Television Centre, Southampton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Television Centre |
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Aerial photo of the studio complex in 1991
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| Alternative names | The Southampton Television Centre |
| General information | |
| Type | Television studios |
| Location | On the banks of the River Itchen, adjacent to Northam Bridge and the A3024. Access to the site was from rear. |
| Address | Southampton, SO14 0PZ |
| Coordinates | 50°54′49″N 1°23′18″W / 50.913729°N 1.388236°W |
| Construction started | 1967 |
| Inaugurated | 19 August 1969 |
| Demolished | Summer 2008 |
| Cost | £2,500,000 |
| Owner | Southern Television, Television South, Meridian Broadcasting |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 2 |
The Television Centre, Southampton was a special building where three different TV companies made shows for the ITV network. These companies were Southern, TVS, and Meridian. People also called it The Southern Television Centre or The Southampton Television Centre. Sometimes, it was just known as The Northam Studios.
This TV studio building was built in 1967. It was used for many years until 2004, when the TV companies moved out. In 2008, the building was taken down. The land stayed empty until 2015. Then, a big project started to build 350 new homes on the site.
Contents
History of the TV Centre
Building the First Studios
The first TV company to use this site was Southern Television. They were the first ITV company for the south of England. Before building the new centre, they used an old cinema called 'The Plaza' as their studios. The new, modern TV centre was built right on the same spot. This land was actually created by reclaiming it from the River Itchen.
The new studios were very advanced for their time. They were fully ready for colour television, which started in the area in 1969. Southern Television moved into their new home on August 19, 1969. The centre had two large studios. These studios were used to make many of Southern's TV shows for the whole ITV network. The local news team also worked here. They had a special studio for their news programme called Day by Day.
A Unique Railway Line
The TV centre had a very unusual feature: a railway line ran right through its car park! This line connected the main British Rail tracks at Northam to Driver's Wharf. At the wharf, scrap metal was loaded onto ships. A small diesel train would operate on this line.
By 1984, the railway line was no longer used because the scrap metal started arriving by road. The tracks were then covered with tarmac to create more car parking spaces. The railway line even appeared in the first episode of a show called Saturday Banana. A steam train named Bonnie Prince Charlie was featured in that episode.
New Owners: TVS Takes Over
In the 1980s, the ITV network changed some of its TV company contracts. Southern Television was replaced by a new company called Television South, or TVS. In August 1981, TVS bought the Southampton studio site.
Before TVS officially took over, they didn't have offices inside the building. So, they worked from temporary offices called portakabins in the car park! Meanwhile, Southern Television continued to work inside the main building. This situation was even joked about on Southern's last night on air.
TVS kept making TV shows at the Southampton studios. They made many more programmes than Southern had. Because of this, they added new parts to the building. They built a new car park, scenery storage areas, and more offices. The main office building was connected to the studio block by a raised walkway. TVS continued to be successful until 1991.
Meridian Broadcasting Arrives
After TVS, a new company called Meridian Broadcasting took over the ITV contract. Meridian originally planned to have smaller offices and not a huge studio complex. They only needed space for news and showing programmes, not for making big shows themselves. This meant they didn't really need a large studio like the one TVS had.
However, Meridian ended up buying the Northam studio complex from TVS. This helped save some jobs that Meridian hadn't planned to keep. Still, many jobs were lost. Out of 760 TVS workers, only about 100 continued to work for Meridian.
On January 1, 1993, Meridian officially started broadcasting. Even though they didn't plan to own such a big building, they used it well. They made some of their own shows there. Meridian also rented out the studio space to other TV production companies. Later, when Meridian joined with other TV companies like Anglia Television, some TV operations for those regions moved to Northam. This helped the company save money.
In 1997, Meridian's productions increased even more. This was because Channel 5 launched, and many of its new programmes were made at the Northam studios.
The Studios Close Down
In 2000, a large TV company called Granada plc bought Meridian's parent company. Then, in 2004, Granada joined with another company, Carlton Communications. They formed a new company called ITV plc. This new company owned almost all the ITV channels in England and Wales.
This meant ITV plc had many studio buildings across the country. They decided to keep only a few main studios. The Southampton studios were not as big as some others. They were also quite old, nearly 35 years old. It was decided that the Northam studios would close. All TV operations would move to a new, smaller building in Whiteley.
The last TV show made for the whole network at Northam was in June 2004. The very last live programme was the late-night Meridian Tonight on December 17, 2004. Since the new studio complex had all the equipment needed, everything from the old studios was sold off. This included equipment, furniture, and even the old TVS portakabins! The auction happened on March 3, 2005.
After the move, parts of the Northam studios were taken apart. Technical equipment, like miles of cables, was removed. For several years, the building stood empty. Demolition of the smaller buildings began in the summer of 2008. The main studio building, built by Southern Television, was finally taken down in 2009. The land remained empty until 2015, when work began to build 350 new homes there.
