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History
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Ealing Studios is the oldest continuously working film studio in the world. The stages and offices are steeped in history having survived the onset of the talkies, two world wars and the more recent technological advances in film and TV. The Ealing Comedies of the 1950s are considered a high point of British cinema.
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The spirits of Alec Guiness, Alastair Sim and Peter Sellars pervade the stages, which are constantly in demand to shoot films like Dorian Gray, Nowhere Boy, and both St Trinians films. BBC broadcast Let’s Dance live from Studio 2 as part of Sports Relief and the BBC’s Cranford, Woody Allen and Gurinder Chadha recently based productions on the lot.
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Will Barker, a pioneer of British cinema, originally acquired the site in 1902. Basil Dean, owner of Associated Talking Pictures took over from Barker in the early 1930s and Ealing Studios was established. In 1938, Michael Balcon joined Dean as Head of Production. The golden era of Ealing Studios had begun. |
Dead of Night (1945) |
The Man in the White Suite (1951) |
Passport to Pimlico (1950) |
An Ideal Husband (1999) |
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These pictures contained recurring themes which resonated with the social upheaval that followed the war: the little people up against the establishment; an anarchic whimsy that was born often out of real events; a cast of characters drawn from the confusion and moral ambiguity of the times: a soft spot for raffish charm.
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The BBC bought the Studios in 1955 and spent the next 40 years creating television productions such as Colditz, The Singing Detective and Monty Python. The Studios later passed into the hands of the National Film and Television School, but by the end of the century, the glamour was looking distinctly dilapidated.
Decline was arrested in 2000, when the Studios were acquired by the current owners. A redevelopment programme was initiated, which preserved the oldest film studio in the world (Stage 2), whilst attracting tenants from the digital media. In 2002, Fragile Films became the studio’s production arm, and Ealing Studios started making its own movies once more. The Importance of Being Earnest was a critical and financial succes.
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Ealing Studios has since accommodated high profile films including Notting Hill, Star Wars – Episode 2, Sean Of The Dead and Bridget Jones 2. In 2007, Fragile produced St Trinians, which went on to be the fourth highest grossing British independent movie ever. The sequel was released in 2009, taking total earnings for the franchise to over £20m. In 2010 the Studio released Burke & Hare, directed by John Landis, starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis.
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