Studio stays in the spotlight

Teddington Studios was built in the grounds of the former Weir House, in Broom Road, which was bought by wealthy stockbroker Henry Chinnery in 1873 for £7,850. Mr Chinnery was interested in the cinematograph' and one day, during a rainstorm, he allowed some local film enthusiasts to use his large greenhouse as a studio.

"He took pity on the poor souls,"says video tape recorder supervisor Howard Denyer, who has been at the studios for 40 years.

In 1912, the grounds of the 40-room Weir House was used by the film company Ec-Ko.

The company consisted of nine actors who were appearing at the former Kingston Empire and Richmond Hippodrome, now Richmond Theatre.

They got together and put up £1,000 to found the company to produce silent comedy films lasting about 10 minutes.

The head office was at 176 High Street, Teddington, and they often used the large greenhouse and stables at Weir House for daylight filming.

In 1918, Ec-Ko was wound up and was succeeded by Master Films made full-length feature films from 1916 to 1922.

After buying the house in 1920 the company built the property's first enclosed stage which was a steel structure clad in glass to maximise daylight.

The coach house and stables were converted into dressing rooms, workshops and a tiny preview theatre.

The last film they made at Teddington was His House in Order with Tallulan Bankhead.

The property was then taken over by film-maker E.G. Norman and silent-screen actor Henry Edwards.

They renamed it Teddington Film Studios.

Three years earlier Warner Brothers had produced The Jazz Singer and the new owners of the Teddington Film Studios believed this new sound on film was going to sweep the market.

They built new soundproof studios and bought an RCA recording system.

Teddington Film Studios only produced one film, Stranglehold, before opening the studios to independent production companies which did not have their own studios.

In August 1931, the American film giant Warner Brothers leased the studios.

Stories differ for the reason for its move to Teddington, with some saying they wanted to build on the success in the United States and others saying it was a way to get round the film quota system.

One of the aims of the 1928 Cinematograph Films Act was to set the percentage of British-made productions that should be shown in cinemas. This was set at 7.5 per cent for the year ending 31 March 1929, rising to 20 per cent for the years 1936 - 1938.

The name of the studios changed to Warner Brothers First National Productions Ltd and it became a serious film-making enterprise. The films were economical and some took less than a week to complete, earning them the name of quota quickies'.

Resources were scarce in 1931 and when prop master Harry Hanney arrived from the Burbank studios in America he said he was looking around for a prop shop and was told there it is, over there.

"I looked inside a sort of shed or garage and there was an old fender with no knobs, two cups with no handles, a few knives and bent forks, a chest of drawers with no back, a papier mache mask and a few empty beer bottles," he says.

And on one particular day, the managing director Irving Asher, who had taken up residence in the Weir House, was awakened at 6am by Mr Hanney politely asking for the bed which was wanted for a scene on the set.

The first film produced by Warner Brothers was Murder on the Second Floor which was shown in January 1931.

This film included exterior scenes filmed in Teddington High Street.

At this time, actors for the Warner, Brothers studio at Teddington included Rex Harrison and Margaret Lockwood.

And one young actor, Errol Flynn, who starred in the 1934 film Murder at Monte Carlo, impressed Warner Brothers so much he was instantly whisked off to Hollywood.

In 1934 Warner Brothers bought Weir House and the site for £32,000 and began a major rebuilding programme.

The studios were built with a grand hotel faade with the Warner studios behind.

British employees had to be trained in the Warner Brothers system and during the 13 years at Teddington, more than 150 films were made, including Blind Spot, Hello Sweetheart, So You Won't Talk and Atlantic Ferry. And in 1935 the British music-hall comedian Max Miller made the first of his eight comedies for Warner Brothers at Teddington. It was called Get Off My Foot.

Teddington was one of the few British film studios to operate during World War II and the studios produced a series of patriotic films including Flying Fortress in 1941.

But at 8.10pm on July 5, 1944, fire wardens saw a V1 flying rocket approaching Teddington. It crashed into the Warner Brothers' studios and administration block and killed three people.

But the film's vaults survived intact and the film Flight From Folly, which had been in production at the time of the bombing, was completed.

An article from the Richmond and Twickenham Times in October 1944 said: "Shooting on Flight from Folly, a large-scale musical comedy picture, starring Pat Kirkwood, which was Warner's last Teddington production, had been completed only a short time before the doodle-bug struck the powerhouse and wrecked the studios.

"The musical background had not been recorded. So during the past week or two the studio garage has been converted into a recording studio."

Rebuilding could not start until the necessary licences were obtained from the government. Work began in 1946 and the bomb damage had been so severe that many of the buildings had to be entirely rebuilt from the foundations up.

Teddington Studios were formally re-opened by Danny Kaye in 1948.

For the next two years films made at the studios included actors Marie Lohr, Richard Burton, Peter Lorre and Richard Todd but in the 1950s, British film production went into decline and Warner Brothers never completed a full post-war film.

Their last film at Teddington was The Crimson Pirate, which was finally completed at Elstree.

Warner Brothers returned to Burbank in 1952 and for the next six years the site was leased to the Hawker Aircraft Company.

It was the emergence of television which revived the fortunes of Teddington Studios. ABC televison bought the Teddington site in 1958 and adapted the film studios for television. ABC's popular Armchair Theatre show was transferred from Manchester to Teddington and after a new phase of rebuilding, filming began in 1960 on what was to become one of Teddington's most popular TV series, The Avengers.

In 1968, ABC Television merged with London company Rediffusion to form Thames Television which based itself at Teddington. For the next 20 years if produced programmes which included Callan, Minder, Edward and Mrs Simpson and The Benny Hill Show.

Benny Hill was a long-term Teddington resident who rented a flat a short distance from the studios.

Mr Denyer remembers him well. He says: "Benny was a great friend.

"Once, we started talking about sugar labels. He was sitting at the back of the editing suite and asked if anyone had any sugar.

"I opened my case where I had sugar sachets which I collected for my sons from all over the world."

The next time Benny Hill was in America he was walking down Sunset Boulevard with producer Dennis Kirkland and said he fancied a coffee. Benny, Bob Todd (one of his sidekicks in the Benny Hill Show) and Dennis walked towards one major outlet and Benny suggested going to another one because Howard already had that sugar packet.

"He always went into a different coffee shop to get a sugar label for me," remembers Mr Denyer who worked in black and white television when he first came to Teddington.

In 1992 Thames Televison lost its contract but continued to make programmes for others and rented out Teddington Studios and its facilities.

Thames kept open the site which was up-dated and the company continued to sell some of its programmes to other broadcasters.

At this time, a new company was set up and the studios reverted to its 1931 name, Teddington Studios Ltd. Last year they were bought by Pinewood Shepperton for £2.7million.

Pinewood group's research and marketing manager Julia Hillsdon said Pinewood needed more TV studios and the Teddington site was now a part of the Pinewood Studios Group.

She said programmes at Teddington included Tricia, a second series of Green, Green, Grass (a spin-off of Only Fools and Horses) for the BBC and Harry Hill's TV Burp.

She said Harry Hill could often be seen around Teddington. "Stars are in the studio pretty much every day when a series is shooting," she says.

"Every day is different. It's the magic of the industry. You see things created whether it's for the large screen or the small screen," she adds.

Comedian Brian Conley hosts Let Me Entertain You, which airs on BBC2 from Monday. Sales executive Neil Coles said the new talent show is like Pop Idol or New Faces.

"An ejector seat throws unsuccessful participants out. There was a 6ft 5in man dressed as a fairy who was ejected after five seconds," he says.

Talent hopefuls wait in one of the Green Rooms next to a recording studio or wander around the corridors where one would-be star could be seen dressed in a pink superhero costume.

The buildings also house numerous dressing rooms and Ms Hillsdon says those for celebrities were as good as five star hotels are far cry from the studio's humble beginnings. Over its 94-year history Teddington Studies has gone from the big screen to the small screen.

Now, after a rainy beginning and a few stormy spells, brighter skies lie ahead.

Audiences are always needed at Teddington Studios and tickets for shows can be ordered through websites such as www.clappers-tickets.co.uk or www.sroaudiences.com