Well, readers, last week I stepped back almost four decades in my personal memory. 37 years ago I was invited to visit the newly built EastEnders outer street by the new director of the BBC Elstree Centre, who had taken over the site from ATV, as I prefer to call it. My host then was Keith Clement, who received what would today require a small army, but he literally only had a handful of people to revamp and relaunch the site as a functioning studio. It was a challenge, although he admits they still had time for pancake runs during lunch breaks.
Keith is now the fittest 90 year old man I know and unfortunately our hosts on the tour assumed I was the same age, although I stopped counting at 65. I must thank these people, who were so kind to allow us to visit the wonderful new EastEnders outdoor complex. We even got a glimpse inside the Queen Vic. I hadn’t seen this since around 1987, when I was escorting Douglas Fairbanks Jr to tour the Center to give the oldest building its name because he ran the studios for part of the 1950s. At the time, I remember two of the Eastenders stars, Nick Berry and Gillian Taylforth, asking Doug for his autograph.
Photo: Andrew Stuart/PA
Almost the entire site is now devoted to the production of EastEnders, which is a big investment considering the ratings today. The old ATV stage with fixed seats is available for any outside production to rent, which helps. I was in the audience for many shows filmed there in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1988 I was the program consultant for a two-part BBC documentary on Borehamwood’s history as a film town. We had David Puttnam as our on-screen narrator and we borrowed a bike from EastEnders, where his intro started, and rode him down to the front of Elstree Studios, which was torn down shortly after . We also shot scenes in the long-demolished Gate Studios. We had to wrap up the story in the early 1970s because the BBC couldn’t afford to buy clips of star warsetc., which cost ridiculous money.
Photo: PA
At the end of the tour, Keith and I had a meal and a drink in the old BBC Elstree Center bar. It also brought back memories in that I used to interview mountain bike stars there in the 1970s. We met a star from EastEnders and had a good chat, but I can’t give any names as it was a private conversation.
Alas, the BBC is looking into the future of the site, which I’m told is valued at £70million. In the past, they have tried to shut it down, but after spending so much money on the site, such a move would be madness. I suspect they might sell the site but lease the area used by EastEnders. Watch this space over the next few months. With film and TV space at such a premium now, I think it would be a disaster not to keep the whole site under any ownership as a TV production hub. Alas, the BBC’s top brass today seem out of touch with reality and are enjoying the final days aboard the Titanic.
- Paul Welsh MBE is a Borehamwood writer and historian of Elstree studios
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-03-06 18:00:00
