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OBJECT OF THE WEEK : A

Intro – Whilst the Museum is closed and our collections unable to be seen by visitors, we have created a weekly virtual museum with an Object of the Week feature  from our collections.

Object A: ATV Elstree Studios Centre Book, containing photos.

Associated Television Studios Elstree, opened in Borehamwood in April 1961 amidst strikes by staff, which took all live programmes off air on the opening night!  Housed in the Museum Collection are some items relating to the strike, as collected by a local man.  ATV stood on the site of Neptune Studios, which had opened in 1914.

From these studios came some of the best known ITV productions of the 1960s and 1970s, such as: Emergency Ward 10, Grange Hill, Sapphire and Steel, Celebrity Squares, Auf Wiedersehen Pet and The Muppet Show.

Studios A + B produced soaps, sitcoms, chat shows, schools, children’s programmes and religious shows.  Studios C + D were responsible for big stage dramas and musicals, such as Cliff Richard and The Shadows.  Market in Honey Lane launched in 1967 and was a market stall soap opera that ran for two years; filmed on the same site as EastEnders when the BBC took over the studios, almost 20 years later. Actor Anna Wing was in both series!

The Studios closed in 1981 but will always be known for the glory days when working in television provided a regular, secure job with a good pension.