After 53 years, the legendary BBC Commissionaires will be closing the doors of BBC Television Centre for the final time on Easter Sunday, in order that it can be redeveloped into a hotel, flats, a cinema and office space.

The iconic circular building was allegedly inspired by a question mark scribbled on the back of an envelope by it’s architect, but far more importantly than it’s unique design and subsequent Grade II Listed status, BBC Television Centre became a creative hothouse and TV programme factory for some of the most iconic programmes on British television in the last 50 years!! As a flavour, these include Dad’s Army, I Claudius, Fawlty Towers, Top of the Pops, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Morecambe & Wise Show, The Two Ronnies, Blue Peter and Doctor Who, which only caresses the tip of this great monolithic iceberg!!

To pay tribute to the half century of programme-making at BBC Television Centre, on Friday night BBCFour brought together BBC luminaries and broadcasting veterans including Sir Terry Wogan, Sir David Attenborough, Sir Michael Parkinson and Sir Bruce Forsyth, who  shared their TV Centre anecdotes with Sir Michael Grade. It wasn’t so much the “Knights of the Round Table” as the “Knights of the Round Building”!!

The general concensus of opinion expressed on BBC Four’s “Goodbye Television Centre” was that the BBC were making a terrible mistake closing the venerable institution that has been BBC Television Centre. The fact that this opinion was in the main expressed by septagenarian former presenters and actors, heavily steeped in nostalgia and sentiment for the “good old days”, doesn’t diminish the value of their opinion, but equally you would not expect them at their age to embrace change and progress willingly!!

However change, progress and new technology do not detract in any way from the wealth of high quality and high calibre programme making that took place between the walls of BBC Television Centre for over 50 years. As a reminder of the brillliance of the BBC and in tribute to BBC Television Centre, here are the Recordpress Top 5 Best BBC Dramas, Top 5 Best BBC Sitcoms & Top 5 Best BBC Light Entertainment Programmes –

Top 5 Best BBC Dramas

1) I Claudius ( 1976 )

2) The Six Wives of Henry VIII ( 1970 )

3) Elizabeth R ( 1971 )

4) Onedin Line ( 1971-1980 )

5) Abigail’s Party ( 1977 )

Top 5 Best BBC Sitcoms

1) Fawlty Towers

2) Only Fools & Horses

3) The Good Life

4) Porridge

5) Butterflies

Top 5 Best BBC Light Entertainment Programmes

1) Morecambe & Wise Show

2) Top Of The Pops

3) The Two Ronnies

4) Blue Peter

5) Multi Coloured Swapshop

Which are your all time favourite BBC Programmes / Shows and why? Let us know in the Reply Box below.

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