ITV leaves the South Bank

[Upperground]

I was wandering along the south bank today but it was absolutely mental crowd wise so in light of the small matter of a pandemic I thought I'd stroll round the back of The London Studios, ITV Towers, Kent House, LWT, The London Television Centre etc. Very sad to see it looking so lifeless. However! My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw new signage above the old main entrance - in blue, it now reads "Thames Television Studios"! What on earth is this all about? Are the studios about to make a comeback? Is this simply a tacky brand name for the new flats and other exciting things? I was also amused by the fact that it's not the first time the name Thames Television Studios has been used...

[Inspector Sands]

Are they possibly using it as a location for filming some historic drama? Is there a biopic of a famous former Thames star being done at the moment?

EDIT aha, could it be this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_%28miniseries%29


EDIT 2.... beaten to it

[TVNerd]

From tvstudiohistory.co.uk

One last show at TLS!

In January 2021 a press release revealed that a Danny Boyle-directed 6 episode drama series about the Sex Pistols was in pre-production. The show is called Pistol and is being made by FX, a subsidiary of Disney. Although FX is a US TV channel, shows made for them are often shown in the UK on other networks and streaming services.

My understanding is that the drama is based at TLS - with the first 7 floors of Kent House being occupied by production offices. I am informed that all 5 studios in the building will be used as shooting stages, with Studio 3 being made to resemble the old Riverside Studios during the 1970s for one particular scene. Filming is due to commence in March 2021. At least the empty studios are being used for something productive before being torn down, which is a small gem of good news.

I guess they are recreating the infamous Bill Grundy interview for this

[Upperground]

Are they possibly using it as a location for filming some historic drama? Is there a biopic of a famous former Thames star being done at the moment?

Ahhh! That'll be it! I saw loads of film trucks parked up down the road. Didn't connect the two - thought it's the south bank, they could be doing anything. Makes sense as the signage was very much like the old Thames studios.

[Upperground]

From tvstudiohistory.co.uk

One last show at TLS!

In January 2021 a press release revealed that a Danny Boyle-directed 6 episode drama series about the Sex Pistols was in pre-production. The show is called Pistol and is being made by FX, a subsidiary of Disney. Although FX is a US TV channel, shows made for them are often shown in the UK on other networks and streaming services.

My understanding is that the drama is based at TLS - with the first 7 floors of Kent House being occupied by production offices. I am informed that all 5 studios in the building will be used as shooting stages, with Studio 3 being made to resemble the old Riverside Studios during the 1970s for one particular scene. Filming is due to commence in March 2021. At least the empty studios are being used for something productive before being torn down, which is a small gem of good news.

I guess they are recreating the infamous Bill Grundy interview for this

Yep that must be it. No wonder the signage looked so like the old Thames studios!

[Londoner]

[Upperground]

Did you have that already or pop out especially?

[Londoner]

Took the photo yesterday and meant to post it here because I knew it would be appreciated on this forum

[Upperground]

Took the photo yesterday and meant to post it here because I knew it would be appreciated on this forum

So weird going past the building now that ITV have gone. Used to be such a hive of activity. I did pop into the Mulberry Bush for old times sake.

[James Martin]

That's a scarily faithful (not accurate, but era appropriate) recreation, but yes - this will be recreating the infamous Bill Grundy interview on Today. Not the first time it's been "recreated" however - Harry Enfield as Dave Nice stood in for Grundy when in the Smashie and Nicey canon, it was Nice who conducted the interview, splicing in the appropriate potty mouthed footage from the original.

What's amusing is it only went out in London, but still managed to become a national scandal.

[TTW-TV]

https://youtu.be/0NQphQZXhFM

Admin edit: Strong language.

[Steve Williams]

What I do like about this interview is that it's now become a much-loved comedy classic which everyone knows and can join in with, and everyone now agrees it's all Bill's fault for being a silly old sod.

Always interesting the use of "rotter", which I think would have been quite archaic at the time. Who knows what would have happened if "that other rocker", Eamonn Andrews, had been presenting that night?

[Inspector Sands]

And of course it should have been Queen appearing that night, they couldn't make it so EMI (who were co-owners of Thames of course) got another one of their groups to appear instead. Eammon Andrews and Freddie Mercury probably wouldn't quite have had the same notoriety!


The interview did good business for Thames though, that clip one of their most sold and licensed bit of footage. It didn't go so well for EMI though

[bluecortina2]

Took the photo yesterday and meant to post it here because I knew it would be appreciated on this forum

If you had popped along a bit earlier or later you would have seen a number of ‘vintage’ cars of the Sex Pistols era outside the front of the building - for filming purposes I would presume.

[VMPhil]

Took the photo yesterday and meant to post it here because I knew it would be appreciated on this forum

If you had popped along a bit earlier or later you would have seen a number of ‘vintage’ cars of the Sex Pistols era outside the front of the building - for filming purposes I would presume.

Was there a blue Cortina?