Milton Keynes, MOTD, TVT, VT, Lime Grove, Omnibus, N1 and Aintree.

from Roddy Buxton

“I am not and never have been involved with the BBC – I have worked freelance for Central TV (when they had a 1/2 decent film unit) in the mid to late 1990s, as a ‘spark’. Your website is full to the brim of facinating photos and information about the BBC, I spent nearly 3 hours on your site looking through all of the photos! It’s great to actually see and hear what life was like behind the scenes from the people who were actually there in the thick of it.”

Roddy has scanned a lot of photos from two books that he owns from the ’70s and ’80s……for which Roddy, thank you.

Here’s the OU studio at Milton Keynes

Match of the Day, with cameramen John Morris, Derek Askew, and soundman Brian Clifford

From way up in the gods at the Television Theatre (Shepherds Bush Empire again these days), Jim’ll Fix It.

Another view of MOTD, from the graphics desk

A visit to VT –
Here’s editor Andy Quested in VT9, working on Children in Need in 1982. This was the era of change-over from 2″ to 1″ – as you can see in the picture right….

where VT10 still has a 2″ machine next to its 1″ which is edge of the picture.
Dave Rixon, brother of lighting director Alan, is second left.

This is early ’80s – Breakfast Time in Studio E Lime Grove.

This is BT VT with an editor who’s name I don’t know.
When I (Bernie) was TV Features Producer on BT, we edited our packages on these machines. Sometimes I’d put the presenter in vision here between the machines and pre-record the whole lot with the help of cameramen like Dick Greening. Once we heaved a Dalek up four flights of stairs and had the office secretary drive it in to shot to introduce a new Dr Who series.