For more than 50 years, BBC Television Centre in West London has been the headquarters of BBC Television. Some of the best known BBC productions have been filmed in its studios, including Fawlty Towers, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Doctor Who, and most of the BBC drama series.
During the last decades, TV Centre has also been the headquarters of BBC News, housing the department's central newsroom as well as the studios for BBC News and BBC World News tv channels and other tv and radio news bulletins.
BBC TV Centre opened its doors in 1960, after 10 years of planning and construction. From the air, the overall design has the shape of a question mark. The studios, offices, engineering areas and the News Centre are built around a central circular plaza with the statue of of Helios, the Greek god of the sun in its centre, symbolizing the radiation of television around the world. Its studios are of various sizes and Studio 1 with a surface of 995 square metres (10,250 ft²), is currently the 4th largest studio in the UK.
In 2009, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport decided to list at Grade II parts of the building, due to their architectural and historic interest.
In 2007, BBC announced that it will sell the Television Centre and relocate its staff to the New Broadcasting House in central London as well as to MediaCityUK in Salford, near Manchester. The relocation, which started in late 2011, is to be completed by the end of March 2013, and currently most of the TVC is empty. After renovations will be completed, BBC is going to lease some of the refurbished studios and use them for its productions. The rest of the building will include a mix of leisure, office, and residential space.
Although it is not and will not be abandoned, here are some photos of one of the most iconic buildings of British television.
SEE ALSO: BBC TV Centre to broadcast last network news bulletins, Goodbye Television Centre // More abandoned television studios around the world // More abandoned places in the United Kingdom // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
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Just fantastic. So much history in the house.
ReplyDeleteThanks for including my pics, but could I be a pain and ask that the images from my flickr account are linked directly back through to the flickr pages, rather than a locally hosted copy, for easier attribution? This is especially important with recent changes in the law concerning "orphaned" images. I'm sure the other photographers who's images have come from their flickr pages would like similar correct click-throughs (..also it shows up on our view-counts, which is always nice). Cheers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for yout comment. Your photos are now linked back to flickr.
DeleteAll of my images have copyright, which you have not asked permission to use. All of my images have copyright, you can use them for your blog, but please link back to my Flickr page, otherwise please remove them. regards Nick Garrod
ReplyDeleteWe always try to give proper credit to all our sources. Your photos now link back to flickr.
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