It seems as though no matter what your interests are there is something that comes out of the British Broadcasting Corporation that is right for you. The 2006 BBC facility addition, Quay House, exemplifies this sentiment. Whether you are interested in seeing how the world’s largest public broadcasting corporation is innovating to use modern technologies, standing on famous morning show sets or taking your picture with Dr. Who’s legendary nemesis, the Daleks, Quay House has something to offer you.
Despite it’s name, Media City stands out as an odd place for BBC to located. It has many benefits when it comes to attracting and recruiting talent, but it is not in the center of some major city. This is because before building Quay House BBC was criticized as being too London focused and lacking representation outside the metropolis. BBC took this criticism to heart and showed their dedication to their patrons by taking their operations to a place where they felt that they could better represent the citizens of England. Although many found the criticism to be with its merits it is worth noting that BBC has 7 national stations and roughly 40 regional stations throughout the UK (not to mention their global presence).
The guides at BBC are great fun and really know how to get the group engaged. One of the first places they took our group was to the radio operations room. While radio may seem nostalgic to my generation, there are still millions of people who tune in to hear BBC’s broadcasters, disk jockeys, and commentators. One of the attractions of the room is seeing where legendary musicians performed from the Beatles to more current bands such as the Arctic Monkeys. There is even a project underway to digitize older broadcasts that have been archived on tape.
When touring the sets of BBC’s popular televisions shows the first thing anyone will notice is how empty the space feels. Despite there being hundreds of lights hanging from the ceiling there is virtually no other equipment, this is because the BBC rents its gear. This gives them the ability to focus on their craft and not worry about faulty equipment, if something doesn’t work properly they can send it back and get back to what is important to them. The studio is ultimately just a couch and several blank platforms that can be moved and lit differently depending on the show. There are a few tiny cameras screwed to the walls that are responsible for generating the AR for the final product. The only other significant element of set design that is visible is the floor, which is painted different colors depending on what is filming during that season. The paint used on the floor is magnetic so when it is time to switch sets the team uses what is essentially a magnetic Zamboni to remove the last coat of paint used.
There were moments on the tour where we were not permitted to touch the set, which is fair because I generally tend to have Cheeto fingers, but we did get a chance to see the BBC Morning Set. The background of the set is a city that looks real but is actually an artist render after a live camera failure involving a bird blocking the lens. If you’re lucky you will get to experience BBC’s finest, Donna. Donna is a gem rarer than any on earth and she runs the teleprompter.
The final stop of the tour is a small studio that is used for a morning show and weather. It is a good time fooling around in front of a green screen and taking pictures, but this part of the tour can feel exceptionally touristy. The guides were conscious during most of our tour to give us the deeper story of what we were viewing but this room was had less of a connection to us as media majors than others. Most of the time we were discussing the different roles that went into productions and how decisions are made during shows, but this room was meant to be a final stop for a new Facebook profile picture. It felt more like an exhibit than an actual show room.
The BBC has countless programs and visiting their headquarters was an honor for a group of media students such as ourselves. There are few media operations that match the scale of BBC but getting an inside look on how things are run helped make it feel accessible to students who dream of working there one day.