BBC Television Centre Tour< Winter Wonderland In Hyde Park | Blog | The Lady Of The Lake > On Saturday 3rd January, my friend Jeannie invited me to go on a tour with her and her Polish artist friend round the BBC Television Centre. Details of the tour can be found by clicking here. I love going out with my friend Jeannie, she is a amazing friend, who works as a filmmaker. We get to do many fun things together, like see theatre shows in London for free, go to a friends wedding after party, and we saw a film festival in London. I've shown her round Guildford as well. I helped Jeannie out on my last birthday back on 15th June 2008, which by being an extra for her in a BBC comedy pilot called Five Years. You can read about it by clicking here. So seeing inside of the BBC Television Centre was going to be an exciting experience for me for many reasons due to me being an extra in the BBC comedy pilot, and because of my love of classic BBC TV shows like Doctor Who. I travelled to London on my own, as Jeannie and her friend live in London. I caught the train from Guildford to Waterloo. Then I used the Underground train service to get to White City Tube Station, as it was the closest stop to the BBC Television Centre. It was interesting travelling on the Underground train that day, as there were many different demonstrators on the train with me, who were carrying placards and propaganda leaflets about war. They were mainly to do with the Israeli and Palestinian conflict in Gaza, which was happening that day. I got chatting to a Palestinian father who was sat beside his two young sons on the Underground train with me. I asked if I could read some of his propaganda leaflets. I gave my opinion to him to say that war is an awful thing, and its not the answer, as it just creates divide, death, and destruction. His reply was who knows what the future will bring. I have a rough idea of what the future could bring on or after 21/12/2012 based on various conspiracy theories and ancient text, although they may be wrong. This may happen if the human race carries on the way they currently are, and remain ignorant to all the problems we face. Its quite possible things could change a great deal based on a number of factors including wars, global climate changes, famine, pollution, religious and political groups, and natural catastrophic events. It’s written in the book of Revelations about a comet and solar flares causing catastrophic events, which you can read here. The end of the Mayan calendar is dated the 21st December 2012, which you can read about here. If you look on the NASA website here, you can see many people are questioning what will happen on the 21st December 2012. We could even be open to an alien invasion from the recently discovered planet Nibiru or Planet X, which you can read about here. There are also many powerful Satanic groups like the Illuminati and NWO who may take control of everything in the future. Maybe they have control already, or maybe they don’t exist at all, who knows. Could a series of radical changes be what humanity really needs, in order to survive and to go on for a new and better age? I think we all need a good kick up the arse to make things right again. Check out the below videos on 2012.
Anyway, that is enough philosophy and future predictions on our world affairs for now. I’ll go back to writing about the BBC tour. I got off the Underground train at White City Station. I waited outside on the street by train station entrance for Jeannie and her friend to arrive. I could see the BBC TV Centre on the other side of the road.
I got quite cold standing there waiting for them, even though I was wearing a thick coat and a long scarf, but I was glad to see Jeannie and her friend arrive. Jeannie’s friend was a Polish guy who is a fine art artist. I have forgotten his name already, I’m terrible with names. So, for the sake of this blog I will name him Aurek. She introduced me to her friend, and we all got on very well together that day. I brought along my new camera with me, so I took many pictures of the BBC TV Centre and of our tour.
Jeannie and her friend did not want their pictures taken because of my crazy blogging, but they kindly took some pictures of me. She gave me a printed A4 sized page about the tour.
We entered the BBC Television Centre reception area, and were greeted by a big black female security guard. She was a tough woman with a strong American accent. The security guard didn’t like me taking pictures in the reception, which was a shame. I wanted to get my picture standing next to a poster of Merlin. I look a bit like the young Merlin from the BBC TV series, so it would have made a funny picture. I have included below a BBC publicity photo of the young Merlin below instead.
Above a set of doors there was digital words being projected. They were giving out the latest world news stories.
We then sat down together waiting for the rest of the tour group and BBC tour guide to arrive. As myself, Jeannie, and her friend Aurek were sat on the sofa together, we got so busy chatting to each other, that we didn’t notice the tour group forming to the right of us. They were all standing together with two BBC tour guides checking off their names on a list. Jeannie, Aurek and myself then quickly joined the tour group. The group was a mix of people of all ages, including about four or five young children, an elderly couple, some middle aged people, a Norwegian chap with a white beard, plus a group of Americans who were in their early to mid thirties. The two BBC tour guides were two guys. One guy was in his late thirties to early forties and had a goatee beard, glasses and wore a red zip up top. The other guy was in his late twenties to early thirties with a black hair style like Hugh Grant's, and he was also thin and dressed in black. He was very well spoken and seemed as though he was an actor. Once everyone’s names had been ticked off the list, we were taken through to see some security staff. We had to empty out our pockets, and give our bags to them, to make sure none of us were carrying guns or bombs.
The tour then began. They told us the history of the BBC and where we could and could not take pictures. Outside of the BBC TV Centre building, I asked Jeannie to take my picture with the BBC TV Centre behind me.
The children of the group and myself were excited to learn from the tour guides that they were going to announce the new actor to play the Doctor in the Doctor Who series. This was to be announced after our tour around the BBC Television Centre. From the way the tour guides spoke, I thought we were going to meet the new Doctor after our tour had ended. The tour guides showed us the Doctor’s time machine, which was left outside the television centre. It was the real Tardis that they use in the Doctor Who television show, disguised in its famous Police Box shape. The children then all had their picture taken beside the Doctor’s famous time machine. I asked Jeannie to take my picture beside the Tardis as well. I wanted to get into the Tardis so I could escape to a better time and place, but they wouldn’t let me. This was due to the new Doctor needing his Tardis to protect us from all the deadly Daleks and Cyberman out there.
I work for the Police, but they unfortunately don’t have any time machines disguised as Police Boxes there. I wish they did, as then I could escape Earth in 2012 for when the Reptilian aliens are said to arrive from the planet Nibiru. I would love to be the Doctor and have sexy companions like Rose Tyler, as played by Billie Piper.
We never sadly got to meet the new Doctor that day, so I instead saw him on television the day after. I have included a video of the new Doctor below. His name is Matt Smith. I quite like him, he looks a bit like me, and he is weird like me too. He makes a dark Doctor, so I hope they dress him in black, and make the new Doctor Who series dark and creepy in tone, like it originally was many years ago.
Matt Smith is the youngest actor to play the Doctor since Peter Davison. I liked some of the Peter Davison stories. One of the Peter Davison stories called ‘Black Orchid’ was set in Cranleigh Holt. I live in a village called Cranleigh, so this makes this story one of my favourite of his Doctor Who era. I have included the plot and a video of this story below.
Plot The TARDIS arrives on Earth in 1925 where, due to a case of mistaken identity, the Doctor ends up playing in a local cricket match. The travellers then accept an invitation to a masked fancy dress ball, but events take on a more sinister tone as a number of murders are perpetrated at the country home of their host Lord Cranleigh. Quote Tegan : "It's fancy dress, isn't it?" Tegan : "Well, we haven't got any costumes." Sir Robert Muir : "Oh. I was just thinking how charming yours was." Another favourite Peter Davison Doctor Who story of mine is called 'Enlightenment'. I like this story, as there are elements of Buddhist philosophy, and I also like the look of the Eternals space ships, which look the same as Edwardian sailing yachts.
Plot The White Guardian warns of impending danger and directs the TARDIS to what appears to be an Edwardian sailing yacht, the SS Shadow, but is actually one of a number of spaceships taking part in a race through the solar system, the prize being Enlightenment. The yacht's Captain Striker and his fellow officers are Eternals who feed off the thoughts and emotions of their kidnapped human crew - Ephemerals - in order to fill their own empty existences. Turlough attempts to escape the Black Guardian's influence by jumping into space but is rescued and taken on board the ship of Captain Wrack - another of the Eternals. Two of the other ships in the race are destroyed and Turlough discovers that this has been brought about by Wrack, using a concentrated beam of mental energy with the aid of the Black Guardian. The Doctor boards Wrack's ship, finds her source of power and, with Turlough's help, ejects her and her number two, Mansell, into space. The Doctor and Turlough then pilot the ship into port - a glowing crystalline structure hanging in space - and, in doing so, win the race. The White Guardian offers a portion of Enlightenment to Turlough, while the Black Guardian demands that the boy give the Doctor over to him in exchange for a huge diamond within a glowing artifact - apparently the prize. Turlough makes his choice: he sweeps the crystal from the table straight toward the Black Guardian, who vanishes in flames. The boy is now free, as Enlightenment was not in fact the crystal but the choice. Quote Striker : "You are not an Ephemeral. You are a... a time dweller. You travel in time." Striker : "You are a Time Lord. A lord of time. Are there lords in such a small domain?" The Doctor : "And where do you function?" Striker : "Eternity... the endless wastes of eternity." After we had finished with the Tardis we were shown the BBC canteen. There was a souvenir shop, so I bought a BBC mug for myself, and a Shaun the Sheep soft toy for my mum, which made cute ‘Baa, baa, baaa’ sounds.
Jeannie and her friend Aurek also bought some BBC mugs. When the tour group had finished buying their BBC souvenirs, we were taken outside again into a courtyard to see a statue and monument. The tour guide with the beard and red zip up top then told us about the architecture of the BBC Television Centre, which I found fascinating.
In the centre of the main block is a statue designed by T.B. Huxley-Jones, of the Greek god of the sun, Helios, which is meant to symbolise the radiation of television light around the world. At the foot of this statue are two reclining figures, symbolising sound and vision, the components of television. This structure was originally a working fountain but due to the building's unique shape it was too noisy and was deactivated. The guide also said that the sound of the running water made the BBC staff workers constantly want to use the toilet, and the wind blew the water onto people that walked past it!
The overall design for Television Centre, from the air, appears to be like a question mark in shape. The architect, Graham Dawbarn, drew a question mark on an envelope (now held by the BBC Written Archives Centre) while thinking about the design of the building, and realised that it would be an ideal shape for the site. I found this fact interesting as well, as the Doctor Who television series sometimes featured a question mark on the Doctor’s costume. Maybe they got the idea for the Doctor’s question mark from the design of the building?
We then left the monument, I was glad to leave there, as the cold wind bellowing round the courtyard made it freezing and quite eerie to stand there. The next place which we were taken to was a television studio. This studio had huge iron doors by one wall and many lights on the ceiling, around four hundred of them. I instantly recognised that we were standing where the Blue Peter children’s show is broadcast from. I used to watch this show a lot as a young boy after school. I have included a few video clips from Blue Peter below.
Then we were taken to the BBC newsroom area. I was surprised at how big this place was, employing hundreds of people to gather news from all over the world. There were big screens giving the BBC staff information to where certain satellites were available for broadcasting. I found it fascinating. The tour guides then took us all up in a lift and we stood in a corridor to see how the BBC weather was filmed. We had a bit of fun with a blue screen weather map seeing the tour guides make the children’s heads and bodies disappear on the screen using a blue cloak. We were told about famous weatherman Michael Fish’s error with getting the weather wrong when there was a hurricane back in 1987. I have included the video below.
Once we had been shown how the BBC weather transmissions work, we were taken to another area of the building. In the corridor, I spotted some famous props in glass cases along the walls. I recognised them from BBC television shows like Doctor Who, East Enders, Children In Need, and Causality.
I saw Davros’ head from Doctor Who, and also a heart operation prop from Causality. The light in the cases gave everything a blackish and grayish sort of eerie hue.
We were then taken into a small room where we all sat down. There were more props along the side of the wall to my left.
I recognised the Psammead creature, or sand fairy from the BBC TV series Five Children and It.
The Psammead looked like a dead alien creature taken from Area 51 sitting on the shelf. I saw the head of android Kryten from Red Dwarf on another shelf.
They all looked a bit creepy, like dead things left there. The tour guides then asked the kids to take part in a quiz, one of the American adults joined in as well. I asked Jeannie to take part in the quiz too, but she didn’t want to. They filmed them and it appeared on TV’s in the room with us. It was a bit like Anne Robinson’s Weakest Link TV Quiz Show. The kids were then asked to do a pretend news item. It was good fun to watch.
Not long after that, it was the end of the tour and we returned back to the reception area. I asked Jeannie to take my picture with a Dalek there. The Dalek was quite loud and scary, as it spoke and moved like a real living Dalek.
It was now nighttime as we left the BBC Television Centre.
Outside the television centre on the other side of the street, there was a shopping centre called Westfield, so we walked towards it. As Jeannie, Aurek and myself walked towards the shopping centre. I took some pictures with my camera along the way.
Inside the shopping centre it was very big and everything looked nice with the lights all lit up. We queued up to get some food and drink. Myself and Jeannie ordered some Vietnamese food, which I have never eaten before, but it looked tasty. I ate a spicy salad and had a mixed fruit juice, it was very good, although a bit too hot with the chili. When we sat together I chatted to Aurek and it was interesting hearing about his artwork. I wish I was a professional artist selling my paintings to galleries, as that would be a great job. After we finished our meal, we got on the Underground train together. I left the Underground at Waterloo, and then I caught the train back to Guildford. I had a great day out, I found it fascinating learning about the history of the BBC Television Centre. Related ContentComments on BBC Television Centre Tour |
|||
