Television Centre, London
Television Centre, also known as BBC Studioworks' Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting House. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017, providing a mix of residential apartments, retail outlets, office space, and three studios operated by BBC Studioworks for TV production. The first BBC staff moved into the Scenery Block in 1953, and the centre was officially opened on 29 June 1960. It is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type, having appeared as the backdrop for many BBC programmes. Parts of the building are Grade II listed, including the central ring and Studio 1.
Most of the BBC's national television and radio news output came from Television Centre, and in later years most recorded television was output from the nearby Broadcast Centre at 201 Wood Lane, care of Red Bee Media. Live television events from studios and routing of national and international sporting events took place within Television Centre before being passed to the Broadcast Centre for transmission.
The building is west of central London, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The nearest Underground stations are White City on the Central Line and Wood Lane on the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines.
History
On Friday 1 April 1949, Norman Collins, the Controller of the BBC Television Service, announced at the Television Society's annual dinner at The Waldorf Hilton, London that a new TV centre would be built in Shepherd's Bush. London broadcasts at the time came from Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove Studios. It was to be the largest television centre in the world.It was planned to be, but turned out to be twice the size. The building was commissioned in 1949 with work starting in 1950. However government restrictions on building, through its loan sanction and licensing of materials, ensured that building work was halted until 1953. Intended as stopgaps, the BBC remodelled the former Gaumont Studios at Lime Grove, the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith and the Shepherd's Bush Empire for television production spaces and studio use; many of these facilities were still being used by the corporation decades later.
Work resumed in 1953 on the TVC scenery block and work began in 1954 on the canteen block, which doubled as a rehearsal space. Work on Stage 3, the central circular office block and studios, began in March 1955 on studios TC4, 5 and 2. The shells of studios TC1, TC6 and TC7 were constructed around the same time but they were not fitted out until a few years later. BBC Television Centre officially opened with TC3 operational on 29 June 1960. When it opened in June 1960, the Director of BBC television was Gerald Beadle, and the first programme broadcast was First Night with David Nixon in Studio Three.
In 1997, the BBC News Centre was opened, in a new complex at the front of the building. The decision to move radio news to this building was attributed to Director General John Birt, a move that was resisted by the managing director of BBC Radio, Liz Forgan, who resigned after failing to dissuade the governors. Birt's decision caused problems; for example some politicians accustomed to travelling to interviews at Broadcasting House in Central London were reluctant to make the journey to White City, despite being only west.
Redevelopment
It was announced on 18 October 2007 that in order to meet a £2 billion shortfall in funding, the BBC intended to "reduce the size of the property portfolio in west London by selling BBC Television Centre by the end of the financial year 2012/13", with the then Director General, Mark Thompson, saying the plan would deliver "a smaller, but fitter, BBC" in the digital age. A BBC spokesman has added that "this is a full scale disposal of BBC Television Centre and we won't be leasing it back". The corporation officially put Television Centre on the property market in June 2011.BBC Sport and BBC Children's moved to dock10, MediaCityUK in Salford Quays in 2012, with Children's Learning, BBC Radio 5 Live and part of BBC Future Media & Technology. The move saw up to 1,500 posts at TV Centre and 700 posts at New Broadcasting House relocate to Salford Quays. BBC Breakfast, part of BBC News, moved to Salford in April 2012.
On 16 July 2012, the BBC agreed to sell the site to Stanhope for £200 million. The building closed on 31 March 2013 and was redeveloped to include flats, office space, a cinema and hotels. Studios 1, 2 and 3 along with part of the basement and offices have been refurbished and leased back to the BBC on a 15-year lease. The original schedule would have seen Studios 1, 2, & 3 back in production by Autumn of 2014 however on 17 July 2014 the BBC announced that due to the extensive building work, programme production would not recommence at Television Centre until 2017 when much of the demolition and groundwork has been completed. The BBC's commercial business, BBC Studios, will lease back Stage 6 as office space which is the part formerly occupied by BBC News.
All BBC News, national radio and BBC World Service broadcasts were relocated to Broadcasting House between July 2012 and March 2013, which is said to include one of the largest live newsrooms in the world. The final news broadcasts from Television Centre took place on 18 March 2013, when the BBC News channel and remaining news output completed the move to Broadcasting House. This was one of the final live broadcasts from the building.
A 90-minute documentary titled Tales of Television Centre was broadcast on BBC Four in 2012 ahead of the move out. On 22 March 2013, BBC Four devoted its evening schedule to programmes commemorating Television Centre. At the heart of the evening was Goodbye Television Centre, a two-hour history presented by former BBC1 controller and BBC chairman Michael Grade. The last live programme broadcast was Madness Live: Goodbye Television Centre, shown that day on BBC Four.
In March 2013, the BBC and Stanhope formed a joint venture, Television Centre Developments, to manage the redevelopment of the 14-acre site. Only three of the eight production studios were earmarked for continued use by the BBC, with the rest being demolished for flats, and it was argued that this would leave insufficient facilities in the capital for independent television production, and a Save Television Centre Studios website and petition was set up.
In December 2013, Stanhope was granted planning permission from the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
In October 2014, UK magazine Private Eye reported that having spent £60 million to remove broadcasting equipment from the building, the BBC planned to spend £12 million a year to lease back parts of the building. This decision was in direct contradiction of the BBC's promise in 2007 that the sale of TVC was a "full-scale disposal" and that it would not be leasing back any part of the building.
Demolition work began in February 2015.
As of April 2016, only Studios TC1, TC2 and TC3 remained - the other studios TC4, TC5, TC6, TC7 and TC8 had all been demolished. The statue of Helios, the Greek God of Sun, had been removed for renovation before it returned later in 2016; developer Stanhope and construction manager Mace had carefully removed the gilded bronze figure with heritage experts PAYE Conservation for repair and renovation. The Helios has stood in the rotunda at Television Centre since the former BBC headquarters opened in 1960.
Reopening
, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC operate and maintain Studios 1, 2 and 3 and the production facilities at Television Centre. The newly refurbished facilities officially opened on 1 September 2017. As of April 2017, bookings for the renovated studios were being taken.The first programme to transmit live from the newly refurbished studios was Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two on BBC Two on Monday 25 September 2017. It was hosted by Zoe Ball.
In April 2018, ITV's daytime programmes Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning, Loose Women and political discussion programme Peston moved to Television Centre, due to the closure and redevelopment of The London Studios. However, in October 2018, it was announced that ITV would not be returning to the South Bank.
On 29 June 2020, Television Centre turned 60 years old and the Royal Television Society released a commemorative programme to celebrate.
On 20 May 2025, it was announced that all four ITV Studios Daytime shows would leave Television Centre as part of a schedule change that would take effect in January 2026, with Good Morning Britain moving to the headquarters of ITN, and the other three also leaving. Although unconfirmed, Peston would also be leaving Television Centre and moving to a new as-yet unknown location. It was later announced that Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women would all move to The Hospital Club in Covent Garden. This means Studio TC2 and TC3 will now be available to other television productions, especially Studio TC3 which had been block booked for Good Morning Britain and This Morning, who had permanent sets built into the studio. From January 2026, Studios TC2 and TC3 will be available for the first time since 2018 to other television programmes.
The building
Design
The overall design from the air appears to resemble a question mark in shape. The architect, Graham Dawbarn,, drew a question mark on an envelope while thinking about the design of the building, and realised that it would be an ideal shape for the site. An article in The BBC Quarterly, July 1946, proposed a circular design, several years before Dawbarn drew up his plans. The building features a central circular ring, which comprises a central courtyard around which were studios, offices, engineering areas and the News Centre.The building as opened in 1960 was extended a number of times, notably along the 'spur' towards Wood Lane in line with the original masterplan although the actual implementation was completed over a number of decades and by different architects. Despite a number of extensions, the BBC had to seek accommodation elsewhere, such as the nearby BBC White City complex comprising White City One, a 25,000 square metre office building, and the adjacent Broadcast and Media Centres.