Lime Grove Studios was a
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
, and later
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
, 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.
Gaumont-British Picture Corporation
In 1922,
Isidore Ostrer
Isidore Ostrer (1889–1975) was a banker, financier, poet, newspaper owner, and film studio owner in England. His father, Nathan Ostrer, was a jewellery salesman who immigrated from the Russian Empire. In addition to assembling a media empire he ...
along with brothers Mark and Maurice, acquired control of
Gaumont-British from its French parent. In 1932 a major redevelopment of Lime Grove Studios was completed, creating one of the best equipped studio complexes of that era. The first film produced at the remodelled studio was the
Walter Forde 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 Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
).
The studios prospered under Gaumont-British, and in 1941 were bought by the
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...
. By then Rank had a substantial interest in
Gainsborough Pictures, and ''
The Wicked Lady'' (1945), among other Gainsborough melodramas, was shot at Lime Grove.
BBC studios
In 1949 the
BBC bought Lime Grove Studios as a "temporary measure"—because they were to build
Television Centre at nearby
White City White City may refer to:
Places Australia
* White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore
* White City railway station, a former railway station
* White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney
* White City FC, a football c ...
—and began converting them from film to television use. The BBC studios were ceremonially opened on 21 May 1950 by
Violet Attlee
Violet Helen Attlee, Countess Attlee (; 20 November 1895 – 7 June 1964) was the wife of British politician and Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
Early life and education
Violet Helen Millar was born in Hampstead as the tenth child and youngest d ...
(wife of the then prime minister
Clement Attlee).
Lime Grove would be used for many BBC Television programmes over the next forty-two years, including: ''
Quatermass II''; ''
Andy Pandy
''Andy Pandy'' is a British children's television series that first appeared on BBC Television in summer 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. A revival of the s ...
''; ''
The Sky at Night
''The Sky at Night'' is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter dat ...
''; ''
Dixon of Dock Green''; ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four''; ''
Steptoe and Son''; ''
Doctor Who''; ''
Nationwide''; ''
Panorama''; and ''
The Grove Family'', 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 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''.
On 20 January 1966, the first edition of ''
Top of the Pops'' from Lime Grove was broadcast, hosted by
David Jacobs. The newly successful show had moved south from its original home at
Dickenson Road Studios, a converted church building in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
, 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 as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mu ...
" 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'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.
Humble Pie performed
Desperation, a
Steppenwolf single from the
debut
Debut or début (the first public appearance of a person or thing) may refer to:
* Debut (society), the formal introduction of young upper-class women to society
* Debut novel, an author's first published novel
Film and television
* ''The Deb ...
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...
s of both:
Steppenwolf and
Humble Pie;
Natural Born Bugie, their debut single;
Heartbeat, a
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...
single, and;
The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake
"The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake" is a single released in 1969 by English rock band Humble Pie. The B-side "Cold Lady" was written by drummer Jerry Shirley in a R&B style and Shirley plays Wurlitzer piano and guitarist Peter Frampton plays the drums ...
, their second single, for a
recording-and-
broadcast for the
BBC.
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...
performed
White Summer and
Black Mountain Side
"Black Mountain Side" is an instrumental by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London, and is included on the group's 1969 debut album ''Led Zeppelin''.
Composition and recording
"Black Mou ...
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'' 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
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.
In popular culture
Lime Grove Studios was the setting for the fictional current affairs programme ''
The Hour'' in the BBC drama of the same name. The studios are also represented in the 2013 drama ''
An Adventure in Space and Time'' which was shot at
Wimbledon Studios.
See also
*
Gaumont Film Company
*
Gainsborough Pictures
*
List of Gainsborough Pictures films
This is a list of films made by the British production company Gainsborough Pictures and its parent company Gaumont British between 1924 and 1950. The Gainsborough brand was first used in 1924, although several films had previously been made by the ...
References
External links
History of Lime Grove StudiosHistory 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