Return to Television Centre

July 13, 2018July 15, 2018 / mikeosbornphoto / 7 Comments

I worked in this iconic BBC building for many years until its closure in 2013.

It was sold off and underwent a lengthy redevelopment process which I witnessed first hand.

Television Centre is now open for business again, and I went to take a look on a flying visit to London.

It’s now an upmarket residential complex with smart facilities – a cafe now occupies the place I used to enter the building every day.

It was a disquieting visit, seeing the completion of such great change, contemplating memories and a past era…

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BBC Television Centre in March 2013

Urban meadow

June 12, 2016March 16, 2020 / mikeosbornphoto / 15 Comments

The White City housing estate here in west London is quite large and imposing. I walk through part of it every day and it’s become a familiar place. Just lately, “my” little corner has been transformed. An area of lawn was carefully seeded and has flourished into a meadow studded with poppies, daisies, cornflowers and other delightful flowers.

The obvious juxtaposition is this slice of English countryside in the middle of a city estate. It’s stark yet beautiful. The little meadow has trails weaving across it, while it’s bright and upstanding in the sunshine and gently wilts in the rain. It’s a pleasure to share this delight with you…

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Shepherds skies

April 21, 2016April 20, 2016 / mikeosbornphoto / 6 Comments

Big skies are usually associated with rolling, empty country. But you can also find them here in my inner city west London neighbourhood.

One sky is currently filled with cranes, nestled around the former BBC Television Centre building site. And in a single day there was dramatic cloud cover and piercing clear blue. And from my own roof space I captured a huge sweep of travelling clouds and a fiercely beautiful sunset. Is the sky big no matter where you are?

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Rubble and memories

October 7, 2015 / mikeosbornphoto / 16 Comments

Television Centre in west London is currently a hive of activity. But not a place where programmes are being made by a hive of dedicated staff. It’s become a noisy building site where the former BBC hub is being transformed into a complex of homes, a hotel and other facilities.

I pass by the knot of cranes, bulldozers and diggers on my way to work at what’s left of the BBC in this area. The ‘donut’ has been stripped bare, while other familiar locations including the restaurant building are being pulled apart.

Most startling of all is the demolition of an entire wing of the complex where I worked for several years, leaving the spur – now occupied by BBC Worldwide – standing alone. Offices and corridors on the 7th floor that I knew so well have long since turned to dust.

Watching such a familiar landmark undergoing such drastic change is somehow difficult – yet fascinating – to witness every day. But at the same time I remind myself that its fabric was sagging around the edges and was at times not my favourite place on Earth. Life moves on…

As for these photographs, they are not intended to be artful or easy on the eye. They’re documentary snapshots capturing the former BBC Television Centre on 2 October 2015.

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BBC Television Centre in March 2013

Desertion

April 6, 2015April 18, 2015 / mikeosbornphoto / 22 Comments

The building where I work is closing down. It’s being cleared out floor by floor, leaving little behind. An empty box here, an abandoned wardrobe of clothing there. The depopulation is also apparent – there is palpably less noise as you walk in the main doors. And the only humans I captured in one of these photographs were workmen dismantling office furniture.

This is the second time I find myself in a BBC premises that’s being packed up. In 2013, the much-loved Television Centre became part of the broadcaster’s history, not to mention many workers. There is maybe less affection for the modern Media Centre building, but it’s sad to see it wither into a shell of desertion, and strangely chilling to record its demise.