Historic studios bought by Pinewood

The television studio that hosted hit shows such as The Office and Pop Idol was rescued from administration today.

Teddington Studios – best known as the former studios of Thames Television - has been snapped up by rival Pinewood Shepperton for £2.6m (€3.8m).

The move safeguards the jobs of 55 staff whose future became uncertain this week when administrators Numerica were appointed to run the business.

Its financial troubles were caused by the non-renewal of contracts worth around £2.5m (€3.6m), representing 30% of its annual turnover in the year to April 30.

Teddington, west of London, has been used for the production of movies and television since 1912 when the owner offered a local film crew his greenhouse when it started raining.

Several companies filmed there during the 1920s, but production took off in 1931 when entertainment giant Warner Bros needed a British site to overcome a quota system in the US.

Among the stars to appear during this period were Errol Flynn, Rex Harrison, Charles Hawtrey, Margaret Lockwood and Burt Lancaster.

Reopening after war damage in 1948, Teddington Studios was increasingly used for television and enabled actors to film a play or sitcom before returning to London theatres for evening productions.

After the new television franchises were announced in 1968, the studios were used by Thames TV to film shows that included Rainbow, Rumpole, Opportunity Knocks, and The Benny Hill Show.

When Thames lost the London television franchise in 1992 to Carlton, the studios were favoured by broadcasters such as the BBC and BSkyB for producing many of their own shows.

Among recent shows produced at Teddington were Kilroy, This Is Your Life, Men Behaving Badly, Des O’Connor Tonight and Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

Ivan Dunleavy, chief executive of Pinewood Shepperton, said the deal fitted the company’s “long-term strategy to diversify our revenue streams in our integrated media businesses”.

Pinewood is also paying £100,000 (€145,000) for The Studio Broadcasting Company (SBC), which provides channel hosting services to several satellite and cable channels within Teddington.

Mr Dunleavy said: “Teddington Studios and SBC, combined with our existing business in television and sound services, significantly enhances our presence in the marketplace.”

Based by the banks of the River Thames, Teddington Studios offers day production offices, video editing suites, make-up and wardrobe facilities and catering.

Pinewood is expected to incur a one-off charge of £1.3m (€1.9m) for integrating the studios with its existing sites in Slough and Staines.