Teddington Studios Biography

Bernard Greenhead, who was then General Manager at the Aston Cross studios, was brought down to Teddington to work under Howard Steele. Others joined them, including Stuart Sansom who had been working at High Definition Films. At Teddington an RCA TRT 1B was installed, this being the first sample delivered. If required the programme output from Teddington could be routed to Foley Street using the General Post Office lines, where it could either be taped or re-routed elsewhere. During this period the method used for editing videotape was not sophisticated and programmes were recorded as 'live', with interruptions only at the point where commercial breaks occurred. The availability of video tape to ABC which only transmitted at the weekend transformed production. Whereas the stages could only have been used live at the weekend, leaving them mainly idle for the rest of the week, they could now be utilised whenever production schedules dictated. By February 1959 staff were moved to Teddington in preparation for production. At this time the road entrance into the studios ran between the front administration block and the building which housed studios three and two (numbered in that order, left to right when viewed from Broom Road) At this time Weir Cottage (to the left of studio three) did not form part of the complex and was still a private residence with garden. The studio canteen (12 in the accompanying illustration) thus formed the western boundary line. Additionally buildings B, D, and E had not been built- see illustration.

The first phase of preparing Teddington for production did not include any additional new buildings and for this reason the control room serving studios two and three abutted them, fronting along Broom Road, the two studios having to share the one control room. In spite of these rudimentary conditions ABC had moved their prestigious series Armchair Theatre from Manchester to Teddington by the early summer of 1959. Film was still heavily relied on so the film department was moved from Wardour Street to Teddington, which still had the original film cutting rooms and film vaults plus viewing theatre nearby and a second 'executive' viewing theatre on the top floor of the front administration block.The film output from the cutting rooms consisted mainly of specially shot footage that would be run into programmes recorded on tape, known as film inserts, or complete documentaries shot wholly on film. Additionally there were departments that made up the commercials reels for the three different areas and preparation of bought in film series and feature films. All the film material needed for the weekend transmission for the Midlands and two Northern regions was loaded into a Humber estate car on Friday nights for the long journey. This material would then return on the following Monday by the same method. Perhaps it is timely to remember the driver who carried out this journey week in week out for many years without any material being lost or damaged. In addition to the films, spools of videotape plus scripts for Presentation announcements would be loaded into the estate car.

With the first phase of Teddington studios up and running, work proceeded with the addition of major new buildings and the transformation of Studio One - the largest of the three studios. These buildings consisted of a central block built in the open gap between studios two and one, new reception/foyer area fronting it and grafted on to the old front admin block and finally a ventilation plant combined with scene dock abutting the central block and studios three and two. By early 1963 the second phase was complete. The central block had new control rooms for each of the three studios, a central apparatus room, videotape and telecine facilities, a band room for music recording and on the top floor a large rehearsal area. A couple of years later the present restaurant block was built. ABC had bought the first four production VTR machines of the RCA TR22 model, which were fully transistorised, switchable between line standards and capable of recording in colour. They could be remotely controlled from each of the studios. Film was taken care of by three Rank Cintel flying spot telecine machines. Mention should be made about a dual system in Master Control. One system used the traditional method utilising thermionic valves, but a back-up system was built using transistors which was designed and executed in-house. When the two systems were used it was found that the transistorised equipment was so much more reliable than the thermionic valve set-up that the transistorised one was used permanently. It had been expected that the reverse would be true. Each of the studios was equipped with EMI 41/2inch image orthicon cameras.

In April 1958 Sydney Newman took over from Dennis Vance as Drama Supervisor, though Vance still continued to direct drama for ABC. Newman was Canadian, starting life as a commercial artist before joining the National Film Board of Canada for eleven years, Later he spent a year as working observer with NTV in New York and then Drama Supervisor to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was his intention on taking up the post with ABC here in England to have all the plays specially written for television. In 1960 the actor Ian Hendry played Dr Geoffrey Brent in the drama series Police Surgeon. A year later he starred as the same character in the first of The Avengers series where he joined Patrick Macnee who played an umbrella wielding secret agent. The Avengers was a particularly enduring format for ABC and later series mirrored the so-called swinging sixties with its fast paced off-beat plots and the black leather outfits worn by Cathy Gale, played by Honor Blackman. Numerous episodes were made on videotape at Teddington before ABC eventually produced a series on 35mm colour film at the ABPC Elstree Studios around 1967. Along with other series produced for TV in the sixties, The Avengers has become a cult in the nineties.

During these early years, a production company - Iris Productions was formed by ABC after Robert Clark; a director of ABPC pointed out that there would be certain tax advantages if ABC's programmes were made for them by another company. Separate contracts had to be issued to all the staff moved over from ABC to Iris. It was found that this arrangement did not have great benefit in practice so after a few years Iris was wound up. Nevertheless this name was to feature at Teddington for years to come. At this time the studio canteen was placed next to what is now the security entrance. Many executives visiting Teddington had to dine in this old and cramped building. During one of his visits C.J. Latta, Chairman of ABPC, told Bernard Greenhead to get a boat. This would be converted to an executive hospitality and dining facility. Greenhead called in to Tough's boat yard next door and was pointed in the direction of Brixham Harbour in Devon, where an old boat was being used on the 'Western Lady' ferry service. This was duly purchased by ABC and after a number of breakdowns on the way to Teddington Lock, was eventually moored at the side of the studios. It was in a poor state and the engine, situated amidships, had to be removed before conversion could commence. On completion it was named Motor Vessel Iris. By the time of the BBC 2 launch in 1964, ABC Television had done a considerable amount of colour research which included the SECAM system. Some of this work was carried out at the Hirst Research Centre of the General Electric Company at Wembley with the acknowledged expert on colour television, G. Boris Townsend, B.S. , FI.inst. P. , M.I.E.E, A.K.C. Furthermore ABC had been active in national and international discussions of technical standards.

In 1967, ABC's last full year in operation, it introduced a new drama series Callan, featuring Edward Woodward as a licensed-to-kill British agent. Eventually further series were produced by another company and it won a Writers Guild award for its creator James Mitchell. In the following year a new device known as the videodisc was introduced to live sports coverage. This enabled action replay on air within a few seconds of the live action occurring. After nearly thirteen years of comparative stability, ITV was to experience major changes in the summer of 1968. As a result of the new franchise period ABC was merged with Rediffusion (which had changed its name from Associated Rediffusion some years before) to form a new company, Thames Television. The fifth new major company that the ITA had mentioned was Yorkshire Television, based at new studios in Leeds. Another new company was London Weekend Television. The merger was met with a lukewarm reception from the staffs of ABC and Rediffusion. Thames had the new franchise to transmit in the London area during weekdays, with London Week-end beginning transmission on Friday evenings and finishing on Sunday night. ABC held the greater number of shares in Thames and consequently there were a larger number of their personnel on the company board. Some Rediffusion staff were got rid of, some to move on to the other new companies. Rediffusion's transmission facility and studios at Television House in Kingsway were soon closed down when new studios were opened by Thames at Euston in 1969. The large studios which had been operated by Rediffusion at Wembley passed to London Weekend Television.