Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, U.K.
Elstree Studios is, like Pinewood Studios, one of the iconic names in British film history. Elstree actually refers to seven different television and movie studios locates in Hertfordshire, a county just to the North of London and an ideal spot in which to locate a business such as this. Borehamwood is now the biggest town in the area but at the time of studio development, Elstree was the larger, hence the reference to Elstree Studios. The different studios are:
British and Dominion Studios
Clarendon Road Studios
Danziger Studios
Elstree Studios
Elstree Way Studios
Millenium Studios
Station Road Studios.
Although listed above in alphabetical order, we’ll discuss each in the order in which they were built, the first being the Clarendon Film Company.
Clarendon Film Company
The Clarendon Film Company was developed in 1914 by the Neptune Film Company. To begin with it features just a ‘dark stage’. That is a windowless room entirely lit by artificial light – in 1914 it was gas powered. Ownership changed to the Ideal Film Company in 1917 and remained that way until 1924 when activity at the site ceased.
The studio was purchased by the German, Ludwig Blattner, in 1928 and the gas powered lighting was replaced by mains electricity. Audio technology was also upgraded. In 1936, Joe Rock Productions acquired the site and began to expand the facilities, adding four new stages. Director Michael Powell made his first feature film The Edge of the World during this period in 1937.
Movie Poster
Ownership of the studio moved on again in 1939 and this time it was bought by British National Films Ltd. Like other studios in wartime however, much of the available production facilities were used for government purposes, propaganda films and the like.
Associated Television acquired the site in 1962 and shows such as The Muppets and The Saint were produced there. During television license re-negotiations in the early 1980s, the Independent Broadcasting Authority required that more of their shows were produced in the Midlands and away from London. Production at the facility was scaled down considerably and the BBC bought it in 1984, mainly for the production of their new soap opera, Eastenders, which was due to air the following year. The BBC still owns the site today.