Stars lament closing of BBC TV Centre

(Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

BBC stars have condemned the closure of Television Centre as they recorded a special show to bid farewell to the famous building .

Goodbye Television Centre, filmed at Studio One of the Grade II listed building in west London, saw celebrities from its 53-year history gather to reminisce about their experiences days before it closes.

The centre is being made into a £200 million shops and offices complex.

Former BBC chairman Lord Grade interviewed legends of the small screen, including Sir David Attenborough, Sir Michael Parkinson, Sir Terry Wogan, Sir Bruce Forsyth, Ronnie Corbett and Sir David Jason, for the two-hour long broadcast recorded on Monday night.

But many voiced their disapproval for the closure, with The Good Life actress Penelope Keith saying it was tantamount to making them 'orphans'.

Sir Terry drew rapturous applause from the audience when he said: "I know it's only a building. I know it's an inanimate object and it doesn't have a heart. But it has a spirit. There are spirits here, of immensely talented, brilliant people who made some of the best television programmes ever seen and I think it's a shame. It's a shame to close it down."

Broadcaster Danny Baker had some of the strongest words about the imminent closure, comparing it to the destruction of archive footage in the 1960s.

"He also bemoaned the fact that the former Top Of The Pops studios were 'probably going to be some coffee lounge'.

"I'm not here to bang the drum," he said. "They say it makes financial sense to get rid of it. But they said it made financial sense to get rid of those tapes in the 1960s, and we all know what a blunder that was."

Baker said Television Centre was a 'recognisable symbol' of all that the BBC stands for, adding: "The very structure of the bricks of this place comes with a certain accountability."

Goodbye Television Centre will screen on BBC4 on Friday, March 22.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.