Art & Hue

Granada

On the 19th of April in 1955, Manchester Town Planning approved, in principle, the building of the Granada TV studios at Quay Street by the Bernstein Granada Organistion.

Designed by the architect Ralph Tubbs, who also designed the Dome of Discovery at London’s South Bank, the modernist studios went on air for the first time on the 3rd of May 1956 at 7.30pm with “Meet the People”.

From 2003 onwards, plans were underway to redevelop the site and eventually the iconic illuminated sign was removed in 2010, with the final scenes filmed at Granada Studios on the 20th of December 2013.

The iconic Granada House was sadly demolished in 2018 to make way for the site’s redevelopment which plans to include new studio space.

When Sidney Bernstein’s studios were operational, they were also referred to as the Quay Street Studios and the Manchester Studios.

They were the home of “Coronation Street” when it first started in 1960, and other productions including “The Army Game” starring William Hartnell & Charles Hawtrey (often cited as the inspiration for the first Carry On film “Carry On Sergeant“), “Biggles” with John Leyton, “Hickory House” with Amanda Barrie, “The Krypton Factor” (the later revival of which was relocated to the South Bank London Studios), “The Lovers” with Paula Wilcox, “Brideshead Revisited”, “The Caesars” with Barbara Murray, and “The Other Man” with Michael Caine & John Thaw, to name a few.