Lime Grove Studios was a

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, and later

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, studio complex in

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

, England. The complex was built by the

Gaumont Film Company Gaumont SA () is a French film and television production and distribution company headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont (1864–1946) in 1895, it is the oldest extant film company in ...

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 Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, east London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The co ...

films were made here from the early 1930s. Its sister studio was

Islington Studios Islington Studios, often known as Gainsborough Studios, were British film studios located on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, London between 1919 and 1949. The studi ...

, 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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, who used it for television broadcasts until 1991. It was demolished in 1993.

Gaumont-British Picture Corporation

In 1922, Isidore Ostrer along with brothers Mark and Maurice, acquired control of

Gaumont-British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont (company), Gaumont. Film production Gaumo ...

from its French parent. In 1932 a major redevelopment of Lime Grove Studios was completed, creating one of the best equipped sound studio complexes of that era. The first film produced at the remodelled studio was the

Walter Forde Walter Forde (born Thomas Seymour Woolford, 21 April 1898 – 7 January 1984) was a British actor, screenwriter and Film director, director. Born in Lambeth, South London in 1898, he directed over fifty films between 1919 from the silent era ...

thriller '' Rome Express'' (1932), which became one of the first British sound films to gain critical and financial success in the United States (where it was distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

). The studios prospered under Gaumont-British, and in 1941 were bought by the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Uni ...

. By then Rank had a substantial interest in

, and ''

The Wicked Lady ''The Wicked Lady'' is a 1945 British costume drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring James Mason and Margaret Lockwood. Lockwood plays a nobleman's wife who becomes a Highwayman, highwaywoman for the excitement. It had one of the l ...

'' (1945), among other Gainsborough melodramas, was shot at Lime Grove.

BBC studios

In 1949 the

bought Lime Grove Studios as a "temporary measure"—because they were to build Television Centre at nearby White City—and began converting them from film to television use. The BBC studios were ceremonially opened on 21 May 1950 by Violet Attlee (wife of the then prime minister

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

). Lime Grove would be used for many BBC Television programmes over the next forty-two years, including: ''

Quatermass II ''Quatermass II'' is a British science fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the '' Quatermass'' series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entir ...

''; ''

Andy Pandy ''Andy Pandy'' is a British children's television series that aired on BBC Television in 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. This series was the basis for a co ...

''; ''

The Sky at Night ''The Sky at Night'' is a documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first monthly broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date ...

''; ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

''; ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also published as ''1984'') is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final completed book. Thematically ...

''; ''

Steptoe and Son ''Steptoe and Son'' is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC in black a ...

''; ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''; '' Nationwide''; ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

''; and ''

The Grove Family ''The Grove Family'' is a British television series soap opera, generally regarded as the first of its kind broadcast in the UK, made and broadcast by the BBC Television Service from 1954 to 1957. The series concerned the life of the family of th ...

'', which took its title family from the studios, where it was made. A children's magazine-style programme, ''Studio E'', was broadcast live from the studio of the same name from 1955 until 1958; it was hosted by Vera McKechnie. The Queen and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

visited Lime Grove on 28 October 1953, when they observed production of the variety show ''

For Your Pleasure ''For Your Pleasure'' is the second studio album by the English Rock music, rock band Roxy Music, released on 23 March 1973 by Island Records. It was their last to feature synthesiser player Brian Eno. The album expanded on the experimental nat ...

'', the quiz show '' Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?'', and a drama production, ''The Disagreeable Man''. On 20 January 1966, the first edition of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' from Lime Grove was broadcast, hosted by David Jacobs. The newly successful show had moved south from its original home at

Dickenson Road Studios Dickenson Road Studios was a film and television studio in Rusholme, Manchester, in north-west England. It was originally set up in 1947 in a former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel by the film production company Mancunian Films and was acquired by ...

, a converted church building in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, to the larger studio facilities at Lime Grove, where the production could attract a more trendy "

Swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London denoted as its centre. It saw a flourishing in ...

" studio audience. ''Top of the Pops'' was produced at Lime Grove for three years until the show moved to BBC Television Centre in 1969. 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 Francis Joseph Bough (; 15 January 1933 – 21 October 2020) was an English television presenter. He was best known as the host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including '' Grandstand'', '' Nationwide'' and '' Breakfast Time'', which he l ...

Selina Scott Selina Mary Scott (born 13 May 1951) is an English television presenter. She co-hosted the first dedicated breakfast television programme in the UK, before moving to the United States to join '' West 57th'', a prime-time current-affairs show. Sc ...

and

Nick Ross Nicholas David Ross (born 7 August 1947) is an English radio and television presenter. During the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters but is best known for hosting the BBC Television programme ''Crimewatc ...

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

. Indeed, in Lime Grove Studios' final years, its official name was Lime Grove Current Affairs Production Centre.

Humble Pie Humble Pie are an English Rock music, rock band formed by Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first Supergroup (music), supergroups of the late 1960s and enjoyed success in the early 1970s ...

performed Desperation, a Steppenwolf

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s of both: Steppenwolf and

;

Natural Born Bugie "Natural Born Bugie" is the debut single released in 1969 by English rock band Humble Pie, who were one of the first British supergroups. It was written as a mid tempo rock song by Steve Marriott, for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label and b ...

, their debut single; Heartbeat, a

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

single, and; The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake, their second single, for a

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

-and-

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

for the

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

performed

White Summer "White Summer" is a guitar instrumental by English rock guitarist Jimmy Page. It is an adaptation of the Irish air “She Moves Through The Fair." Page initially recorded and performed it with the Yardbirds and later included it in many Led Zepp ...

and

Black Mountain Side "Black Mountain Side" is an instrumental by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, adapted, without credit, from Bert Jansch's original arrangement of the traditional Irish folk song "Down by Blackwaterside". It was recorded in October 1968 at Olym ...

there, on ''The Julie Felix Show'', on 23 April 1970. 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 ''

The Late Show The Late Show may refer to: Film * ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film * ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl Music * ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis album), a 1961 live album by jazz saxophonists Eddie "Loc ...

'' on 13 June 1991 from Studio D, although the final portion of the programme, with a symbolic "unplugging" of a camera power cord in Studio D by

Cliff Michelmore Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC Television programme ''Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's tel ...

, was pre-recorded. 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. BBC Television Theatre close by, near

Green, reverted to being the

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was original ...

. 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.

In popular culture

Lime Grove Studios was the setting for the fictional current affairs programme ''

The Hour An hour is a unit of measurement of time. (The) Hour(s) may also refer to: Measurement * Hour angle, the measurement of angle in units of hours ** Right ascension, the astronomical unit of measure of angle * light hour or hour, distance equival ...

'' in the BBC drama of the same name. The studios are also represented in the 2013 drama ''

An Adventure in Space and Time ''An Adventure in Space and Time'' is a 2013 British Biographical film, biographical television film, starring David Bradley (English actor), David Bradley, Brian Cox (actor), Brian Cox, Jessica Raine and Sacha Dhawan. Directed by Terry McDono ...

'' which was shot at

Wimbledon Studios Wimbledon Film & Television Studios is an English film and television production company and facilities provider, located in Colliers Wood, between Mitcham and Wimbledon in south London. History Wimbledon Studios was established as the Mer ...

References

External links

History of Lime Grove Studios

History of Gaumont-British and Lime Grove Studios
{{Media in the United Kingdom, television Television studios in London British film studios BBC offices, studios and buildings History of television in the United Kingdom Shepherd's Bush Buildings and structures demolished in 1993 Demolished buildings and structures in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Media and communications in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Gaumont-British Picture Corporation

BBC studios

In popular culture

See also

References

External links