Big Brother UK

It’s due to be demolished in the coming weeks as it’s not worth the maintenance and security costs for Endemol when it’s unlikely to get picked up anytime soon.

If it's ever revived I think it would be far more cost effective to relocate to a cheaper site. It doesn't need to be part of an expensive studio complex in Elstree. It's not reliant on talent living nearby so they could build it anywhere in the UK.

And then you have to pay the overnights and travel costs to get crew to and from site... In England most live crew are still based in London, with a smaller concentration around Salford (though 'London' crew still shuttle up to Salford for some shows)

"Ruins?" It's a TV set that hasn't been used for a few weeks, not a medieval castle.

Elstree did have plans to build one or two new studios on the land behind the house but despite the land being cleared nothing came of it. Indeed think it has been used as a backlot for the last year or so.

Obviously the house and its extensions aren't really practical spaces for anything else filming wise - indeed arguably they weren't really the most practical space for Big Brother either in its later years either - the show had outgrown the house by the time it ended on C4 and although C5 made good use of the space they had the space they added seemed to be wasted.

Big Brother was perfect for Elstree studios in 2002 when it moved to there from 3 Mills studios.

At the time, Elstree studios was hardly being used for much else and there were years where Big Brother was the only major production to come out of there alongside Dancing on Ice in January, that was pretty much it.

Then... TV centre shuts down and a lot of programmes relocated to Elstree, Strictly come dancing being the biggest of them.

Nowadays The Crown pays a hell of a lot of money to use Elstree and I heard a couple of years ago that The Crown were looking for more space that just isn’t available whilst the BB house is still there.

I think Elstree have made the right choice to lose the house, they could make a lot more money leasing the land to The Crown. I’m amazed the BB house is still standing as it was only ever built as a temporary fixture that was reinforced a few years in but anyone who has ever been in there (behind the mirrors) will tell you how shoddy the building is. Remember the house had to be evacuated a few years ago due to flooding caused by water getting into the loft area?

It’s never properly being renovated and I think the best thing for the show is to remember that House fondly but to bring it back in a few years, totally re-invented with a brand new exciting house that’s fit for purpose.

I personally feel that the best thing the show can do is to lose all the channel 5 connotations and start from scratch. New House, new presenters, preferably a live feed option and less of the media-savvy housemates.

Hopefully big brother will get back to us, once he’s been on a well deserved vacation.

It would be difficult for anyone to have more than an emotional connection towards the current house and set, but its demolition does dash hopes of a return even more so. Bringing back the show would be a risk for any network, the added cost of building a new house can only be a negative.

There’s a lot the show could ditch from its Channel 5 era, but I think not having Emma and Rylan - particularly Emma as one of the UK’s top presenters - would be a massive mistake. The two of them, just like Davina, have a lot of love for the show and their enthusiasm for it translates in their presenting, imo. I personally think, unless someone was able to persuade Davina to return, you’d need Emma and Rylan to help bridge the gap between the show’s history and hypothetical return.

The costs involved with Elstree would still make it beneficial to relocate to a different site and I know of many long term crew members that relocated closer to the house given its long term contract so it's not unfeasible for them to be anchored elsewhere.

However, if proximity to London is a must (and it certainly would help with guests for the spin off show), I think taking a leaf out of Australia's version would have potential - do a deal with Merlin and locate it in Thorpe Park or Chessington World of Adventures.

A lot of the regular crew on Big Brother also work on other shows made at Elstree though. A lot of London studio crew now have Elstree, rather than TVC or TLS, as one of their most regular venues (not just for big Brother but for all the stuff in Elstree Film Stages 8 and 9, George Lucas and BBC Elstree D)

Making a regular Elstree journey more tolerable by relocating within the South East (where you can still also work at Maidstone Studios, TV Centre, Pinewood, Shepperton and all the other OB- and Fly-Pack shows that are made in the London area) is very different to expecting crew to move to a totally different part of the country just for Big Brother. If you don't expect them to relocate, then you will be picking up their travel and overnights. That will increase your crew costs pretty significantly. The same will be true for production team costs.

It wasn't Elstree's choice, Endemol were the ones to pull the plug. For Elstree Studios it was guaranteed year-round rent on the house site and the lesser-used studio that BOTS made home. The studios might be doing well but they'll certainly be sorry to see BB go.

Goodbye Big brother house hope you return one day 😭😭 @bbuk #BBUK #SaveBBUK pic.twitter.com/9fZaTBB5IM

— NOW BIGBROTHER (@nowbigbrother) January 23, 2019

Coming weeks? It's not even been a day!

^ That's the live set, not the house itself. You can see the entrance door into the house now sans the walkway into it. The black bits on the ground were the walls of the interview set.