BBC Studioworks: Ұлыбританиялық телестудия қызметтері

Television studio provider in the United Kingdom
the BBC's global production division

BBC Studioworks Limited is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC, providing television studios, post production and related services to the market. It works with broadcasters and production companies, making content for the likes of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, Banijay and Fremantle. Titles range from The Graham Norton Show and A League of Their Own, to EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing. When BBC Television Centre in West London was temporarily closed for redevelopment in 2013, Studioworks consolidated its London studios business onto two sites in Borehamwood, BBC Elstree Centre and Elstree Studios. On the BBC Elstree Site, it operates the Studio D facility – a large TV studio and home to Children in Need and BBC News' election broadcasting. It is also home to the company's post production village and the site where it provides studio and post production services to EastEnders. Across the road at Elstree Studios, it hires a mix of stages which have been converted into TV studios and range in size from 7,550 sq ft to 15,770 sq ft. This conversion was financed on a co investment basis between Elstree Studios and Studioworks. BBC Studioworks expanded its footprint in 2017 when it reopened Television Centre, where it operates Studios 1, 2 and 3 plus post production facilities. The company changed its named from BBC Studios and Post Production Ltd to BBC Studioworks Ltd in May 2016.

Up until 2013, BBC Studioworks operated four fully equipped permanent HD studios at the then BBC Television Centre in central London. It upgraded its largest studio, Studio TC1 to HD back in 2006 and supported Strictly Come Dancing, which was the first live HD entertainment show in the UK. Studio TC8 followed in 2007 and acted as the hub for the global Live Earth concerts in July of that year, supporting 22 hours of live HD coverage going out to over 135 countries across the world. Studio TC4 was upgraded to HD in September 2008. The last studio to go HD at Television Centre was Studio TC6, also thought to be the UK's first 1080p/50 Hz 3D capable TV studio. Upon the closure of Television Centre in 31 March 2013, Studios 1, 2 and 3 (in addition to other technical areas) were refurbished. In September 2017, BBC Studioworks re opened the three studios at Television Centre, alongside a range of post production facilities and ancillary areas. Studio TC1 became a UHD capable television studio, equipped with Sony HDC 4300 cameras. TC2 and TC3's galleries and floors were also upgraded, including significant audio related improvements.

In late 2017 it was announced that BBC Studioworks would provide studio space and production facilities for ITV Daytime programmes, as they prepared to move from The London Studios on the South Bank. ITV would sublet Studios 2 and 3 at Television Centre from BBC Studioworks under a five year deal, along with production offices and production facilities at Television Centre. ITV Daytime would also hire office facilities in the White City area near Television Centre from Stanhope Developers. In January 2018, in a joint project between BBC Studioworks and ITV, Studios 2 and 3 were refitted to accommodate the production sets for Lorraine and Loose Women shows in Studio 2 with Good Morning Britain and This Morning in Studio 3. A dedicated production area was created for the ITV Daytime shows adjacent to the studios, along with dressing rooms, green rooms, make up, wardrobe and hospitality. In April 2018 the first live editions of Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women broadcast from Television Centre aired on ITV on Monday 16 April 2018. In the Studio 2, the sets for Lorraine and Loose Women are non permanent sets and are moved daily. Peston, the ITV political programme, is also made in Studio 2 on Wednesday evenings. Whilst not an ITV programme, from 13 January 2019 onwards, Channel 4's Sunday Brunch has been made in Studio 2 on Sunday mornings. In the Studio 3, the sets for Good Morning Britain and This Morning are permanent fixtures in the studio and are built back to face. Originally the plan was to have ITV Daytime shows use the studios at Television Centre for around five years, with ITV Daytime moving back to their old Southbank location in a newly redeveloped and built studio centre. However, in October 2018 it was announced that ITV had dropped their plans to return to the Southbank site. ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall has confirmed they plan to sell all of the South Bank site and will not build the proposed three new smaller studios there. Instead, ITV will remain at Television Centre and will extend their sublet agreement with BBC Studioworks and Stanhope Developers.

BBC Studioworks provides facilities at BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood. These include the external set for EastEnders and medical drama Holby City. With the sale and partial closure of Television Centre, Studio D at Elstree has since been utilised for many of the BBC's large studio productions; such as Children in Need, and the BBC's 2015 General Election coverage. In 2010, BBC Studioworks carried out a major technology refresh for EastEnders at its Elstree site in Hertfordshire, introducing new HD and tapeless workflows to support the show as it moved to HD in autumn 2010. The company's studios and post production facilities in Elstree remain in operation, with BBC Studioworks continuing to provide Studio D on the BBC Elstree site for hire.

In October 2010, BBC Studioworks secured a multimillion pound contract with Endemol, providing studios and post production services for Channel 4's Deal or No Deal at the Paintworks in Bristol. As part of the deal, BBC Studioworks took over the lease of the studio. In 2013, the company then moved the Deal or No Deal production to Bristol City Council's The Bottle Yard Studios when the Paintworks facility was closed for redevelopment.

In March 2011 BBC Studioworks expanded its digital restoration and archive services by investing in Scanity from Digital Film Technology, a 2K film to file scanner. It also installed a new digital Media Hub facility in April 2011, providing centrally managed and highly scalable systems for global file delivery, transcoding, media storage, duplication, library digitisation and file based quality check services. In autumn 2011 it digitally restored The Trumptonshire Trilogy for DVD and Blu ray release. This restoration project was met with wide acclaim, including coverage on various TV outlets. In October 2012, the company announced it would be moving its Digital Media Services business which preserves, re masters and manages content through its archiving, restoration and digital distribution services, from BBC Television Centre in Central London to a new permanent facility at Odyssey Business Park, South Ruislip from early 2013. The new facility opened in March 2013. In April 2014, BBC Studioworks' Digital Media Services business invested in Front Porch Digital DIVArchive content storage management and DIVAdirector digital asset management systems. Further technology upgrades were made in a TMD Mediaflex asset management system and a Pixit Media Storage solution in 2015. In October 2015, BBC Studioworks announced plans to realign its business to place more focus on its core services of studios and post production related activity by moving out of certain non core digital media handling activities. As part of the realignment, the Digital Media Services (DMS) arm of the business, based in South Ruislip, ceased trading in its current form. The company stated that it remains committed to its studio and post production operations in Elstree, and other locations.

Until 2008, BBC Costume and Wigs – trading as part of BBC Resources' Studios division – was the second largest collection of its kind in the UK, after the suppliers Angels The Costumiers. The department closed in February 2008, as it was no longer commercially viable. Its future had been under review for some time and after exploring a range of options, the management team concluded that the best option was to close the department and dispose of the stock. with a BBC spokeswoman adding that "the arrangements [the corporation] was pursuing have not worked out and BBC Resources is currently inviting interested parties to consider making an offer to purchase." The costume collection – consisting of over one million items – was eventually sold to costume house Angels and Bermans on 30 March 2008. The collection of wigs was sold separately to The Wig Store Limited; a management buy out put together by Philippa Devon and Alan Godleman.