Big Brother: The End of an Era

After 18 amazing years, Big Brother will close its doors at Elstree Studios for the final time. Big Brother has had an extremely successful run as it is the longest running reality series in the UK to date. The first series of Big Br  other UK premiered on the 18^th July 2000. The house relocated to Elstree Studios for Big Brother 3 in 2002, where the house has remained ever since.

Since the house relocated to Elstree Studios we have seen a total of 619 housemates pass through the famous Borehamwood bungalow, 42 Big Brother’s including 17 Classics and 21 Celebrities, 1 Celebrity Hijack, 1 Ultimate, 1 Panto and who could forget 1 Teen. Big Brother has been on air over 1,817 days to include the Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother series. Big Brother is always watching with 87 cameras and 110 microphones in the house to make sure not a moment of drama is missed.

A conservative estimate of viewers and live audience over the run at Elstree Studios is 2.5 billion with an age group from every age group. The first ever series at Elstree Studios was the most popular series reaching an average record rating of 5.8 million viewers with the season finale reaching an astonishing peak of 10 million viewers. The first winner at Elstree Studios was Kate Lawler after surviving 64 days in the house. The highest viewing figures for an eviction night were when the late Jade Goody was evicted in 2007.

Davina McCall was the original presenter for this iconic series for a total of 10 years. In 2011, Channel 5 acquired Big Brother where Brian Dowling, the winner of Big Brother 2 and the winner of the Ultimate Big Brother in 2010, was announced as the new Big Brother presenter. On 2 April 2013, it was confirmed that Dowling would be replaced by Emma Willis, who had previously presented Big Brother’s Bit on the Side. Emma has become a great success and is now a leading TV presenter as is Big Brother’s Bit on the Side, Rylan Clark-Neal.

On 14 September 2018, Channel 5 announced that the 19^th series was to be its last on Channel 5. On November 5^th, Cameron Cole was crowned the last winner of Big Brother UK.

Elstree Studio’s reputation for high quality television continues with top Light Entertainment show Strictly Come Dancing and its partnership with BBC Studioworks providing state of the art television technical facilities. Elstree is home to many other top productions such as, award-winning, The Crown, Pointless, The Chase, The Voice and many more.

We remain very proud of our television and film work here and continue to thrive as the UK’s No. 1 Film & Television Studio. Films include The Danish Girl, The King’s Speech, Paddington and many more.

Since the success of Big Brother it has been copied by many other reality shows.

What time period will it take place in?

Following the precedent set by the first two seasons, which took place from 1947 to 1956 and 1957 to 1964 respectively, The Crown season 3 will cover the next decade of Queen Elizabeth II’s rule, when Her Majesty and Prince Philip will be in their fifties. While the first and second seasons primarily focused on the Queen, how she coped with taking the throne, and her marriage, it seems that season three will shine more of a light on the younger members of the family, the royal couple’s children.

In the public arena, the third instalment will likely explore the decolonisation of Africa and the Caribbean in the early 70s, and Prince Charles’s movement to the public eye as he took on a more prominent role after being crowned the Prince of Wales by his mother in 1969.

The show’s historical consultant Robert Lacey confirmed that season three will also show the breakdown of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon’s marriage. “Without giving anything away — it’s on the record, it’s history — we’ll see the breakup of this extraordinary marriage” Lacey told Town & Country.

Who will be in The Crown season 3 cast?

Peter Morgan, the show’s creator, had always planned to cast different stars for the later years. Explaining his motivation, he told Variety, “You can’t ask someone to act middle-aged. Someone has to bring their own fatigue to it. The feelings we all have as 50-year-olds are different to the feelings we all have as 30-year-olds.”

Olivia Colman, best known for her Emmy award-winning role in Broadchurch, will take over from Claire Foy in the starring role of Queen Elizabeth for the third and fourth seasons. When it was announced, Colman revealed that she is “ridiculously excited” to take on the much-coveted role. Netflix released a first look of the new actress in the role, with a still of her sipping tea while wearing the Queen’s signature powder-pink suit and pearls.

In further excellent casting, Helena Bonham Carter will take on the role of Princess Margaret. Vanessa Kirby, who played the royal in the first two seasons, in expressed her excitement aabout her successor on Instagram with a snap of Bonham Carter captioned, “Honoured”.

British actor Tobias Menzies will assume the role of Prince Philip, played by Matt Smith in seasons one and two. Menzies has appeared in several high-profile TV shows including The Night Manager, Outlander and Game of Thrones.

Netflix has confirmed that Line of Duty star Jason Watkins will play Prime Minister Harold Wilson, while Erin Doherty, known for her role on Call the Midwife, will take on the part of Princess Anne. Josh O’Connor will join the cast to play a young Prince Charles, Marion Bailey will play the Queen Mother and Ben Daniels will play Antony Armstrong-Jones.

Producer Suzanne Mackie explained to media at the BFI & Radio Times Festival that Camilla Parker Bowles will be making her first appearance in the third run. Prince Charles met the Duchess of Cornwall at a polo match in 1971.

When pressed on whether Princess Diana will feature, Morgan told Vanity Fair, “I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with her if I ever get that far”. He added, “If she were to be introduced, it’d probably have to wait until the fourth.” Yet, People has reported that Diana will in fact feature at the end of the third season and will play a major role in the fourth season.

When will season three air?

Following the pattern of the previous seasons, where season one aired on November 4 2016 and season two on December 8 2017, we can most likely expect the third season to air in the final months of 2018.

How many more seasons will there be after the third?

Producer Suzanne Mackie at the BFI & Radio Times Festival in London explained that The Crown creator Peter Morgan had planned to make five more seasons of the series and write all of them himself.

www.vogue.co.uk

This month marked the 75^th anniversary of the iconic Dambusters raid. The Dam Busters was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron using a purpose built ‘bouncing bomb.’  This military raid inspired the classic film The Dam Busters which was made at Elstree Studios. The film tells the true story of the raid and was the most popular film at the British box office in 1955.

On 17^th May 2018 The Royal Albert Hall had a special commemorative gala event which was screened in nearly 400 cinemas across the country. To mark the occasion, there was an exclusive video featuring the last surviving member of the raid, Johnny Johnson, discussing his memories of his fallen colleagues. Squadron Leader George “Johnny” Johnson, 96, flew over the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire to mark 75 years since the raid took place.

The Dam Busters was first released in the UK in 1955, and directed by the late Michael Anderson who died earlier this year. The film starred Richard Todd, Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans and Basil Sydney.

Barnes Wallis, an aeronautical engineer, played by Michael Redgrave, convinced the powers that his theory of making a bouncing bomb for the proposed attacks could become a reality even though it would mean damaging German industry. Actor George Baker was cast as Flight Lieutenant David Maltby in the film. David Maltby was the RAF pilot who actually hit the dam with his bomb and burst it.

Paul Welsh, Film Historian, says ‘This is a classic Elstree film from the 1950’s. The Studio spent two years in pre-production as it was a prestige production and it had to be accurate. The recently departed director Michael Anderson told me they warned him if they did not like the early rushes he would be replaced but he did a great job. The star was Richard Todd who I had the pleasure to host a plaque unveiling in his honour in 1996 at Elstree. I knew him for many years and the last time I saw the film was sitting next to him at a public screening shortly before his death.

In 1989 I invited several of the original RAF crew who took part in the raid to a reception at Elstree Studios. They were old men then but I was in awe of them as back in 1943 they were young lads with an appalling survival rate but they still made us all proud. I think The Dam Busters is a great movie. Okay the special effects are dated but it has stood the test of time. Plus who can forget the wonderful music score. This was Elstree Studios at its best in the 1950’s.’

Roger Morris, Managing Director of Elstree Studios, says ‘The Dam Busters was an iconic film, they used the water tank at the back of the studios the tank is currently under the Big Brother house. We have a marvelous picture of the film crew and cast with a Lancaster. There’s a certain magic about Elstree and its studios, so many iconic films have been made here.’

To mark the release of their latest album, Wonderland, Take That will be fronting a one-off special for ITV. Find out what happened when What’s on TV spent An Evening With Take That?

They might be down to just three members now, but Take That seem to be going from strength to strength. The UK’s favourite man band: Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, released their eighth studio album, Wonderland, on March 24 and, to celebrate, the trio will be fronting a special show, An Evening With Take That, for ITV this weekend.

What’s on TV was lucky enough to go along to the recording here at Elstree Studios, and here’s a snippet of what you can expect to see as well as some things you might not!

Welcome to Wonderland

Take That are known for putting on some of the most spectacular stage shows around, and An Evening With Take That certainly gave us a taster of what’s to come from their upcoming tour this summer. With the main stage resembling an ice palace, the band’s ever-devoted fans in the audience had also embraced the theme, having been asked beforehand to come dressed in their interpretation of Wonderland. Cue loads of bright colours, florals and butterflies!

New songs

An Evening With Take That gave the band the perfect opportunity to showcase songs from their new album. Opening with the title track, Wonderland, they also gave us New Day and, of course, current single Giants.  We can indeed confirm Take That still produce the catchiest pop songs ever!

Oops? Mark splits his trousers

Mark performed the first number, Wonderland, with such enthusiasm, that he suffered an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction and had to do the rest of the show with a rip in his pyjama-esque strides. He went off to have them repaired during a break but he revealed to the crowd: There’s still a small hole!? Oh dear?

Chart classics?

A Take That special would not be complete without a few 90’s classics thrown into the mix, so the audience were treated to a nostalgic medley of Back for Good, A Million Love Songs and, fan favourite from 1993, Babe.

*Trivia* During a break in filming just before this segment, Mark had been casually strumming along on his guitar, when the fans launched into an impromptu rendition of Babe. As he started to sing along with them, we can’t be certain, but we think Mark may have got a bit emotional. Awww?

Questions, questions?

A large part of the recording saw the boys host a Q&A session with their fans. We’re pretty sure lots of this will end up on the cutting room floor, but questions ranged from the straightforward: What are your pre-show rituals? to the somewhat bizarre: What do you like on your chips? One particularly eager fan had had Gary’s signature tattooed on her wrist and asked if he would like to add anything to it. He politely declined.

Wedding bells?

When asked by another fan what goal was still on his bucket list, it seems Gary doesn’t want to climb Mount Everest or fly to the moon. Oh no. It’s something much closer to home. ‘I’d like to renew my wedding vows with my amazing wife,’ he said, referring to Dawn, his wife of 17 years. ‘That’s definitely on the agenda.’

Baby boom!

Gary’s not the only one focusing on his family, as Howard paid tribute to his wife, Katie Halil, following the birth of his fourth child, Dougie Bear, in February. ‘Having a baby and trying to release an album at the same time is hard,’ he admitted. ‘But my wife’s here tonight and she’s the one doing an amazing job. But I love my job and I love being in Take That.’

And we’re so glad you do, Howard. Roll on for the Wonderland tour this summer!

An Evening With Take That can be seen on Saturday, April 8 at 8.30pm on ITV. Wonderland is out now

– Written by, Victoria Wilson, www.whatsontv.co.uk

SAVE THE DATE – LAUNCH OF HERTFORDSHIRE PROCONNECT – MARCH 28^TH

Creative England is going to be launching its ERDF-backed ProConnect programme for Hertfordshire on 28th March and is inviting you along.

This programme of workshops, events and funding starting in Spring 2017 and running to summer 2019 is designed to help grow your business if you are a freelancer or small business owner operating in film/TV production or related industries in Hertfordshire.

The launch event, hosted by Elstree Studios, will provide an opportunity to hear more about the programme and how to get involved. As part of the networking launch evening there will be a panel of experts from across the region talking about their career journey and business, what they?ve learned along the way and how intervention such as the ProConnect programme can help you take your business to the next stage.

Agenda

6:30 – 7:00pm: registration

7:00 – 7:15pm: welcome and introduction to ProConnect

7:15 – 8:00pm: panel session

8:00 – 9:00pm: networking drinks

9:00pm: ends

Come along to Elstree Studios on 28th March to find out what ProConnect can do for you and how to tackle the obstacles to growth that may be holding your business back. If you?d like to know more about the programme, visit the Creative England website:

www.creativeengland.co.uk/film-and-tv/proconnect

On the evening Creative England will also be joined by supporters Performance Media Insurance who will be on hand to talk about how they support businesses and crew.