Television Centre, Southampton was home to the three ITV contractors for the South and South East region: Southern, TVS, and Meridian. It was also known as The Southern Television Centre, The Southampton Television Centre, and unofficially as The Northam Studios.
The studio centre was constructed in 1967, vacated in 2004 and demolished in 2008. The site remained empty until 2015 when a £40 million development scheme to build 350 flats began.[1]
History
The site was built by Southern Television, the first ITV contractor for the South of England, as replacement facilities for their converted cinema studios. The cinema itself had been 'The Plaza'. The new complex was located on the same site as the original cinema, on land reclaimed from the River Itchen.
The new complex was state of the art and fully equipped for colour television, launched in the region in 1969. Southern moved into the new complex on 19 August that year. The site had two large production studios, ready to produce many of Southern's programme productions for the ITV Network. It was from here that Southern's news operations were also based, with a separate studio for their news programme Day by Day.[2] The site also featured access to the river where Southern's motor boat Southerner could be moored, allowing for easy and quick access for a news team to take to the water.[3][4]
One unusual feature of the site was the railway line that ran through the car park; this linked the British Rail sidings at Northam to Driver's Wharf where scrap metal was loaded into ships. It was operated by a venerable 0-4-0 diesel shunter. In 1984, the line fell into disuse as the scrap was now delivered by road.[5] The tracks were then tarmacked over to provide extra car parking spaces. The line featured in the first episode of Saturday Banana with a steam locomotive, Bonnie Prince Charlie, from the Great Western Society at Didcot.
During the 1980 ITV franchise round, the newly-enlarged South and South East region was much sought after, having the highest advertising revenues. Southern was replaced as ITV contractor by Television South, or TVS for short. In August 1981, TVS completed the purchase of the site but, prior to the new company taking control of the region, they had no office space within the buildings and so based their operations in portakabins located in the car park, while Southern continued their operation inside; this was mocked on the closing night of Southern, with the song "Portakabin TV" performed by its composer Richard Stilgoe,[6] though the arrangement was later repeated by Meridian as they waited to take over from TVS.[7]
TVS continued producing programmes at the Southampton base, and increased production significantly throughout their period. As a result, they created a number of extensions with a new car park, scenery blocks, production offices and a location facilities garage in the ex-Fairways Marine building. The main office building was connected to the studio block by an elevated walkway. They continued successfully until 1991, when another franchise round occurred and they lost, possibly as a result of financial problems the company incurred previously, following the takeover of MTM Enterprises.[8]
Meridian logo on side of building up close, following closure of studios (there is graffiti on the bottom of the logo)
The new franchise holder, Meridian Broadcasting, originally had plans to base itself in an office unit (which it did a little over 10 years later), as its operation required only presentation and play out facilities with a small studio for local news; they had no plans to make programmes themselves and would therefore have no use for a studio facility as large as the TVS base in Southampton. This would have left TVS with two studio complexes, the modern studios in Maidstone being their first choice for a base as an independent production company. However, following TVS's franchise loss, the two companies negotiated the takeover of the studios by Meridian, ending in the latter's purchase of the Northam studio complex. This also preserved a number of jobs originally not planned by Meridian. However, it still meant huge job losses: 100 of the original TVS workforce of 760 continued to work for Meridian, the others mainly working as freelancers, many for independent companies.[9]
On 1 January 1993, Meridian took control of the franchise. Despite not originally intending to own such a huge facility, they did put it to good use, with some productions made in the studios there. Meridian also rented out these studio space to other independent production companies, including programmes commissioned directly for Meridian. Following Meridian's merger with Anglia Television and HTV to form United News & Media, some playout and presentation facilities for these regions were moved to Northam, saving the company a significant amount of money. Their productions also increased in 1997, following the launch of Channel 5 (which was part owned by United News & Media) as many of the new channel's programmes were made at Northam.[10]
However, in 2000, United News & Media's television assets were bought by Granada plc, which in 2004 merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc, a new company owning all the ITV franchises in England, Wales and South Scotland. This also left the new company with at least thirteen studio complexes: the production centres of all of the companies they had taken over. It was decided that this number should be reduced to The London Studios, formerly of LWT; The Leeds Studios, formerly of ITV Yorkshire; and The Manchester Studios (alternatively called 3sixtymedia), formerly of ITV Granada, with all other studio complexes being sold and replaced with small scale offices and news gathering centres.[11]
The derelict studios
Meridian's main studio complex was not as big as some of the other production sites, was too close to The London Studios to be useful, and was not in a central location; it was also surplus to requirements for the region, and nearly 35 years old. It was therefore decided that the Northam studios would be closed, and all operations moved to a new purpose built unit at Whiteley. The last network production at the Northam studios was in June 2004, with the last live programme being the late night Meridian Tonight on 17 December that year. As the new studio complex was fully equipped, all equipment, furniture and other more unusual lots (such as the original TVS portakabins) were auctioned off on 3 March 2005.[9][10][12]
In the years following the move, some areas of the Northam studios were dismantled, with technical equipment being stripped from the building, such as miles of cables. For many years afterwards, the building stood empty and neglected, while a decision was made as to the future of the site. Demolition of the outlying buildings began in the summer of 2008. The site was partially dismantled and demolished, and then the main building – the original studio built by Southern – was finally demolished in 2009. The site remained empty after its initial developer, Oakdene, went into administration in 2009. In 2015, work started on surveying and clearing the site ready for the anticipated construction of 350 flats on the site by Inland Homes.[1]
Wales Television, known on screen as Teledu Cymru and often abbreviated to WWN, was the Welsh "Independent Television" contractor awarded the franchise area serving North and West Wales, from 1962. It began transmitting on 14 September 1962, and ceased on 26 January 1964 through financial failure; the franchise area was soon combined with the South Wales and West of England area, operated by TWW. TWW retained the Teledu Cymru name in the former WWN franchise area, as did successor Harlech during their emergency transitional franchise, only retiring the name when they were able to officially take over.
ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programmes for insertion into the network ITV schedule. Until November 2011, Channel Television was one of four ITV companies independent from ITV plc alongside the two STV regions in Scotland and UTV in Northern Ireland. The station has been owned by ITV plc since 2012 and the licence was transferred to ITV Broadcasting Limited in March 2017.
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, and one of the "Big Four" companies that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes during this period.
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and to the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982. It was one of the "Big Four" until 1968, and the "Big Five" after 1968, that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes. In 1982, ATV was restructured and rebranded as Central Independent Television, under which name it continued to provide the service for the Midlands.
ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the restructuring of ATV and began broadcasting on 1 January 1982. The service is owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Historically Central made a major contribution to the ITV network schedule – especially in entertainment and drama – but today its main responsibility is the regional news service.
Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as 'Southern Television Limited' and the title 'Southern Television' was consistently used on-air throughout its life. However, in 1966, during the application process for contracts running from 1968, the company renamed itself 'Southern Independent Television Limited', a title which was used until 1980 when the company reverted to its original corporate name. Southern Television ceased broadcasting on the morning of 1 January 1982 at 12:43am, after a review during the 1980 franchise round gave the contract to Television South.
Television South (TVS) was the ITV franchise holder in the South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, initially as 'Television South plc' and then following reorganisation in 1989 as 'TVS Entertainment plc', with UK broadcasting activities undertaken by subsidiary 'TVS Television Ltd'.
ITV Meridian is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Meridian Broadcasting Ltd was one of several ITV plc-owned regional companies to have its legal name changed on 29 December 2006, when it became ITV Meridian Ltd. This company is, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed with Companies House as a "Dormant company".
The history of ITV, the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies "Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955.
Northam is a suburb of Southampton in Hampshire. On the West bank of the River Itchen, it shares borders with St Mary's, Bitterne and Bevois Valley. Beside the border with St Mary's is the Chapel area, which has been home to some recent apartment building developments in Northam. The A3024 road runs through the suburb and crosses the Northam Bridge, which links Northam with Bitterne via Bitterne Manor. Although St Mary's Stadium takes its name from the neighbouring St Mary's, the stadium itself is in Northam, and home to Southampton F.C.
ITV News Meridian is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV Meridian. The news service is produced and broadcast from ITV Meridian's studios in Whiteley, near Fareham with reporters also based at bureaux in Didcot, Brighton and Maidstone.
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre, is the largest independent television studio complex in the United Kingdom, and is based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent, England. It has been home to a varied selection of independent British television programming including Later... with Jools Holland, Jools' Annual Hootenanny, Take Me Out, Catchphrase, as well as popular children's shows such as Mister Maker and Let's Play for CBeebies, or Art Attack for TVS and later for ITV and Disney Channel.
BBC South is the BBC English Region serving Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset, West Sussex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey, and Wiltshire, with geographic coverage varying between digital, television and radio services.
Granada Studios was 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.
The Television Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, also known by the street name City Road, was the headquarters and primary studio complex of the ITV licensee for the North East region, Tyne Tees Television, between 1959 and 2005.
Scene South East is a regional television news magazine programme produced by Southern Television, that covered the south east of England. The weekly sub-regional programme was broadcast from October 1964 to December 1981.
This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Central Independent Television. It has provided the ITV service for the Midlands since 1982.
This is a timeline of the history of the former British broadcaster Southern Television. It provided the ITV service for the South and South East of England from 1958 to 1981.
This is a timeline of the history of the former British broadcaster TVS. It provided the ITV service for the South and South East of England from 1982 to 1992.
This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Meridian Broadcasting. It has provided the ITV service for the South and South East of England since 1993.
YouTube slideshow of derelict complex – Uploaded by YouTube user CentralSouth. Contains photos taken when he visited the derelict site in June 2008, four years after Meridian's departure.
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