Teddington Studios was a large

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

television studio A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for ...

Teddington Teddington is an affluent suburb of London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Historically an Civil parish#ancient parishes, ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and situated close to the border with Surrey, the district became ...

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on 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 ...

, ITV,

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 ...

, Channel 5,

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

and others. The complex also provided studio space for channel continuity. Towards the end of its history the site was run by

the Pinewood Studios Group Pinewood Group Limited (formerly Pinewood Group plc and Pinewood Shepperton plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational movie studio, film studio and television studio company with headquarters in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, En ...

. Originally built as film studios, the studios were the main production centres for the ITV franchisees

ABC Weekend TV ABC Television Limited, popularly known as ABC Weekend TV, was a British broadcaster which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of ...

and

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

. Pinewood Group's lease on Teddington Studios expired in 2014. The studios were demolished in February 2016 to be turned into housing, with programmes made there having moved to other facilities. The studio buildings will be replaced by three modern apartment blocks and other smaller houses, with the view towards the river from Broom Road opened up.

History

Film studios

The studio began in the early 20th century as film studios when stockbroker Henry Chinnery, owner of Weir House, Teddington, allowed filmmakers to use his greenhouse as a studio. Dedicated studio facilities were then built in the 1910s. The studio was greatly expanded by a partnership of filmmaker E. G. Norman and actor Henry Edwards, and renamed Teddington Film Studios Limited in 1931. After only one production, ''Stranglehold'' (1931), the studio was acquired by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

to turn out so-called "

quota quickies Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a restriction on the quantity of goods that can be imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * ...

" – British-made films which fulfilled a legal quota (created by the Cinematograph Films Act 1927) before American-made films could be shown. Warner Bros.-First National continued to make US/UK coproductions at Teddington until '' The Dark Tower'' (1943). One Teddington Studios production '' Murder at Monte Carlo'' (1934) with

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian and American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Oliv ...

in his first major film role, is considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

. The studio was seriously damaged in a V-1 attack in July 1944, in which

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-born American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's ca ...

's studio manager, and family member, Doc Salomon was killed while recording the attack.

Television studios

By the 1950s the studio's fortunes had declined, but in 1958 it was bought by

for use as a television studio. Although this was outside its contract areas of the Midlands and the north of England, ABC wanted a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

base, as many performers could not venture outside of the capital to record programmes because they were often committed to runs of theatre plays in the West End. By the time ABC's contracts expired in 1968, the Teddington studios were highly desirable, as they had participated in colour experiments and were already partially converted, and as such had been sought after by both

and LWT, London's two new franchisees. ABC's parent company had a 51% stake in Thames, and so Teddington Studios became the main production centre for Thames's entertainment programming (e.g. gameshows, children's programmes, dramas and comedy), while

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

shows,

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

programming were made at Thames's

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston ...

headquarters. After Thames lost its ITV franchise to Carlton Television in 1993, the studio became independent. Without a major broadcaster or studio group owning the studios, their future was questioned (as Carlton was going to commission most of its entertainment programming from independent producers), but it survived and stayed independent for 13 years, when in 2005, the

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

Group bought the complex for £2.7 million. Teddington was also the home of British TV Casino show Smart Live Casino until they moved to Piccadilly Studios. The media company Haymarket owned the Teddington Studios site from 2004 and occupied some of it from 2006. Part of the site was leased to Pinewood until 2014. Haymarket announced in June 2013 that it planned to redevelop the site into homes, meaning the end of Teddington Studios. In February 2016 it was reported that the site was being demolished to make way for a 213-flat development, the land having been sold to Singaporean firm City Developers for a reputed £80 million.

TV studios and facilities

The site consisted of 8 studios in total, as well as post-production editing facilities.

Studio 1

Studio 1 was Teddington's largest studio at nearly . It was a fully digital widescreen studio, with audience seating for 500, making it popular for programmes such as '' Harry Hill's TV Burp '' for ITV and

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

s '' The Green Green Grass'', '' After You've Gone'', '' My Family'', '' My Hero'', '' Reggie Perrin'' and ''

Not Going Out ''Not Going Out'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom created, written by and starring Lee Mack. It has aired on BBC One since 2006 and is the second-longest-running British sitcom, behind ''Last of the Summer Wine'' (1973–2010). Th ...

'' (all for BBC One). Other notable productions made in Studio 1 included ' ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'' (ITV), '' Birds of a Feather'' (BBC and ITV), one series of '' Parkinson'' and '' Black Books'' (Channel 4). Historically, many classic series were recorded in Studio 1. These include ''

The Benny Hill Show ''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketch comedy, sketches typified by slapstick, mime, parody, and ...

'', all of Tommy Cooper's shows produced by

(1973–1980), '' The Sooty Show'', '' George and Mildred'', '' Man About the House'' and long-running light entertainment series such as '' This is Your Life'' and '' Opportunity Knocks''. The final four series of '' The Morecambe & Wise Show'' were also produced at Teddington's Studio 1 by Thames Television. The first three series of '' The Avengers'' were made at Teddington between 1961 and 1964, the later episodes in Studio 1 and earlier episodes in Studio 2.

Studio 2

Studio 2 measured nearly and has been the home to shows such as the early series of '' The Sooty Show'', '' Today with Des and Mel'' for ITV, '' Kilroy'' for the BBC and the first series of '' Trisha'' after moving to Channel 5. This studio was popular for programmes which required intimate medium-sized space, like '' Bremner, Bird and Fortune'' for

Studio 3

Studio 3 was a much smaller studio at and was home to many music shows' productions and television commercials. It was also the regular studio used for Rainbow.

Studio 4

Studio 4 was a small studio at .

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

used the studio before moving back to

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC), formerly known as BBC Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting H ...

in 2010 and then moving 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 2011.

Studio 5

Another small studio, Studio 5 was home to The Chinese Channel.

Studio 6

Until early 2008, this was a small studio at .

Studio 7

Built on the site of the prop store for Studio 2, this small studio was built within weeks for participation TV channel Quiz Call, whose content is produced using widescreen cameras. The studio has been used for '' Dick and Dom's Funny Business'' and sitcom '' Starlings'' for

Studio 8

This studio, also small, was the home of High Flyer which produced the TV channel Racing UK.

Weir Cottage

At the entrance of the studio stood the early 19th-century Weir Cottage. The cottage was the original lock keeper's cottage for the

Teddington Lock Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810. The limit of legal powe ...

, and is thought to have been built between 1825 and 1850, originally separate from the large mansion that occupied the site of the Studios, Weir House. The Cottage known variously as "the Lock-keeper's Cottage" and "Weir Cottage" ceased to be used for its original function sometime before 1870, whe
images
show the two new cabins on the opposite side of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

having been constructed and put to use. With two gabled ends and a turret, the Cottage was redesigned in 1905 in the Victorian Arts and Crafts style, taking inspiration from the nearby

Strawberry Hill House Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London, by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) from 1749 onward. It is a typical example of the "#Strawb ...

. A map from 1873 showed the narrow cottage plot with a long garden extending to the river. The Cottage was subsequently purchased sometime prior to the 1960s expansion of Teddington Studios, which moved the vehicular entrance to between the Cottage and Studio 3. Upon the sale of the site in the 2010s the Cottage was in poor condition, but given its unique architecture, it was notably preserved upon demolition of the Studio site. The Cottage has been restored and once again serves as a private residence, abutting the Teddington Riverside development.

Other facilities

Like many studios, Teddington also included set and prop storage, green rooms, wardrobe and makeup and provided car parking. However, many businesses were based at Teddington, providing products/services that catered for all production needs. An office within the facilities was used to film ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

''.

References

External links

The Pinewood Studios Grouphistory of Teddington Studios
: Twickenham Museum
Unofficial history of Teddington Studios
: ''TV Studio History'' * {{Media in the United Kingdom, television 1910s establishments in England British film studios Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Film production companies of the United Kingdom ITV offices, studios and buildings Media and communications in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Teddington Television studios in London Television production companies of the United Kingdom Warner Bros. Studios