According to TV Studio History, EastEnders now uses Studios A, B and C at BBC Elstree, which are full tv production studios, albeit not ones used with their own independent galleries. I understand that EastEnders is cut multi camera in Gallery A for speed of production, but tidied up in the edit. The galleries for B and C are not used any more, and apparrently the gallery for B is as ATV left it in 1981, stripped of technical equipment, but retaining its wooden monitor stack...
http://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk/photogal/elstree%20b%208vision%20control%20inc%20stack%20800p.jpg
As always, Martin Kempton's excellent website is very much worth reading on this subject:
Whilst BH was the more historic of the sites, TVC was the one with more flexibility, cheaper to convert and cheaper to run.
If you call flexibility having to knock through asbestos filled walls every time you want to extend an office or technical area. That's why what is now Red Bee left the building - space was limited, if they wanted to launch a new channel or technology it required knocking out something else or having bits dotted round the building.
I doubt it was that cheap to run, it's was huge spread out aging site
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TVC has been converted altered and adapted since it was built.
Yes it has been alerted and adapted to suit the various needs of the BBC over the years, but most of those needs have now gone. So it's being converted and altered again!
Prepare yourself for an astonishing lack of insight into the world of renovation and construction here but could they not made large parts of the building open plan? As you say they were constantly knocking down and building walls when they needed to so could the doughnut at least not have become 6ish floors of (granted, unusual) open plan offices? They did have a few of what I'd consider to be open plan offices in the doughnut- the front of the fourth and fifth floors for example.
I completely accept that the building was in no fit state to continue as it was, some surrounding buildings certainly needed demolishing and granted a lot of wanting to see TVC reused is down to nostalgia. But ultimately the centre is being entirely redeveloped and I do think it's a shame it couldn't have been made into high quality offices for the White City lot to move back into alongside some of the leisure offer planned.
Back in the real world there's still no sign of where exactly they'll be moving Media Village. If those offices were to leave the area completely then that would leave BBC WW and three studios there as an odd outpost. Is this move still going ahead and does anyone know why they want to dispose of Media Village?
Large parts of the doughnut had already been converted into open-plan offices. But there are limits to the degree you can do this in a 1950s building design. They weren't that big, and the central corridor cut through the space making most of the open plan offices long and narrow.
W12 Media Centre will soon be empty I believe - Worldwide moving back to TVC, Academy moving to Mailbox, with the rest of the current occupants moving into BC. How long Red Bee stay at the BC is also an interesting question to ask, now that they are owned by Ericsson, who also own Technicolor who handle ITV playout. There is, no doubt, an economy of scale to be had...
. I understand that EastEnders is cut multi camera in Gallery A for speed of production, but tidied up in the edit.
I remember visiting the site in 1992. The production 'gallery' then, was just a desk with 8x 1 router panel, and half a dozen monitors on top, with a D3 VTR in the corner of the room. There must have been production talkback too, but I don't recall it. It was all very minimalist, and I don't think it was in any of the legacy gallery areas, but an ex utility/storage room. The cameras were EFP/ENG Ikegami 79s, I think they had just replaced the EMI 2001s the previous year, I don't recall seeing any in the studio (and I would have remembered seeing those !)
Last edited by Markymark on 27 February 2015 6:59pm
Ahh wondered when the asbestos excuse would surface. Most of the problematic asbestos was in the donut and if it can be removed for flash hotels it can be removed for offices. Open plan offices are a fad and I'm no fan of them, neither am I a fan of hot desking at least with an old fashioned production office everyone knows where you are. Just because its how things are done at this present moment on time it doesn't make it right nor suitable.
It is rumoured to have cost £50 million moving the CCA to the broadcast centre which is mind bogglingly stupid since they are flogging the freehold for that fairly soon.
The situation is simply a failure of senior management 'I use the word lightly' to understand or foresee the problems. Thompson made a knee jerk reaction and saddled the BBC & its owners (us) with lack of studio production space, paying for the world service, & paying for S4C.
. I understand that EastEnders is cut multi camera in Gallery A for speed of production, but tidied up in the edit.
I remember visiting the site in 1992. The production 'gallery' then, was just a desk with 8x 1 router panel, and half a dozen monitors on top, with a D3 VTR in the corner of the room. There must have been production talkback too, but I don't recall it. It was all very minimalist, and I don't think it was in any of the legacy gallery areas, but an ex utility/storage room. The cameras were EFP/ENG Ikegami 79s, I think they had just replaced the EMI 2001s the previous year, I don't recall seeing any in the studio (and I would have remembered seeing those !)
I've a feeling I've read somewhere that originally Union rules meant EastEnders had to be made on the lot as a single camera job but a cobbled together OB van to cut more than one camera was built, slightly under the radar. Maybe the 1992 gallery you saw was something similar.
Anyway, the point is that EastEnders is definitely shot in a studio, actually 3 studios.
. I understand that EastEnders is cut multi camera in Gallery A for speed of production, but tidied up in the edit.
I remember visiting the site in 1992. The production 'gallery' then, was just a desk with 8x 1 router panel, and half a dozen monitors on top, with a D3 VTR in the corner of the room. There must have been production talkback too, but I don't recall it. It was all very minimalist, and I don't think it was in any of the legacy gallery areas, but an ex utility/storage room. The cameras were EFP/ENG Ikegami 79s, I think they had just replaced the EMI 2001s the previous year, I don't recall seeing any in the studio (and I would have remembered seeing those !)
I've a feeling I've read somewhere that originally Union rules meant EastEnders had to be made on the lot as a single camera job but a cobbled together OB van to cut more than one camera was built, slightly under the radar. Maybe the 1992 gallery you saw was something similar.
Anyway, the point is that EastEnders is definitely shot in a studio, actually 3 studios.
Historically EastEnders was always cut on a router (which could generate tallies for red lights). No need for a vision mixer as they never mixed live. Thought that was still the case.
The style of production for EE is for the director to be on the floor I believe, with a VM cutting in the gallery. I have a feeling he cameras in Stage 1 don't have wired talkback channels (with crew working with radio ISTR)
Prepare yourself for an astonishing lack of insight into the world of renovation and construction here but could they not made large parts of the building open plan? As you say they were constantly knocking down and building walls when they needed to so could the doughnut at least not have become 6ish floors of (granted, unusual) open plan offices?
They'd be very long, thin and odd shaped offices and not exactly ideal, especially as they'd have to be thoroughfares for getting from A to B (although White City had walkways through offices)
I didn't say they were 'constantly' knocking down walls, I said it was the only option sometimes it. Certainly it wasn't easy in soe parts of the building, and the shape of some parts of the building made it impossible - the technical areas in the wedge for example were fixed size because of studios 3 and 4 either side.
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They did have a few of what I'd consider to be open plan offices in the doughnut- the front of the fourth and fifth floors for example.
Yep, and they weren't anything like the sort of space of a modern office space like they have in The Media Centre or BH. There were a couple of other such offices on extensions off the doughnut - the business unit on the 4th(?) floor for example.
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Back in the real world there's still no sign of where exactly they'll be moving Media Village. If those offices were to leave the area completely then that would leave BBC WW and three studios there as an odd outpost. Is this move still going ahead and does anyone know why they want to dispose of Media Village?
As to why, they're cutting down on their property as they have been for years and decided to concentrate on W1, though you're right that where everyone will fit, no-one seems to know. They certainly wouldn't fill TV Centre
Although I have heard that the Broadcast Centre might not be got rid of, at least not for a long time. Certainly it will take a few years to get Red Bee out, though theres nothing to stop them (and Atos) staying in the BC after the BBC has gone