UK TV STUDIOS
wide open spaces: TV studios branch out
Tim Dams takes a look at the UK’s shiny floor TV studios market, currently buzzing from the Covid bounce back and increasingly spreading out across the whole UK
T
he studios market has been in focus like never before in recent years, with new facilities being announced on an almost weekly basis. Nearly all the activity,
however, is centred on the soundstage market catering for the buoyant drama and film sector. By comparison, things haven’t moved quite so fast in
the TV studios market. That’s hardly a surprise – multicamera studios with production galleries and audience facilities are much more expensive to build and to maintain. And the shiny floor entertainment market isn’t growing at such a clip as drama and film. In fact, it was only a few years ago that
the story of the TV studio market was one of facility closures. Fountain, Teddington and the London Studios all shuttered as part of property development deals. Other studios – such as Television Centre - were redeveloped, reopening with a smaller footprint. In the past year, there has been plenty of
activity in the TV studio space though. The multicamera Kelvin Hall TV Studio is to open in Glasgow in the autumn, co-funded by the Scottish
PRODUCTION
Government and Glasgow City Council and operated by BBC Studioworks. New TV and film studios business, Versa
Studios, has opened two studios: Versa London, a 10,000 sq ft studio in West London, which is home to ITV game show Walk the Line; and Versa ABC in Manchester, the new base of BBC One Daytime’s Morning Live. The studio operator is also planning to launch a new TV studio in Leeds later this year. TV studios such as dock10 and Maidstone,
meanwhile, have actively moved into the virtual studio space as well. dock 10 has hosted numerous productions in its virtual studios, from BBC Sport’s Euro 2020 coverage through to the 2021 Gran Turismo Sport FIA Online Championships. Maidstone is building a new 1,000 sq ft virtual studio, with a digital wall and gallery, due to open in the summer.
THE BOUNCE BACK TV studios have also been busy following the easing of lockdown restrictions last year, with many shows rushing to get back in production. “It’s been good,” says Andrew Moultrie, CEO of BBC Studioworks – home to shows such as The Graham Norton Show, Pointless, Strictly Come Dancing, Good Morning Britain, Sunday Brunch and Celebrity Juice. “From a numbers point of view, we’ve had our best year ever.” This is echoed Andy Waters, head of studios
at dock10 – the base for series like The Voice, The 1% Club and BBC Bitesize: “Last year, we had the strongest performance ever in our history.” As well as TV entertainment, dock10 enjoyed a boost by hosting delayed sports events such as the Euros and Olympics last year. It has also seen a raft of pilots hosted at its studios convert into series, such as Moneybags, Sitting on a Fortune and Moneyball. Although business isn’t quite as frenetic this year
following last year’s post-pandemic catch up, it is still strong. “I think demand is there for all studios through the UK in drama, entertainment and sports,” says Geoff Miles, chairman of Maidstone Studios, which hosts shows such as Blankety Blank, I Can See Your Voice and Catchphrase. However, the core market of most TV studios
– light entertainment – isn’t growing as rapidly as, say, drama. Moultrie reckons LE accounts for around 16-18% of broadcasters’ commissioning budgets. He’s not banking on significant growth – perhaps 3-4% over the next three years – unless the streamers make many more shows in TV studios. But there is not much sign of this happening at the moment. Scripted remains the big focus for most streamers, and most of their recent entertainment commissions are in the reality space
Summer 2022
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