| Lime Grove Studios | |
|---|---|
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 Lime Grove Studios in the 1960s | |
  Lime Grove Studios Location in Greater London Show map of Greater London Lime Grove Studios Location in Hammersmith and Fulham Show map of London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham | |
| Former names | Gaumont Film Studios |
| General information | |
| Status | Demolished |
| Type | Film and television studio |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| Location | Lime Grove,Shepherd's Bush,London, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′13″N0°13′38″W / 51.50361°N 0.22722°W /51.50361; -0.22722 |
| Completed | 1915 |
| Opened |
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| Demolished | 1993 |
| Owner |
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Lime Grove Studios was afilm, and latertelevision, studio complex inShepherd's Bush,west London, England.
The complex was built by theGaumont 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". ManyGainsborough Pictures films were made here from the early 1930s. Its sister studio wasIslington Studios, also used by Gainsborough; films were often shot partly at Islington and partly at Lime Grove.
In 1949, the complex was purchased by theBBC, who used it for television broadcasts until 1991. It was demolished in 1993.[1]
In 1922,Isidore Ostrer along with brothers Mark and Maurice, acquired control ofGaumont-British from its French parent. In 1932 a major redevelopment of Lime Grove Studios was completed, creating one of the best equipped sound studio complexes of that era. The first film produced at the remodelled studio was theWalter Forde thrillerRome 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 byUniversal Pictures).
The studios prospered under Gaumont-British, and in 1941 were bought by theRank Organisation. By then Rank had a substantial interest inGainsborough Pictures, andThe Wicked Lady (1945), among other Gainsborough melodramas, was shot at Lime Grove.
In 1949 theBBC bought Lime Grove Studios as a "temporary measure"—because they were to buildTelevision Centre at nearbyWhite City—and began converting them from film to television use. The BBC studios were ceremonially opened on 21 May 1950 byViolet Attlee (wife of the then prime ministerClement Attlee).[2][3]
Lime Grove would be used for many BBC Television programmes over the next forty-two years, including:Quatermass II;Andy Pandy;The Sky at Night;Dixon of Dock Green;Nineteen Eighty-Four;Steptoe and Son;Doctor Who;Nationwide;Panorama; andThe Grove Family, which took its title family from the studios, where it was made.[3] 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 byVera McKechnie.[citation needed]
The Queen andPrince Philip visited Lime Grove on 28 October 1953, when they observed production of the variety showFor Your Pleasure, the quiz showAnimal, Vegetable, Mineral?, and a drama production,The Disagreeable Man.[4]
On 20 January 1966, the first edition ofTop of the Pops from Lime Grove was broadcast, hosted byDavid Jacobs. The newly successful show had moved south from its original home atDickenson Road Studios, a converted church building inManchester, to the larger studio facilities at Lime Grove, where the production could attract a more trendy "Swinging London" studio audience.Top of the Pops was produced at Lime Grove for three years until the show moved to BBC Television Centre in 1969.[5]
Lime Grove hosted a revolution in British TV whenBreakfast Time began broadcasting from there on 17 January 1983, the start of popular daytime television hosted byFrank Bough,Selina Scott andNick Ross.
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 andBBC Elstree Centre. Indeed, in Lime Grove Studios' final years, its official name was Lime Grove Current Affairs Production Centre.[6]
Humble Pie performedDesperation, aSteppenwolfsingle from thedebutalbums of both:Steppenwolf andHumble Pie;Natural Born Bugie, their debut single;Heartbeat, aBuddy Holly single, and;The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake, their second single, for arecording-and-broadcast for theBBC.Led Zeppelin performedWhite Summer andBlack Mountain Side there, onTheJulie Felix Show, on 23 April 1970.[citation needed]
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 wasThe 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 byCliff Michelmore, was pre-recorded.[3]
On 26 August 1991, a month after the studios were closed, the BBC transmitted a special day of programming calledThe 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.[7] BBC Television Theatre close by, nearShepherd's Bush Green, reverted to being theShepherd'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.[citation needed]
Lime Grove Studios was the setting for the fictional current affairs programmeThe Hour in the BBC drama of the same name. The studios are also represented in the 2013 dramaAn Adventure in Space and Time which was shot atWimbledon Studios.
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