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ELSTREE STUDIOS
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going again, we’ve had a letter from every produc- tion saying how well they’d been looked after.”
Before he could take up the post of studio chief officially in 1996, Reid found himself having to re-apply for the job to satisfy council regula- tions. For the moment, he’s technically still in the council’s employ. From April 1, a new company, Elstree Film Studios Limited, which he’ll head, will be established taking over the £9.5 million debt as a result of the loan to build the new stages. To pre- vent the mistakes of the past, Hertsmere will main- tain the freehold of the studios.
It didn’t take Reid and his crew long to get movies rolling again once they were in control of the studios. The Lottery funded Peggy Su?, with Burt Kwouk, while Warners, who’d enjoyed a long association with Elstree, pitched in with the $25 million (dollar) spy spoof The Man Who Knew Too Little, co-starring Bill Murray and Joanne Whalley.
A mix of television, commercials, as well as the likes of Oasis, Shirley Bassey, Wet Wet Wet and The Who using rehearsal rooms, keep Elstree tick- ing over nicely. The newly-refurbished exterior tank came into its own when with just four days notice it was filled for night shooting on the recent film version of The Avengers.
Recent productions at the studios have included the fifth and final series of Carlton’s Kavanagh QC, a soccer tale called Playing Away and Nancherow, a follow-up to the very successful Coming Home which co-starred Joanna Lumley and Peter O’Toole. Television’s highest-profile game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is based at Elstree for a year and also on site is the BBC’s latest classic serial, Wives And Daughters, adapted by Andrew Davies.
A high-profile supporter of the Save Elstree Campaign and, of course, no stranger to the stu- dios himself, Steven Spielberg returned to do some pre-production on his acclaimed Saving Private Ryan before it moved on to Hatfield.
The two new sound stages, which are inter- connected, will add a further 31,000 square feet for leasing. Like the underground car park, they should have already been in operation but asbestos, a legacy from earlier days, proved more extensive and hazardous than first thought and had to be eradicated.
“These new stages will widen our horizons,” proclaims Reid. “It will give us more flexibility to attract bigger productions.”
That “flexibility” now encompasses five sound stages, offering in total 50,000 square feet of vary- ing sizes and heights as well as a 28-seater 35mm soundproofed preview theatre, three purpose built rehearsal rooms of 3000 square feet and a seven acre back lot and tank. Elstree is well and truly back in business. ■ JOHN WILLIS
Photos from top: Sophia Loren relaxing at Elstree: HRH Prince Charles at work; aerial view of the old Elstree complex; new stages in construction on the back lot;
Bill Murray as The Man Who Knew Too Little; Sean Connery and Ralph Fiennes fight it out in The Avengers; Royalty and management celebrate; Elstree as the British International Pictures Corporation.
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