Bovingdon Airfield (including ITV studio)

2017 – present

(Revised August 2024)

 

 

 

 

Bovingdon Airfield is located south-west of Hemel Hempstead, north of the M25 about 8 miles from Leavesden Studios.  It closed as an airfield in 1972.  Most of the old wartime military buildings have been demolished and the area where they once stood is now occupied by a prison.  For 40 years one of the notable things about the airfield was that it held the UK’s largest Saturday market.  This moved from the site in August 2022.

Also located at Bovingdon is a VOR navigation beacon.  This is one of four used by aircraft approaching Heathrow – they orbit the beacon at various altitudes waiting for permission to land.

 

RAF Bovingdon (not to be confused with Bovington Camp in Dorset, where the army has its tank museum) was constructed as a bomber airfield in 1942.  After a few months’ use it was handed over to the USAAF who based several squadrons here during the war, mostly flying B-17 Flying Fortresses.  The airfield was the location for the Eighth Airforce HQ and General Eisenhower’s personal B-17 was housed at the base.  It returned to RAF use in 1947 and became a diversion airfield for commercial flights as it was often clear when Heathrow and Northolt were fog-bound.  BEA also used the airfield for commercial flights and BOAC had a maintenance base here.

Bovingdon was then handed back to the USAF between 1951 and 1963, when C-47 Skytrains were located here.  After the USAF left, the airfield was used as a base for the Air Training Corps, who had gliders here between 1968 and 1970.  Bovingdon closed as an airfield in 1972 and the land was offered back to the owners of the original farms that were taken over during the war.  That is the explanation for the boundaries between the current business owners.

Ewan Ward-Thomas has contacted me with a fascinating story:

‘I’m researching the unique design of a Dome Trainer in 1940, a virtual reality cinema to train anti-aircraft gunners at sea and in the air.  This was designed by my grandfather, Henry Stephens, for the Royal Navy.
The Dome Trainer was 25ft tall and 40ft wide. Projection equipment inside the Dome played film of aircraft and dive bombers making mock attacks that was projected on the interior walls of the Dome. The image was moved around the dome using a complicated system of cameras & mirrors, with full sound creating a realistic experience for the gunners who sat in the middle of the Dome with an anti-aircraft gun replica.
300 units were deployed around the world including Bovingdon, filming as part of the Avengers series.’

Here’s a link to Ewan’s book about the Dome:  Pen and Sword Books: Titles by Ewan Ward-Thomas (pen-and-sword.co.uk)  The Avengers episode he mentions is called The Hour That Never Was and in it, Steed enters the Dome (signed ‘Fall Out Shelter’) and is deafened by a mysterious sound.  Great stuff!

 

 

 

Filming at Bovingdon during the years as an active airfield

 

The airfield has been used for various feature films over many years including Battle of Britain, Mosquito Squadron and The Man With The Golden Gun.  In 1962 scenes for The War Lover, starring Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner were filmed here, using three B-17 bombers sourced from the US.  

The classic 1964 war film 633 Squadron (available as a DVD or on Amazon Prime) shows the airfield very well.  The distinctive control tower, which still exists and is due to be restored, is featured prominently.  Scenes for the David Essex movie Silver Dream Racer, released in 1981, were also shot here.

TV dramas to use the airfield many years ago included Blake’s 7 and The Avengers (see above) – and the opening title sequence of The Prisoner, with Patrick McGoohan driving his Lotus Seven, is said to have been shot on one of the runways back in 1966.

 

 

 

ITV Studio

 

Dancing On Ice was a popular programme made by ITV in George Lucas Stage 2 at Elstree between 2006 and 2014, apart from 2011 when it was made at Shepperton.  It was then axed and was assumed to have run its course.  However, in Jan/Feb 2018, ITV brought it back with a few format changes but the stage at Elstree was unavailable so an alternative studio had to be found.  Clearly it had to be large enough to accommodate the ice rink and surrounding set so this limited the options.

In fact, they decided to create a temporary studio on the land owned by Bovingdon Airfield Studios.  This consisted of a structure similar to those used for exhibitions or events.  It had PVC sheets at the gable ends and thin, uninsulated panels in the side walls – described to me rather brutally as a huge tent.  A smaller enclosure was erected alongside to house a practice rink for the contestants.  This experiment was not entirely successful.  It was very cold inside and the structure moved alarmingly in any wind – I’m told that the follow-spot operators who were hanging from a truss had difficulty following the skaters at times, as they were swung about by the flexing metalwork.  When the ‘Beast From the East’ struck the UK, the gable end blew in and parts of the roof tore off.  Not an experience any of those involved wished to repeat.

 

The principle of using Bovingdon was deemed a good idea but it was acknowledged that the structure they used for the 2018 series was less than ideal.  So in the summer of that year a far more substantial space was erected by specialist staging company Acorn Structures.  It has 80mm insulated panels in the walls and sits on a bespoke concrete pad.  This stage is 229 x 114ft wall to wall with a 5ft firelane running all round the working area.  Working height is 60ft.  So, pretty big as TV studios go.  In fact, enormous.  Large enough to accommodate the main DOI set at one end and the practice rink behind a black drape at the other.

I have visited the studio and it really is impressive.  The roof structure has a very high weight loading, enabling trussing to be rigged anywhere you choose.  Very complex lighting and sound rigs can be carried out.  Alongside, and connected via a corridor is a supporting ‘village’ of temporary buildings that feel very permanent when you are in them.  There are ample dressing rooms, wardrobe stores, offices, green rooms etc for the largest of productions.

There is a 1.25MW high voltage power supply to the site, which is more than sufficient.  The live shows use generators in case of a power cut but in the first year of use, generators had to supply power every day throughout the run of the series – a constant stream of fuel tankers came and went.  Thank goodness this is no longer necessary.

When I visited, the production gallery was an OB truck from Telegenic – with its double folding sides it formed a larger room than in any permanent studio I have seen.  The cameras were racked in a temporary building alongside and lighting control was in another large and comfortable temporary building.  All very impressive indeed.

 

 

The 2019 series of Dancing On Ice was the first TV show to use this facility and later that year it was the location for the UK version of The Masked Singer – a format originating in South Korea.  The sheer size of the building enabled a set to be built that looked massive on camera.  More series were recorded in 2021 ’22 and ’23.  The 2020, ’21, ’22 ’23 and ’24 series of DOI were also made in this studio and ITV’s talent show Starstruck was recorded here in 2021.  Although owned by ITV, the facility has been used to record several series of Michael McIntyre’s popular BBC1 gameshow The Wheel and in 2019 the stage was used to film a 3-part adaptation of A Christmas Carol, starring Guy Pearce, for BBC1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The land currently operated by Bovingdon Airfield Studios was requisitioned and taken over by the Government in 1940 before being offered back as farmland in the seventies.  The land was, and remains, in ownership of the successful Mash farming family that has a rich heritage dating to late 18th century London and which expanded its fruit and vegetable growing to Chesham orchards when it purchased the first of many Buckinghamshire farms during Queen Victoria’s reign in 1896.  Today WJ & M Mash farms over 1,300 acres of arable and breeds champion French Limousin cattle – one of the UK’s premier beef producing animals.

 

Bovingdon Airfield Studios have hosted several films on their land in recent years.  Wembley Stadium (or at least, part of it) was constructed here for the Live Aid scenes in Bohemian Rhapsody and some of the World War 1 trenches that feature in the film 1917 were dug here.  Other recent movies to have shot scenes here have included Star Wars Rogue One,  Justice League, Fast and Furious 6, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt1, Fury, Anna Karenina, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Man vs Bee, Cyrano, Venom, Last Night in Soho, Cruella, Eurovision The Story of Fire Saga, David Copperfield, Unwelcome, Argyle, See How They Run and Deadpool vs Wolverine.  Recent TV dramas have included Humans 3 (2017), Good Omens (2019), Britannia 2 (2019), The Good Liar (2019) and Last Christmas (2019).  Some scenes for Masters of the Air were shot here but most of it was filmed on specially constructed sets at Newland Park, near Chalfont St Giles.

 

In 2020 a production company asked if they could build a temporary stage on the main runway, as well as some exterior sets.  The owners of the business decided to take the opportunity to clear an earth bund and the stage was constructed in a more suitable place next to the runway.  Then more requests for temporary stages came along and they decided to bite the bullet and construct some permanent stages.  This was due to a request from the production company making season 2 of The Rings of Power for Amazon Prime TV.  They had already booked all the stages at Bray but needed additional stage space here at Bovingdon as well as building some exterior sets.  Filming commenced in 2022 and wrapped in the summer of 2023.

Several planning applications were made in the autumn of 2020 and again in May, June, August and September 2021.  These related to proposals to construct the three permanent sound stages and to clear areas enabling those to be used as a back lot for filming or temporary workshops.  Permission was granted in November 2021.

 

 

In January 2023 there were three temporary stages as well as the three permanent ones.  There are also 12 workshops located around the site.  A cafe called Base One was opened in 2023 and the first temporary stage (stage A) was dismantled during the same year.  The area it occupied is due to have a permanent stage built on it in 2024.

The dimensions of the existing stages are as follows:  Stage B – 206 x 131ft (27,000 sq ft), Stage C – 188 x 111ft (21,000 sq ft), Stage D – 131 x 206ft (27,000 sq ft).  These are all impressively large and have been built to a high specification.  They have acoustic cladding and soundproof elephant doors.  The dimensions of the two temporary stages are not known but look to be similar.

 

The work done so far represents phase 1 of the development of the site as a film studio.  The area with the permanent stages is known as the North Hub.  To the south of that will be phase 2 – the Central Hub.  Construction is due to commence early in 2025.  This will consist of office space, shared facilities and amenities such as a gym, canteen, multi-storey car park, and post-production and screening spaces.  A fifth sound stage will also be constructed.  This area will all be created with environmental considerations uppermost, including green roofs and the planting of many trees and shrubs.

The old WWII control tower will be rebuilt and restored in its original style to become the head office of Bovingdon Airfield Studios.  It will include a memorial to the airmen based at Bovingdon who lost their lives in the Second World War.  An excellent idea.

 

Phase 3 is to complete the South Hub.  This will happen in the near future and the details will be driven by the needs of the industry.  Possibly 4 permanent stages will replace the current temporary ones and there may be a water tank and additional areas for exterior sets.  Indeed, plenty of space for building exterior sets remains a major selling point for these studios with several large areas of grass and hard standing available.

In an interview with Cinematography World, Bovingdon Airfield Studios managing director Harvey Mash is quoted as saying,  “Within our masterplan vision we would like to evolve the site to become a complex with a total of 240,000 square feet of sound stages, 200,000 sq ft of production offices, 100,000 sq ft of workshops and 60 acres of multi-surface backlot.”  He also said “Our site has been designed with sustainability and user friendliness being at the centre of our design brief.”

I have also been told that the studios have been warmly supported by local people and that the business has formed a close working relationship with the neighbouring prison, offering employment opportunities at the studios – which sounds a very positive thing to me.

 

 

I’m grateful to Cinematography World for much of the information regarding the expansion of the studios.