Broadcasting House, Salford Quays & TVC

I'd say there was a slight influence on RTE's studios in Donnybrook, Dublin.
http://s0.thejournal.ie/media/2012/09/rte-fined-over-priest-programme-3-390x285.jpg
http://www.northernsound.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/RTE-Donnybrook-Studios.jpg

ZDF yes I can see, and the France Radio building in Paris is a similar design I think

But RTE I don't get the connection.... it has a slightly rounded façade in that second photo but that's about it. Surely it's practical features that are the ones that count, not athestic? The main architectural concept behind TV Centre, and the reason it worked so well both technically* and operationally is that the studios are arranged in a circle?

I know RTE are knocking it all down in the next few years, is that building one of the new or old ones?



*something to do with cable lengths and lack of corners?

In the top image the building with the RTE logo on it looks a bit like the side of TVC with the BBC logo on it.

Errrr, if you say so

Some serious straw clutching there.

In the days before digital processing (or even analogue storage) cable length was really significant in timing studios and sources. Because VT was in the centre of the doughnut and the studios were arranged radially, the cable lengths between every studio and VT were roughly the same, making timing significantly easier I think. (Or so it is said?)

The other great design feature was allowing a ring road to run around the outside of the building, with scene dock doors opening onto it - massively more flexible than many designs.

NRK in Oslo and SVT in Stockholm both have TV studio set-ups that are quite similar to an unrolled TV Centre in some ways. When you are in them you have a definitely TVC feel.

What bothers me is how I keep reading on various forums, about how apparently no one wants big studio centres any more, and about how more and more programmes are made on location instead. Yes, no one expects studio-based drama to make a comeback, but a decade ago it might have seemed that studio-based comedy was going the same way. However the last few years have seen a resurgance in studio comedy, such as Not Going Out, Miranda, Mrs Brown's Boys, Citizen Khan, Watson and Oliver, and just this year has seen Count Arthur Strong, Up the Women, The Wright Way, Badults and the upcoming Father Figure. Plus there is a never-ending stream of panel shows and game shows.

These sorts of programmes will always need studios. Not all of those examples were, or have to be, made at TVC, but my point is that it's impossible to predict what kind of studio usage will be needed in the future; these things seem to go in cycles, and the reduction of TVC to just three studios seems incredibly short-sighted. As Martin Kempton notes in his excellent History of BBC Television Centre: "2010, 2011 and 2012 were the busiest years at TVC for a long time and studios were being booked right up to the closing in March 2013".

And it's not just about the number of studios being retained - it's the size of them. As noted by Martin Kempton, only one of the three - TC3 - is of the size most useful to programme makers, TC1 being too big, and TC2 too small to be of much use. This is probably where there was a campaign to also save the similarly sized TC8, even though it is awkwardly separated from the others. I can only imagine TC3 is going get very overbooked when it comes back into service!

(Also posted to Digital Spy forums)

Although it should be noted that the price of using TVC studios dropped quite dramatically over its last year (at least) which encouraged quite a few productions to move there such as Let's Dance. Before that the studios were notoriously over-priced.

Hmm - if they were so overpriced how come price-conscious indies like Endemol were using them for non-BBC productions for so long? (Goldenballs, Pointless etc.?) My understanding was that they were quite price-competitive (not the cheapest, but not the most expensive), particularly for HD production, for longer than 12 months pre-closure.

Goldenballs and Pointless film a huge amount of episodes in massive blocks so they would have been able to negotiate a cheaper price. Plus TVC is just around the corner from Endemol's offices so convenience no doubt would have been a factor, I can imagine they spent less on hiring out production offices in TVC.

From what I've been told they never did mates rates for in house and as such they could often find better and more modern studios at a lower, or similar, price.

I think there was a time when TV Centre was expensive - Birt's Producer Choice saw to that. Bernie Newnham has a fascinating account of the politics he encountered trying to make Points of View in Pres B here http://tech-ops.co.uk/next/2010/11/stories-4-pres-b/

The irony is that the BBC has spent/spending huge amounts of money moving from a purpose built centre which could have been refurbished to site with a run down 60's office block and glorified sheds. The difference in price of staying put and refurbishing is negligible - the bonus more studios with a creative mass of people. If its on the cards to demolish stage one at TVC I would much rather see Albert Square built there than yuppie flats.