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BBC Manchester (often known as BBC Salford) is the BBC's regional headquarters for the north west of England, the largest BBC region in the UK. BBC Manchester is a department of the BBC North Group division. [1] The BBC considers the Manchester department as one of its three main national bases alongside London and Bristol, and has had a presence in the city since launching the 2ZY radio station in 1922. The BBC had its first studio outside London in 1954 when the corporation leased the Dickenson Road Studios. In 1967, the decision was taken to build a purpose-built BBC building in Manchester on Oxford Road which opened in 1976.
Manchester's television industry struggled during the early 2000s when Granada Television reduced operations in Manchester with the newly formed ITV opting to move operations to London which meant New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios were underused. [2] BBC Television Centre in London, Granada Studios and New Broadcasting House in Manchester were all coming to the end of their operational span and the BBC decided to transfer more departments north, preferably to Manchester where they have been based for 90 years. The move would aim to boost the ailing Manchester media industry, lower operational costs compared to London and represent the north of England more proportionally. [3]
The BBC decided on moving to MediaCityUK in Salford Quays, a short distance outside the city centre. BBC Manchester transferred from New Broadcasting House.
Manchester was home to the BBC's first television studio outside London in 1954 [4] with the acquisition of Dickenson Road Studios in Rusholme, which was a converted church. The BBC formed BBC Manchester in the 1950s and the Manchester department bought the studios from Mancunian Films. The BBC formed another production centre, BBC Piccadilly Studios in Manchester city centre in 1957 for local programming.
The Dickenson Road studios were the original base for Top of the Pops from the first edition broadcast on New Year's Day 1964 from Studio A. DJs Jimmy Savile and Alan Freeman presented in a week when The Beatles, with "I Want to Hold Your Hand", [5] that week's number one. A Mancunian model, Samantha Juste, was the regular "disc girl". Local photographer Harry Goodwin was hired to provide shots of non-appearing artists, and also to provide backdrops for the chart rundown. [6]
In 1972, local broadcaster Stuart Hall hosted It's a Knockout . Stuart Hall remarked that the programme was like "the Olympic Games with custard pies". [7] The programme was revived under BBC Manchester's ownership with viewing figures surging from 100,000 to 15 million. [8]
The Dickenson Road facility remained in use until 1975 when the BBC moved to New Broadcasting House. [9]
From 1975, BBC Manchester's base was New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road in Manchester city centre.
New Broadcasting House had one small studio and one large studio, Studio A which was equipped for live programming and recording drama programmes. Studio A underwent a major £6 million expansion in 1989 which increased the studio's volume by 80%. [10] Upon completion it was the largest BBC studio outside London at 6,204 ft. [10]
The early 2000s were tough for BBC Manchester and the diminishing Granada Television as a result of the ITV takeover in 2004 affected the level of programme production. [3] 3SixtyMedia Studios at Granada Studios and New Broadcasting House only had enough filming work to operate two studios, despite having five available. New programmes such as Life on Mars , Dragons' Den and Waterloo Road were all commissioned soon after [3] and Manchester is now Europe's second largest creative industry in Europe. [11] BBC Manchester was the base for programmes such as It's a Knockout and Red Dwarf , while programmes such as A Question of Sport originated there.
In 2003, as BBC Pacific Quay, The Mailbox and BBC White City were being redeveloped it was touted the New Broadcasting House site could be redeveloped but this idea was eventually shelved to create a new purpose-built television studios. [12] BBC Manchester transferred its base to MediaCityUK in 2011 which is located two miles west of New Broadcasting House in Salford Quays. New Broadcasting House was demolished in 2013, and the land is now being developed into high rise accommodation and office buildings under the moniker 'Circle Square'.
The BBC previously owned 20% of Granada Studios [13] through 3SixtyMedia, a joint venture between the BBC and ITV Studios. [14] The venture aimed to cut costs for the BBC and Granada. [15] This also gave the BBC greater use of the Granada Studios, enabling the BBC to reduce production in Oxford Road’s Studio A, and instead use the three larger studios at Granada’s site [16]
In 2013, TV production at Granada Studios ceased, with productions transferring to MediaCityUK. The studios were sold to Manchester City Council and property developer Allied London. [17]
The BBC's first Big Screen was erected in Manchester. [18] The Screen became a permanent feature of Exchange Square in 2003 after a successful trial in Manchester during key events such as the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and the 2002 Football World Cup.
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend Television was its weekend counterpart. Granada's parent company Granada plc later bought several other regional ITV stations and, in 2004, merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc.
Rusholme is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, Fallowfield to the south and Moss Side to the west. It has a large student population, with several student halls and many students renting terraced houses, and suburban houses towards Victoria Park.
BBC North West Tonight is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme broadcasts from the BBC's MediaCityUK studios at Salford Quays, with district newsrooms based in Liverpool, Blackburn and Chester.
Channel M was a regional television station in England which broadcast to the Greater Manchester area between 2000 and 2012. The station, originally Manchester Student Television, was owned and operated by the GMG Regional Media division of Guardian Media Group.
Mancunian Films was a British film production company first organised in 1933. From 1947 it was based in Rusholme, a suburb of Manchester, and produced a number of comedy films, mostly aimed at audiences in the North of England.
BBC North (Group) is an operational business division of the BBC.
ITV News Granada Reports is a British television regional news service, produced by ITV Granada and serving the North West of England.
The sets of the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street have undergone four major and several less significant changes since the first broadcast in December 1960. Originally entirely indoors, in 1968 the original wooden set was moved outside, and shortly afterwards reconstructed in brick. In 1982 the set was entirely rebuilt in a new location. The current set, brought into use in 2013, is based at the ITV Trafford Wharf Studios backlot, MediaCityUK in Trafford.
BBC North West is the BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire (Biddulph), Cumbria and the Isle of Man.
MediaCityUK is a 200-acre (81 ha) mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside MediaCityUK shopping centre. The land occupied by the development was part of the Port of Manchester and Manchester docks.
The Leeds Studios is a television production complex on Kirkstall Road in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. ITV plc had proposed to close the studios in 2009, however later in the year had a change of mind and instead decided to refit them as high-definition studios.
In the United Kingdom, continuity announcers are people who are employed to introduce programmes on radio and television networks, to promote forthcoming programmes on the station, to cross-promote programmes on the broadcaster's other stations where applicable and, sometimes, to provide information relating to the programme just broadcast.
Media in Manchester has been an integral part of Manchester's culture and economy for many generations and has been described as the only other British city to rival to London in terms of television broadcasting. Today, Manchester is the second largest centre of the creative and digital industries in Europe.
New Broadcasting House (NBH) was the BBC's North West England headquarters on Oxford Road in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester. The studios housed BBC Manchester, BBC North West, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Religion and Ethics department. It was known as a Network Production Centre, the others being in Birmingham and Broadcasting House, Bristol.
Granada Studios is a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester, England, with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programmes. The studios were the headquarters of Granada Television from 1956 to 2013. After a period of closure, five of the six studio spaces reopened in 2018. The studios are the oldest operating purpose-built television studios in the United Kingdom pre-dating BBC Television Centre by five years.
3SixtyMedia is a joint venture post production and studio crewing company, based at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays and co-owned by ITV Studios and BBC Studioworks. Formed in 2000, it was originally based at Granada Television's Quay Street headquarters and combined the studio and post production facilities and technical staff of both BBC Manchester and Granada, aiming to cut operating costs. As part of the venture, some programmes were recorded at the studios of both BBC Manchester and Granada Television, such as A Question of Sport.
Dickenson Road Studios was a film and television studio in Rusholme, Manchester, in north-west England. It was originally set up in 1947 in a former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel by the film production company Mancunian Films and was acquired by BBC Television in 1954. The studio was used for early editions of the music chart show Top of the Pops between 1964 and 1966.
dock10 is a television facility owner and media services company in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. dock10 offers a number of services including post production and The Studios.
This is a timeline of the history of Granada Television, and of the television interests of its former owner Granada plc.