0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08Ten seconds... 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Hello, good evening and welcome.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16It is without question the greatest purpose-built studios in the world.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19I remember just seeing the building first of all
0:00:19 > 0:00:22and I actually couldn't believe my eyes.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26It's an icon. It's like Big Ben, it's like the Houses of Parliament.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28It's like St Paul's.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33When they built the Centre this was a temple to this marvellous new medium.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35'This particular family is called Forsyte.'
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Word reached us that amazing things were happening out in west London.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40'Flipping heck.'
0:00:40 > 0:00:43A jewel box full of activity.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46'Tottenham Hotspur 4 Sheffield United 2.'
0:00:46 > 0:00:48'That's the end of the news. Let's join Michael Fish
0:00:48 > 0:00:50'and take a look at tomorrow's weather.'
0:00:50 > 0:00:53I'm actually getting quite emotional remembering it.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55It was like being at a very exciting party, really
0:00:55 > 0:00:58because I was having such fun here.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02'Tony likes Demis Roussos, I like Demis Roussos and so would like to hear Demis Roussos.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07'So please, do you think we could have Demis Roussos on?'
0:01:07 > 0:01:08It felt like home, certainly.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12- 'Well thank you very much, Jerry.' - 'I don't believe it.'
0:01:12 > 0:01:14LAUGHTER
0:01:14 > 0:01:16It was like Wonderland to me.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19'Live from Television Centre...'
0:01:19 > 0:01:24Walking into Television Centre meant sparkle time. This was show business.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27'Now the Morecambe And Wise Show.'
0:01:27 > 0:01:30'I'm free. I'm free. I'm free.'
0:01:30 > 0:01:31APPLAUSE
0:01:31 > 0:01:33'...Top of the Pops'.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Coming here in the taxi, I suddenly got this rush.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The memories that you have of this place.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42People were bonking all over the BBC!
0:01:42 > 0:01:45They were absolutely stoned out of their minds.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Please, don't smoke that stuff, you know.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I promise you I am not at all proud of this, but I was drunk.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54What I'm going to do is bleach your moustache.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59We were in the wrong set and he said, "Go on and act."
0:01:59 > 0:02:01'Exterminate.'
0:02:01 > 0:02:03'Whatever happens, don't have nightmares.'
0:02:03 > 0:02:06What we now know as British television was invented here.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08'Don't mention the war.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11'I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it all right.'
0:02:11 > 0:02:14My memories of Television Centre are so wonderful.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17When this place finally goes, I will really cry buckets.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19'And it's goodnight from me.'
0:02:19 > 0:02:21'And it's good night from him.'
0:02:21 > 0:02:24This will always be the building that will be British television at its best.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Tales of Television Centre.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45'Nearby is a model of the White City Project, future home of the BBC.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49'Here many different departments now scattered all over London,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52'may one day become centralised under one roof.'
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Nice motor.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05I always love coming here, actually, even to this day. I get a twinge of excitement.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08There's something about this building.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10From an early age I was aware of Television Centre.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13If you've ever watched Swap Shop or Superstore...
0:03:13 > 0:03:17I knew all about TV Centre because I used to watch Blue Peter as a child.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19The building had a resonance.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22It was awesome to step inside it for the very first time.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24I remember getting to Television Centre
0:03:24 > 0:03:29and then having my name on the gates, and it was literally a religious experience.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33I came here with my father who was a television director, John Glenister.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37It was very exciting for a nine-year-old.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40I visited the Doctor Who set. It was the TARDIS.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45My abiding memory of that was, "My God, this is cheap".
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Basically, it was made out of plywood and polystyrene.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53This building in many respects acted as a catalyst for me
0:03:53 > 0:03:55to go into the industry.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58I'd grown up seeing BBC programmes in Australia
0:03:58 > 0:04:00and this was the motherlode.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04This was Television Centre, where all of those programmes
0:04:04 > 0:04:06that I grew up with had emanated from.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10'I can remember walking around the corridor for the first time'
0:04:10 > 0:04:13looking for my first dressing room and thinking,
0:04:13 > 0:04:14"I'm at the BBC, working as an actor."
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Can you move from the monitor, please?
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Good evening and welcome to Top Of The Pops.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24'A friend of mine got tickets to go and see Top Of The Pops. I was about 15.'
0:04:24 > 0:04:29I think you had to be 16 to get in, but we thought we would lie about our age.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32'We were motorbike fanatics and we had leather jackets with studs
0:04:32 > 0:04:35'and great boots and gloves. We looked - we felt,'
0:04:35 > 0:04:37like Marlon Brando out of The Wild One or something.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39They said, "Tony Orlando and Dawn are at number one
0:04:39 > 0:04:43"with Tie A Yellow Ribbon, so we're going to give a yellow ribbon to everybody
0:04:43 > 0:04:45"and we want you all to skip around dancing."
0:04:45 > 0:04:47# Tie a ribbon round the old oak tree
0:04:47 > 0:04:49# Tie a ribbon round the old oak tree. #
0:04:49 > 0:04:53That was my first humiliation on British television.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57'Incident Reported is the title of this week's story in the popular Z Cars series
0:04:57 > 0:04:58'tomorrow night at 8.25.'
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Z CARS THEME MUSIC PLAYS
0:05:03 > 0:05:08My mum was in some of the live episodes of Z Cars.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13- It's a nice friendly shop. - Yes, that's the way we like it.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16'My dad and I would see the start of the programme,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19'get in the car and come to Television Centre'
0:05:19 > 0:05:21and wait for Mum to emerge.
0:05:21 > 0:05:27- I just can't breathe. - You're all right. Come on. - What do you think you're doing?
0:05:27 > 0:05:32I hasten to add I was tiny, so everything was fabulously huge
0:05:32 > 0:05:36and modern and shiny and so exciting.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39- They are waiting for me. - Keep still, lad.
0:05:39 > 0:05:40'I did this live Z Cars.'
0:05:40 > 0:05:43I didn't have a big part in it,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45but I was terribly excited and quite nervous.
0:05:45 > 0:05:51- Mr Rawlings says he's like to speak to you, sir.- Mr Rawlings? Inspector Rawlings?
0:05:51 > 0:05:52I don't know.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56'I was a teetotal girl from Wales. Hadn't ever drunk in my life.'
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Signed the pledge at 11. And at the end of it Jimmy, or Brian Blessed,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03one of them said, "Come on, we're going to the club for a drink",
0:06:03 > 0:06:06and I had my first drink ever in the BBC bar.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09- Thank you very much. - Thank you, Mavis.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10At school, when I was 13,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13I think I did rather well in a science project
0:06:13 > 0:06:16which was about the only time I ever did well in a science project
0:06:16 > 0:06:19and the reward was a trip to Television Centre.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24'I visited the Z Cars studio and it was the most magical thing.'
0:06:24 > 0:06:26'I had watched Z Cars on the TV'
0:06:26 > 0:06:29and thought, "They're sitting in their car in a street",
0:06:29 > 0:06:31and there was the car, half a car cut out,
0:06:31 > 0:06:37and just the seats were there and then a backdrop of a northern street.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39It was like a revelation to me.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43I remember thinking, "It would be fantastic to work in a place like this",
0:06:43 > 0:06:44never thinking I ever would.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47Add on film for 32 seconds.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50'Everybody who was anybody came here.'
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Prime ministers, great actors, heroes, they all came.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57SHOUTING
0:06:57 > 0:07:01- One at a time, please. - No, no, no!
0:07:01 > 0:07:04The Prime Minister took time off from Westminster to come
0:07:04 > 0:07:07to Television Centre to see how the BBC makes its programmes.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09- Have you never watched the news from there?- I haven't.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30- Hello.- Hello.- Hello, I'm Elton John.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Who's that fat bastard?
0:07:36 > 0:07:38DRUM ROLL
0:07:38 > 0:07:40'This is BBC Television...'
0:07:40 > 0:07:42DRUM ROLL
0:07:42 > 0:07:45'..broadcasting from the Television Centre.'
0:07:48 > 0:07:51The very first show that went out from Television Centre
0:07:51 > 0:07:53was called First Night.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55It was quite a challenge, but it was very rewarding
0:07:55 > 0:07:58because it meant we were using all these new facilities
0:07:58 > 0:08:01for the very first time
0:08:01 > 0:08:03and it really was very exciting.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05A lot of big names in it.
0:08:05 > 0:08:06# Tonight I'm on a proper buster
0:08:06 > 0:08:09# And my head is just a little light
0:08:09 > 0:08:12# And with tomorrow's sorrow ready to drown
0:08:12 > 0:08:15# I'm going to beat up the town tonight
0:08:15 > 0:08:18# Tonight I'm on a celebration
0:08:18 > 0:08:20# That will shake the nation to the core
0:08:20 > 0:08:23# I'm going to beat, beat, beat, beat up the town
0:08:23 > 0:08:26# The way it's never been done before. #
0:08:26 > 0:08:29It was the biggest tailor-made television centre in the world.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39My father had been a very senior engineer working for the BBC.
0:08:39 > 0:08:45They sent him a model of the Centre and I remember it on my carpet.
0:08:45 > 0:08:46I was 11.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49'We have already started on the foundations and then later on,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53'we shall build another part in the front here with three more studios.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58I remember that circle that turned into a question mark. I remember it well.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01To me, Television Centre was a work of art.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03It belonged to that period in the late '50s
0:09:03 > 0:09:05when everything was futuristic,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08everything was space age. There's that same sense of design here.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12The mosaic with the light coming in,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15the honeycomb ceiling above it - it's wonderful.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17There are echoes of that mosaic all around the central circle
0:09:17 > 0:09:19and in the columns of the colonnade
0:09:19 > 0:09:24and if you go to the staircase of the south hall, it's unsupported.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26There's nothing holding you up,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29so you get this wonderful feeling of precarious altitude
0:09:29 > 0:09:32although it's perfectly safe standing there.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33And the big basin at the fountains,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36it's exactly like the flying saucer from Forbidden Planet.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39But there's also a hint of Tracy Island about it -
0:09:39 > 0:09:41that central circle, I can't really imagine it
0:09:41 > 0:09:44without Thunderbird 3 coming up out of the middle.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45THUNDERBIRDS THEME MUSIC
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Everything here is solid.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54With television now, everything has a life of about five years, really,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56but this place was built to last.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58The design of it is brilliant.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02I love the fact that it's like a cross between show business
0:10:02 > 0:10:04and a KGB interrogation centre.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08- That's a good description. Quite good.- I like that.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10It's almost as if it was designed
0:10:10 > 0:10:12with a sort of Stalinist point of view
0:10:12 > 0:10:16for bigwigs to look down and check whether the members of staff were actually working.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19A revolutionary building in its time, a building
0:10:19 > 0:10:22that was copied all over the world, as far as I'm aware.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25I remember going to one place, I think it was in Zimbabwe,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27or somewhere, which was virtually a carbon copy.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32The dynamics work.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35The two ring roads to bring the scenery and the technical equipment,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38the inner corridor that funnels the artists from the dressing rooms
0:10:38 > 0:10:42through the assembly areas into the studios via make up and wardrobe.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Everything arrives at the right place at the right time.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48The production people, who of course were the brains,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50would come in on the first floor
0:10:50 > 0:10:54and hoi polloi, the actual horny-handed sons of toil,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56the crews and technicians,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59would come in from the back on the ground floor,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01so they never, ever would meet.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06The logic there was the proles didn't have to meet the important people, you know!
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Dividing and ruling. Keep them all separate.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11BBC Television, nine o'clock.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15'Because it was live and there was always live things going on,'
0:11:15 > 0:11:17it gave the place a fizz.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Good evening, this is David Jacobs
0:11:20 > 0:11:23speaking from the BBC's Television Centre in London.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Viewers in the United Kingdom will recognise this building,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29but it will be less familiar to the 75 million viewers
0:11:29 > 0:11:34from 17 other European countries, who are joining us tonight
0:11:34 > 0:11:38to watch the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix of 1963.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40Everywhere that you looked, you got the feeling
0:11:40 > 0:11:45that you were in the middle of this extraordinary fun factory.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49'The difference between it and the factory was that every bit of artwork was different.'
0:11:49 > 0:11:52The range of programmes that came out was extraordinary.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57I mean, In TC1, you could have a full-scale opera going on.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00HE SINGS
0:12:00 > 0:12:03And then there would be the daily dramas that were going on.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05Yes, madam. Yes it is on sale today.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Comedy shows, audiences coming in.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09Scouse git.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11And it really throbbed.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14You could drop in and see the ferment of creativity
0:12:14 > 0:12:18that existed all at the same time in this amazing building.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22It was magic, it was, "Oh, this door, it's Eric and Ernie
0:12:22 > 0:12:23"doing their programme."
0:12:23 > 0:12:25HE COUGHS Arsenal.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28You walked along the corridor, another door opened it,
0:12:28 > 0:12:29"Oh, there's a drama going on."
0:12:29 > 0:12:33And further around still, "Oh, a quiz is happening."
0:12:33 > 0:12:36It was very vigorous at the time.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Things going on in every studio at the same time.
0:12:38 > 0:12:39Would you mind going back, please?
0:12:39 > 0:12:43There's just one tiny thing...
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Television was on the rise, you see. In its power, its scope,
0:12:46 > 0:12:50its creative possibilities were just exploding.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52And this building reflected that.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56The place reeks of history, of television history.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58TV JINGLE
0:12:58 > 0:13:02'The man who steers this vehicle of television communication
0:13:02 > 0:13:05'is Bryan Cowgill, World Cup Grandstand's Executive Producer.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Can we do a... Bill, can you lower the scores again for me, please?
0:13:10 > 0:13:14'Television Centre was the only place in which to work.'
0:13:14 > 0:13:16This was the place where the big decisions were made.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20BBC2 arrived, of course, then satellite television arrived,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22the moon landing was done from here.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25'It's one small step for man,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28'one giant leap for mankind'.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32- Oh, good God!- Straight back, we've got a boom in shot this time.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34'The arrival of colour was a main event here.'
0:13:34 > 0:13:37'And we were going so fast that the colour cameras'
0:13:37 > 0:13:39were still under development.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43'I was in the very first colour drama',
0:13:43 > 0:13:45which was Vanity Fair.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49And it was very stressful for everybody because nobody knew how it was going to work out.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52What's the matter with props? They're all in the wrong place.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55'We actually took a decision that we would risk it.'
0:13:55 > 0:13:56And it worked, yes.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00'First on BBC1, John Craven's Newsround.'
0:14:00 > 0:14:03'No school today for thousands of children,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05'as the nation goes to the polls.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07'It's going to be a busy night'
0:14:07 > 0:14:11of incredible complications for the people here at BBC Television,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14who will be giving the viewers the situation, minute by minute.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17TC1, this is the BBC's biggest television studio in London
0:14:17 > 0:14:22and it's going to be the nerve centre for the election coverage.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26And the BBC canteen has been preparing for the big night as well.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28In its biggest ever operation,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30it will provide the studio with 6,000 sandwiches,
0:14:30 > 0:14:3520 gallons of tomato soup, 100 gallons of fruit squash,
0:14:35 > 0:14:373,500 cups of coffee
0:14:37 > 0:14:40and hundreds and hundreds of sausage rolls.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Yes, Frank and Norman are clear, thank you.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Every studio was full, and it was a miracle of planning.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50If someone rushed into my office, bashed on the door
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and said, "Frank Sinatra's going to come in to town in two days
0:14:53 > 0:14:56"and we reckon we can get him, have we got a studio?"
0:14:56 > 0:15:01You could go across the corridor to all these lovely girls sitting there with their pencils
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and say, "Quick! Can we have TC2 studio or something?"
0:15:04 > 0:15:05And they would do it.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09'Well, it was a self-contained city.'
0:15:09 > 0:15:10It was like a mini studio.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13It reminded me of what Hollywood must have been like.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16- You did say Hollywood?- Yes. - Not Cricklewood?- No, Hollywood.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21I played Roxanne to Eric's Cyrano De Bergerac, as one would.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24He said, "I want a dream sequence in the middle of this."
0:15:24 > 0:15:28We took over TC1 and there were Eric and Ernie
0:15:28 > 0:15:32in top hat, white tie and tails and me in a blue floaty dress,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37just prancing around the studio for about, I suppose a minute?
0:15:38 > 0:15:40That wouldn't happen now.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44'In my heyday, I was doing Morecambe and Wise and The Two Ronnies',
0:15:44 > 0:15:46we didn't really have things called budgets,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49whereas now, they nitpick over 50 quid.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52'It was full of hurrying people.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54'directors, producers, actors,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57'dressers, it was a hubbub.'
0:15:57 > 0:16:02We made programmes like shelling peas. Excellence came as standard.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05The beauty of working at Television Centre
0:16:05 > 0:16:07was that everything was on tap.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Lighting, design, make up.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13If you were short of anything during rehearsal,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16you could whiz round to small props and bring something in,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19or whiz round to make up.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22It all facilitated getting the shows on the air.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26'You'd got whole wardrobes full of period stock,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29modern stock, science fiction.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31I mean, you could do a show from stock
0:16:31 > 0:16:35and it wouldn't cost the programme anything for the costumes.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38There's an awful lot of scenery kept in this place.
0:16:38 > 0:16:39There's stacks and stacks of it.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41Whole houses get built here
0:16:41 > 0:16:46and they get made into small sections so they can be assembled here,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49then painted, decorated, whatever has to happen to them.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51'When I was writing my programmes,'
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I would walk through the scene dock with my designer
0:16:54 > 0:16:58and I'd see a Dickensian shop window with mullions.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00And I'd then write a sketch
0:17:00 > 0:17:04and it cost nothing because we could get it out the scene dock for free.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06'It is the most incredibly exciting place,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09'with these huge studio spaces,'
0:17:09 > 0:17:13where you can create worlds in pools of darkness.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Can you clear for a moment?
0:17:15 > 0:17:19We created the most wonderful worlds. The most intricate sets.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21This would be turned into an 18th century house,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24or a garden, and overnight,
0:17:24 > 0:17:30everything would be carted out, deconstructed,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32the floor would be repainted.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35We'd literally say goodbye and you'd hear clanking
0:17:35 > 0:17:37and think, "They're taking the set down already!"
0:17:37 > 0:17:39and by the time you'd gone back into wardrobe,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44taken your clothes off, you'd be out, half the set would be gone.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46You were like, "How can that be?"
0:17:46 > 0:17:49The little bloke would come on his machine and he'd go up and down,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53up and down and all the lovely graphics that had been created
0:17:53 > 0:17:56on the floor would be wiped away and then the next set would be put in.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Dawn French.
0:18:04 > 0:18:05Dawn French.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09I'm allowed to park in there, please.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15They'd look at you and go "Hi, Andi, how are you?" "Fine."
0:18:15 > 0:18:19"Can I see your pass, please?" "But you've already identified that you know me.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22"Surely you can let me in?" "I need to see your pass."
0:18:26 > 0:18:29I work here! This is a BBC pass.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32You're a jerk! You know that?
0:18:32 > 0:18:35This is a career decision you're making here, buddy!
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Look at the camera. Look at the camera!
0:18:38 > 0:18:40OK, I have to go home.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43'There was a day when a man wouldn't let me in
0:18:43 > 0:18:48'because I didn't have a car park ticket. So I took the key out, left my car and ran into the building.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51OK, man, yeah? You happy with that?
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Can you see my fingers?
0:18:53 > 0:18:55Count 'em, Stan, you fuck!
0:18:55 > 0:18:57OK? OK! I showed him.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59'From this place there is no escape!
0:18:59 > 0:19:06'Not only can you not get out of this place, but you can't get in!
0:19:06 > 0:19:10At the front of the building they had this thing called the Horseshoe car park, very exclusive,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14I think just meant for the bigwigs on the sixth floor.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17My greatest achievement at Television Centre
0:19:17 > 0:19:19was when I was editor of Newsround
0:19:19 > 0:19:21and I was actually given a permanent pass.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23There was a very valuable form of currency
0:19:23 > 0:19:26when it came to car parking spaces, which were these.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28That this could get you a space anywhere,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30even in the Horseshoe car park.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35The internal bureaucracy was an absolute nightmare.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40I had to get permission to have a helicopter land at the front
0:19:40 > 0:19:42of Television Centre, actually in the bosses' car-park.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45This was the first time a chopper had landed at the VIP car-park
0:19:45 > 0:19:51at the front of Television Centre and, as you can imagine, it caused quite a stir.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56I was given a complete brush-off and I was told,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59"You're treating this as if it was a place for entertainment."
0:19:59 > 0:20:02- Sorry, we haven't got a meter. - You're terribly privileged.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Only the very best people park in this spot, you know.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06I gather the Rolls-Royces have had to leave.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10We had our own security force, we had our own commissionaires.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13My great-uncle was a commissionaire for the BBC
0:20:13 > 0:20:15so he worked a lot of the time here.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19So when I got the job as Director-General, I always laughed,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22we've gone from commissionaire to Director- General
0:20:22 > 0:20:24in only two generations. Not bad!
0:20:24 > 0:20:28I'd be away at Yorkshire Television, what, 15 years,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and I came back, and on the morning I arrived,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34the commissionaire said "Good morning, sir. Been on leave?"
0:20:34 > 0:20:37They were fantastic. Like the guys at the front of Harrods,
0:20:37 > 0:20:39all dressed up. "Morning, Mr Nigel."
0:20:39 > 0:20:41- "Morning, Miss Rippon." - "Good morning, Mr Daniels."
0:20:41 > 0:20:45They were their own men and they weren't in any way obsequious.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47It was Vic, always Vic.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50That was it, Vic, and he was on the main gate for years.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53And Vic had lost an arm during the Second World War.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57And he always wore his uniform and the ribbons of his medals.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00He had quite a few altercations with people who thought
0:21:00 > 0:21:03they had a right to get in in their vehicles and he thought they didn't.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05You could get through Vic.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I'd lift him up and put him on top of a car!
0:21:08 > 0:21:10If he liked you, he'd park your car.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14"Well, you can go over there, mate, or you can go over there."
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Eric Sykes, the comedian, was coming in, chatting away,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22and I said, "I didn't know you knew the commissionaire there?"
0:21:22 > 0:21:25He said, "Oh, yes, he's a great pal. I always invite him to my shows.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28"I can't imagine why, cos it halves the applause!"
0:21:31 > 0:21:33It had such a status, that reception.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38You felt a little bit swingy walking into reception.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Kings and Queens and Prime Ministers walked through there
0:21:41 > 0:21:44and were met by dragon ladies.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Quite a stern-looking lot but really old-school,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50all dressed up in their Chanel suits.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54I was walking across reception and a lady came up and said,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57"Excuse me, Miss Hughes, but I've often wondered,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01"do you pronounce your name 'Nervous' or 'Nerees?'"
0:22:01 > 0:22:05And I was Nervous Hughes from then on!
0:22:05 > 0:22:09No, it's not Pebble Mill at Seven, it's Wogan.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Tonight, as you can see, we come to you from the main reception.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14'One of my guests was the Dalai Lama.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18'And when we'd finished, we were out in the main reception area
0:22:18 > 0:22:22'and I heard this formidable blonde woman make an announcement.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28"Taxi for the Lama. Taxi for the Lama!"
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- Those ladies on reception really ran the place.- They did.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Knew more than anybody in the building
0:22:33 > 0:22:35about what went on.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39There were three ladies who took it in turn on rotation
0:22:39 > 0:22:41to woman main reception.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44And one of them was scariest of all.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47She had the glasses that went up like this
0:22:47 > 0:22:49and the hair piled high on her head.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Blonde hair going up like this,
0:22:52 > 0:22:54sprayed to within an inch of its life.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58And she would go, "Maaaain Receptionnnnnnnn."
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Well, the thing that I find rather ironic is the fact that what
0:23:04 > 0:23:07used to be main reception, where one arrived,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10was given one's dressing room key and told where to go,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14and there were always actors buzzing around.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Now actors are as rare as a snowball on the equator,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21and yet they have changed the name to 'Stage Door'.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26The blokes just aren't the same. The blokes they have now, not the same.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29When I arrived, they said, "Yes? Name?" "Angela Rippon."
0:23:29 > 0:23:32"Why are you here?" "I've come to be interviewed for a job
0:23:32 > 0:23:35"for television news." And one of the girls looked up and said,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39"Oh, are we going to have a woman on the news? Oh, that'll be nice."
0:23:39 > 0:23:40Ready, Jack?
0:23:40 > 0:23:42This is take two of the closing.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45- Good evening, all. - I was doing a Dixon of Dock Green.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50For Collins and Skinner... Oh, sorry.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52And I can remember being terribly,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56terribly nervous walking in this wonderful building.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00I said my name and they had a long list,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02and she started looking from the bottom.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06I remember mine was the very bottom word! And she said,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10"Oh, yes, dressing room 359." And she handed me a key and said,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13"Do you know where to go?" I said, "Yes," cos I was so nervous,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17I thought, I can't ask this terribly frightening lady where to go.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22And I think I wandered round for about half an hour before I found my dressing room.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28'Standby, please, we're going on.'
0:24:28 > 0:24:31I did know the difference was in Thames Television,
0:24:31 > 0:24:33you got a star on your dressing room.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36When you come to the BBC, you didn't.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41'Depending on where you were, I mean, if you're in the basement,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44you'd sometimes get a dressing room that was made for 50 people
0:24:44 > 0:24:47so you could do a lap of the room while you were waiting.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52Good luck, Barry, darling, I'll be with you every inch of the way.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Poor brave boy.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00It was like a small cell.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03'Jeremy Kemp on the set, please.'
0:25:03 > 0:25:06You never had a telephone or anything like that, or a loo.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09One day in the corridor, this Blue Peter presenter came up to me
0:25:09 > 0:25:11and said, "Have you got a star dressing room?"
0:25:11 > 0:25:14And I thought, "Oh dear, they're obviously jealous"
0:25:14 > 0:25:17because I had this lovely bath, and I said, "Yes, I have."
0:25:17 > 0:25:21He said, "Would you mind sharing it with the otter that's on our programme?"
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Shall I see if she can jump in from there? There.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28Let's run a bit of water for swimming. Oh, come back!
0:25:28 > 0:25:31You did sometimes get very noisy,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34or very egocentric neighbours,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Who made it very hard for you to think.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41Attention, attention, Joanna Lumley is back.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46To all BBC producers, she's a size eight,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48she's had her eyes done and she's feeling good.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Joanna, quick, get up, there's Michael Winner.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Mr Winner, remember Joanna Lumley?
0:25:54 > 0:25:56She was a Bond girl... uh, a month ago
0:25:56 > 0:25:58and she was the original Purdey...
0:25:58 > 0:26:02- Who?- Purdey in the Avengers. Joanna, like we rehearsed.
0:26:02 > 0:26:032, 3, 4, cue.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06AVENGERS THEME MUSIC
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Go, Joanna, go!
0:26:22 > 0:26:26There was a series called Adam Adamant where one of the actors
0:26:26 > 0:26:29was well-known for, um, hitting the bottle.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31'All right, darling? Yes, we're ready on the floor.'
0:26:31 > 0:26:33His dressing room was fleeced
0:26:33 > 0:26:37to see that there weren't alcoholic substances there.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41He was brought his evening meal, but actually incarcerated
0:26:41 > 0:26:44in his dressing room until he was needed on the set.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48These are men who have been caught acting in Colditz,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52being escorted to their cell by sadistic floor managers.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Whoops!
0:26:58 > 0:27:00'I remember it was a dressing room'
0:27:00 > 0:27:04just over there, actually, where I met Stevie Wonder for the first time.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06He always had the electronic organ there.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09He was always thinking up songs and I remember one particular one,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13he said "Tony, what you think of this?" Dang-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16And I heard it a little later and thought, "Where have I heard that?"
0:27:16 > 0:27:18And it was 'Uptight (Everything's Alright)'.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Well, I heard it for the first time in a dressing room down there.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27They were convinced that the dressing rooms were being used
0:27:27 > 0:27:29for naughty purposes.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Yeah, slightly sordid.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34I think a lot went on in them just the same.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Oh, no, everybody was doing it on the premises.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39They minded you being drunk and they minded you being late.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41- Yes.- Drunk and late, but not sex.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Nobody cared whether you had sex in your dressing room.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46No, people were bonking all over the BBC, haha!
0:27:46 > 0:27:51Yeah, what do you think those 'B's stand for?
0:27:51 > 0:27:53THEY LAUGH
0:27:53 > 0:27:57I was not seeing very much of my boyfriend at the time,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00who I hasten to add is now my husband, Mike Smith.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03But we were like ships in the night.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06I had dressing room number two,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09so on the occasions where we did see each other, we had to take
0:28:09 > 0:28:14full advantage of that time, of that blissful however long it was.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17And I have kept a souvenir which I've brought with me rather cheekily
0:28:17 > 0:28:20because I didn't know whether I should hand it in.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23But it's my dressing room key. Number two.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26I think Terry Wogan was in dressing room 1 that day.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30I wouldn't say that people actually died in these dressing rooms
0:28:30 > 0:28:32but they looked as if somebody had.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35What they were known for were the soup stains and coffee stains
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and indeed the bloodstains on the carpets.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Some of them have become really glam.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46They're a set, what I might call the Bruce Forsyth dressing rooms,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50stripy wallpaper and very, very dark lighting, and very glamorous.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52I was in my sketch show,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56and the first day of recording I was in the glamour dressing room
0:28:56 > 0:28:59and when I came back the second day, I'd been moved.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04I'd been moved into one of the old, sort of former dressing rooms,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06recognisably just hutches,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09with those very high windows like you see in police cells,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11where you can hear the technical staff discussing
0:29:11 > 0:29:14the programme they're working on.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18"Yeah, I'm on that Smith and Jones thing. It's all right, I suppose."
0:29:18 > 0:29:20I was very lucky to work with Joan Rivers
0:29:20 > 0:29:23and she came over to this country to do her chat show,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26so I got the job of tarting up Ms Rivers' dressing room,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29and tart it up we did. It looked fantastic.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32We had people knock on the door from around the building, saying,
0:29:32 > 0:29:34"Can we come and have a look at the dressing room?"
0:29:34 > 0:29:37And she was here for a fortnight, and how funny is this,
0:29:37 > 0:29:39the minute she left the building,
0:29:39 > 0:29:42we stripped it all out and put it back to as it was!
0:29:44 > 0:29:46I want you to meet Damon Beesley.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50He's a producer here but he's also a great writer. He's a script editor.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52HIGH-PITCHED LAUGHTER
0:29:54 > 0:29:55Room for a small one? Cheeky.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58You started without me, and not for the first time.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01What's he been saying? It's all lies.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04The BBC's always had its strange hierarchy.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Some real talent at the BBC.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08- Cheers.- He's lovely.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11There were rules about what you could have in your office.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14You could have curtains that drew, or, if you weren't senior enough,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17they had to be just strips at the side.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19You had to be on a certain grade to get a carpet.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22You could have a drinks cabinet, you could not have a drinks cabinet.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26But you knew that you were upwardly mobile when you were issued
0:30:26 > 0:30:32with a rather grander desk and a coat and hat rack.
0:30:32 > 0:30:37They put me into a little segmented room, like being part of an orange.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40You were stuck with one wall narrower than the other
0:30:40 > 0:30:42and peg boards,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45and the whole thing was simply not conducive to writing comedy.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49When I first arrived, somebody told me that it was built in a circle
0:30:49 > 0:30:51so the buck couldn't stop.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58'After a short drive, I arrived at BBC Television Centre.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05'Unfortunately, this is the most complicated building in the world.'
0:31:05 > 0:31:10Because it is a circle, it does encourage people to get to know one another.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Jim Cellan Jones was Head of Drama and I knew he was on the 5th floor
0:31:14 > 0:31:16and I'd pretend I was going somewhere
0:31:16 > 0:31:18and I'd just walk round the offices
0:31:18 > 0:31:21and he'd say, "Nige, hey, come in, what are you up to?"
0:31:21 > 0:31:24I'd said, "I'm just... Not a lot." And I'd get cast. I'd get a job!
0:31:24 > 0:31:28Now I found this a very easy building to get to grips with.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30Once you've mastered the fact that
0:31:30 > 0:31:33it's all built round this circular quad.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37I loved the shape of it because it's so organic, isn't it?
0:31:37 > 0:31:39Easy to get lost,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41but wonderful that it just goes round in a circle.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45My wig was tight, my corsets were tight,
0:31:45 > 0:31:47my shoes were hurting me, and there's no oxygen
0:31:47 > 0:31:50in those big studios because there's so many of us there.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54I would always have a cup of tea and then I would go and walk
0:31:54 > 0:31:58around the doughnut maybe two or three times, in my costume usually.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02And then you work out that all the studios are off it like that.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06Make-up was sort of over there and below the studios there's more make-up and dressing rooms.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09It actually worked really well. I think it was a brilliant design.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13'A series of endless corridors.
0:32:13 > 0:32:19'I have spent most of my formative years walking endlessly round in circles,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22finding myself back where I started, unable to find a studio
0:32:22 > 0:32:25or anybody to show me the way!
0:32:25 > 0:32:26I could be wandering round there now.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32It's a round building and I remember, very early on,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35somebody said, "Do you want a cup of tea?" And I said, "Yeah."
0:32:35 > 0:32:37They said, "Just pop up and you'll find a little tea bar."
0:32:37 > 0:32:42I started walking. I could not find this tea bar.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45What I was doing was walking round and round!
0:32:45 > 0:32:48You wouldn't think you could get lost in a circular building,
0:32:48 > 0:32:51because you'd just walk back to where you started,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54but it's actually very easy to get lost.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56It's such a big circle that you don't actually realise that
0:32:56 > 0:32:59you've passed the point where you entered the circle,
0:32:59 > 0:33:03and so just to find this cup of tea, I was gone for about an hour,
0:33:03 > 0:33:06and I just carried on walking for a great deal of time,
0:33:06 > 0:33:07round and round in circles.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10When I was appointed Controller,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13and I had to go to the first important meeting, I got lost.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15I mean, I was going round and round the circle
0:33:15 > 0:33:21and I suddenly realised I was recognising the same fire extinguisher. Where was I?
0:33:21 > 0:33:26A myriad of corridors. I remember having quite an important meeting
0:33:26 > 0:33:29downstairs and saying, "I've got to go. I'm going for a pee",
0:33:29 > 0:33:32and going off for a pee, and I couldn't find my way back.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36So in the end I had to ring up my secretary and say,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39"I'm wandering around this place but I've no idea where the meeting is,"
0:33:39 > 0:33:42- because it all looks the same, doesn't it?- 'Going down.'
0:33:42 > 0:33:45In the sub basement, which is a level below the basement floor,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49there are service corridors which connect all the blocks on the site,
0:33:49 > 0:33:53so a corridor that's probably not much wider than a human being.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Extremely creepy because there are so many twists
0:33:56 > 0:33:58and turns down there and it's very dimly lit.
0:33:58 > 0:34:04I got a pink chalk and I just used to quietly put a chalk arrow.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06On the very first edition of Newsround,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09I nearly didn't make it because I was down in the basement
0:34:09 > 0:34:12at about quarter to five and I had to get up to the studio
0:34:12 > 0:34:14on the 6th floor. And I went the wrong way around.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18And I got to the studio about six or seven minutes before air,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20palpitating like mad.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24You just follow the bum, and when we got to the bum,
0:34:24 > 0:34:26we knew we were in the right part.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30In the summer, the sun hits it in a certain way
0:34:30 > 0:34:31and it really glows, that bum.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38'Hugh Weldon, who was the boss, was on the other side of the ring,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42so I could look out of my office and see whether he was in his office, whether it was worth going round.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45"Come on then, Brian", said Huw Wheldon.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49"You're a climber. Climb up this column, right up to the top,
0:34:49 > 0:34:52"then get on to that statue down there."
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Took me about 20 minutes, shimmied up, it's quite hard at the base.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00But gradually wrapped myself round, got myself there, got to the top,
0:35:00 > 0:35:05and I, "Pfffft" - blew up this great big French letter,
0:35:05 > 0:35:10tied it onto its cock, and Huw Wheldon said,
0:35:10 > 0:35:12"Now we hope people look at the bloody thing!"
0:35:12 > 0:35:15Next day, when everyone came into their offices,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19there was a French letter, a condom, tied over its cock.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22That's why it's called Golden Bollocks.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32The bowl which caught the water
0:35:32 > 0:35:37was directly above where all the telecine apparatus was.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40And it started to leak,
0:35:40 > 0:35:44and this crucial element of the system was in danger of blowing up,
0:35:44 > 0:35:46short-circuiting with water cascading down.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50I think it was exaggerated but that was one of the problems.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53The videotape recording department used to be in the basement.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56One day the Queen was coming to something at Television Centre.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58She was coming up Wood Lane in a limousine and they said,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01"Quick, turn on the fountain, it's going to look smashing."
0:36:01 > 0:36:03They turned on the fountain, it was lovely.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07The Queen came in and said, "What a lovely fountain", and went through the door.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09And then they said, "Turn it off, quick!" And turned it off.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11But then they said, "Turn it on again,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13"the Duke's coming behind in a Land Rover!"
0:36:13 > 0:36:17So they turned it on again and the entire VT was flooded, I believe.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20When it turned on, it made a heck of a noise.
0:36:20 > 0:36:21Because the sound of the water
0:36:21 > 0:36:25on the fountain was echoing around this ring.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27I'm told that the more sensitive of the lady secretaries
0:36:27 > 0:36:31found this really unendurable and had to keep going to the ladies' room
0:36:31 > 0:36:33once every three quarters of an hour!
0:36:33 > 0:36:37I'll never forget, one day the water tanks burst in the building.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40And the water was coming flooding down. I don't know how many floors.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44These days, of course, the building would be evacuated,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48nobody would be allowed to go anywhere near it.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52No, on Blue Peter, the idea was to get a sequence actually dancing,
0:36:52 > 0:36:56barefoot, with umbrellas up, in the water,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59coming right through the light fittings. Can you imagine?
0:37:02 > 0:37:06There are a lot of obstacles in this building that you have to overcome.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10God forbid you want to film anything outside the confines of a studio,
0:37:10 > 0:37:11then I wish you luck.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15Once you'd started to use the television centre as a location,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17then you were in real trouble.
0:37:17 > 0:37:23Prem ops, fire safety people, health and safety people, the list goes on.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27What about the height? What would you say this is? About 60?
0:37:27 > 0:37:30- About 60 feet.- What does it look like from down there?
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Very high!
0:37:32 > 0:37:36'Karl Wallenda was a world famous tightrope walker.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39He'd done the most amazing tightrope walks,
0:37:39 > 0:37:44and the great thing was that he never used a safety net.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47There was the most almighty battle about that.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50We got our own way, because we were such a pain in the neck.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54There wasn't the Health and Safety around that there is today.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57You are taking, not a chance, but a calculated risk.
0:37:57 > 0:38:03- You want me to stand on my neck? - Can you?- Well, I'll try.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06Obviously, we couldn't do it live, just in case he did go off.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12'I suddenly thought, what happens if he does fall?
0:38:12 > 0:38:17'And I said to camera two, if he falls, pan with him.'
0:38:17 > 0:38:22I was worrying about that. Can you walk right to the end now?
0:38:22 > 0:38:25Karl said to me, "When it's time for me to go,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28"I will either get run over by a bus, have a heart attack
0:38:28 > 0:38:32"or fall off a wire. God above is going to make those decisions."
0:38:32 > 0:38:34And three years after he told me that,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38he did actually fall off a wire and kill himself.
0:38:38 > 0:38:39On shorter programmes than yours,
0:38:39 > 0:38:42I'd rehearse what we're doing next but on this occasion,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45I can sit back and enjoy nearly three hours of your multi-coloured programme.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Marvellous. Well, thank you, Richard. Let's have the titles.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53It was going to be totally live and absolutely unrehearsed.
0:38:59 > 0:39:04The people in charge said "You're going to run about in unlit areas."
0:39:04 > 0:39:08Well, we've come now this morning to one of the most important areas
0:39:08 > 0:39:10of the Television Centre. We're one floor below ground
0:39:10 > 0:39:13and this is known as the videotape area.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16"We don't know where the sound's coming from. It's going to look and sound awful."
0:39:16 > 0:39:19So in the half-hour between now and when we follow you on air,
0:39:19 > 0:39:21we'll be tidying up the things that didn't work
0:39:21 > 0:39:24and getting everything just right for transmission.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27OK, I'll leave you to do that, Jim. Thank you very much indeed.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Thanks a lot. Grandstand later on BBC1.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33I then said, "I tell you what, we'll just have one lit area
0:39:33 > 0:39:38"and we won't deviate from that", which was a complete lie.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Haha! Silly!
0:39:41 > 0:39:43'We just pushed it as far as we could.'
0:39:43 > 0:39:45At the Television Centre here,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47we do have many other things going on.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50I mean, this is the only programme actually going out live.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55But we've got people doing rehearsals for programmes, setting up studios.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58- Look at the mess here.- 'The crews, of course, were wonderful.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00'They thought this was a marvellous challenge,'
0:40:00 > 0:40:02so we just upped and went.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05They followed us, out of the door, into the corridor
0:40:05 > 0:40:07and into the next studio.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09Morning! Morning! Morning!
0:40:09 > 0:40:12- That's Noel Edmonds!- Hello!
0:40:12 > 0:40:17I've just taken a break from next door. Morning, chaps. How are you?
0:40:17 > 0:40:20No one was foolish enough to try and do it before, but it worked.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22- Is it Dad's Army?- No, it's not!
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Because of this group of studios, all with different things going on,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30we were able to show this is where it all happens.
0:40:32 > 0:40:39'The idea of the tap dancing record came out of the fact that Roy Castle was in fact a tap dancer.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43That took me into this spectacular thing here.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45Are you part of the biggest tap-dancing troupe in the world?
0:40:45 > 0:40:50- Yes, I am.- What's your name?- Julie.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54I looked up the record and it wasn't very big, to be honest. I thought, 500 will do.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59Pardon me asking, but where are the other 499?
0:41:03 > 0:41:04Right here.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11We had absolutely no choice. If we wanted to do it,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15we had to do it in December. It was cold and I wanted another take,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18because there was a camera shadow, but my head of the department said,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21"Get the children in the warm." We had a mini camera in those days,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24which was that size, you know, quite big.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28I said, "I want the Busby Berkeley shot, put it right over the middle,"
0:41:28 > 0:41:30and they pulled it out on a wire.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33To have the fountain going was the climax of the whole piece
0:41:33 > 0:41:38and that was difficult to do but it's just getting the right people on your side, to be honest.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40And there was a lady who was the powerhouse
0:41:40 > 0:41:43behind what you could do on the building site
0:41:43 > 0:41:46if you stepped outside the studio.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49And I went up to her and she was knitting in her office.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52And so I said, "Maureen, what are you knitting?"
0:41:52 > 0:41:55She said "I'm being sponsored to do this knit."
0:41:55 > 0:41:57So I said, "I'll help you, I'll sponsor you."
0:41:57 > 0:42:01I gave her a couple of quid and she said, "Now what I do for you?"
0:42:01 > 0:42:04I said, "Well, how about switching the fountain on for starters?"
0:42:04 > 0:42:07And they did it.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11That's how it used to operate in those days, bribery!
0:42:15 > 0:42:18There was always some bugger out there, Doctor Who or somebody,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Dixon of Dock Green. They're always doing little shots.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24And of course you had Michael Bentine's World out here.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Hello, and a very, very warm welcome back to the very last
0:42:28 > 0:42:31in our present series of It's A Square World.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Michael Bentine loved Television Centre so much
0:42:33 > 0:42:37that at the end of every series he destroyed it catastrophically.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41It was sunk by a German U-boat, it was besieged by Red Indians.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46It got blasted into space in one of them.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49With the aid of some special effects, obviously.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10- Now what's wrong?! - We are weightless!
0:43:12 > 0:43:14Now easily observable is the BBC Television Centre.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18You'll be able to see its form together with the many lights
0:43:18 > 0:43:19associated with it.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22Whenever surreal mayhem broke out around the grounds
0:43:22 > 0:43:25of Television Centre, everyone assumed, "It's Michael Bentine.
0:43:25 > 0:43:26"He's up to something again."
0:43:26 > 0:43:30Until one day there was a real raid on the cashiers.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32You've done more to confuse BBC Commissionaires
0:43:32 > 0:43:34than any man in the history of broadcasting.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36The robbers attacked, and they thought it was you.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39- Yes, they did. That was a shocking business.- They were real.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42The week's wages, £20,000 in cash,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44had just been delivered by a security firm.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48And a getaway car, full of people with stockings over their faces
0:43:48 > 0:43:51and looking for all the world like pantomime bank robbers,
0:43:51 > 0:43:52pulled up at the main gate.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56I just said, "What's going on?" And he said, "It's all right, mate."
0:43:56 > 0:43:58And then I presumed it was filming.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02These guys went in with stockings over their faces, beat everybody up,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04smashed them on top of their heads,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07knocked them all out, and pinched £16,000. I was there!
0:44:07 > 0:44:08I thought it was something like Z Cars.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11You know, they nipped in here.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13Ran in with guns, and said, "Everybody on the floor,"
0:44:13 > 0:44:16and broke down the bars and got through the grille, you see.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19They got in their car and they drove round the circle
0:44:19 > 0:44:21and simply went out the back gate.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24The commissioner appears and says, "Nice to see you, Mr Bentine,"
0:44:24 > 0:44:25and opens the gate and lets them out.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28"Hello. Hello, Mr Bentine. nice to see you back again."
0:44:28 > 0:44:31And it really was five men in a Jaguar car
0:44:31 > 0:44:34- came up and robbed the place. - Yes. Thanks to you.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36There seemed to be no limit to the items
0:44:36 > 0:44:39that people would take from the building.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41Everything would go.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46We would have a cage full of 100 footballs,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49and by the end of the week, there were three.
0:44:49 > 0:44:54They had a banqueting hall with a dozen place settings
0:44:54 > 0:44:57and silver period cutlery had been hired
0:44:57 > 0:45:00and very carefully laid out on the table.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02And when people came back into the studio,
0:45:02 > 0:45:04every piece of cutlery had gone.
0:45:04 > 0:45:05But it hadn't just been stolen.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Somebody had actually gone to the restaurant block
0:45:08 > 0:45:12and collected enough BBC canteen cutlery to replace it.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16Oh, don't use that one! It's discoloured! Here, find another.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21There were three canteens, all on top of each other.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23So you had the first floor canteen,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26waitress service on the second floor, and the third floor canteen.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29And there was kind of an unwritten rule between, you know,
0:45:29 > 0:45:30production go to the third floor,
0:45:30 > 0:45:33and anyone that might have a high-visibility jacket
0:45:33 > 0:45:34would go to the first floor.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37Yeah, I think there was a sort of class system
0:45:37 > 0:45:38of restaurants at one point.
0:45:38 > 0:45:43The ordinary people ate baked beans on the ground floor,
0:45:43 > 0:45:46and then there was a bit where slightly smarter people ate lasagne or something.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49We're up here. You stay in that one.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52That one's got sausages, beans, and mash. Ours has got chicken kiev.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56I remember The Two Ronnies queuing up with everyone else,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59and they got two little stools,
0:45:59 > 0:46:01and they were sitting on these stools,
0:46:01 > 0:46:03dragging the stools along as the queue shortened.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09Wild horses would never have dragged me there. But I would hear tales.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11The soggy bacon, left overnight.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14Because there was no wastage. Good husbandry was the watchword.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17People used to talk about having been taken
0:46:17 > 0:46:20to the waitress service bit of the canteen.
0:46:20 > 0:46:21- Yes!- Lots of times!
0:46:21 > 0:46:23- Lots of times?- Yes!
0:46:23 > 0:46:24There we go again.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27I was so impressed, because it had white tablecloths
0:46:27 > 0:46:30and there was the waitresses there going round.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32- So you felt you'd arrived. - SHE LAUGHS
0:46:32 > 0:46:34I don't think it was that glamorous.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37There was some hairstyles amongst those waitresses.
0:46:37 > 0:46:38And I used to look at John and say,
0:46:38 > 0:46:40"I really want my hair to look like that."
0:46:40 > 0:46:43You know, these beautiful beehives. Oh, it was brilliant!
0:46:43 > 0:46:47I remember there was one lady, she had this enormous hairdo,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49and the longest nails that were painted green.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51And you think, how can you...anyway.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54Did you ever have that waitress who was rather eccentric,
0:46:54 > 0:46:58and she had a really, really, long fingernail, but it twisted round?
0:46:58 > 0:47:00I never wanted to be served by her!
0:47:00 > 0:47:03That would have put me off my lunch, I think, really!
0:47:03 > 0:47:05I remember one day, Joan Collins walked in.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08She sat down and just took out her little Tupperware box
0:47:08 > 0:47:09and had her own salad.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12I thought, "How chic is that, in the waitress service?!"
0:47:12 > 0:47:17It was where most of the producers went to have their lunch, in fact.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21And we used to eat lunch in those days.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24It was sort of meat and two veg and a glass of wine.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26I mean, it was none of this grabbing a sandwich by the...
0:47:26 > 0:47:28- HE LAUGHS - ..by the typewriter!
0:47:28 > 0:47:30When the controllers had a guest,
0:47:30 > 0:47:32they would take them to waitress service.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35And you could also book a table at waitress service,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37and see them with their guests.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39It was very useful to be able to nobble the bosses
0:47:39 > 0:47:42whilst they were preoccupied with their meal.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45The wonderful thing about the second floor was there was a balcony
0:47:45 > 0:47:46overlooking the first floor.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49So they could actually look down their noses at the proles below.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52We used to imagine it was so they could do a Henry VIII
0:47:52 > 0:47:53with their chicken bones. Toss it over.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56"Look, there's peasants scrabbling for my leftovers!"
0:47:56 > 0:47:59I was doing the Jackanory programme with Kenneth Williams.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01So we went into the canteen
0:48:01 > 0:48:03where some lady was behind the counter,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05and we said, "What's nice for lunch today?"
0:48:05 > 0:48:08And she said, "Oh, we've got a very nice chicken curry."
0:48:08 > 0:48:10I said, "That's good. I'll have the chicken curry."
0:48:10 > 0:48:12And Kenneth said, "Sounds rather lovely.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15"I think I'll have the chicken curry as well."
0:48:15 > 0:48:17And the woman dashes over to a hatch and yells down,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19"There's a big rush on the chicken curry!
0:48:19 > 0:48:22- "Send some more up!" - HE LAUGHS
0:48:22 > 0:48:25I remember vividly it was a very nice steak and chips
0:48:25 > 0:48:28with a bottle of what the BBC called, 'Good Ordinary Claret.'
0:48:28 > 0:48:31I sometimes sat at the table and amused myself
0:48:31 > 0:48:35by crossing out 'Good' and writing 'Very', Ordinary Claret.
0:48:35 > 0:48:40You'd go in at 12 o'clock and you'd roll out at half past two.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43FILM NIGHT THEME TUNE
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Yeah, there was an occasion that could have proved disastrous.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51And I promise you, I'm not at all proud of this, but I was drunk.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53We all used to have lunch in the restaurant
0:48:53 > 0:48:56before going into the studio, and on this particular Friday,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59a lad who'd been attached to us was leaving.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02He was going round the table with bottles of wine the whole time.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05And in those circumstances, you lose track of how much you've drunk.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09We walked down the corridor to the studio, Pres B.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12But when I got inside and the lights came on
0:49:12 > 0:49:14and I had to do my first link to camera,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17everything fell apart. And I burbled and stuttered.
0:49:17 > 0:49:18Oh, I was fluffing my lines.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22And at the end of this, there was total embarrassed silence.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25And I got up and said, "OK, this is what I'm going to do.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28"I'm going to walk round and round this circular building,
0:49:28 > 0:49:30"and every time I pass this door, I want someone to give me
0:49:30 > 0:49:32"a cup of strong black coffee."
0:49:32 > 0:49:34And I did this for about half an hour,
0:49:34 > 0:49:39went to my dressing room, plunged my face repeatedly into cold water,
0:49:39 > 0:49:41and went in and recorded the programme.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43DIRECTOR: Just under 30 seconds.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47It turned out it was the most sober programme I have ever done.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50It also happened to be about the dullest programme I've ever done.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54But the thing is, I got away with it, but I learned a salutary lesson.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56I never drank again before working.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00There are pop groups in to record in the afternoon
0:50:00 > 0:50:02and of course, they smoked.
0:50:02 > 0:50:03And they didn't smoke ordinary cigarettes.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10David Attenborough was a very tolerant controller.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13But he did pass a message to the editor, which was,
0:50:13 > 0:50:14"There is a herbal smell
0:50:14 > 0:50:17"drifting along that corridor from your studio.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22"If it becomes any stronger, you'll be in trouble."
0:50:22 > 0:50:25Look, please don't smoke that stuff, you know,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28openly, and so that we can all smell it. I mean, just be sensible.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36That was all he said. And so we were told to control it.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39I remember you telling me a tale of you doing something on Play Away.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43I think it involved silhouettes. And everybody had had...
0:50:43 > 0:50:45Playschool, and it was the Nativity.
0:50:45 > 0:50:50And there was Rick Jones, Lionel Morton, myself.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54They got stoned on the biggest joint you've ever seen, in the studio.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58And we were in silhouette, as the three shepherds with our crooks.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02And Lionel purposely held his crook so the crook didn't show.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Like with the cameras, instead of that way!
0:51:05 > 0:51:08They were absolutely stoned out of their minds.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12So when we recorded, who cocked his lines up? Me.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15I couldn't work with it, I really couldn't!
0:51:15 > 0:51:18- I like that you weren't stoned. - I wasn't!
0:51:18 > 0:51:19Such a professional.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21HE LAUGHS
0:51:22 > 0:51:25You would come from the screaming mayhem of the studios
0:51:25 > 0:51:28and the Light Entertainment department or the drama department,
0:51:28 > 0:51:32where basically everybody shouted to each other all the time,
0:51:32 > 0:51:34and then you'd open up on the 6th floor.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37There would be this swish, and then there was silence.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40LIFT ANNOUNCEMENT: 6th Floor.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43You couldn't hear yourself walk. People spoke in whispers.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46It was like you'd sort of gone to heaven or something.
0:51:46 > 0:51:51ANGELIC MUSIC
0:51:51 > 0:51:54Ooh, the hierarchy! And you never really went onto that floor.
0:51:54 > 0:51:55It was the posh floor, you know.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59Where the head of BBC One, BBC Two, and the DG were.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02You had to be fantastically well-behaved.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06PRESENTER: Here, the drama department meets the controller of BBC One.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08Well, let's move on to Dr Who,
0:52:08 > 0:52:09because that's an even bigger problem.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Because you're asking for around 2,500 extra programmes.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15Avoid the 6th floor.
0:52:15 > 0:52:16It's just nothing but trouble.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19If you're summoned to the 6th floor, you've put your foot in it.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21You're going to get a bollocking.
0:52:21 > 0:52:26Having a young baby and trying to do a live show really is a nightmare.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28You know, I'd be trying to breastfeed her,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31then I'd come in to rehearse a bit. Rose would be screaming.
0:52:31 > 0:52:32How's your hair? All right?
0:52:32 > 0:52:35So the girl who used to help me said, "I've done it.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37"I've got this great corridor. It's just marvellous.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39"There's no one around there. It's really quiet.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43"And no matter how much noise Rose makes, in the end she calms down."
0:52:43 > 0:52:46And I went, "Oh, great. Well done. Where is it?"
0:52:46 > 0:52:48And she said, "Oh, it's the 6th floor."
0:52:48 > 0:52:50SHE LAUGHS
0:52:50 > 0:52:51Anybody who's anybody is here.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53And they've got their names on all the doors.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Like, DG.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58That means it's the Director General's office.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00He's the head of everything. Oh, so exciting!
0:53:00 > 0:53:02Let's have a look, shall we?
0:53:02 > 0:53:05LAUGHTER
0:53:05 > 0:53:07Oh, good morning, Mr Everett. Welcome to the BBC.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09Naughty DG!
0:53:09 > 0:53:14This building embodies the paradox in the BBC.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18Of jazz hands and the smart suit.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22- THEY SCREAM - Ken!- You!
0:53:22 > 0:53:23It's fun to see those two collide.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25That's how you get the best programmes.
0:53:25 > 0:53:26B-U-M.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29That must be Broadcasting Under-Manager.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34- LAUGHTER - No, it's a bum.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37On Thursday evening, there's a rather special show of the week.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40The other day, I spoke to one of its stars, Ernie Wise,
0:53:40 > 0:53:42who'd brought along a friend.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45Ernie, your Christmas show's being repeated. Why is that?
0:53:45 > 0:53:48- By public demand.- What, particularly, has made this public demand?
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Well, they're just clamouring to see my performance again.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53- My Napoleon was quite superb, wasn't it?- Napoleon?- Yes.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56I did have the pleasure of working
0:53:56 > 0:53:59on the Morecambe and Wise shows, and I think it was back in 1977,
0:53:59 > 0:54:00if my memory serves me right.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03They were coming to the end of their BBC contract,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06and the BBC wanted to woo them to come and sign another contract.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09So they threw them a very nice party
0:54:09 > 0:54:11in the hallowed 6th floor suite.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14To this day, I remember Eric saying,
0:54:14 > 0:54:15"Just enjoy yourselves tonight, boys,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18"because we've already signed with Thames Television."
0:54:18 > 0:54:22So we knew before the BBC bigwigs.
0:54:22 > 0:54:23Very slippy chairs.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26Excuse him. He's always like this.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29The BBC had a policy whereby the senior executives
0:54:29 > 0:54:33would all meet once a week round the boardroom table.
0:54:33 > 0:54:39All the heads of department went to B209,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41which was a room in the basement.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43And in those days, full of smoke.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45The rest of us called it The Chimps' Tea Party.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49And we used the Radio Times as our agenda.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51We would say, "Look at your Radio Times, please.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53"Now, who wants to comment on what?"
0:54:53 > 0:54:58It went on from half past nine in the morning until lunchtime.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01At one of those Chimps' Tea Parties, Paul Fox,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03who was then controller of BBC One,
0:55:03 > 0:55:04flew into a sudden rage
0:55:04 > 0:55:07and slammed his fist on the table, and said,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10"That bloke reviewing films on Film '72 last night was wearing a wig!
0:55:10 > 0:55:13"I will not have wigs on my channel. Get rid of him!"
0:55:13 > 0:55:16I really cannot believe that I said that.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19I wasn't actually wearing a wig. I was just having a bad hair day.
0:55:19 > 0:55:20Good evening.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23Tonight, Joseph Losey talks about The Assassination of Trotsky.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28There are some horrible places in this building.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Horrible offices. You would go to parts of it
0:55:30 > 0:55:34and you couldn't believe that people were working there.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36And there was a tower block over the back there
0:55:36 > 0:55:39that Children's was in at one point.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41Just a truly terrible place to work.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44It is the grimmest office block you could imagine.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47This grey, drab building.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51You look up and there's endless floors.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53But East Tower was to be my home.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56And because I was so homesick, I just used to spend
0:55:56 > 0:55:59as much time as possible in East Tower,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02looking out of the window, dreaming of the North.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05And everybody else just wanted to go home.
0:56:05 > 0:56:06It was just so sad!
0:56:06 > 0:56:09You know, people shouldn't have been asked to work there.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12And yet, people thought this was romantic. I never got it.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15The loos in the East Tower are on alternate floors.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18The ladies are on one floor and the gents are on the other.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21And a very, very distinguished senior member
0:56:21 > 0:56:25of the BBC management board was caught short.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28So there was nothing for it but to nip into the ladies.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31So he nipped into the first open cubicle
0:56:31 > 0:56:32and had his tinkle, and then
0:56:32 > 0:56:34when he was washing his hands at the sink,
0:56:34 > 0:56:36he let rip with a huge fart.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41And then from behind the closed cubicle door at the end of the row,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44a voice said, "Is that you, Maureen?"
0:56:44 > 0:56:47I mean, it was one of those places that you felt that once
0:56:47 > 0:56:51we moved out, the dossers would move in, really.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58Cameras in the right place at the right time.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00Microphones within reach, but out of sight.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02Actors knowing what to say and where to move.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04The right setting, designed to fit the actor
0:57:04 > 0:57:06and leave room for the cameras.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08The lighting worked out for each scene.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11Everyone knowing what to do and when to do it,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14so that every part fits together to become what was at first
0:57:14 > 0:57:16only in the mind of the director.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18David, can we come onto this next scene?
0:57:18 > 0:57:19Two-shot, on camera five.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22The competition to get the best stuff was absolutely knives out.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24I mean, you had to pull out all the stops
0:57:24 > 0:57:28to get the studio you wanted, to get the camera crew you wanted.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31It was very, very, very competitive.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35I remember working with fantastic camera crews
0:57:35 > 0:57:36when we were working here.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40You know, they would give you everything,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44and the kind of pride of work, and just the sheer concentration.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47I was very young. We were doing Casanova.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51And I was doing one of the low cameras,
0:57:51 > 0:57:53and I had a woman in front of me,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56who was going to be superimposed in a dream sequence
0:57:56 > 0:57:59that Casanova was supposed to be dreaming.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04The thing was, she was stark naked. And I'd never seen a naked woman before.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07We'll have to see what we can do, won't we?
0:58:07 > 0:58:11And it had a certain effect on me, and I couldn't hide it.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21And she looked at me in a most disdainful way - you disgusting little boy!
0:58:21 > 0:58:24What a nice little old man!
0:58:24 > 0:58:29You could be sent to a crew that worked on the not-quite-so-exciting programmes.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32And then if you made a complaint, you got a card like this.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35TS - tough shit!
0:58:35 > 0:58:38There aren't many hovercraft I'd be allowed to bring into the BBC car park.
0:58:38 > 0:58:42But this is different. It's very much more manoeuvrable, as you can see.
0:58:42 > 0:58:45We're attempting a 360 degree turn here.
0:58:45 > 0:58:48'I think part of the magic of this building'
0:58:48 > 0:58:53is that you saw strange, incongruous, and weird things every single day.
0:58:53 > 0:58:54DR WHO THEME PLAYS
0:58:54 > 0:58:57I think the weirdest has to be
0:58:57 > 0:59:02a more or less life-size Tyrannosaurus rex in rubber.
0:59:02 > 0:59:03THEY GASP
0:59:03 > 0:59:05DINOSAUR ROARS
0:59:05 > 0:59:08That's the creature that attacked me in the caves!
0:59:08 > 0:59:11And inside was a small, elderly man
0:59:11 > 0:59:14wearing ballet tights and ballet pumps,
0:59:14 > 0:59:17and he would enter this costume via a hole between its legs,
0:59:17 > 0:59:19so it's already starting to get a bit weird,
0:59:19 > 0:59:22but being in a completely enclosed latex suit,
0:59:22 > 0:59:25he got very hot, so when there was a pause,
0:59:25 > 0:59:28his colleagues would come up with a compressed air bottle,
0:59:28 > 0:59:30stick it up the hole between his legs,
0:59:30 > 0:59:32and send a jet of cold air up.
0:59:32 > 0:59:34And when they did this, he would relax,
0:59:34 > 0:59:36and the result was that the suit sagged
0:59:36 > 0:59:39in such a way that the dinosaur's head lolled back
0:59:39 > 0:59:41and its jaws flopped open.
0:59:41 > 0:59:44So what you saw as a disinterested observer
0:59:44 > 0:59:46was some people shoving a large metal cylinder
0:59:46 > 0:59:49up a hole between the legs of a dinosaur,
0:59:49 > 0:59:51a "psssht" sound,
0:59:51 > 0:59:53and the dinosaur going, "Ahhh!"
0:59:53 > 0:59:55DINOSAUR ROARS
0:59:57 > 1:00:00The late Dame Thora Hird was doing
1:00:00 > 1:00:01a programme called Mrs Pepperpot,
1:00:01 > 1:00:04and we were getting ready for the dress rehearsal,
1:00:04 > 1:00:08and suddenly the door opened and in came a whole lot of dignitaries.
1:00:08 > 1:00:11They said, "Carry on as normal." HE GULPS
1:00:11 > 1:00:14So we said, "Oh, right, we'll start rehearsing Mrs Pepperpot."
1:00:14 > 1:00:16You remember Mrs Pepperpot.
1:00:16 > 1:00:17You don't?
1:00:17 > 1:00:19Well, she's a woman who shrinks to the size of a pepper pot...
1:00:19 > 1:00:21..at the most inconvenient moments.
1:00:21 > 1:00:24And so the music plays, and in went the camera to Thora Hird,
1:00:24 > 1:00:27and she said, "Hello. Do you know Mrs Pepperpot?
1:00:27 > 1:00:29"You don't? Well, sod off!"
1:00:29 > 1:00:30SHE LAUGHS
1:00:30 > 1:00:32Goodbye.
1:00:34 > 1:00:37'We set ourselves a lot of very difficult things to do.'
1:00:37 > 1:00:40This French device is a one-man elevator.
1:00:40 > 1:00:46They expand to form a strong, light...that's hot.
1:00:46 > 1:00:48It was a sort of challenge,
1:00:48 > 1:00:49and they did often go wrong.
1:00:49 > 1:00:53..let one go, releasing the brakes. Here's Kieran!
1:00:53 > 1:00:56God, I'm sorry. I'm really suffering.
1:00:56 > 1:00:57It's burning me!
1:00:57 > 1:01:00Oh, my God. Motorised roller skates!
1:01:00 > 1:01:02MOTOR REVS
1:01:05 > 1:01:08'I had to start outside Television Centre.'
1:01:08 > 1:01:10Aargh!
1:01:10 > 1:01:13And I'd rehearsed all day long.
1:01:15 > 1:01:16Tomorrow's World. What studio is it?
1:01:16 > 1:01:18Studio 7, dear.
1:01:18 > 1:01:21And no falling over at all. And, of course, live on air...
1:01:21 > 1:01:22You have to...
1:01:22 > 1:01:24SHE SCREAMS
1:01:24 > 1:01:25It's not that simple.
1:01:25 > 1:01:30I'd got the job, and this wonderful make-up artist set to work on me.
1:01:30 > 1:01:33So she kind of pinned my hair back and everything,
1:01:33 > 1:01:36and said, "Right, that's great, you've got a good face.
1:01:36 > 1:01:39"Mmm. I think what I'm going to do is bleach your moustache."
1:01:39 > 1:01:41So without me saying anything about it,
1:01:41 > 1:01:45she put all of this foam on top of my upper lip.
1:01:45 > 1:01:47Noel Edmonds burst through the door
1:01:47 > 1:01:50and I was sitting there looking like...
1:01:50 > 1:01:51I don't know.
1:01:51 > 1:01:53Like a mad Father Christmas!
1:01:53 > 1:01:55And you're the first people I've told that story to.
1:01:55 > 1:01:57I used to love the make-up department.
1:01:57 > 1:01:59Right, we are recording, everybody.
1:01:59 > 1:02:04They used to wear these really sweet little blue gingham smocks.
1:02:04 > 1:02:06They used to hate them,
1:02:06 > 1:02:08but I thought they were just really erotic.
1:02:08 > 1:02:10HE CHUCKLES
1:02:10 > 1:02:13Take it from the second one, Roger. That's right, isn't it?
1:02:13 > 1:02:14'It was rather like the theatre.'
1:02:14 > 1:02:16'It was, "OK, guys, we've rehearsed all day.'
1:02:16 > 1:02:19"It's now 7 o'clock, we're back from lunch.
1:02:19 > 1:02:21"We have to finish by 10."
1:02:21 > 1:02:23I know we're a little bit understaffed this evening...
1:02:23 > 1:02:25LAUGHTER
1:02:25 > 1:02:27But I know we're all going to do our best.
1:02:27 > 1:02:30And don't be afraid to laugh as loud as you like,
1:02:30 > 1:02:34and I'm sure we're all going to have a really super evening.
1:02:34 > 1:02:36Interesting, when I did Strictly, it was in Studio 1
1:02:36 > 1:02:37and I'd known that studio so much,
1:02:37 > 1:02:42and for some people, they would be absolutely petrified going in to,
1:02:42 > 1:02:45at one time, what was the biggest television studio in Europe,
1:02:45 > 1:02:47and yet, for me, it was like going home,
1:02:47 > 1:02:48and it just felt brilliant,
1:02:48 > 1:02:52and I used to love going in there and dancing and doing my thing,
1:02:52 > 1:02:55knowing that I'd spent so much time in this place.
1:02:57 > 1:02:58MIMES BARKING
1:02:58 > 1:03:00There's old magical memories like that.
1:03:00 > 1:03:03You'll never lose them. They're with you forever.
1:03:03 > 1:03:05Shot 52 on Take 1.
1:03:05 > 1:03:06'Comes that moment at 7.30,'
1:03:06 > 1:03:09the red light would go on
1:03:09 > 1:03:10and you had to deliver.
1:03:12 > 1:03:14I heard the music start and the doorman said,
1:03:14 > 1:03:15"Can I have your ticket?"
1:03:15 > 1:03:19I'm dressed like Carmen Miranda or something outrageous,
1:03:19 > 1:03:22and I said, "No, I'm one of the dancers."
1:03:22 > 1:03:25And he said, "No, no, I need your ticket."
1:03:25 > 1:03:29And I started to lose my cool, and I promise you, I'm not a diva.
1:03:29 > 1:03:33I said, "Do you think I normally dress like this?!"
1:03:33 > 1:03:35And right now, the sound of Elton John.
1:03:35 > 1:03:37- Cue the disc! - Island Girl and Pan's People...
1:03:37 > 1:03:38Pineapples?
1:03:38 > 1:03:40Two and four.
1:03:40 > 1:03:42Three. Four and four.
1:03:42 > 1:03:44'Ruthie was a nightmare.'
1:03:44 > 1:03:46'Just before we were about to start the show,'
1:03:46 > 1:03:48'Ruthie would suddenly say, "Which arm is it?'
1:03:48 > 1:03:51"Is it the right or the left? Do we go on the left or right foot?"
1:03:51 > 1:03:54And we always used to say, "Shut up, Ruth!"
1:03:54 > 1:03:55And then, but the irony of it was,
1:03:55 > 1:03:58she'd go on and do it right and we'd all go wrong.
1:04:00 > 1:04:01# Smarty pants
1:04:01 > 1:04:03# Looking for romance... #
1:04:05 > 1:04:07Holy God!
1:04:07 > 1:04:08You devil!
1:04:08 > 1:04:13'We were doing a Dave Allen show, which involved the use of firearms.'
1:04:13 > 1:04:15On the night, the adrenaline was up,
1:04:15 > 1:04:17and he stood rather closer to his target,
1:04:17 > 1:04:19a bare-chested man in bed, than he should have done...
1:04:19 > 1:04:21Aaargh!
1:04:21 > 1:04:22..causing shock and severe pain.
1:04:22 > 1:04:25You've just shot my husband!
1:04:25 > 1:04:27'We immediately rang the surgery'
1:04:27 > 1:04:30'and were told that, no, it wouldn't be possible'
1:04:30 > 1:04:33for anyone to come down in case there was an emergency.
1:04:33 > 1:04:35From top again, 108. I think it's probably better on you, Mike.
1:04:35 > 1:04:40'You were in a complete time bubble in your dark studio, you know.'
1:04:40 > 1:04:44Completely divorced from the real world, but having to do this thing
1:04:44 > 1:04:47and having to distil your programme down
1:04:47 > 1:04:51to something that could be recorded within three hours.
1:04:51 > 1:04:53Soon, Chancellor Flavia will...
1:04:54 > 1:04:58'At 10 o'clock, the lights would just go off,'
1:04:58 > 1:05:01or the machines would go off, and so you could see,
1:05:01 > 1:05:03because they had the big clocks on the wall,
1:05:03 > 1:05:05the seconds ticking away till 10 o'clock,
1:05:05 > 1:05:07and you knew you had to do a certain scene.
1:05:07 > 1:05:09Soon Peter will get the line out(!)
1:05:09 > 1:05:11'We were doing Suffragettes.'
1:05:11 > 1:05:15'It had a scene where it was force-feeding in Holloway Prison,'
1:05:15 > 1:05:19and we had these four cameras on this woman being force-fed,
1:05:19 > 1:05:21'and we had five minutes to finish.'
1:05:21 > 1:05:22'It was unbelievable.'
1:05:22 > 1:05:23'How do you get the shot?'
1:05:23 > 1:05:26'And how do you shove the pipe down her throat?'
1:05:26 > 1:05:28'and me shouting up in the gallery,'
1:05:28 > 1:05:31and we managed to finish at one minute to 10.
1:05:31 > 1:05:34'We actually did it, and when you watch it,'
1:05:34 > 1:05:36'actually it's quite brilliant,'
1:05:36 > 1:05:38because somehow, the panic set into the vision.
1:05:38 > 1:05:40SHE CHOKES
1:05:40 > 1:05:42'I was directing Eureka...'
1:05:42 > 1:05:45I bought this trike for my wee 10-year-old son Johnny.
1:05:45 > 1:05:46'..and we'd had a full day
1:05:46 > 1:05:49'and we were scheduled to finish at 10 o'clock.'
1:05:49 > 1:05:52I had one scene to record at 10 to 10.
1:05:52 > 1:05:55'The cast were all pissing about.'
1:05:55 > 1:05:58'All pandemonium was going on in the studio.'
1:05:58 > 1:05:59'Over talkback, I said,'
1:05:59 > 1:06:02"Look, I'm coming down and I'm going to direct it from the floor,
1:06:02 > 1:06:04"because we're never going to get this done."
1:06:04 > 1:06:07So I rushed out of the gallery and went down the back steps,
1:06:07 > 1:06:11burst into the studio behind the white sight cloth and said,
1:06:11 > 1:06:13"Will you fucking behave yourselves?!"
1:06:13 > 1:06:16And I'd walked out into the Newsnight studio.
1:06:16 > 1:06:18Such stories are cheap and nasty
1:06:18 > 1:06:20and bring shame on anyone who spreads them.
1:06:20 > 1:06:23I went, "Oh, my God! I'm so sorry."
1:06:23 > 1:06:26Did he tell you he only did that once?
1:06:26 > 1:06:28There was one particular scene, I remember,
1:06:28 > 1:06:30where the producer came down to me
1:06:30 > 1:06:32and I said, "We haven't rehearsed this."
1:06:32 > 1:06:33We were actually in the wrong set,
1:06:33 > 1:06:36and he just said, "Go on and act!"
1:06:36 > 1:06:39'No tray. Where's the bloody tray?!'
1:06:39 > 1:06:40We'll cope.
1:06:40 > 1:06:42- It's mentioned!- Mentioned?
1:06:42 > 1:06:44LAUGHTER
1:06:44 > 1:06:46Get us out of it.
1:06:46 > 1:06:47Come on, Beau.
1:06:47 > 1:06:49Improvise!
1:06:49 > 1:06:53Yes, I just had to bring it in to show you.
1:06:53 > 1:06:54Take it.
1:06:54 > 1:06:56Isn't it light?
1:06:56 > 1:06:59Ooh! And such a lovely shade of mauve.
1:06:59 > 1:07:02It was actually quite a thrilling experience,
1:07:02 > 1:07:05but you knew the end result was going to be rubbish.
1:07:05 > 1:07:07- Should we cut? Go back?- No.
1:07:07 > 1:07:09We professionals notice.
1:07:09 > 1:07:12Joe Public never clocks a damn thing.
1:07:12 > 1:07:15It was just the biggest sin as a producer you could commit -
1:07:15 > 1:07:18not finishing was like the end of the world.
1:07:18 > 1:07:20You know, you expected to be shown the door
1:07:20 > 1:07:23and sent out into Shepherd's Bush down to the dole queue.
1:07:23 > 1:07:24I KNOW!
1:07:24 > 1:07:27- Look, have a glass of wine and cool down.- I don't want a glass of wine.
1:07:27 > 1:07:29You'll feel better for it. Barbara, have a nice glass of wine.
1:07:29 > 1:07:33There was a lot of adrenaline. I remember darling Richard Briers
1:07:33 > 1:07:35used to say, "Never again, dear. Never again.
1:07:35 > 1:07:37'"I'm not doing this again."
1:07:37 > 1:07:38Can we clear Penny and Paul?
1:07:38 > 1:07:40Thank you very much. You can change.
1:07:40 > 1:07:42- Now?- Yes, you can change now.
1:07:42 > 1:07:43And it was quite scary.
1:07:43 > 1:07:46The business of producing television gives you a great high.
1:07:46 > 1:07:49You're throbbing with adrenaline by the time...
1:07:49 > 1:07:51particularly if things have gone right.
1:07:51 > 1:07:53If they've gone wrong, you don't want to go anywhere,
1:07:53 > 1:07:55except to go and shoot yourself,
1:07:55 > 1:07:57but if things have gone right,
1:07:57 > 1:08:00you really feel terrific, and the place to go was the Club.
1:08:00 > 1:08:03It was on the fourth floor, still is.
1:08:03 > 1:08:06And it was the home of the comedy department,
1:08:06 > 1:08:10which was a fairly disastrous idea, because, of course,
1:08:10 > 1:08:13if any of the comedy department had any kind of block, you know,
1:08:13 > 1:08:15what they were going to write,
1:08:15 > 1:08:17what they were going to do on the show,
1:08:17 > 1:08:19they'd go into the BBC Club and drink a bit of inspiration.
1:08:19 > 1:08:22It's quite stressful doing a sitcom with an audience.
1:08:22 > 1:08:24Even though I loved it. It was a place to go and unwind.
1:08:24 > 1:08:26That was the rule of thumb of a good show,
1:08:26 > 1:08:28if you could be in the bar by nine.
1:08:29 > 1:08:32- Shall we start again? - Lost your friend?- Lost my friend.
1:08:32 > 1:08:35You went darting out there and it sort of did...
1:08:35 > 1:08:36It's not your fault.
1:08:36 > 1:08:39Those silly twits said, "Shut up in the scene dock."
1:08:42 > 1:08:45There are the Dimblebys in that corner,
1:08:45 > 1:08:47the Attenboroughs in that corner.
1:08:47 > 1:08:49There were agents there and there were actors there
1:08:49 > 1:08:51and it was the place to be.
1:08:51 > 1:08:54All the Radio 1 guys to do Top Of The Pops.
1:08:54 > 1:08:57# Mama told me not to come... #
1:08:59 > 1:09:01And people tended to clique a little bit,
1:09:01 > 1:09:04but we tried to break down those barriers,
1:09:04 > 1:09:06and we would introduce ourselves.
1:09:06 > 1:09:07"Can we buy you a drink?"
1:09:07 > 1:09:10Sir David Attenborough would walk in, for example...
1:09:10 > 1:09:11although it wasn't Sir David.
1:09:11 > 1:09:13Forget David Attenborough, we liked all the pop groups!
1:09:13 > 1:09:15We ended up getting married.
1:09:15 > 1:09:18# That ain't the way to have fun... #
1:09:18 > 1:09:19You could talk to, you know,
1:09:19 > 1:09:23the David Bowies and the Bryan Ferrys and the Hollies.
1:09:23 > 1:09:26You're talking to John Cleese and Marc Bolan
1:09:26 > 1:09:27and Benny Hill or whoever,
1:09:27 > 1:09:31and it's just wall-to-wall fabulous people having such a good time.
1:09:31 > 1:09:33You never knew what bands were going to be around
1:09:33 > 1:09:36and you had to take your pass up on a Wednesday night
1:09:36 > 1:09:38cos otherwise you weren't allowed in.
1:09:38 > 1:09:40This was gold dust.
1:09:40 > 1:09:44This was the BBC Club card that you have to have
1:09:44 > 1:09:48if you wanted to go to the BBC Bar, and without it you couldn't get in.
1:09:48 > 1:09:50Or somebody had to sign you in.
1:09:50 > 1:09:51We never got a pass!
1:09:51 > 1:09:54I got to meet T.Rex and everybody up there without a pass!
1:09:54 > 1:09:55It was so exciting.
1:09:55 > 1:10:00The guy wouldn't let me in one night because I hadn't got my pass,
1:10:00 > 1:10:03and he said, "You might have walked off the street,"
1:10:03 > 1:10:04I said, "What, dressed like this?"
1:10:04 > 1:10:07Opened my dressing gown and I've got this leather leotard on.
1:10:07 > 1:10:09Then they believed I was... either that,
1:10:09 > 1:10:12or I seduced him enough to be able to go into the bar.
1:10:12 > 1:10:16I think Frankie Howerd really fancied my husband.
1:10:16 > 1:10:18He saw him and though, "That's rather nice."
1:10:18 > 1:10:20Didn't realise it was my husband, I suppose.
1:10:20 > 1:10:23And I remember him chasing Patrick out of the club,
1:10:23 > 1:10:26and I remember us running round and round
1:10:26 > 1:10:29trying to get away, and giggling.
1:10:29 > 1:10:31I mean, I suppose we'd all had a little bit of wine.
1:10:31 > 1:10:35You mustn't take any notice of her because she's...she can't help it.
1:10:35 > 1:10:37She's at a funny time of life, you know. She's very difficult.
1:10:37 > 1:10:39Mind you, she has a point.
1:10:39 > 1:10:41Actors in the BBC bar -
1:10:41 > 1:10:44you've never seen so many moths flying out of wallets, you know.
1:10:44 > 1:10:46I loved Jon Pertwee dearly,
1:10:46 > 1:10:50but he did find it very hard sometimes to shout a round.
1:10:51 > 1:10:53Sorry, could...please people keep out of my eyeline?
1:10:53 > 1:10:56Dancing about. Please, it's terribly difficult.
1:10:56 > 1:10:58Tom Baker, who was my Doctor,
1:10:58 > 1:11:01would be the first with his hand in his pocket.
1:11:01 > 1:11:03Doubles all round, all the time.
1:11:03 > 1:11:06Even if you had an orange juice, he'd buy you a double.
1:11:06 > 1:11:08We are still running recording.
1:11:08 > 1:11:11I remember when the head of make-up was very much the worse for wear,
1:11:11 > 1:11:14and we really should have taken her car keys from her,
1:11:14 > 1:11:18but it was kind of before you did those very sensible things,
1:11:18 > 1:11:21and she went up, collected her car from the multi-storey car park,
1:11:21 > 1:11:26and I think she hit about 50 cars before she exited the car park.
1:11:27 > 1:11:31It had an atmosphere, I tell you. It was a proper old club.
1:11:31 > 1:11:34No, but seriously, gagging aside, it was a super show, I thought.
1:11:34 > 1:11:37- There you are, Richie! - There we are! Drinks all round.
1:11:40 > 1:11:42It was a marketplace, and it was there
1:11:42 > 1:11:46that you ingratiated yourself with a producer
1:11:46 > 1:11:50in order to get yourself onto the very best of shows.
1:11:50 > 1:11:54The man, Eddie, the man who brought Keith Harris and Orville into Television Centre.
1:11:54 > 1:11:56The nearest thing that I've got to family.
1:11:56 > 1:11:59Oh, sod off, you old queen!
1:11:59 > 1:12:03Ohhh, up yours, you rancid, dribbling zit.
1:12:03 > 1:12:08Yeah! Screw you, you complacent, misogynistic bumsplat.
1:12:10 > 1:12:12I got my first job in the BBC Club.
1:12:12 > 1:12:15I went down to have a drink with somebody I'd met.
1:12:15 > 1:12:17She said, "Ned Sherrin's looking for a researcher."
1:12:17 > 1:12:20I said, "Stay where you are," ran up to the sixth floor,
1:12:20 > 1:12:23wrote out my letter of application.
1:12:23 > 1:12:26Esther, that wasn't in the script. You're ad-libbing.
1:12:26 > 1:12:29And got the job, thanks to the BBC Club.
1:12:29 > 1:12:31Do you mind if we carry on?
1:12:31 > 1:12:34One day, as a young assistant floor manager,
1:12:34 > 1:12:37I went to the lift, main lifts, to go up to the bar,
1:12:37 > 1:12:40and the doors opened, and I walked in, and I was facing
1:12:40 > 1:12:42this very tall man and this short man.
1:12:42 > 1:12:46It was Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, and they wound me up.
1:12:46 > 1:12:47I mean, they used me.
1:12:47 > 1:12:50"Hello, choochy-face!" "Oh, isn't he pretty?"
1:12:50 > 1:12:52And the whole of that lift was in fits.
1:12:52 > 1:12:54They were falling about with laughter. I walked out,
1:12:54 > 1:12:57and they said, "Where are you going, choochy-face?"
1:12:57 > 1:12:59And I said, "Oh, hopefully going to a bar,"
1:12:59 > 1:13:02not thinking, of course, that's exactly where they were going.
1:13:02 > 1:13:05So all the way down to the bar, I had to suffer these two people
1:13:05 > 1:13:07sending me up all the way. It was delightful.
1:13:07 > 1:13:09Nice fellow, that. Lovely mover.
1:13:10 > 1:13:14A year later, I'm standing in reception, waiting for the lift to go up to the bar, the doors open.
1:13:14 > 1:13:16Exactly the same situation.
1:13:16 > 1:13:21A crowd of people, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise stood at the back. And they said, "Ooh, it's choochy face!"
1:13:21 > 1:13:24Why is it you can never remember anybody's name?
1:13:24 > 1:13:26I don't know, I think it's a gift.
1:13:26 > 1:13:28Well, you brought me to the BBC club,
1:13:28 > 1:13:31which I have to say looks alarmingly sterile.
1:13:31 > 1:13:36In my day, things happened that were more than just drinking.
1:13:36 > 1:13:39People came for a drink and ended up thinking up programme ideas.
1:13:39 > 1:13:43'From the cultural ghetto of BBC2, we present Line-Up Review.'
1:13:43 > 1:13:46I remember one occasion when the programme ideas
1:13:46 > 1:13:48completely died and about six o'clock,
1:13:48 > 1:13:52we had no programme and we were on the air at about 11.
1:13:52 > 1:13:57So we came down here and there were a lot of comedy writers here.
1:13:57 > 1:14:00Johnny Speight, Spike Milligan and so on, sitting around drinking.
1:14:00 > 1:14:03"Will you come and talk about comedy writing?" "Certainly would."
1:14:03 > 1:14:07As we'll be pointing out later on, comedy is a serious business.
1:14:07 > 1:14:11- < GIGGLING - We're on the air...
1:14:11 > 1:14:14That programme has become a legendary archive programme.
1:14:14 > 1:14:18They didn't stay enormously sober, so it got quite boisterous.
1:14:18 > 1:14:21- I am a comedy writer... - John, cool it for God's sake.
1:14:21 > 1:14:26- But it was vigorous and memorable. - Come on, say what you mean. - I'm saying what I mean.
1:14:26 > 1:14:30If you are writing in television, this is not an ivory tower...
1:14:30 > 1:14:34Wherever I write, I write for myself. If I write...
1:14:34 > 1:14:38And you get dodgy ratings and nobody asks you to write any more.
1:14:38 > 1:14:40There you go, Johnny Speight.
1:14:40 > 1:14:45I write for myself. I write for myself. I have to live...
1:14:45 > 1:14:47The commissionaire was very lordly.
1:14:47 > 1:14:52Eric, the commissionaire. Tall, balding...
1:14:52 > 1:14:55a man with years upon him.
1:14:55 > 1:15:00The big thing at the club used to be to get yourself paged.
1:15:00 > 1:15:03"Mr Attenborough. Mr Attenborough."
1:15:03 > 1:15:07"Janet Fielding, please come to the phone, your agent is on the phone."
1:15:07 > 1:15:09It was abused.
1:15:09 > 1:15:13And several times, Rupert Bear was summoned to the phone.
1:15:13 > 1:15:16Mr Andrew Pandy to TC5.
1:15:16 > 1:15:20Yes! We did a lot of that!
1:15:20 > 1:15:22Calling for Mr G Raffe.
1:15:22 > 1:15:26The cast of the Woodentops go to TC6 immediately.
1:15:26 > 1:15:28We had some really disgusting ones, too.
1:15:28 > 1:15:31Oh...that's right... Yes...
1:15:31 > 1:15:34Mr Hugh Jampton, will he come to...?
1:15:36 > 1:15:40It was quite cruel when...
1:15:40 > 1:15:42He never ever allowed YOU to make him feel silly.
1:15:42 > 1:15:45As far as he was concerned, he had been asked to call for G Raffe,
1:15:45 > 1:15:48that was his job and he was going to call for them.
1:15:48 > 1:15:52He was once asked, "Eric, were you at any time a butler?"
1:15:52 > 1:15:55He drew himself up to his considerable height,
1:15:55 > 1:15:59looked at the person and said, "Was I ever a butler?
1:15:59 > 1:16:01"I HAD a butler."
1:16:04 > 1:16:05There's another wire!
1:16:05 > 1:16:09I was a big fan of Robert's, I watched Doom Watch all the time.
1:16:09 > 1:16:13So when Babs told me she was going out with him, I was so pissed off!
1:16:13 > 1:16:16What?
1:16:16 > 1:16:19Don't pull it, follow it back to the terminal.
1:16:21 > 1:16:24For years and years and years, I had been watching Top Of The Pops
1:16:24 > 1:16:28and I would sit there and gawp. I always fancied the big blonde one.
1:16:28 > 1:16:31What are they called - Pan's People, yeah?
1:16:31 > 1:16:33There's one special one, beautiful Babs.
1:16:33 > 1:16:35Don't know what her name is.
1:16:38 > 1:16:42I used to chase after Babs. Never got anywhere.
1:16:45 > 1:16:49I was always very jealous of Robert Powell.
1:16:49 > 1:16:50BLOWS RASPBERRY
1:16:50 > 1:16:53Nice guy, but very skinny. Chin him when I see him.
1:16:53 > 1:16:57And I had a friend who was the floor manager on Sportsnight.
1:16:57 > 1:16:59I went to the bar and we were chatting away.
1:16:59 > 1:17:04I'm standing there and suddenly these five extraordinarily beautiful women walk in. They were Pan's People.
1:17:04 > 1:17:08As we walked in, I think Robert muttered something to Chris.
1:17:08 > 1:17:11"Look! Look! There's Pan's People!" And he went, "Yeah.
1:17:11 > 1:17:15"They're in every Wednesday. This is the night they shoot."
1:17:15 > 1:17:18"Is it?" "Do you want to meet them?"
1:17:18 > 1:17:20I said, "No, no, no!"
1:17:20 > 1:17:22He said, "Come on," dragged me over,
1:17:22 > 1:17:25plonked me down on a little banquette with the girls.
1:17:25 > 1:17:27I bought them a drink.
1:17:27 > 1:17:32And Robert decided it would be quite fun to take us all out to dinner.
1:17:32 > 1:17:34Somebody said, "How did you've the nerve to do it?"
1:17:34 > 1:17:36I said, "I didn't have the nerve to take one."
1:17:36 > 1:17:39# Sharing horizons that are new to us... #
1:17:39 > 1:17:41It was Babs he had his eye on.
1:17:41 > 1:17:44# Watching the signs along the way... #
1:17:44 > 1:17:48But we were a bit naughty and said yes, he could take us all out
1:17:48 > 1:17:52because we just wanted to see what would happen.
1:17:52 > 1:17:54I remember one point in the evening,
1:17:54 > 1:17:58he put his arm around my shoulder and I thought, "Ooh!"
1:18:00 > 1:18:02We've been together ever since that night.
1:18:02 > 1:18:04I have the Centre to thank for that.
1:18:04 > 1:18:08To thank for 36 years of marriage and two kids.
1:18:08 > 1:18:10Thank you, Television Centre.
1:18:14 > 1:18:17This is BBC1.
1:18:17 > 1:18:19And this is BBC2.
1:18:19 > 1:18:21And this is Television Centre.
1:18:21 > 1:18:25And this is David Dunsbury, a commissionaire on the main gate.
1:18:25 > 1:18:26And this is the main gate.
1:18:27 > 1:18:30Just recently, I was working on a programme
1:18:30 > 1:18:34and somebody made a fantastic fluff.
1:18:34 > 1:18:36I said, "Save that one for the Christmas tape."
1:18:36 > 1:18:40And everyone looked at me. What is she talking about?
1:18:45 > 1:18:47The BBC Christmas tape was an in-house thing.
1:18:47 > 1:18:51It was done by the VT department every year. And this predates
1:18:51 > 1:18:55It'll Be All Right On The Night or TV's Naughtiest Moments.
1:18:55 > 1:18:59Every time anything went wrong, it would be on videotape if it was a recorded show.
1:18:59 > 1:19:03And the VT editors had amazing memories for things that had gone wrong.
1:19:03 > 1:19:06Happy Christmas to you all in VT!
1:19:06 > 1:19:09Happy Christmas, VT.
1:19:09 > 1:19:11You would do a clanger on a recording
1:19:11 > 1:19:14and you'd go, "Merry Christmas VT".
1:19:14 > 1:19:19You knew they were going to pick it up and they liked it with the tag!
1:19:19 > 1:19:23- This is where we're happy to say "bollocks".- Crap, anything you like.
1:19:23 > 1:19:27That was what you'd do with all those outtakes - save them for the Christmas VT.
1:19:27 > 1:19:31A very merry Christmas to all in VT.
1:19:31 > 1:19:35And now those are broadcast and whole series have been made of them.
1:19:35 > 1:19:37We had our own secret version.
1:19:39 > 1:19:40It's running down my willy.
1:19:40 > 1:19:43Merry Christmas to the boys on VT.
1:19:43 > 1:19:44Obviously bigger budget than us!
1:19:44 > 1:19:46'They were fantastic things.'
1:19:46 > 1:19:49Whole dance routines and people joining in.
1:19:49 > 1:19:52Obviously, people behind the scenes doing most of the work.
1:19:52 > 1:19:55# All the girls in make-up
1:19:55 > 1:19:57# In the Club bar
1:19:57 > 1:19:59# The ladies down at reception... #
1:19:59 > 1:20:03A lot of it consisted of rather well-known actors swearing blindly.
1:20:05 > 1:20:07Oh, for fuck's sake!
1:20:07 > 1:20:08Now piss off!
1:20:08 > 1:20:12Fuck you, you fucking bastard! You're not getting it again! That's it!
1:20:12 > 1:20:14# Oh Barry Norman... #
1:20:14 > 1:20:17Everyone at TV Centre, happy Merry Christmas.
1:20:17 > 1:20:20That was very much part of the bonding experience.
1:20:20 > 1:20:23You had arrived, you were part of the family.
1:20:23 > 1:20:25# ..Patrick, Patrick
1:20:25 > 1:20:27# Grooving with Michael Rodd... #
1:20:27 > 1:20:29The managing director, Alistair Milne,
1:20:29 > 1:20:32today appealed to all programme departments
1:20:32 > 1:20:35to stop deliberately making mistakes in studios.
1:20:35 > 1:20:40He said commendable though it was to try to make appearances on the VT Christmas tape,
1:20:40 > 1:20:44viewers could no longer distinguish BBC programmes from those at ITV.
1:20:45 > 1:20:49God, if it's going to get like this, we'll be here till midnight.
1:20:49 > 1:20:54Eventually, I think it was stopped because some of the presenters didn't like being humiliated in this way.
1:20:54 > 1:20:55Isn't it sad?
1:20:56 > 1:21:01My favourite one is actually one of Tom Baker and John Cleese.
1:21:01 > 1:21:05Tom, sorry to bother you, sign this for my little godson, will you?
1:21:05 > 1:21:06He's a nice little kid, he's blind.
1:21:06 > 1:21:08"He's blind."
1:21:08 > 1:21:11And so Tom says, "Of course I will. Do you have a pen?"
1:21:11 > 1:21:13- Have you got a pen?- I haven't. - He said "No, I don't."
1:21:13 > 1:21:16Never mind, I'll tell him you signed it.
1:21:21 > 1:21:24There was a bit of space behind the canteen
1:21:24 > 1:21:29and I thought that would be ideal for the Blue Peter Garden.
1:21:29 > 1:21:30Biddy, characteristically,
1:21:30 > 1:21:33went in like Captain Cook, but with a Blue Peter flag,
1:21:33 > 1:21:35and claimed it for Blue Peter.
1:21:35 > 1:21:38You can guarantee the morning you were recording out here,
1:21:38 > 1:21:41you'd open up the curtains and it would be hoying down with rain.
1:21:43 > 1:21:47You mean, the minute you went out into the garden,
1:21:47 > 1:21:50it would absolutely pelt down with rain, yes.
1:21:50 > 1:21:54It's like a wind tunnel. We're just getting battered by the wind now.
1:21:54 > 1:21:56They used to ring Biddy to say,
1:21:56 > 1:21:59"Could we possibly use the Blue Peter Garden?"
1:21:59 > 1:22:02But nobody had ever actually said it was ours.
1:22:03 > 1:22:07I was directing the 50th anniversary of children's programmes.
1:22:07 > 1:22:11And the climax of the programme was a huge firework display.
1:22:11 > 1:22:14'So I said to Biddy,'
1:22:14 > 1:22:17"Can we have the Blue Peter Garden to let the fireworks off in?"
1:22:17 > 1:22:20And she said, "Yes, of course you can." She was very obliging.
1:22:20 > 1:22:23'It was a huge fireworks display'
1:22:23 > 1:22:26and the Blue Peter Garden was where the main bulk exploded.
1:22:30 > 1:22:32'The next morning,'
1:22:32 > 1:22:37the Blue Peter Garden looked like the Somme in the First World War.
1:22:39 > 1:22:41Goodbye!
1:22:44 > 1:22:47'Vandals broke into the Blue Peter Garden
1:22:47 > 1:22:49'and caused rather a lot of damage.
1:22:49 > 1:22:54'One really cruel thing they did was to pour fuel oil into the fishpond.'
1:22:54 > 1:22:56'To be honest with you, it's really sad coming back here
1:22:56 > 1:23:00'because I did so much work in this garden that is no longer here.
1:23:00 > 1:23:04'We had a sunken garden, that's been buried.'
1:23:04 > 1:23:08We had a nice little veg patch... The greenhouse isn't even there.
1:23:08 > 1:23:09'We hope to repair the damage,
1:23:09 > 1:23:13'but it's very sad to think that a few people take such pleasure...'
1:23:13 > 1:23:16It's only a bloody garden! Turn it off!
1:23:18 > 1:23:22Television Centre, from where this programme is broadcast,
1:23:22 > 1:23:24has been put up for sale.
1:23:24 > 1:23:27The 14-acre site in west London will be vacant by 2015
1:23:27 > 1:23:30after staff move to other sites.
1:23:32 > 1:23:35It was an iconic building on its own,
1:23:35 > 1:23:37with the cars in the middle. All that's changed.
1:23:37 > 1:23:40And certainly, the inside has changed radically.
1:23:40 > 1:23:42And, um...
1:23:42 > 1:23:44It seems awfully corporate to me now.
1:23:44 > 1:23:47Apparently, they can't actually find a studio for us.
1:23:47 > 1:23:51Studio 1 is now going to be squash courts.
1:23:51 > 1:23:53Studio 2 is executive saunas.
1:23:53 > 1:23:57And Studio 3 is now "the Television Experience".
1:23:57 > 1:24:02You can actually go and experience television and how it was made.
1:24:03 > 1:24:06One word to describe Television Centre...
1:24:08 > 1:24:09Nucleus.
1:24:09 > 1:24:11Historic.
1:24:11 > 1:24:12Opportunity.
1:24:12 > 1:24:14Brilliant.
1:24:14 > 1:24:15Ideal.
1:24:15 > 1:24:17Unique.
1:24:17 > 1:24:18Magic.
1:24:18 > 1:24:20Champion.
1:24:20 > 1:24:24'There'd always be friends in there and there'd always be gossip.'
1:24:24 > 1:24:25Eccentric.
1:24:25 > 1:24:26Terrific.
1:24:26 > 1:24:28Excitement.
1:24:28 > 1:24:29Excitement.
1:24:29 > 1:24:31Exciting.
1:24:31 > 1:24:33Extraordinary.
1:24:35 > 1:24:37It's a hard one to try and think of.
1:24:39 > 1:24:40Magnificent.
1:24:40 > 1:24:42Luscious.
1:24:44 > 1:24:47If I was being romantic, I'd say it echoes with the spirits of creative figures
1:24:47 > 1:24:50who have worked here and other such nonsense.
1:24:50 > 1:24:52Creative.
1:24:52 > 1:24:53Dedicated.
1:24:53 > 1:24:54Wondrous.
1:24:54 > 1:24:56It's like coming home.
1:24:57 > 1:25:00It played such a big part of our lives.
1:25:00 > 1:25:02Youth.
1:25:02 > 1:25:03Topping.
1:25:03 > 1:25:05Romance.
1:25:05 > 1:25:07'There's another wire!'
1:25:07 > 1:25:08Drama.
1:25:08 > 1:25:09Peg board.
1:25:09 > 1:25:11Fun.
1:25:11 > 1:25:13Fun.
1:25:13 > 1:25:15- Warm.- Family.
1:25:15 > 1:25:17Home.
1:25:18 > 1:25:20Magical.
1:25:20 > 1:25:22Wonderful.
1:25:22 > 1:25:23Wonderland.
1:25:23 > 1:25:25Wonderland.
1:25:25 > 1:25:27Shangri-La.
1:25:27 > 1:25:32'Those were such happy days. I was so happy.'
1:25:32 > 1:25:33Iconic.
1:25:33 > 1:25:34Influential.
1:25:34 > 1:25:36Historic.
1:25:36 > 1:25:40'Television Centre completely changed my life.
1:25:40 > 1:25:44'I met my husband here, we had a daughter.'
1:25:44 > 1:25:46Rose is called Rose after Rosemary Gill,
1:25:46 > 1:25:49'the editor of that first programme, Swap Shop.'
1:25:52 > 1:25:56It's a building I will really, really miss. It's got such an atmosphere.
1:25:57 > 1:26:00It's my guess that, in a very short time,
1:26:00 > 1:26:04they'll be making a programme in which Penelope Keith will return
1:26:04 > 1:26:09to restore this building so that the BBC can return in splendour
1:26:09 > 1:26:11to where they belong.
1:26:13 > 1:26:18'I would like it to live on through the programmes that it produced'
1:26:18 > 1:26:20more than the bricks and mortar.
1:26:20 > 1:26:23When we worked here, we used to say,
1:26:23 > 1:26:27they won't be happy, the administrators,
1:26:27 > 1:26:30until they've closed down all these studios
1:26:30 > 1:26:33and this whole complex can just be admin.
1:26:41 > 1:26:45'Television Centre is full of the laughter and the anger'
1:26:45 > 1:26:49and the crackle of making television.
1:26:49 > 1:26:53There's nowhere I've ever been like it.
1:26:53 > 1:26:58There will never be a building like this in the world again
1:26:58 > 1:27:00responsible for so much broadcasting.
1:27:06 > 1:27:07'It wasn't just a fun factory,
1:27:07 > 1:27:10'it was just one of those best places in the world to work.'
1:27:16 > 1:27:19'My whole career was created here.
1:27:19 > 1:27:23'Without Television Centre, my life wouldn't have been nearly as good.'
1:27:24 > 1:27:28I don't want to see it go. I feel I have to walk away and not look back.
1:27:45 > 1:27:49# There was a time when the time didn't matter
1:27:49 > 1:27:53# Only the time of day
1:27:53 > 1:27:58# And living was living in hope which would never pass away
1:28:00 > 1:28:04# Worry was a Monday morning
1:28:04 > 1:28:07# When weekend was done
1:28:07 > 1:28:14# Fear was the fear of being what we had become
1:28:14 > 1:28:18# Oh, what happened to you?
1:28:18 > 1:28:22# Whatever happened to me?
1:28:22 > 1:28:28# And what became of the people we used to be?
1:28:29 > 1:28:33# Tomorrow's almost over
1:28:33 > 1:28:36# Today went by so fast
1:28:36 > 1:28:40# Is the only thing to look forward to
1:28:40 > 1:28:44# The past? #
1:28:44 > 1:28:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd