Television Centre Finally Closes on Easter Sunday
BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane will finally close down on Easter Sunday, March 31 before work begins on redevelopment of the iconic building.
With a design inspired by a question mark scribbled on the back of an envelope, Television Centre in White City has been one of the UK's most recognisable cultural landmarks for the last 53 years.
Some of the best-known programmes on British television were recorded within its walls including: Blue Peter, Dad's Army, Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, Hancock’s Half Hour, Morecambe and Wise, Match of the Day, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Two Ronnies and, more recently, Strictly Come Dancing.
Designed by Graham Dawbarn, TV centre was built in 1960 on the site of the Franco-British exhibition of 1908. The news first went out from the site nine years later but the entire BBC news operation has now relocated to Broadcasting House in central London.
The centre's central ring, which is known as the doughnut and the famous Studio 1 were both granted grade II listed building status in 2009 and will be retained.
The BBC sold the 14-acre site for £200million last year and there are now emerging proposals to build a hotel, flats, a cinema and offices on the site. The three main television studios will be refitted and leased out to production companies, including the BBC, from 2014. The site will also be home to the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide. If planning approval is granted, the redevelopment is set to see the forecourt opened up to the public.
The BBC said goodbye to its home with a special farewell programme last Friday, with celebrities sharing memories and regrets about the sale of the building and a wind and rain-soaked live concert by Madness in the front courtyard. Both are still available to watch on BBC iplayer.
Property developer Stanhope PLC showed local residents its emerging ideas for the redevelopment at a series of events earlier this year, with another planned in April, and is asking for residents' views.
You can see the developer’s vision and master plan for the site here
March 28, 2013
