During the 1956/57 refurbishment of Television Theatre, production moved to the King’s Theatre, Hammersmith.
This theatre was another old music hall that had been built in 1902 and had an original capacity of around 1,500. The theatre was to be found in Hammersmith Road, on the corner with Rowan Road, W14. The BBC took it over in 1954 and it was put on the market by them in 1958, selling it the following year.
Mike Jones kindly informed me that a competition that sounds very much like a cross between the Eurovision Song Contest and The X-Factor took place in 1956. It had the catchy title of Festival of British Popular Songs and the final was transmitted from here on 22nd October. The winning song was ‘Everybody Falls in Love With Someone’ and was sung by Dennis Lotis – a useful fact for the next pub quiz? Shirley Abicaire came second – no doubt sporting her zither.
A couple of other shows made here were Great Scott it’s Maynard starring Terry Scott and Bill Maynard and at least one edition of This Is Your Life in December 1956.
The theatre was demolished in 1963.
photo thanks to Maurice Fleischer
Note the similar layout of camera positions at the Kings Theatre to Television Theatre. The programme shown here is unknown. Any ideas?
