Studio Sets, Infrastructure and General Technical

Probably convenient for Richard (not too far from the Top Gear offices in White City at the time), and not too far from the presumably Soho-based post production teams. Back projectors require a fair bit of space too. It probably came down to location and space - easier to build a set and light it in a proper TV studio rather than trying to do it in a smaller studio elsewhere.

Total Wipeout links were also recorded in Riverside 3 when 1 was busy (source).

Wow. I always assumed Total Wipeout was a cheap CSO set up.

Looking at the mentions of Series 5 for the backdrops, and the distinctive sign and other props, it appears at least some of the recording was for Series 5 Episode 5 of Total Wipeout:

Off topic but the reworked Total Wipeout begins a week on Saturday with Paddy McGuiness and Freddie Flintoff revoicing old episodes. Originally it was said they'd do it from home but maybe closer to broadcast they were able to do something in a studio, especially as I think Top Gear has been filming anyway.

Back to the Riverside video and is that space where TFI Friday used to come from?

Doesn't seem to be loading for me.

I don't think Cat and Mouse exist any more, as they were subsumed into Microsoft.

Works fine.
Right-click, save as, save to desktop, play in VLC.

In its heyday, Television Centre really was a one stop in house shop for everything discussed here. The designers, lighting directors, costume designers all BBC staff and all involved right from the off. Scenery was constructed in carpenters workshops, backdrops Hand painted by scenic artists, the lighting rigged, the studio floor prepared before the set went in (it was weird seeing a load of different paint effects before the set went in over the top of it), then the set installed by bringing it through the scene dock doors in cages. Only when it was all in, could a fine light be done (tweaking via poles - most studio lamps can be panned, tilted and (in some cases) the beam adjusted via a long pole - which can also be used to bash barn doors into submission. The recording or transmission having taken place, almost straight away, the set strike would happen and by the next morning a bare studio was waiting for the next production.

The centre really was designed so well to support this process it’s no wonder ex staffers on nostalgia websites and forums get misty eyed about it all. Standing sets in two of the remaining studios and little on-site storage in the current facility bear negligible resemblance to the vast television factory it once was.

Going by the brick wall yes, all long been demolished and replaced now, apparently with a similar brick wall.

What amazes me about that video is that they pack away the seats for Total Wipeout and then put them back out again for You're Fired. Couldn't they have just put the Total Wipeout set a bit further to the right?


Here's another studio time-lapse, this time studio 1 at Teddington, taking down This is Your Life and putting up the set of How Do They Do That?


HDTDT had a totally different audience rostra, which I suppose is a totally different discipline to set building, having to make something that's functional and safe for the public too

Continuing in the theme of studio turnaround timelapses... not primarily a timelapse but contains some timelapse clips of building of sets including Sky News' Studio 6 and the Oscars set.

And some timelapse clips of the gallery and studio installs for Sky Sports Racing.

Are those cameras (Sky Racing) without autocue shrouds? Do those get fitted and removed as and when?

The clips in that video are a bit out of order - the majority of the cameras in racing do have autocue units fitted (or did last time I was in there).