BBC Television Centre vs ITV London Studios

And I'm sure we'll all have 'fun' working out which presenters should do!

Only the TC5 studio floor is closed - the gallery suites are still in use working into another TVC studio floor of a similar size (and if you know the size of TVC studios that shouldn't be a difficult one to guess!)

(TC5 has two complete galleries - allowing different shows to be on-air / rehearsing simultaneously - and on occasions split the studio floor area)

Thanks Nogging, I get you

Was at TLS Thursday and seems they're going HD very soon with a new sictom in Studio 1 being shot in that format...

Another question if that's ok

Why does TC8 seem to be so favourable. Would it be a good studio for a regular chat show set?

I've no idea if this is already common knowledge because I don't know how recently it's happened, but I was going past Lenton Lane today and noticed that the old coloured cones on top of the old Carlton/Central studios have been replaced so that they are now all dark green. I know it's only bits of plastic, but it's quite sad in a way.

TC8, TC6 and TC4 are all roughly similar in terms of size - though TC6 is unusual in having its gallery moved to ground level when it was refurbed in the early 90s (as it was felt this was better for drama and sitcom productions)

TC8 is part of spur, not the doughnut, and was thus built quite a few years later (1968?) - just before the news studios on the 6th floor (1969?). I believe it is slightly wider than 4 and 6, and has better air con. It also has permanently installed (but retractable) studio seating.

Sorry for being so dumb, but what is retractable seating?

It's seating that's retractable!

Sorry... in some studios the seats are either built in or built when needed and then taken down again afterwards. Retractable seats are permanant, but retract back into the wall out of the way of the studio floor

Ah right, I get you. So basically if no seating was required in say a studio like TC8 then the retractable seating could be backed into the firelane and the whole studio working space would be free? Is this the same situation in Studio 1 at TLS?

It'll go further back than into the firelane i think, into the wall so that the fire lane can still be used

I think Studio 1 at TLS has both retractable seating and fixed seating, the top half being fixed. This can be seen on some programmes like awards ceremonies where they have a traditional audience at the top and tables containing the invited audience on the studio floor

Surely that's a disadvantage to TLS Studio 1 though? I'm sure some productions would like to use the full working space - say music shows, for example, so what is the point of the fixed seating being there, why not make it all retractable.

The upper tier doesn't take up any of the usable floorspace.

They're on a balcony built into one of the walls and the lower seating retracts under it.

Have a look at: http://www.londonstudios.co.uk/download/Studio1_plan.pdf