BBC canteen

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.

Click first image to launch the gallery

BBC Television Centre in March 2013

So that’s the end of an era. A chapter has closed for good.

I have worked my last day at BBC Television Centre. It was an odd experience, for a building that has been winding down for months was suddenly brimming with life because of the Comic Relief charity fundraiser – the last live studio-based show to come from TVC.

I’ve worked in the building since 2004 and it’s become part of my life’s fabric, full of familiar sights which are now being consigned to memory. This set of photographs captures just some of Television Centre’s corners that I’ve encountered so many times, and the essence of this iconic building.

Television Centre’s doors will close for good in two weeks before the site is handed over to its new owners. A major and lengthy refurbishment will follow. Life goes on, doesn’t it?…

Click first image for the full gallery experience

The circular heart of Television Centre, better known as The Doughnut – and a welcome sun trap.

It’s a building full of corridors. This 2nd floor example leads to the famous BBC canteen.

TVC is a place of star talent. They need places to get ready.

The modern ‘front end’ of the building houses the BBC’s newsroom.

The newsroom has become very quiet as services move to New Broadcasting House in central London.

Signs direct confused visitors around the building. In recent weeks they’ve been mysteriously disappearing (the signs, not the visitors).

Television Centre’s Stage Door is decorated with a sumptuous mosaic.

The now derelict BBC canteen, which has been the butt of many jokes over the years.

The entrance to one of TVC’s numerous studios. These signs have been going missing too.

A maze of lights but nothing’s happening in this television studio.

BBC talent – Strictly Come Dancing hosts Sir Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly – displayed on the 4th floor, where you can find the hallowed BBC bar.

The lifts in TVC frequently need repair…

… but it’s better than clambering up and down the numerous staircases.

A statue of Helios is the centrepiece of TVC’s rotund heart.

Television Centre’s clock which has ground to a halt several times.

The lights that illuminate the Stage Door area, where you would often spot famous people and the less well known reciting their lines before an audition.