Elstree Calling

The Big Brother 6 house at Elstree Studios in 2005. Photo: © Paul Burton

Big Brother House:

When Endemol UK decided to move Big Brother UK to Elstree Studios in 2002, a decision was made to build the Big Brother house on top of the exterior water tank. All subsequent Big Brother houses have continued to be built or adapted on this tank.

A large trench was also dug between the house and Stage 1 in The George Lucas Stage during this building process. This was in order to house many of the various cables and wires that are required for this long-running television series.

The exterior water tank in question once had a large tower errected on one side on which various backdrops (such as a skyline) could be hung or painted.

The tank, which was originally one of two exterior water tanks at Elstree Studios (the other one used to be situated where Tesco's service bay is now located), has been used for many film & television productions over the years. Productions have included the films: Moby Dick and The Dam Busters; while television productions have included: The Avengers, The Saint, The Champions & Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

Behind the water tank and The George Lucas Stage is a large areas of grassland (the studio backlot) which is where the fireworks are launched from on the finale nights of each Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother. This large area of land is where the large exterior set of the Overbook Hotel was built (see photo left) back in the late Seventies for the Stanley Kubrick film, The Shining.

This backlot area has been used for many other film & TV productions over the years. Television productions have included: The Avengers, The Saint, The Champions & Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). The latter action TV series often used this land for many for the scenes set around Marty Hopkirk's grave. 

Incidentally, The George Lucas stage, which houses Stage 1 (used for the main Big Brother show and Big Brother's Little Brother) & Stage 2 (used for Dancing On Ice), now stands on land where part of the famous Town Set was once situated. Originally built for the Cliff Richard film: The Young Ones, it was subsequently adapted and reused for many film & TV productions.

In the photo on the aerial photo on the right (taken for a 1968 studio brochure) you can can clearly see the water tank (on which the Big Brother house is now situated) top right. The George Lucas Stage is now situated on grassland on the left of this photo. The Town Set is colour highlighted. The current Big Brother's Big Mouth studio (Workshop 1) is to the middle right of the photo next to the tank.

This land near to house was also used for certain scenes (including the First World War battle scene) in the 1983 film: Monty Python's Meaning of Life.  

The area of the car park situated near to the Big Brother's Big Mouth studio (firstly Workshop 2 and now Workshop 1) was, incidentally, often used for nautical-related scenes (scenes set at a harbour etc.) on action TV series such as The Saint and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

If you have any questions, then please do not hesitate to email me.

Photo credits:

My special thanks go to Paul Harrison for the photo of the Overlook Hotel being built and to A.R. McKay from the Avengerland website for the aerial photo.

© Paul Burton 2010

Please do not reproduce any part of this article (including any of the photos) without first contacting Paul Burton to request permission.