much history that you can't replace.

[@bitesizetv6146]

The main donut was converted a three studios kept but a huge portion was demolished.

[@Ampex196]

I cried many tears. It all floods back. An act of corporate vandalism if ever there was! The 'bean counters' were behind it all. I could almost understand losing Lime Grove. Losing the Television Theatre was a big mistake. The loss of Television Centre was totally unthinkable, but they did it!

[@zamiadams4343]

Television Centre was such a magical place, I was on the "Jules Holland" show which was shot there, I remember meeting Adele and many others, I used to stay in Shepherds Bush and would often walk past the place. Sad to see such an iconic building going.

[@fanyt1894]

Thanks so much for uploading. What a gem. If you have anymore, please upload - we love it!!

[@jetblakink]

Always used to marvel at that building from the outside whenever I came up to white city from Brixton, as my girlfriend and future wife lived in the estate not far from there. It seemed to be a magical place, but I never ever set foot inside. When I studied as a TV repair engineer, we had a day trip there, but I was absent for some reason I don't remember.

[@davepfizer]

I worked for BBC News between 2000 and 2010 and even during those years the amount of actual TV produced there was minimal. On a night shift it was interesting to see the floor painting going on. I used to work on the 7th floor and then had a desk and a workshop space in the control room above the tiny studios 12 and 13 neither of which were ever used whilst I was there. I used to support the on line servers and then the red button news services that was £4,500,000 of equipment and then I also got to support the streaming news content. And then they screwed me forcing me to resign. I would never ever trust the BBC.

[@daveo415]

Spent 12 happy years working at TVC, first in VTR and then News. It was an act of "cultural vandalism" to demolish Television Center.... such happy memories.

[@dcarbs2979]

Now there really is nothing left of the BBC worth talking about.

[@mikepanchaud1]

I worked there as a technical assistant/ engineer from 1978 to 1989 in telecine and vt. So sad to see it all again like this. On Google street view you can still walk around the deserted corridors on all 6 floors, but was filmed when it was almost closed . Why was it circular? In pre digital days the timing of the tv signal was very crirical, so it was a way to ensure all the studios arrived in the central apparatus room correctly timed.

[@bitesizetv6146]

That’s an interesting fact! It’s Frances here, Jamie’s wife… I used to bring the pan and scan ticker tapes for the feature films over to telecine sometimes… such great memories.

[@Jon-bx1ij]

I went to see Tv Centre shortly after it closed down. I couldn't actually go inside it but I got right up to the gates, I remember thinking how massive it looked and had memories of seeing it on Blue Peter/Children in Need/Red Nose Day/Going Live and Live and Kicking. I think the Studio scenes on Ghostwatch were done there.

[@video99couk]

7:35 I didn't know anyone apart from Panasonic did DVCPRO. It was an unreliable format. I would love to play with that camera and I probably have a lens for it.

[@hobbayne]

I remember watching a Ronnie Corbett show being recorded there back in 1987. they had to reshoot to one of the scenes a few times, and that is why he starts off wearing a tie and finishes not wearing a tie. We had to sit through a few retakes.

[@bitesizetv6146]

Great story.

[@HowardPrice]

How sad is this???!! Another iconic part of the London skyline gone. Tragic.

[@davidwilde66]

I worked there for a few weeks in the early 90s. I was sure I saw the Blue Peter garden. Couldn’t remember how I saw it. Now I know. Meal times at Restaurant!

[@tristandunn4628]

Even though there has been a lifetime of wonderful memories from there, I have absolutely zero emotion about this. TV Licensing has utterly defecated on any good work the BBC has ever done or will do. Their harassment and bullying tactics are despicable.

[@djsherz]

Sad. Although it's a place I never actually visited, it still feels like I know and love it. Growing up in the 80s, the programmes that I watched often seemed to regularly flit to "behind the scenes", giving us the viewers a glimpse of what went on in that building. Shows like Blue Peter and Going Live would often seem to take us up a random corridor or occasionally into a control room, and as a nerdy kid I was fascinated by this. I dreamed of one day getting a job there, maybe a camera operator or one of the "boys in VT". Alas that never happened for me! Having so many different programmes made there gave the channel a "feel" for me somehow. How often a star of one show could randomly show up as a guest on another. Shows referencing each other, or making digs about the BBC canteen, it all seemed rather chummy, at least that's how it appeared to us the viewers. You'd watch the end credits of a show for familiar names, some bloke called Ken Morse would invariably be in control of the rostrum camera, Roger Limb wrote the music, Mykola somebody was the editor. It all seemed like one big happy family! All that talent under one roof was a wonderful thing, something died when TVC closed down. It lost that sense of togetherness, and became more fragmented. In years to come, when the Beeb is a sorry shadow of what it once was, people will look back to the moment they closed this building as the moment the rot set in.

[@bitesizetv6146]

It really was like that… a fantastic place to work. You are right the day they closed it down is the day TV died for me.

[@MattF340]

Absolute madness moving out of there.

[@Springamatul]

I have never been inside either but seen it from outside going past it on several occasions. I also remember the artwork on the wall ❤

[@carolinewaite7185]

Ah no! End of an era. All the original tv filming studios have gone now I think? 😢❤ Thanks for showing this.

[@bitesizetv6146]

Very sad… three of the original studios are still there. Five were demolished.

[@brushhead]

When I was a boy in 1986 I ended up on a CBBC game show called Secret's Out. The visit stayed with me for ever and was very sad at TVC's sale and decommissioning. I remember ringing main switch and asking for room 3305. I'm an engineer now and even then I wanted to look at the TX technology.

[@EmuGamesMaster]

Destroy all the evidence hey

[@ConfidentialMeerkat]

It really is clear just how little they care about the building, the people who work/ed there, and the licence fee payers who have PAID for all that stuff that has been left there like them pictures! I'm so glad itv stepped in to save the rest!

[@bitesizetv6146]

Unfortunately ITV didn’t step in and rescue it, they were closing down their own studios in London and chose to utilise a couple of the remaining studios on a lease for their own benefit. The rest of the building is now a huge expensive complex of houses, flats etc that stand on the original footprint of this once jewel in the crown of the BBC.

[@malacca1951]

The circular-section was converted into luxury flats a few years ago. I know this because I stayed in an air bnb there 4 years ago before being in the audience for QI. I guess some of the building was demolished and some was upgraded?

[@Realsuperdoctor3]

Just to think the creation of Doctor Who began in that building, television history was made in there such a shame they have done this.

[@TrevorSteven]

Majority of the building hasn’t been demolished. This Morning & Loose Women is still filmed in the studios there! Also it wasn’t ’the Labour governments desire to move tv out of London’ - the BBC vacated the premises in 2012. All the changes took place under the Tory Government & have long since been completed. This video is very misleading & makes out that stuff that happened a decade ago is happening now.

[@bitesizetv6146]

Thanks for the feedback. Let me put you straight, firstly, none of the shows you mention are BBC, out of the 8 superb studios and offices that once stood there, most has been demolished with only three remaining studios. Yes they are still working, but 2 assigned long term for ITV only and where the others stood have been replaced by luxury flats (inc expensive penthouses) restaurants and I believe a gym. None of which are what the TV licence fee payers expected for their buck. In 2001/2 along with other BBC shows I took over as series studio director for Watchdog. The current Labour government headed by Tony Blair felt too much TV production and news for that matter, came from the South. So he wanted to tip the balance, the late Tessa Jowell was also instrumental in seeing Labour's dream through so BBC management had to oblige I guess. I was told at the time I took over Watchdog that Studio shows were dated, and as a result so was TVC. This in my opinion was the start the demise of TV Centre. No one could believe it, concerned I wrote to Broadcast magazine, OFCOM, BECTU etc about this and potential job losses, but none seemed to care or want to challenge the decision. We (the production team) were instructed to take the three brands of weekly live Watchdog shows (Watchdog, Watchdog Healthcheck and Weekend Watchdog) out of TVC to the BBC White City Offices up the road to produce the shows. However the building wasn't designed to broadcast live TV each week, this seemed madness but told to leave our perfectly good facilities at TVC (at great costs to licence fee payers) leaving us no choice with two WD strands out on the road as outside broadcasts. This left the main Watchdog show coming live from the White City building which wasn't geared up for telly. We also had to move the Watchdog offices from the 4th floor, down to the ground floor so we could produce the show. The only way I could make this work was to have a OB and lighting trucks arrive each week to allow us to make our show...all in a busy 'viewer sensitive' working office!

[@bitesizetv6146]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqS5gYKNgaqKldUsi=BXBVk4g9m_2c7bqc

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

Why does everything seem to be moved upto Manchester. Granada Television as it was, already controls ITV, all the the independent companies that were are now gone. I used to enjoy driving past the Television Centre when I worked down Scrubs Lane back in the 1990's. Now it's all trendy housing and restaurants. All gone!

[@zulu5282]

My father was a senior exec for news and current affairs and later presentation. When I worked in London I'd visit my father and enjoy many pint in the club lounge.

[@CyclarityUK]

Despise some of the evils that happened in that building, it made a lot of history & memories for a lot of people that will never be recreated, it helped produce some of the best television shows the UK has ever experienced in the 80s & 90s from all of the Totp shows, Bottom, The Young Ones, Red Dwarf, The two Ronnies, Blue Peter with their life boat appeals , Anther Turner building Tracey island & Allo Allo! With Rene Artois with the fallen Madonna & of course not forgetting Ofah, Bonjour.

[@robmortimer4150]

Astounded that this isn’t a protected building

[@wayneblake1161]

Very upsetting, grew up it was the magic factory. Terrible crime to leave it and go to Manchester. Never been the same. Even worse ITV now use it,

[@dblyth5098]

At the very least some of it is still in Television use, unlike Southbank, Teddington, Pebble Mill, Fountain, Bridge Street (Birmingham) + more.

[@howardtayloresq.]

Remember getting lost there, and in the reception area was a massive tv broadcasting internally HDTV

[@BrianQuinton-l1e]

Hope all the office equipment is not going to be trashed

[@MarkFraserWeather]

Joanne Whalley was the woman he was trying to remember - once married to Val Kilmer.

[@chrisclose7793]

i remember television centre being part of the intro to bbc live and kicking

[@martinlewis967]

Can’t believe that it wasn’t listed, all about 🏦🏦I suppose

[@tobylynch]

Should have been covered by a unique design preservation order. And used as a drama school or something similar.

[@nicholasroberts6954]

As if couldn't have been donated to the locals for community projects . . . Grenfell comes to mind. There's enough deprivation up in that locality. But no, property developers and the WEF rule. The implicit message . . "London is no longer yours . . . "

[@wamgoc]

Luxury Apartments now!😊

[@Azureecosse]

I guess it is sad I ve never been to the centre let alone London I live in Scotland but as a child of the 70s watching all the marvellous iconic kids programs made there and the outside shots and some inside shots of stars walking around the corridors it is the end of an era so I can understand how you feel.

[@thekelvinator9087]

ITV owns the television centre now

[@bitesizetv6146]

I believe ITV lease studio space but Stanhope actually own it.

[@simonipswich]

Criminal what happened, similarly like TLS which has been stripped bare and eerily full of ghosts waits the wrecking ball. And now Studio D is going to be demolished next year along with the old ATV block, some of which had been used for Holby City and the hospital scenes in EastEnders.

[@helennassau12]

Thank you

[@bitesizetv6146]

You're welcome 👍

[@kevlar0862]

The Singing Detective - I think you refer to Joanne Whalley as Nurse Mills - the nurse taking care of Philip Marlow's (Michael Gambon) needs.

I would have loved to have worked there, the electrical system must have been amazing, unfortunately never got the chance, I know a few fellow electrical engineers who worked at the old BBC studios in Glasgow & they laugh when I ask them about the electrical systems in there, one in particular said “stick to fixing power faults on trains” there’s less egos 😂

[@cedarcam]

Really sad to see all the things left behind there. A huge waste of a once great building too, that could of made a fantastic visitor attraction with the amount of people who will of worked or visited there who would love to return one day. The BBC now a shadow of what it was. I remember passing by years ago and thinking how I would love to go inside one day and see where all those great programmes were made.

[@heene]

I thought it was converted into flats except for one big studio used for shoes like Graham Norton.

[@dezzaofoz]

I would have thought the building would have been heritage listed!!

[@slatersinternationalfunera5599]

Do you know which of the studios Top of the Pops in the 1970s was filmed in?

[@bitesizetv6146]

I understand it was filmed in various studios. I attended as a teenager and it was in 3 or 4 but I’m sure someone out there will know more?

[@andylinton2798]

I thought the building was retained, what's Television Centre now that ITV etc uses?

[@bitesizetv6146]

The main donut and where five of the original studios stood are now flats… whilst it’s still called Television Centre it’s not the iconic hub of British TV that it once was… especially with only three studios remaining.

[@Perthshire]

Was "Jim'll fix it" filmed here? Or any Rolf Harris shows? I have zero sympathy for the building being demolished. BBC output nowadays is a shadow of how it used to be. And their bully boy licence fee tactics are despicable. If they think their output is so marvellous, they should opt for a subscription service instead. But we all know their bloated, cumbersome, leftie leaning business structure would collapse pretty shortly afterwards. They need to move with the times and not rely on an antiquated funding stream by way of a licence fee.

[@MePeterNicholls]

Did you ever work with my mate David Wheeler?

[@bitesizetv6146]

It’s totally possible but I’m terrible with names 🤣

[@williamevans9426]

Every year, at the end of the last Blue Peter before Christmas, the band of the Chalk Farm Branch of The Salvation Army marched in through the big scenery loading doors, playing carols as the last candle on the 'advent crown' was lit by Val (Singleton), Pete (Purves) or, of course, John (Noakes). Happy days, indeed - and now I'm almost sixty!! 😄

[@DelosFive]

The Beeb must have everyone standing now... They left all the chairs to be abandoned in the old place

[@modehead101]

Fascinating video. Are the main studios where they recorded Blake's 7, I Claudius and Dr Who being demolished too?

[@bitesizetv6146]

Out of the eight original studios 1, 2 and 3 still exist. It’s possible I Claudius was recorded in studio 1 as it was such a big production.

[@tomcarr1358]

Long on sentiment. Short on facts.What was the case for ending operations there?

[@ianlewis1969]

The bbc still use parts of this building. The video looks many years old.

[@bitesizetv6146]

It was shot 2013 with demolition shots around 2015. The BBC use a small section for offices but of the three remaining studios, Studio 1 is rented to any broadcaster making profs including the BVC whereas the other two studios are permanently rigged for ITV progs. However in a bizarre twist the BBC now has to rent alternative space itself to make up the shortfall of their own studio requirements!

[@bazcurtis178]

Iconic building. I thought they had turned some of it into flats. So sad

[@bitesizetv6146]

You are right they have… luxury accommodation which appear to be owned mainly by foreign investors.

[@grahamnancledra7036]

Now everything comes from Salford. Salford? What's a Salford. What's special about it. Hasn't got a millimetre on Television Centre, and that's being kind. 😒

[@alanneal9881]

As if the BBC needed anymore dismantling! This is an utterly disgusting act. I had no idea this was going to be the fait of this iconic building. How television centre wasn't listed is beyond me. Such a sad end.

[@bitesizetv6146]

They kept the donut which may be listed… and turned it into luxury flats. But a big majority of the rest was demolished including 5 out the 8 studios.

[@tomkent4656]

I thought the building had been converted into luxury apartments.

[@MartyJackson]

Probably somehow Starmer’s fault

[@andybrice2711]

They only demolished part of the building though. Most of it is still standing, and listed. And one wing of it is still television studios.

[@bitesizetv6146]

They kept the donut to convert into luxury housing and three studios but a huge portion was demolished.

[@waynebUK]

Sorry am I missing something here? Television Centre is still very much there and restored to its former glory! Granted some of it has been converted to apartments but the studios are still very much there, it’s a fantastic place and I occasionally work there using this state of the art facility.

[@bitesizetv6146]

Not sure a building that’s been largely demolished with the majority of what was left being turned into luxury flats, with only three of its 8 studios be considered to be restored to its formerly glory??? This doesn’t include the news studios…

[@brianhewson7779]

No doubt another expensive luxury block of flats to go there.

[@bitesizetv6146]

Most of the donut is luxury accommodation…, only three studios were kept.

[@philipfrancis7303]

Would have made a great technical museum of some kind. Unforgivable, like the twin towers of Wembley. Gone forever.

[@edwardmclaughlin7935]

Comedy & Entertainment? Well not a lot has happened in there for a couple of decades!

[@mrpeel3239]

Bittersweet! Never understood why it may be more economical to broadcast from central London than from White City?

[@paulfromdevon4707]

No doubt the Daily Mail paid for the diggers

[@minixtvbox]

And BBC wonders why it's hated

[@Tomsonic41]

It's actually being demolished? I thought the existing buildings would just be converted into residential accommodation without having to do much to the exterior!

[@bitesizetv6146]

The donut was retained and converted and three studios were kept but the vast majority was demolished

[@Peter-ww8pg]

Before the time Auntie went woke. RIP BBC, you were the best.

[@ashpal-1]

at least more house space has been created hopefully instead a building used for films etc

[@bitesizetv6146]

Yes if you’re a foreign investor… £600k for a studio flat!!!

[@RB-jq6gh]

Brought the uk down with it.🪦