The London Studios

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The London Studios
Kenthouse (1).jpg
Lambeth London UK location map.svg
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Location in the London Borough of Lambeth
Greater London UK location map 2.svg
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Location in Greater London
Former namesThe South Bank Television Centre
Alternative namesThe ITV Studios
London Television Centre
ITV Towers
LWT Tower
LWT
General information
TypeTelevision studios
Location Lambeth, London
AddressUpper Ground,
London,
SE1 9LT [1]
CountryEngland
Coordinates 51°30′26″N0°06′45″W / 51.50733°N 0.11237°W / 51.50733; -0.11237
Elevation85 m (279 ft)
Construction started1969
Completed1972
ClosedStudios closed 30 April 2018
DemolishedTBD
Owner ITV plc (2013–2019)
Mitsubishi Estate London (2019–) [2] [3]
Technical details
Floor count24
Floor area2.5 acres
Design and construction
Architect(s) EPR Architects
Structural engineerClarke Nicholls and Marcel, Civil and Structural Engineers
Main contractor Higgs and Hill

The London Studios (also known as The South Bank Studios, The London Television Centre, ITV Tower, Kent House and LWT Tower) in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend Television. The studios were located in Central London, on the South Bank next to the IBM Building and the Royal National Theatre. The building was set on 2.5 acres of land and was 24 floors high. The London Studios closed on 30 April 2018. Many ITV programmes now come from Television Centre in White City, London.

Contents

The facilities were the main studios for ITV, along with a number of production companies including ITV Studios and Shiver based in Kent House tower, while the studios were home to many entertainment, game and daytime shows. These included Good Morning Britain , The Graham Norton Show , Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and The Jonathan Ross Show . The studios were also used for other programmes from various other channels including BBC Television and Channel 4. ITV Creative, which promotes programmes on the ITV network, was also based at the London Studios.

History

When LWT succeeded ATV as the London weekend ITV franchisee in 1968, it rented Associated-Rediffusion's old studios at Wembley (later known as The Fountain Studios) while plans for a new studio complex in central London were drawn up.

The chosen site stood beside the then new Royal National Theatre on the South Bank of the River Thames. It was bought in 1969, and construction work, awarded to Higgs and Hill, began in 1970. The centre opened for transmission in 1972, though it was not fully operational until 1974. The complex was owned by the pension fund of the National Coal Board and leased by the station. It was originally called The South Bank Television Centre (a name that lasted until the early 1990s) and at the time was the most advanced television centre in Europe.

On 28 January 2013 ITV plc finally bought the freehold of the now renamed London Television Centre for £56 million from what had become Coal Pension Properties. [4] [5] [6]

On social media, the building is named 'ITV Towers' since the purchase in January 2013. The official name of the building is The London Television Centre (with the studio business branded as 'The London Studios'), that being the logo in reception and around the building.

The site closed in April 2018 for demolition. Initially, ITV intended to redevelop the site with three smaller studios, but in October 2018 it announced it would not be returning to the South Bank, and the whole site would be redeveloped into premium housing. [7]

In November 2019, it was announced that ITV had reached an agreement to sell The London Studios for £145.6 million to Mitsubishi Estate London. [3] [2] New plans for the redevelopment of the site into a commercial development were revealed in February 2021. [8]

The building

Kent House Tower

Kent House Tower The London Studios 20160901.jpg
Kent House Tower

Kent House is a 24-storey tower block, and was home to ITV plc and many production offices including ITV Studios and Shiver Productions. During the 1990s the block was also home to Carlton Television and GMTV. It was seen in the titles of Good Morning Britain and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway . The tower housed programme production offices, edit suites, dubbing suites, VTR studio booths and graphic booths.

Main Studio Block

Building entrance Lwt sep2006 facing ne.jpg
Building entrance

Sandwiched between Kent House Tower and the River Thames is the main studio block, housing studios 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, the restaurant, the takeaway bar (prior studio cafe), management offices, edit facilities, make-up and wardrobe. It was designed by London-based architecture practice Elsom Pack & Roberts.

Gabriel's Wharf

On the east side of the site, there is a neighbouring building called Gabriel's Wharf. Previously belonging to Younger's Brewery, this three-storey building was added later to the site as a scenery store. When This Morning moved from Liverpool, the 3,000 square feet (280 m2) studio 8 was converted from the riverside end of the first storey. This area was on lease [9] from Coin Street Community Builders to ITV until 2018, when they left the premises.

Studios

There were a total of nine different studios during the complex's lifespan. By the time of closure there were six. There were weather studios producing the ITV national, and some of the network's regional forecasts at ITN's headquarters in Gray's Inn Road.

ITV

The studios were originally built by the London weekend ITV franchise holder, London Weekend Television (LWT). In 1991, Carlton Television won the London weekday franchise from Thames Television, but unlike Thames, Carlton had no studios of its own. Carlton rented space from The London Studios from 1993 for its own post-production and continuity facilities. This arrangement continued until 2002, when an agreement was reached for Carlton to be permanently based within space used by LWT; in the intervening years LWT had been taken over by Granada plc, and a close relationship had developed between Granada and Carlton. This led to consolidation within the ITV network and an agreement for the two to work together as ITV London.

Since 2002, all the ITV plc-owned regions' continuity before national programmes has been presented from the London Studios, as well as continuity before regional programmes in the following regions: Meridian, Westcountry, HTV West, Anglia, the non-franchise ITV Thames Valley region and since 16 January 2006 HTV Wales, although between 2002 and 15 January 2006, the Welsh station's continuity was recorded and sent electronically to London. The complex also housed the continuity of ITV plc's digital channels ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV. The site also handled the playout of all the above until 2007, when the service was outsourced to Technicolor Network Services (TNS) (now part of Ericsson). The play-out is now run from Ericsson's broadcast centre in Chiswick.

Ericsson now provides network feeds to transmission centres in Leeds (home of the Northern Transmission Centre, which was also originally taken over by TNS as part of the outsourcing deal) and Glasgow (STV).

ITV Studios

In 1994, Granada Group took over LWT and acquired the building. When ITV franchises were permitted to take one another over in the 1990s (which had previously been restricted), Carlton and Granada, between the two companies, eventually owned all the franchises in England and Wales. By the time the two companies merged in 2004, all of Carlton's studios had either been sold, or were surplus to requirements, so were sold soon after. Although the parent companies merged, and are now one (called ITV plc), Granada Television Ltd still exists as a subsidiary of ITV plc, and owns all ITV plc's studios (wholly in Leeds and London, and formerly as a joint venture with BBC Studios & Post Production in Manchester).

The studios produced the bulk of original ITV Studios' programmes, but anyone could hire the studios, so the studios were often seen on other channels' programmes.

Notable programmes

The London Studios was home to many popular programmes. List of shows, studio used and network broadcast on below:

YearsProgrammeChannelStudio
1972–1992LWT in-vision continuity LWT Studio 4
1972–1975 Upstairs, Downstairs ITV Studio 2
1972–1992 The Big Match Studio 5
1972–1985 World of Sport
1977–2016 It'll Be Alright On The Night Studio 2
1978–2010 The South Bank Show Studio 5
1978–2012 An Audience With... Studio 1
1980–1987, 1994–1999, 2002–2003 Play Your Cards Right
1981–1985 Game for a Laugh
1982–1988 The 6 O'Clock Show LWT
1984–2001, 2003, 2012–15 Surprise Surprise ITV
1985–2003, 2017–2018 Blind Date ITV and Channel 5 Studios 1 & 2
1988–1998 Hale and Pace ITV Studio 1
1989–1992News & Six O'Clock Live LWT Studio 10
1989–1991 Sale of the Century Sky One Studio 1
1989–1994 Desmond's Channel 4 Unknown
1990–2018 Have I Got News for You BBC Two and BBC One Studio 2
1991–2009 British Comedy Awards ITV Studio 1
1993–2010 GMTV Studio 5
1993–2004 LNN programmes Carlton & LWT Studio 7
1994–1995 Don't Forget Your Toothbrush Channel 4 Studio 1
1995–1998 Father Ted Channel 4
1995–2005 Jonathan Dimbleby ITV Studio 3
1996–1999 Michael Barrymore's Strike It Rich Studio 1
1996–2018 This Morning Studio 8
1998-2002 My Kind of Music Studio 1
1998–2003 SMTV Live Studio 2
CD:UK
1999–2018 Loose Women Studio 3
2000–2010 Pride of Britain Awards Unknown
2001–2002, 2016 Blankety Blank Studio 1
2002–2009, 2013–2018 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
2002 I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! The Reunion
2003–2018 QI BBC Two
2004–2005, 2007–2009, 2013–2015 The Paul O'Grady Show ITV and Channel 4 Studio 2
2005–2007 Gameshow Marathon ITV Studio 1
2005Avenue of the Stars: 50 Years of ITV
2006–2015 All Star Family Fortunes
2007–2018 The Graham Norton Show BBC One
2007That's What I Call Television ITV
This Is Your Life
2010 The Krypton Factor
The 5 O'Clock Show Channel 4 Studio 3
2010–2018 Lorraine ITV
2010–2014 Daybreak Studios 3 & 7
2010–2011 Paul O'Grady Live Studio 1
2010, 2012 The British Soap Awards
2010–2013 (daytime), 2011–2018 (celebrity) The Chase
2011–2016 The Jonathan Ross Show
2011–2015 Text Santa
2011–2014 The Alan Titchmarsh Show Studio 2
Let's Do Lunch with Gino & Mel
2012–2018 Piers Morgan's Life Stories
The Last Leg Channel 4
2012–2013, 2015 The One and Only... ITV Studio 1
2012 Dale's Great Getaway
2013, 2016–2017 Catchphrase Studio 2
2013–2016 Strictly: It Takes Two BBC Two Studio 7
2014–2015 Celebrity Squares ITV Studio 2
2014–2015 Miranda BBC One
2014–2018 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice BBC Two and Channel 4
Good Morning Britain ITV Studio 5
2015 Pick Me! Studio 2
Get Your Act Together Studio 1
2016 Go for It Studios 1 & 2
Naked Attraction Channel 4 Unknown
2016–2018 Unspun with Matt Forde Dave Studio 2
Peston on Sunday ITV Studio 3
2017 Babushka Studio 1
Don't Ask Me Ask Britain Studio 2
The Fake News Show Channel 4
2017–2018 Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule ITV
CelebAbility ITV2 Unknown

Amateur radio

The building used to host an amateur radio repeater, GB3LW. The site was provided by the London Weekend TV Amateur Radio Society. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Granada</span> Channel 3 regional service for North West England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV1</span> British free-to-air television channel

ITV1 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for the central and northern areas of Scotland where STV provides the service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlton Television</span> ITV weekday service for London

Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Television as a single entity, but the two companies are still separately licensed. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of "ITV Broadcasting Limited". Carlton has been branded on air as "ITV1" since 28 October 2002. Carlton Television Ltd, the original holder of the licence, has since been dissolved. Carlton UK Television Limited however is now known as ITV Consumer Limited and legally operates ITV plc's websites. As Carlton's name has no relation to its region, its on-screen identity has been completely removed. Other regions have kept their original company name as a region name and in their local news name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thames Television</span> Former ITV weekday service for London

Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broadcast from 09:25 Monday morning to 17:15 Friday afternoon at which time it would hand over to London Weekend Television (LWT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Weekend Television</span> ITV weekend service for London

London Weekend Television was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm to Monday mornings at 6:00. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Thames Television, there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights. From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Carlton Television, the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, for Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Meridian</span> South & South East England TV region

ITV Meridian is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at midnight 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teddington Studios</span> British television studio in Teddington, London

Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky1 and others. The complex also provided studio space for channel continuity. Towards the end of its history the site was run by the Pinewood Studios Group.

London News Network was a television news, production and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with each company holding a 50% stake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV London</span> On-air brand name

ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ITV Broadcasting Limited for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is transmitted from Crystal Palace in South London.

The history of ITV, the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies "Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955.

Night Network, Night Time and Night Shift were names given to the overnight schedule of the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, with all of the companies broadcasting through the night by the end of 1988. At first, individual companies created their own services; however, before too long, many of the smaller ITV stations began simulcasting or networking services from others.

<i>ITV News London</i> News

ITV News London is a British television news service broadcast on ITV London and ITVX. It is produced by ITN.

The ITV television network in the United Kingdom began as a group of regional stations, each with its own identity. Each station used its own idents to establish an individual identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granada Studios</span> Television studio complex in Manchester, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne</span> Former headquarters of Tyne Tees Television

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gas Street Studios</span> Television studios in United Kingdom, United Kingdom

Gas Street Studios is a studio complex operated by ITV plc in Birmingham, England. The complex is currently only used by ITV Central for the broadcast of ITV News Central and much of the complex has been sold off for other uses. The complex had also previously been used for other broadcasts including the former home of CITV. Today only 45 ITV Central staff work at the Gas Street Studios, significantly less than in June 1997 when the studios opened and there were over 400 staff working for Central Independent Television at the site.

This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV.

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster London Weekend Television. It has provided the ITV weekend service for London since 1968.

This is a timeline of the history of Carlton Television, and of its former owner Carlton Communications. Carlton Television has provided the ITV service for London on weekdays since 1993, and Carlton Communications took over the services for the Midlands, South West England, the West of England and Wales before merging with Granada plc to form ITV plc.

This is a timeline of television in London.

References

  1. ↑ "Contact us". www.itvplc.com. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 "ITV confirms South Bank studios sale". TVBEurope. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  3. 1 2 "ITV sells off London Television Centre". Televisual. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "Dozens of possible bidders for ITV studios" . The Independent. London. 16 December 2012. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.
  5. ↑ "ITV buys its London headquarters for £56 million". Property Mall. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "ITV buys London HQ" (Press release). ITV plc. 28 January 2013. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Sweney, Mark (9 October 2018). "ITV to sell South Bank studios". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  8. ↑ Jessel, Ella (18 February 2021). "Make reveals plans to redevelop ITV's former South Bank HQ".
  9. ↑ "Gabriel's Wharf". Coin Street Community Builders. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  10. ↑ "Meridian". web.archive.org. 29 June 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
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