Television Centre encyclopedia topics

The building

The building features a distinctive circular central block (officially known as the main block — but often affectionately referred to by staff as the "doughnut") around which are studios, offices, engineering areas and the new News Centre. It was built as a circle so that when cables were laid from each studio to the Central Apparatus Room (CAR), through the centre of the circle, the cabling distance between all studios was the same. In the centre of the main block is a statue designed by T.B. Huxley-Jones, of the Greek god of the sun, Helios, which is meant to symbolise the radiation of television light around the world. At the foot of this statue are two reclining figures, symbolising sound and vision, the components of television. (This structure was originally a working fountain but due to the building's unique shape it was too noisy and was deactivated.) Even though there is a foundation stone marked 'BBC 1956' in the basement of the main building, construction had begun on the site in 1951. Over time various extensions have been added to the building to maximise the site's potential. Increasingly the corporation has had to seek further accommodation elsewhere, such as the nearby BBC White City. This new complex comprises White City One, a 25,000 square metre office building, as well as Red Bee's new Broadcast and Media Centres.

The overall design for Television Centre, from the air, appears to be like a question mark in shape. The architect, Graham Dawbarn, drew a question mark on an envelope (now held by the BBC Written Archives Centre) while thinking about the design of the building, and realised that it would be an ideal shape for the site. However, an article in The B.B.C. Quarterly, July 1946, proposed a circular design for a new television studio complex, several years before Dawbarn drew up his plans.

The centre's studios range in size from 110 square metres (1074 ft²) to the vast Studio TC1 at 995 square metres (10,250 ft²). TC1 is the second largest television studio in Britain and is now equipped for HDTV production (as is TC8, the next largest at TVC). The studios have been home to some of the world's most famous TV programmes including Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Blue Peter, Absolutely Fabulous, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and classic Doctor Who. Since the early 1990s however the studios have been home to few dramas – the last major drama series to be shot there being The House of Eliott, which ended in 1994, and the last single drama recorded was Henry IV, Part 1, in 1995. This was because drama production moved almost entirely onto film or single-camera video, and Television Centre is a video-based, multi-camera production environment.

Recently, a conservation body wants the West London site to be added to the statutory list of significant buildings. English Heritage has requested listed status for the Television Centre's scenery workshop, the canteen block adjoining the Blue Peter garden, and the central building.

Future relocation

It was announced on 18 October 2007 that in order to meet a £2 billion shortfall in funding, the BBC will "reduce the size of the property portfolio in west London by selling BBC Television Centre by the end the financial year 2012/13", with Director General Mark Thompson saying the plan will deliver "a smaller, but fitter, BBC" in the digital age. A BBC spokeswoman has added that "this is a full scale disposal of BBC Television Centre and we won't be leasing it back".

In 2012, subject to building work completion, all BBC News, national radio and BBC World Service broadcasts will be moved to Broadcasting House in central London. The building is planned to have the largest live newsroom in the world. The BBC News Centre at Television Centre was only opened in 1998, 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 then managing director of BBC Radio, Liz Forgan, who resigned after failing to dissuade the governors. Birt's decision has caused problems for BBC Radio in particular, for example politicians accustomed to travelling to interviews at Broadcasting House have been reluctant to make the journey to White City, four and a half miles west.

Two other departments, Sport and Children's, will move from Television Centre to in Salford Quays in 2011 along with Children's Learning, Radio Five Live and part of BBC Future Media & Technology. This move will see up to 1,500 London-based posts relocating north.

Major events

During the early hours of Sunday March 4 2001, a car bomb located in a taxi exploded in front of Television Centre (see 4 March 2001 BBC bombing). The building had been evacuated and no-one was seriously injured. The attack was attributed to dissident Irish Republicans. It was speculated at the time that the Panorama programme that named those suspected of involvement in the Omagh bombing was the motive for the attack.

Today, audience members are subject to airport style security; they have to walk through metal detectors, while bags and coats pass through an x-ray machine.

Television Centre has suffered previously from power cuts (see BBC Two), which due to varied reasons are not seen as a systemic problem. On 20 June 2000 a power cut across West London forced many services off air, including the main network evening news. On 30 June 2001 power-cuts again caused major breaks in output across all BBC services, with the added complication that a fire in backup generators caused the evacuation of the building.

Just before 0800 GMT on 28 November 2003 an electrical fault caused some equipment to overheat which set off fire alarms. Although there was no fire the fault did cause widespread power cuts and prevented backup generators from providing alternative power. Again, all output was affected with services transferred across London to alternative studios. For example, both the One O'Clock News and BBC News 24 broadcast for much of the day from the BBC's Millbank Studios, and the morning radio shows the Today programme and Five Live's Breakfast fell off air for 15 minutes. This power cut came on the week prior to the relaunch of News 24, which was postponed for another week to ensure that all problems had been remedied.