Elstree Studios is celebrating the fact that productions shot at its facilities are currently topping the TV network ratings and dominating the weekends on ITV and BBC.

On Saturday night, live on BBC 1, Elstree Studios “George Lucas One” stage is the home for Let”s Dance for Sport Relief produced by Whizz Kid. On Sunday night, live on ITV, Elstree Studios “George Lucas Two” is the home for Dancing on Ice produced by ITV.

Other TV shows to have been made at Elstree Studios  recently include Big Brother for Initial/Channel 5, The Exit List for Victory/ITV, Michael Buble for ITV, and sequences for the BBC”s iconic soap EastEnders.

“The TV shows made at Elstree are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” says Roger Morris, managing director of Elstree Studios.  “Dancing on Ice has a fantastic set, two Ice Rinks have been installed and they use one of my favourite technical devices – a railcam.”

Apart from the fact that Elstree has TV friendly stages suitable for large shows, it also has close proximity to Central and North London, which means it is easy for audiences and crew to get to the site. In addition, the Studios have recently installed extra broadcast lines, increased broadband capability, extra power feeds and larger Stage aprons to accommodate the ever increasing size of the outside broadcast trucks being used.

50% of the work undertaken at Elstree is TV, the other work includes feature films such as the The King”s Speech. Currently, Elstree is looking at how the Stages can be further enhanced for TV production. It is intending to increase the flexibility of the lighting grids and install new TV capable floors in some of the stages. It is also in the process of planning to build another super stage, which will be one of the largest in the UK on the unused four acre area at the back of the Studios.

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