Just received a script. I'll read you the opening. “Exterior, White City, west London. Urban bustle, breakfasting professionals, gym kits thrown over shoulders and collapsible bikes tucked under arms, tai chi master going slowly through the motions, an air of purpose and optimism and, in the distance, like a sun rising, the former headquarters of BBC TV production.”
It may need some work, but it definitely sets a scene. And looming large over it is Television Centre, the home of British broadcasting from 1960 to 2013. Now, after a thoroughgoing refurbishment (completed in 2019), the complex is a mixed-use development, an exemplary blend of luxury residential and work, rest and play spaces – and it has retained three studios where programmes are still made.
For any student of television, this ground is as hallowed as it’s possible to get. This is where the first Doctor travelled through time and space in his Tardis, where Monty Python’s circus became airborne, and where Basil Fawlty waged war against his waiter’s “Siberian hamster”. Back in the day, Television Centre was a magnet for genius, and the sense that you’ve landed somewhere very special remains. On a busy day, there are more than 5,000 people working, eating, performing and living at the development.
Luxury living and harmonious design are perfectly in tune at the BBC’s former home – where the walls glow with history and every apartment has a story to tell, says Joseph Furey
Also on site is Electric Cinema, which shows arthouse films alongside blockbusters and has mohair armchairs, cashmere blankets and a full bar with a cocktail menu. And private members club Soho House, which has long been a key hangout for the media crowd, opened its 19th – and largest – venue there four years ago, with a Palm Springs-inspired rooftop pool and bar.
Television Centre is that rare development, one that guarantees its residents the peace, privacy and security of a gated estate (with electric charging points in the car park) yet has a life – and a community – all of its own. A sanctuary with soul, this revivified landmark holds enormous appeal for buyers of every kind, from families looking for a principal residence to international travellers in need of a lock-and-leave bolthole. And in the Architects’ Series apartments, there are triumphs of intelligent design and excellent taste that reference an illustrious past while investing in an exciting future – one that you can move into today.
To arrange a viewing of the show apartments, visit the sales suite in the Helios building, call 020 3883 5195, or visit televisioncentre.com for more information and to register
From the air, with its circular Helios building and its curving Crescent, the grade II listed site resembles a question mark, and that’s no accident – its architect Graham Dawbarn drew a question mark on an envelope on which he was sketching his initial design ideas, and it stuck. (An amusing side note: I’m sure Monty Python must have drawn inspiration from Dawbarn’s partners in the planning of Television Centre. With the greatest respect to the memories of Air Commodore Henry Nigel St Valery Norman, 2nd Baronet of Honeyhanger, and the BBC’s resident civil engineer, Marmaduke Tudsbery Tudsbery, their names are comedy gold.)
In phase one of the residential development of the complex, the Architects’ Series, 432 apartments were built. And of those, just four are left: one two-bedroom apartment and two three-bedroom duplexes in the Helios building, priced between £2.75 million and £3 million; and one three-bedroom penthouse in the newly built Crescent mansion block for £4.8 million.
The good news is the homes, with freshly minted 975-year leases, are complete and ready to move into immediately. Not content with giving prospective buyers the unique opportunity to live in a place of incontrovertible cultural pedigree, Television Centre offers residents amenities that are second to none in comparable developments: a 24-hour concierge, based in the main lobby, long dubbed “the Stage Door” and presided over by a mosaic by British artist John Piper; a lounge, with co-working areas, and separate rooms for dinners and functions; private landscaped gardens; a gym, managed by Soho House, that includes a 17 metre-long swimming pool, a hammam, sauna and steam room, personal trainers and studios for cardio, boxing and yoga; and, rather apt, a screening room, which shows sporting events and the latest movies, which can be privately booked.
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Here for you
The grade II listed
lobby has a 24-hour concierge service
And then there’s the location. A 30-minute taxi ride to Heathrow Airport, a 25-minute Tube journey to St Pancras International, and with Central London (Bond Street) and the City (Bank) just 12 and 22 minutes away on the Central line, Television Centre is indubitably well connected. But it has also generated its own buzz enough to keep you wandering very far.
Among the highly rated places to eat and drink on your doorstep are the Bluebird Café, gastropub The Broadcaster and Endo at the Rotunda, a Michelin-starred omakase restaurant set on the eighth floor of the Helios building and run by chef Endo Kazutoshi, a third-generation sushi master. If you’re uncertain what “omakase” means, think personalised tasting menu – which critic Giles Coren described as “probably the most perfect meal I have eaten in a restaurant in more than 20 years”.
Become part of the elegant world of this reimagined landmark
Star power
The good news is the homes are complete and ready to move into immediately
FIND OUT MORE
No repeats
The development
is a true one-off
Telling details
The Architects’ Series apartments are triumphs of design and impeccable taste
Place in the sun The Helios building apartments allow for the delicate interplay of light and air
‘Palm Springs’
Members' club
Soho House opened
its 19th venue
at Television Centre
Green haven
Television Centre's
fabled forecourt
has been transformed
into private gardens
‘The Stage Door’
Television Centre's
former lobby
welcomed many
famous guests
“
live where television gold was made
From the air, with its circular Helios building and its curving Crescent, the grade II listed site resembles a question mark, and that’s no accident – its architect Graham Dawbarn drew a question mark on an envelope on which he was sketching his initial design ideas, and it stuck. (An amusing side note: I’m sure Monty Python must have drawn inspiration from Dawbarn’s partners in the planning of Television Centre. With the greatest respect to the memories of Air Commodore Henry Nigel St Valery Norman, 2nd Baronet of Honeyhanger, and the BBC’s resident civil engineer, Marmaduke Tudsbery Tudsbery, their names are comedy gold.)
In phase one of the residential development of the complex, the Architects’ Series, 432 apartments were built. And of those, just four are left: one two-bedroom apartment and two three-bedroom duplexes in the Helios building, priced between £2.75 million and £3 million; and one three-bedroom penthouse in the newly built Crescent mansion block for £4.8 million.
The good news is the homes, with freshly minted 975-year leases, are complete and ready to move into immediately. Not content with giving prospective buyers the unique opportunity to live in a place of incontrovertible cultural pedigree, Television Centre offers residents amenities that are second to none in comparable developments: a 24-hour concierge, based in the main lobby, long dubbed “the Studio Door” and presided over by a mosaic by British artist John Piper; a lounge, with co-working areas, and separate rooms for dinners and functions; private landscaped gardens; a gym, managed by Soho House, that includes a 17 metre-long swimming pool, a hammam, sauna and steam room, personal trainers and studios for cardio, boxing and yoga; and, rather apt, a screening room, which shows sporting events and the latest movies, which can be privately booked.