Lime Grove Studios - BBC Studios

BBC Studios

In 1949, the BBC bought Lime Grove Studios as a "temporary measure" – as they were to build Television Centre at nearby White City – and began converting them from film to television use, reopening them on 21 May 1950.

Lime Grove would used for many BBC TV programmes over the next forty-two years, including: Nineteen Eighty-Four; Steptoe and Son; Doctor Who; Nationwide (1969-83), an early evening current affairs series; Top of the Pops and the early soap opera The Grove Family (1954-57) took its title family from the studios, where it was made. 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 and BBC Elstree. Indeed, in Lime Grove Studios' final years, its' official name was Lime Grove Current Affairs Production Centre. The last live programme was The Late Show on 14 June 1991 from studio D. A children's magazine style programme Studio E was broadcast live from the studio of the same name from 1955-ca.1958 hosted by Vera McKechnie.

In 1991, the BBC decided to consolidate its London television production at BBC Television Centre and close its other studios including Lime Grove. On 26 August 1991, a month after the studios were closed, the BBC transmitted a special day of programming called The 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. Television Theatre close by, near Shepherd's Bush Green, closed the same year.

The studios themselves were put on the market and eventually were bought by a development company which demolished the studios in 1993 and redeveloped the area into a housing estate. The streets in the housing estate were named Gaumont Terrace and Gainsborough Court, in memory of the past owners of Lime Grove Studios.