BBC Television Centre vs ITV London Studios

Have I Got News For You along with Room 101 have been made at the London Studios because of the central location that the London Studios is in.

Television Centre can be difficult for guests to get to, if they are staying in central London, where most of the main hotels are.

Also I have heard that the London Studios offers a better reception to productions than BBC TV Centre.

In TV Centre productions are left to fend for themselves. If you watch Paul O'Grady who does his show for Channel Four from BBC TV Centre in TC6, he jokes about the crap catering in the building, this is not a joke, it is true.

So most productions go to the London Studios. Just for the better service on offer.

There's now no parking directly in front of TVC - or on most of Wood Lane, for that matter.
The food does leave a little to be desired, but I've eaten in worse canteens on BBC sites.

BBC Canteen jokes are so 1970's

To be fair I've worked in both (although less so in TLS) and both places I would say have similar standards of catering. In fact, there are many more places to eat in TVC then t'other place...

This topic reminds of a feature that I read about how good BBC TV Centre could have been. Had they done the renovation this argument would have been won hands down by BBC TV Centre. And it shows hoe envious they were of LWT's Studio 1. Which is the perfect studio for light entertainment.

http://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk/tv%20centre%20history.htm#stage%206

What would have happened to that studio though. The programme it was envisenged would move into it (Wogan) finished before it would have been completed. With the subsequent decrease in big studio LE shows (TC1 isn't exactly struggling with demand). The new Studio 9 could well have been a big white elephant

I think that it could have been THE big studio in this country, especially considering how big studios are being used by The X Factor, Test The Nation, Strictly Come Dancing etc.

What they've done with Studio 1 at TV Centre is good but you don't get many people in there, studio 1 at the old LWT building just has this crackle of electricity that you get from 600 people in the audience, at TV Centre the atmosphere seems subdued.

The studio that never was would have been a fantastic spce and you could have seen Noel's House Party and a whole host of other shows coming from it.

As somebody said before TV Centre's studio1 is perfect for general election coverage but The London Studios is best for doing an entertainment show, even their lesser studio can accommodate 400 people and the BBC studios can only seat around 300.

It would probably have been too small for X Factor (which uses the huge studio at Fountain) and the wrong type of studio for Test The Nation (which has it's audience participating on the studio floor). SCD possibly, but does that have a traditional audience?

Having a fixed 'Theatre' type audiorium can be a disadvantage too



Until the last series when they did it 'in the round'. The problem would have been with it is that there just aren't enough big LE programmes around these days that would be able to make use of it; Wogan - gone, Parkinson - gone from the BBC, Noels House Party - gone, That's Life - gone.

Programmes like Jonathan Ross don't work in (and couldn't afford) a big studio

Those that are left fit quite happily in Fountain, and the South Bank. There's an ever diminishing amount still made in TC1 which would have been done in TC9.... but then they'd have 2 rarely used studios at TV Centre

So do you think we're seeing the beginning of the end for TV Centre?

TLS seems to have everything covered overall - superb light entertainment studios, great facilities, lovely building to work in and placed in the heart of London. There's always something that will make TVC special though...

In its present form yes. However despite the reduction in studio-based programmes and the move of News, Sport and kids.... there would still be a need for studios and lots of homeless programmes.

With everything going to White City, Manchester and the West End there will be a big glut of office space. I could see ancillary buildings on the outskirts going a couple of the medium studios being closed and the site being drastically slimmed down.

There's something iconic about TV Centre. I remember The Goodies blowingb it up, Roy Castke tap dancing around it with a bunch of kids, Noel Edmonds going for walkabouts in it during Swap Shop and so many great shows coming from there. I'd hate to see it become an office block or flats.

One thing that was always a disadvantage was where it was based, in terms of location TLS wins hands down. There's not really much of note in the vacinity of TVC. And also I think TLS is a pretty iconic building too, especially those of us that are old enough to remember LWT.