The Way We Were
1990, BBC Television Centre, London
This time, we’re admiring what is arguably one of Britain’s most recognisable buildings. The British Broadcast Corporation opened Television Centre in White City on 29 June 1960. According to architect Graham Dawbarn it’s designed in the ‘ideal shape of a question mark’ – what makes that shape ideal? Who knows, because few have had the opportunity to peer inside.
That said, mere mortals were afforded a glimpse in a 2007 episode of Top Gear, when presenter Jeremy Clarkson motored around the Centre’s various corridors in a diminutive Peel P50.
Television Centre closed for redevelopment on 31 March 2013 as part of the plan that re-located many BBC staff and services to Salford – though not before it was granted Grade II-listed status in 2009.
Going back 30 years though, and the car park reflects the choice of the educated liberal elite of the day – smart French cars with the odd Swedish or German addition for the real go-getters.
In the bottom-left corner we find one of the few Brits – a Mini City – and moving right we see a pair of Volkswagen Passat estates and a Polo Coupé, a Citroën BX and then an intriguing stretched MercedesBenz W124. We think it’s by Robert Jankel’s (of Panther fame) Le Marquis company, but if you know better, tell us.
Past that is one of at least six Peugeot 405s in the car park, then a Vauxhall Carlton, a Rover 200-series and Volvo 700-series. Behind the Volvo is a Citroën XM, which was the European Car of the Year for 1990. The XM improved on the CX in most ways – less roll, less rust, better build quality – so why didn’t it succeed? Teething troubles, Marmite styling and a PSA parts bin dashboard? Let us know what you think.
Speaking of big Citroëns, check out the CX estate in the third row back.
Row two contains a Peugeot 205 GT, Rover 216 GSi (at a guess), another 405 and a Honda Concerto, which today is just as forgotten as its other musically-themed stablemates, the Ballade and the Quintet. But this one is mildly interesting to we Brits because it shares a great deal with the Rover 200 on the other side of that Pug 405 – the bodyshells are very similar, aren’t they?
Moving past the Concerto, we find a Volvo 740, a Peugeot 306 and yet another 405 – this time in practical estate guise.
Other notables include three people carriers, perhaps for carting groups of guests about when the stretched Merc is bagged by the director general – a Renault Espace in the centre, a Volkswagen T25 Caravelle to the left of it and far left, a Ford Econoline day-van.
Today, Studio 1 – a cavernous space where programmes including Doctor Who, Blue Peter, Fawlty Towers, Morecambe & Wise and Top of the Pops came to life – is home to a series of residential flats, but other parts of Television Centre are still be used to create broadcasts, including ITV’s daytime programmes.