The Leeds Studios (also known as the ITV Television Centre, Yorkshire Television Studios or YTV Studios) is a television production complex on Kirkstall Road in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc ...

had proposed to close the studios in 2009, however later in the year had a change of mind and instead decided to refit them as high-definition studios.

Background

The Leeds Studios have been the home of Yorkshire Television, and its successor,

ITV Yorkshire ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

, since 1968 and are owned by ITV Yorkshire's parent company

. The complex houses the main studios and administrative headquarters of ITV Yorkshire, which also has smaller offices in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

. ITV programmes which have been produced there include: '' 3-2-1'', ''

My Parents Are Aliens ''My Parents Are Aliens'' is a British children's television sitcom that was produced for eight series by ITV Yorkshire, Yorkshire Television and aired on ITV (TV network), ITV from 8 November 1999 to 18 December 2006. Overview The show primar ...

'', '' Where the Heart Is'', ''

The Royal ''The Royal'' is a British period medical drama, produced by Yorkshire Television (later part of ITV Studios), and broadcast on ITV from 2003 until its cancellation in 2011. The series is set in the 1960s and focuses on the lives of the st ...

'', '' Heartbeat'', '' Wire in the Blood'', '' Bruce's Price is Right'', '' Bad Influence!'' and '' A Touch of Frost''. '' Countdown'' was regularly made for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

here until April 2009 (when it moved to The Manchester Studios and then to

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

in Salford) as was '' Win My Wage'', a new gameshow for Channel 4 made by independent company Hotbed Media in 2007. The studios were also home to ''

Through the Keyhole ''Through the Keyhole'' is a British comedy panel game show created by the TV producer Kevin Sim and originally presented by David Frost, Sir David Frost in the studio and Loyd Grossman on location. The location presenter explores celebrities' h ...

'', (which began as a YTV production on ITV, but was later made by

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

's company Paradine Productions for Sky1 and 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 ...

) and were used for the interior shots on hit comedy ''

The League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a British surreal comedy horror series that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives ...

'' and medical drama ''

Bodies Bodies may refer to: Literature * ''Bodies'' (comics), a 2014–2015 Vertigo Comics detective fiction series * ''Bodies'' (novel), a 2002 novel by Jed Mercurio * ''Bodies'', a 1977 play by James Saunders * ''Bodies'', a 2009 book by Susie Orba ...

'' (both for the BBC). The revived ''

Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

'' on Challenge was also recorded at the Leeds Studios as was the 2006 series of ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of the ...

'', due to the closure of

Granada Studios Granada Studios was a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester, England, with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programmes. The studios were the headquarters of Granada Television from 1956 to ...

for the removal of asbestos at the time. The front of the main studio buildings have, in the past, acted as the main entrance to Hotten General in the serial drama, ''Emmerdale''.

History

The studios were built on

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

land on Kirkstall Road, purchased from the former Leeds Corporation. Construction commenced in early 1967: A mild winter aided building work and by mid-1968 studios one and two were equipped for transmission (studios three and four being completed by early 1969). The studio was officially opened by the

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, Duchess of Kent ...

on 29 July 1968. It was the first purpose-built colour television production centre in Europe and cost over £4 million to build and equip (at 1968 prices). Colour cameras were initially Marconi Mk7s and

EMI 2001 The EMI 2001 broadcast studio camera was an early, very successful British made Plumbicon studio camera that included the lens within the body of the camera. Four 30 mm tubes allowed one tube to be dedicated solely to producing a relatively h ...

s. Both of these cameras were in use until the mid-1980s. Some studios in The Leeds Studios used Marconi cameras, the others used EMI cameras. In 1976 the cameras in Studio 3 were replaced with the Philips LDK 25 models. The regional news show ''

Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

'' was produced at the centre for many years but in 1989 was moved to a dedicated newsroom and broadcast facility based in a converted

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located in ...

next to the main studios. The programme moved back to the main studio building in October 2012.

Proposed downsizing

In March 2009, ITV plc announced that the Leeds Studios were to be downsized to try and save costs following a reported loss of £2.7 billion for 2008. When interviewed on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

over the proposed closure of much of the studios, the then ITV plc chairman

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...

said simply 'We move on'. Screen Yorkshire stated an interest in taking over any parts of the complex that were to be mothballed.

Yorkshire Forward Yorkshire Forward was the regional development agency (RDA) for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of the United Kingdom. It supported the development of business in the region by encouraging public and private investment in education, skills, ...

looked at the possibility of funding a takeover of the studios but subsequently withdrew their plans.

New investment

In December 2009 however, ITV plc announced plans to renovate the studios to high-definition standard, moving production of ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

'' to the main Kirkstall Road building. ITV Yorkshire have expanded into occupying a nearby office block, situated near the Finishing School.

Studios

There are other studios in adjacent buildings, some owned by ITV plc and others being independent, however none of these studios were purpose built. A notable one which is not run by ITV plc is Studio 81, which is particularly large at 16,000 sq ft (230 ft × 70 ft) and used for the filming of single-camera dramas.

Drama

Over the years the studios, particularly Studio 4, have been used for filming television drama, mostly for Yorkshire Television. These series have included '' Heartbeat'', ''

'', '' Wire in the Blood'', ''

Married Single Other ''Married Single Other'' is a British six-episode comedy-drama television miniseries created and written by Peter Souter. The series is based on the lives of group of people who are either married, single or "other", other being defined as in a r ...

'', ''

Fat Friends ''Fat Friends'' is a British drama that aired on ITV from 12 October 2000 to 24 March 2005, consisting of 25 episodes over four series. Set in Leeds, the series explores the lives of several slimming club members, with a focus on the various ...

'', '' A Touch of Frost'', ''

'' and '' Where the Heart is''. ''Fat Friends'' set an episode at the Leeds Studios and used non-studio areas of the complex for filming. The adjacent Studio 81, has been used recently in the filming of ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

'' and the '' Red Riding Trilogy''.

Other uses

The site is now home to advert and regional programme playout for ITV plc's northern transmission areas (ITV Granada, ITV Yorkshire, ITV Tyne Tees and ITV Border), and a number of independent producers. The production facilities are marketed as The Leeds Studios and sister companies ProVision, Film Lab North and The Finishing School occupy adjacent buildings. While Prism also have set up studios in an older building adjacent to the complex. Greatest Hits West Yorkshire occupy radio studios set up adjacent to the Leeds Studios in the early 1980s, making the lower end of Kirkstall Road arguably a small media quarter. The ITV Archive (including the Rank, Korda and ITC Film libraries) is also based at the Leeds campus.

References

External links

leedstelevision.com
Leeds Television. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leeds Studios, The Television studios in England ITV offices, studios and buildings Buildings and structures in Leeds Yorkshire Television