Elstree Centre

BBC Elstree Centre (sometimes referred to as Elstree Studios) is a television production facility located on Eldon Avenue in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and is the home to both EastEnders and the Albert Square complex and has been ever since transmission began back in February 1985.

When ATV was restructured as Central Independent Television in 1982, one of the conditions of its licence renewal by the governing body of the ITV network, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, was that ATV should vacate any London-based facilities and become more focused on the Midlands, the region of the United Kingdom for which it held the ITV franchise. For the last 18 months of its use as an ITV production studio, they were under the ownership of Central Independent Television as ATV ceased to exist as a company at the end of 31st December 1981. The studios remained in operation by Central up until July 1983 (the final production under Central ownership being a Max Bygraves-era episode of Family Fortunes), when its new main production centre in Nottingham was completed. When the BBC bought the Elstree site in 1984 to produce EastEnders, it did not purchase the equipment within the building.

Some sources state that as a consequence, Central's studio technicians were instructed to make the equipment left behind inoperable (there are particular claims about the camera prisms being smashed). Other sources dispute this, claiming the material was already so old and worthless there would have been no gain in intentionally disabling it. When the BBC moved in, it repaired equipment that was not beyond repair, sometimes using spare parts from identical pieces of stuff already in BBC use. The EMI 2001 television cameras used in Studio 3 at BBC Television Centre, Shepherd's Bush, were moved into the newly renamed "BBC Elstree Centre" as part of that studio's refurbishment, instead of being stripped down for spare parts. Central's old EMI 2001s were considered to be beyond economic repair by BBC staff sent to examine the site, regardless of whether they had been intentionally disabled or not by Central employees. Meanwhile, the BBC replaced the BBC Television Centre Studio 3 cameras with Link 125 tube cameras. Elstree kept the EMI 2001s until 1991. Elstree's first new cameras were to be Thomson TTV-1531s, one of the last plumbing-tubed cameras to be made – being replaced in the mid-1990s with Thomson TTV-1542 and TTV-1647 lightweight cameras using the then-new camera technology of CCDs. Widescreen was introduced in 1999, using Philips/Thomson LDK 100s.

Albert Square
The exterior set for EastEnders (Albert Square) is located in the permanent backlot. It was constructed in 1984 the set is outdoors and open to the elements; by 2010, it was looking increasingly shabby. It was rebuilt for high definition on the same site in 2013 and 2014, using mostly real brick, with some areas using a new improved plastic brick. Throughout rebuilding, filming would still take place, and so scaffolding was often seen on screen during the process, with some storylines written to accommodate the rebuilding, such as the Queen Vic fire. In January 2014, the BBC announced on the EastEnders website that the set had been approved to be expanded by twenty per cent creating a new permanent front lot, located on the site of the former staff carpark. This expansion project is the "E20" project, which by 2018 had already gone over-budget.

Studios

 * Studio A: 66 x 62 metric feet within firelanes, Part of the EastEnders studio facilities. It has an overhang in one corner with production galleries above, but these areas are no longer used.


 * Studio B: 70 x 62 metric feet within firelanes, Part of the EastEnders studio facilities. Like A, C and D, it has an overhang in one corner with production galleries above. The original gallery facilities have been modified into two separate production galleries for use on EastEnders, and both can control any of the studios on site (other than Studio D) plus the backlot.


 * Studio C: 102 x 68 metric ft within firelanes, Part of the EastEnders studio facilities. Like A, B and D, it has an overhang in one corner with production galleries above. The original gallery facilities have been converted into a switching and engineering area for BBC News' election broadcasts.


 * Studio D: 114 x 78 metric feet, excluding audience seating, The only studio on site available for hire via BBC Studioworks, this is an 8,892 sq ft (826.1 m2) light-entertainment studio with permanent audience seating in a recessed area of one wall. Like A, B and C, it has an overhang in one corner with production galleries above. The next Studio E, which is 1,134 sqft, is used as props handling.

Stages

 * Stage 1: 154 x 60 metric feet outside firelanes, Part of the EastEnders studio facilities. It includes some control rooms and associated facilities along one wall, which can control the backlot plus any of the studios on site (other than Studio D). This is the home of the standing sets of The Queen Victoria and the cafe.


 * Stage 2: Part of the EastEnders studio facilities. Located in the same complex as Stage 1 and 3.


 * Stage 3: Part of the EastEnders studio facilities. Located in the same complex as Stage 1 and 2.