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David Taylor
A very interesting document.
Pat Heigham
Fascinating. I don’t know if I should be proud to work there when BBC, but pleased to see mention of Gainsborough, which I always thought of being the owners of LG in the past.
Has anyone worked out which of the stages became the LG studios we knew and ‘loved’?
Lime grove pre beeb
Bernie Newnham
I wonder if Stage 4 is Studio D?
Graeme Wall
That was my guess, and 6 could be G.
Geoff Hawkes
Surely one of them must be F on the first floor next to G. We passed through it on the way to the canteen. It was the largest and was used for a scenery store as I remember it. Didn’t it have a tank underneath?
Doug Puddifoot
When the Topical Production Centre started, they turned the tank into the duty room for the PSC crews. Very claustrophobic with no windows.
John Cavaciuti
1st Floor:
Studio 1 ~ H
Studio 2 and 3 ~ G
Studio 4 ~ F (Used by BBC as a Scenery store)
2nd Floor:
Studio 5 ~ E
Studio 6 ~ D
Pat Heigham
Certainly F was scenery store.
I had a long relationship with D, for “Dr. Who” in the early days.
Also for “Tonight”, now was that D or E ?
“Grandstand” was always G, and my abiding memory was of one afternoon when the weather shut down any racing and nothing was coming in from any OBs, so Pres ran “ Berlin Express”, and we all sat round the studio monitor on the green studio canvas chairs. That film is still being churned out, even today!
Alec Bray
In my time, “Tonight” was always in studio G: the “Grandstand” scoreboards and so on were just put in front of the “Tonight” sets. When “Tonight” ended, “24 Hours” started, and that usually came from studio E. Meanwhile, G became the home of TOTP
Mike Jordan
I think it was G – though not used as a studio much – that had a library or something in the side wall.
Back in about 1967 or 8, one time I had to go down from BH to test out GPO lines which appeared in that room. OK the first time as I was shown where to go. Next occasion I gave up as all the walls were padded and doors hidden.
A bit the same getting into the Radio Control Room at Festival Hall off a long corridor!
I always remembered the way to the club, however.
Paul Thackray
I never found difficulty finding the club, but finding the way back was always an issue!
Bernie Newnham
not to scale
David Brunt
You’ve transposed D and E, surely? D had the odd corners and the lift.
Bernie Newnham
Well…..
There was a fire escape in the north west corner of D. On one warm summer evening we made paper darts and threw them over the railway towards the market. Mike Harrison won the distance test. Another afternoon we were doing “Jackanory” with Thora Hird. At tea break we were out there chatting, and could she chat.
Dave Mundy
I agree Bernard, Thora could ‘talk the hind legs off a donkey’, as they say!
When I worked on the OB PSC unit we did “Praise Be” with Thora. It was shot mainly at her daughter’s house in Isfield, East Sussex. Her daughter was the lovely Janette Scott – one of the English beauties in the film world. Janette had built a small bungalow in her garden for Thora and Jack. Thora would regale us with non-stop stories from her past, so much so that the poor producer lady got quite agitated about getting something ‘in the can’! It was Thora’s birthday when we there and she had a lovely birthday cake which we all enjoyed. At Easter time we shot some links in the garden when all the daffodils were out and I sent her some photos I had taken. She wrote me a lovely letter to say ‘thank you’ and to bemoan the fact that the BBC Religion department was being moved to Manchester, as she enjoyed working with us so much. Sadly missed, a true ‘trouper’.
Bernie Newnham
The motor car lift let out onto Lime Grove and came up next to E.
Peter Hider
The scenery lift was used to bring HMQ up to E for “Blue Peter”. It was draped in velvet, but someone realised there was nothing for her to sit on during the slowest lift elevation in Europe. A throne duly arrived from the prop store.
We also had an elephant on a show in Studio E who came up in the lift but not at the same time as HMQ.
Geoff Fletcher
I have a recollection of a boxing kangaroo coming up in the lift at Lime Grove too. Anyone else recall it?
Alex Thomas
On the opening night of BBC 2 a kangaroo was loaded into the big lift at Lime Grove.
I agree with Bernie’s labelling of studios D and E.
A bit difficult to gauge it exactly, as there were obviously some changes when the BBC took over. But one thing that they could not change was position of the lavatories which were set between D and E. E was the studio on the Lime Grove side of the site, studio D on the underground!! H&C line to Hammersmith side.
It was from the Gents that the guy who read out the racing results on “Grandstand” committed suicide some time about October 1965 (when “Grandstand” migrated to Studio E when”24 Hours” started): he owned restaurants, I believe, but he was a betting man: he read out the racing results, realised he had lost the lot, retired to the gents and jumped…
The gents between D and E also figured in a sound issue: a gunshot was wanted for a drama. The gunshot generator was not suitable, a blank fired in the studio was too loud and had too much presence. The ideal was a cubicle in the gents – just the right timbre and intensity. The moment came, the cue made, the gun was fired…. a Sparks was ensconced in the adjacent cubicle…
Graeme Wall
The view from the fire escape outside Studio D
Geoff Fletcher
My shot from the fire escape outside Studio D on 20 August 1964.
Pat Heigham
I remember that, as it was possible to sneak back in to sound control after a late return from the canteen without having to get past the production gallery!
But do you remember Denise Daveluy bringing in her tortoise, and constructing a corral of 2×4’s borrowed from props, for the sound gallery of Studio E?
I know it was E, because the sound gallery was accessed from the staircase outside all the production galleries and she posted a sign saying ‘tortoise loose’ !
Dave Newbitt
Oh dear – seems I have lost it. Anyone seen my specs?
The Tank in F
Alan Taylor
Dave Plowman said: One rumour was “The Cruel Sea” was partially shot in that tank in F
I had been told that by multiple people and never had reason to disbelieve it. Then I found myself doing a film with Donald Sinden who was telling me a tale about how he nearly drowned at Denham Studios while shooting “The Cruel Sea”.
The problem being that he couldn’t swim. He didn’t realise that the water was ten feet deep, and the production team didn’t properly take on board that he really was a non-swimmer, despite him mentioning it multiple times. They just assumed he was a poor swimmer.
I thought he was mistaken about the studio and queried which studio it actually was, but he was quite insistent that it definitely was the huge outdoor tank at Denham, the rest being shot at Ealing Studios or on location. IMDB confirms Ealing Studios, but doesn’t mention Denham, however Sinden was quite clear about it and added that they used a wave machine, together with an aeroplane engine and propeller with a fire hose squirting into it for the storm sequence. That’s not something which was likely to be done in an indoor tank.
I don’t know if Ken Westbury is still around and if anybody here knows him, but according to IMDB, as a young chap he was the clapper loader on “The Cruel Sea” and would surely remember where it was shot.
Sue Malden
Ken is still around- 95 years old. We are planning to interview him in April for the British Entertainment History Project
David Brunt
I’m fairly certain “The Cruel Sea” was nowhere near Lime Grove. It had closed for film production before it was filmed.
Some known uses of the water tank are:
“The Wicked Lady “(moorland scenes)
The Arthur Askey “Ghost Train” (when they crash the bus and run down the steep incline to stop the train was going down into the tank).
Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” (the bridge over the stream where Hannay hides).
(Hopefully this should restore what little reputation I have a bit today)
Neil Dormand
David, you are right: it was shot in 1953 using the open-air tank at Denham.
Graeme Wall
I was told that “A Night To Remember” was shot in F.
Paul Thackray
This is even less likely as the LG had been owned by the BBC for 11 years when ANTR was released. It was very busy with TV programs during the build but before the opening of TVC.
Peter Hider
The rumour I heard was that part of ‘Sabu the Elephant Boy’, directed by Zoltan Korda, was shot in Lime Grove and the elephant fell in the tank.
As an aside does anyone know if David Korda who was a 1st AD / Production Manager when I was a freelance Associate Producer was a descendant of either Zoltan or Alexander Korda?
I worked a number of times with the DoP Ken Westbury, and I’ll endeavour to find his number and give him a call regarding “The Cruel Sea”.
David Brunt
Alexander Korda’s brother Zoltan had a son named David. Could well be him.
There was also a third Korda brother named Vincent.
Cream?
Garth Tucker
Does anybody remember ‘Cream’ playing at Lime Grove? I never worked with them myself but the stories that came back to TVC. Did they really have to be caught as their stints came to an end?
Elsewhere on the Tech Ops site
Martin Ridout
That Lime Grove book is in my possession (found in a charity shop), and I scanned it and posted the original message and pdf on this list in July 2020. I’m pleased it has surfaced again and generated some conversation.
