BBC West Midlands - Studios

Studios

See also: Pebble Mill Studios, The Mailbox, and BBC Drama Village

The first studios used by BBC Midlands were offices and a small studio in Broad Street, Birmingham; however these became too small for the expanding region. Regional News remained at Broad Street until 1971, the small studio being ideal for news bulletins, while other productions took place in a former cinema in Gosta Green and a regency mansion in Carpenter Road, Edgbaston.

In 1971, all of these operations were condensed into a new integrated studio complex, Pebble Mill Studios. Pebble Mill became iconic because it featured in some of the most popular programming of the 1970s. Pebble Mill had two studios, studio A for major productions and studio B, for Midlands Today and other local programming. When the complex was built it was intended that there should be a studio C for drama production; however this never happened, and instead the foyer of the building was used as an extra studio, complete with the gallery and facilities built in for studio C. A conservatory studio was also built that held Good Morning with Anne and Nick for many years. The new studios encompassed network and regional productions and radio, and was the Headquarters for BBC English Regions.

Unfortunately, by the 1990s, change meant Pebble Mill's future was uncertain. Advances in technology made outside broadcasts cheaper and much more common, while also increasing the scope for independent and outsourced television production. In combination these meant that much television programming could increasingly be produced without the need for the sort of large integrated studio complexes represented by Pebble Mill. In addition, the building was getting costly to heat and maintain. In 2000, studio A was closed following the need to make savings at the corporation, and plans were made to dispose of Pebble Mill.

In 2004, productions split two ways. BBC West Midlands, Midlands Today, BBC WM, BBC English Regions and the network production base BBC Birmingham moved to The Mailbox in Birmingham city centre, with many of the productions moving to the BBC Drama Village. The Mailbox contains the studios, newsroom and radio facilities, all of which have windows allowing the public to view how their television and radio is made.