Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios is an arts centre on the north bank of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. The venue plays host to contemporary performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production.
Not to be confused with Riverside Studio.Location
Having closed for redevelopment in September 2014, Riverside Studios reopened in August 2019 with one of the first television broadcasts from Studio 1 being Channel 4's UK election coverage. In March 2023, the Riverside board announced it was placing the theatre into administration because of debt incurred during the redevelopment.
Film studios 1933-1954[edit]
In 1933, a former Victorian iron foundry on Crisp Road, London, was bought by Triumph Films and converted into a relatively compact film studio with two stages and a dubbing theatre. In 1935, the studios were taken over by Julius Hagen (then owner of Twickenham Studios) with the idea of using Riverside for making quota quickies. However, by 1937 his company had gone into liquidation. Between 1937 and 1946, the studios were owned by Jack Buchanan and produced such films as We'll Meet Again (1943) with Vera Lynn and The Seventh Veil (1945) with James Mason. In 1946 the studios were acquired by Alliance Film Studios (then owners of Twickenham Studios and Southall Studios) and produced films including They Made Me a Fugitive (1948) with Trevor Howard, The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) with Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford and Father Brown (1954) with Alec Guinness.
BBC Television studios 1954-1974[edit]
In 1954, the studios were acquired by the British Broadcasting Corporation for its television service.[1][2] Renamed The BBC Riverside Television Studios,[3] the building was officially opened on 29 March 1957 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Series 2 to 6 of Hancock's Half Hour (1957–60) were made there, along with other comedy, drama and music programmes, including the science-fiction serial Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59), Dixon of Dock Green, Six-Five Special, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Z-Cars, Top of the Pops, and the children's programmes Blue Peter[4] and Play School.[5] Episodes of Doctor Who were made at Riverside between 1964 and 1968, and Studio 1 was where First Doctor William Hartnell's regeneration scene was filmed.[6] The facility remained in regular use until the BBC left in 1974.[7]
Redevelopment 2014-2019[edit]
London developer Mount Anvil, working in conjunction with A2 Dominion, redeveloped the old Riverside Studios and the adjacent Queen's Wharf building. Assael Architecture, were employed to design a new building on the site centred around 165 residential flats, with new studio facilities for theatre and television, two cinemas, a riverside restaurant and café/bar as well as flexible event spaces. As part of the redevelopment, a new riverside walkway connects to the Thames Path alongside the late Victorian Hammersmith Bridge.
During the redevelopment, Riverside continued to produce shows including Nirbhaya[14] by Yael Farber at a number of international venues including Southbank Centre[15] and Lynn Redgrave Theatre[16] (2015), Raz, a new play by Jim Cartwright at Trafalgar Studios (2016)[17] and A Christmas Carol with Simon Callow at the Arts Theatre (2016–17).[18] Riverside's digital production team also recorded a number of theatre and dance productions for broadcast including Land of Our Fathers by Chris Urch,[19] Northern Ballet's adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four[20] and Out of Joint's production of The Winters Tale.