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Lime Grove Studios was a film studio complex built by the Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company

Gaumont is a France film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, L?on Gaumont . It is the oldest running film company in the world....
 in 1915 situated in a street named Lime Grove, in Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush

Shepherd's Bush is a district of west London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, situated 4.9 miles west of Charing Cross. Although it is primarily residential in character, its focus is the shopping area of Shepherds Bush Green, which has a small shopping centre with a supermarket, cinema and gym, and a large number of small a...
, west London, north of Hammersmith
Hammersmith

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, approximately 5 miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames....
 and described by Gaumont as "the finest studio in Great Britain and the first building ever put up in this country solely for the production of films".

922, Isidore Ostrer along with his brothers Mark and Maurice, acquired control of Gaumont-British
Gaumont British

Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was the British arm of the France film company Gaumont Film Company. The company became independent of its French parent in 1922, when Isidore Ostrer acquired control of Gaumont-British....
 from its French parent.






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Lime Grove Studios was a film studio complex built by the Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company

Gaumont is a France film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, L?on Gaumont . It is the oldest running film company in the world....
 in 1915 situated in a street named Lime Grove, in Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush

Shepherd's Bush is a district of west London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, situated 4.9 miles west of Charing Cross. Although it is primarily residential in character, its focus is the shopping area of Shepherds Bush Green, which has a small shopping centre with a supermarket, cinema and gym, and a large number of small a...
, west London, north of Hammersmith
Hammersmith

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, approximately 5 miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames....
 and described by Gaumont as "the finest studio in Great Britain and the first building ever put up in this country solely for the production of films".

Gaumont-British Picture Corporation

In 1922, Isidore Ostrer along with his brothers Mark and Maurice, acquired control of Gaumont-British
Gaumont British

Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was the British arm of the France film company Gaumont Film Company. The company became independent of its French parent in 1922, when Isidore Ostrer acquired control of Gaumont-British....
 from its French parent. In 1932 a major redevelopment of Lime Grove Studios was completed, creating one of the best equipped studio complexes of that era. The studios prospered under Gaumont-British, and in 1941 were bought by the Rank Organisation
Rank Organisation

The Rank Organisation was a United Kingdom entertainment company formed in 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc....
 and became a home on many occasions to the Ealing comedies
Ealing Comedies

The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957.Hue and Cry in 1947 is generally considered to be the first of the "Ealing Comedies", and Barnacle Bill the last in 1957....
. The famous British film The Wicked Lady
The Wicked Lady

The Wicked Lady was a 1945 in film film starring Margaret Lockwood in the title role as a nobleman's wife who turns to robbery for enjoyment and to repay gambling debts....
 (1945) was also made at Lime Grove.

BBC studios

In 1949, the BBC bought Lime Grove Studios as a "temporary measure" - as they were to build Television Centre
BBC Television Centre

BBC Television Centre in West London, sometimes abbreviated to TVC, TC or TV Centre, is the headquarters of BBC Television. The greater part of the BBC's television output comes from here, as well as, in more recent years, that of BBC Radio 5 Live and, since 1998, that of most of the corporation's national BBC News service....
 at nearby White City
White City, London

White City is a place in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, to the north of Shepherd's Bush. Today, White City is home to the BBC Television Centre and BBC White City, and Loftus Road stadium, the home of football club Queens Park Rangers FC....
 - and began converting them from film to television use, reopening them on 21 May 1950.

Lime Grove would be home to many BBC TV shows over the next forty-two years, including: Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four (TV programme)

Nineteen Eighty-Four was a British television adaptation of the Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC One in the winter of 1954....
, Quatermass II
Quatermass II

Quatermass II is a United Kingdom Science fiction on television Serial , originally broadcast by BBC One in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the The Quatermass Experiment series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the first of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives....
, Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son

Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Galton and Simpson about two rag and bone man living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London....
, Doctor Who
Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British Science fiction on television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien Time travel known as "Doctor " who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box....
, Nationwide
Nationwide (TV series)

Nationwide was a BBC television current affairs television series broadcast on BBC1 each weekday following the early evening news. It followed a magazine format, combining political analysis and discussion with consumer affairs, light entertainment and sports reporting ....
, Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a long-running United Kingdom UK Singles Chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006....
 and the 1950s soap opera
Soap opera

A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in Serial format on television or radio. Programs described as soap operas have existed as an entertainment long enough for audiences to recognize them simply by the term soap....
 The Grove Family
The Grove Family

The Grove Family was a United Kingdom television soap opera, generally regarded as the first of its kind broadcast in the UK, made and transmitted by BBC Television from 1954 to 1957....
 took the name of its title family from the studios, where it was made. The last live programme was The Late Show on 14 June 1991 from studio D. A children's magazine style programme Studio E was broadcast live from the studio of the same name from 1955-ca.1958 hosted by Vera McKechnie
Vera McKechnie

Vera McKechnie was one of the first presenters at the start of BBC Children's Television in the early 1950s....
.

In 1991, the BBC decided to consolidate its London television production at BBC Television Centre and close its other studios including Lime Grove. On 26 August 1991, a month after the studios were closed forever, the BBC transmitted a special day of programming called The Lime Grove Story featuring examples of the many programmes and films that had been made at Lime Grove in its 76 years as a place of film and television production. Television Theatre close by, near Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush

Shepherd's Bush is a district of west London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, situated 4.9 miles west of Charing Cross. Although it is primarily residential in character, its focus is the shopping area of Shepherds Bush Green, which has a small shopping centre with a supermarket, cinema and gym, and a large number of small a...
 Green, closed the same year.

The studios themselves were put on the market and eventually were bought by a development company which demolished the studios and redeveloped the area for residential housing.

See also

  • Gaumont Film Company
    Gaumont Film Company

    Gaumont is a France film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, L?on Gaumont . It is the oldest running film company in the world....
  • Gainsborough Pictures
    Gainsborough Pictures

    Gainsborough Pictures was a United Kingdom film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the London Borough of Hackney....


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