Introduction

I normally update this page each January – this is the 2026 update.

 

 

The increase in film stages continues, despite the slowdown in commissioning content by the High-End TV streamers.

 

Since this website was launched in 2006 there have been many changes.  2020 and 2021 were of course years of huge disruption but despite the industry having to cope with Covid restrictions and many productions being postponed or cancelled, ways were found to work around the problem.  By the end of 2020 most TV and film studios were coping well with the restrictions and were almost as busy as ever.  The upward trend built throughout 2021 and into 2022, despite the various waves of infection.

However, just when the industry seemed to be back on its feet, there were two significant disputes that, although being US based, affected many film studios in the UK.  The Writers’ Guild of America went on strike between May and September 2023, and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) were on strike between July and November.

Almost every film studio in the UK was affected by this.  The larger ones such as Pinewood, Shepperton and Leavesden were described to me as ‘ghost towns.’  This also affected thousands of freelancers who rely upon what until then had been regular well-paid employment.  I gather that many have not returned to the industry, having found new jobs.

In 2023 and 2024, increasing inflation and interest rates across Britain, Europe and the US also caused major rethinks in budgets and schedules by all the producers of television content.  This inevitably affected the demand on studio space.  The slump began to recover in 2025 but nowhere near to the levels of 2022.

 

In July 2024, a poll of 2,375 workers by BECTU indicated that nearly four out of 10 (38%) film and TV workers planned to leave the sector within five years, up marginally from its February 2024 survey (37% ) and a major jump from its September 2023 poll (24%).  These are very disturbing statistics.

Confirming that things were not likely to improve soon, in March 2025 the BBC announced that spending on TV content would fall by £76m from £1.89bn the previous year to £1.82bn.  According to their Annual Plan: “Despite strong growth from BBC commercial, the BBC faces an unprecedented content funding challenge, as co-production partnerships with global streamers and media companies have reduced across the sector,” 

 

Unfortunately, there are a number of commentators who think that the boom days are over.  An article in economicsobservatory.com published in January 2025 was typically pessimistic.  Read it here:   Why is the UK film and television sector struggling? – Economics Observator

They point out the following:

During the post-pandemic boom, streaming giants like Amazon and Netflix bought up long leases at UK studio spaces such as Pinewood.  These block bookings ‘stoked demand for space’, raising costs and squeezing smaller film-makers (Croft, 2024).

But shortly after this spending spree, many firms, including Disney, Warner Bros and Comcast (another American media giant), began ‘slashing their content budgets’.  This was partly because high levels of inflation in Europe, the UK and the United States were squeezing household budgets, with many people choosing to reduce spending on luxuries, including cancelling entertainment subscriptions – known as ‘cutting the cord’.

 

However, perhaps there are now glimmers of recovery in High-End TV.  In September 2024, the editor of Cinematography World wrote the following:  ‘With Amazon’s recent purchase of Bray Studios in the UK, a substantial spending pledge by Disney, plus positive word amongst industry leaders we’re close to, business is slowly picking up.  For anyone thinking the opposite, the message is… there is hope!’

In February 2025 the BFI issued a report covering the previous year that was relatively optimistic.  Film and high-end TV production spend in the UK totalled £5.6 billion in 2024, up 31% from 2023’s £4.6 billion.  The majority of this production spend was in High-End TV, which produced £3.4 billion in 2024 (up from £2.9 billion the year before).  However, the BFI noted that there were fewer films being made, albeit with higher budgets.

 

Despite the slowdown in production, 2023, ’24 and ‘25 saw studios specialising in film and high-end television (HETV) based in and to the west of London continue to expand.  From 2016, around 186 sound stages opened over the decade up to 2025.  A number also opened around the rest of the UK too but nothing like this amount.

 

Just let that extraordinary figure sink in.  If you’re wondering how it can possibly be that many, here’s how:  Pinewood 14, Shepperton 17, WB Leavesden 16, Longcross North 2, Longcross South 15, Eastbrook Dagenham 12, Shinfield 18, Sky Elstree 12, Ealing 1, Elstree Studios 2, Bray 2, Bovingdon 5, Arborfield 3, Troubadour Meridian Water 6, Troubadour Brent Cross 3, Wharf Studios 6, Hoddeston 5,  Garden Studios 9, West London 4, OMA:One 4, OMA:X 6, OMA:V 3, London North 5, Apple Symmetry 4, Winnersh (Parkside) 2, Wycombe 1, RD Studios 5, Farnborough 2, The Story Works 2.

 

Not included above are the following: 10 new stages at WB Leavesden began to be built in 2024.  Gillette Building Studios were given permission in March 2025 to construct 6 new stages.  Marlow Studios (18 stages), were at last given planning permission by the government in November 2025.  We might expect them to open from 2028.  Sky Elstree North was also given the green light and another 10 stages will open by 2028.  Fairbanks Studios with 5 stages are under construction and will open from 2027.  Langlebury is due to open 4 stages from 2027.  (Pinewood plan to build possibly 5 more stages but only if a streamer books them for an extended period so this is by no means certain.) 

Bray is now owned by Amazon MGM.  They opened 2 more temporary stages in 2024 but announced that they would be spending millions on upgrading the facilities there.  The assumption is that they will be going ahead with the facilities previously given planning permission so they will end up with 5 new stages by about 2028 (assuming that the 2 temporary stages will be replaced.)

So that’s another 56 sound stages opening between 2026 and 2028/29.

 

 

NB:  In 2026 Hoddeston Studios, where Silo is based, will close.  Also, Arborfield will close in 2026 when its planning permission ends.  Meanwhile, Wycombe, with 1 stage is due to become a data centre in the next two or three years.

Longcross South has been busy in recent years with its 15 stages.  However, they have to leave the site by the end of 2027.  The probability is that the work currently being done there will be taken up by the other studios west of London.  However, it is possible that the owners might move the stages to a new site.  I have not assumed this to be the case.

So, by 2028 London could have around 218 new sound stages that have opened since 2016.  These of course in addition to the many that have existed for much longer at studios like Pinewood, Shepperton, Leavesden, etc.

There are unfortunately exceptions to this expansion:  Sunset Studios, due to open in Waltham Cross with 22 stages, were cancelled in March 2025.  HOP Studios in Bedfordshire had their planning application for 22 sound stages and supporting facilities passed in 2023 but in January 2025 it was announced that the project would not be going ahead.

Incidentally, I haven’t included here the extraordinary proposed studios at Camden Film Quarter.  These are at the planning stage in Jan 2026.  The scheme includes 8 large sound stages, with two towers of three on top of each other!  The other two are in the basement.  If it does go ahead, it is unlikely to be available till about 2029/30.  Frankly, nobody can predict whether there will any demand for such facilities by then.

My guess is that no more major proposals will be forthcoming.  The film and high-end TV industry will probably settle down to exist – indeed, hopefully thrive – with the facilities it has available.  If more facilities are needed for a particular project then rapid-build temporary stages can be erected to cope with demand, provided by companies like Acorn Structures and Serious Stages.  (Sadly, Stage 50 were taken into administration in April 2024.)

 

It is worth noting that although tax incentives are targeted to help the UK film industry, the revaluation of business rates that took effect in England and Wales on the 1st April 2023 became a significant new cost for studios.  Another unwelcome revaluation takes place in 2026.  2023 into 2024 also saw a large increase in interest rates and construction costs due to inflation.

In his March 2024 Budget, Jeremy Hunt announced a 40% reduction on business rates for film studios, to last for 10 years.  This was confirmed by the new Labour government the following October but unfortunately, it did not come into effect until 17th February 2025.  Better late than never.  This is a welcome change but insufficient to cover the overall increase – and construction costs still remain high.

 

Two new issues will possibly affect the industry in 2026.  The first is whether Trump’s threatened tariffs on film and TV made outside the US will actually happen.  Nobody seems to know how this can be made to work but the uncertainty could affect where productions are made.   The second is the impending sale of Warner Bros. to Netflix.  Netflix have said they will film more productions in the US, so this could affect studios here in the UK.  Netflix currently use Shepperton and Longcross North – so would they consolidate their base at WB Leavesden?  Who knows?

People sometimes claim that the London area has become the ‘new Hollywood’ but comparisons are tricky.  According to the 2024 Los Angeles Film Report there are 477 certified sound stages in Greater Los Angeles.  This figure also includes stages being used to make multicamera television shows.  As of 2026 the main 7 Hollywood studios (Universal, Sunset, Warners, Paramount, Sony, Fox, Disney) had a total of 172 sound stages.  

In January 2026 the London area had about 282 sound stages.  As mentioned above, many more stages are in development.

How is the film and HETV industry doing?

Despite the setbacks in 2023 and 2024, the film and high-end TV drama industry remains vital to the British economy.  Tax incentives were first introduced in 2007 and have helped to attract billions of pounds in inward investment money from the US streamers and studios, reaching record levels in 2022.  These incentives were improved further in the March 2024 Budget and again in 2025.

In 2023 inward investment and co-production spend on film and high-end television in the UK was £3.3bn.  That year was disappointing due to the US actors and writers strikes.  2024 remained slow to recover to the previous level of activity but 2025 showed some signs of growth.

2022 was the best year for the industry, with a record £6.3bn spent on film and HETV production in the UK, up 11.1% on 2021.  According to figures published in February 2023 by the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit, film and high-end production was up £1.8bn on 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year.  It is possible that we might see figures approaching those in 2026.

The BFI issued a report in February 2025 that was far more upbeat about 2024 than perhaps many people expected.  It showed that inward investment and co-production in the UK on film and HETV was £4.8bn in 2024, up 43% on 2023 figures and making up 86% of the total spend.

The total spend on film and high-end television production in the UK was £5.6bn in 2024, a 31% increase on 2023 and ahead of 2019 pre-covid production spend.  (2022 was the best year so far, with £6.3bn).

Film production hit £2.1bn, an increase of 56% on 2023; HETV production was nearly £3.4bn, an increase of 20% on 2023 and still third highest annual spend since tax relief was introduced in 2013.

UK domestic film production spend was £186m, a 24% increase on 2023 and 9% of the total spend on film.  However, UK domestic HETV production spend was £598m, 17% of total HETV production, and a 22% decrease on 2023.

 

So do we really need even more stages?

 

According to a report published in 2022 by Knight Frank, the UK at that point had around 6 million sq ft of production space.  60% of this was in London and the South East.  Total production spend was forecast to double over the following 5 years so they thought it was reasonable that this would mean an additional 6 million sq ft was required by 2026 if the sector was to keep pace with growing demand.

In October 2023 Knight Frank published an updated report.  By then the UK had nearly 7 million sq ft of stage space with 71% in London and the South East. 

According to the report, Netflix was the third-highest spender on content in the UK, after Sky and the BBC.   All three, along with ITV and Channel 4, had been suffering from reduced revenue.  It was anticipated that the days of rapid increase in content spend were over.  However, the streaming platforms and film companies are continuing to increase spending, albeit at a lower rate than the past few years.

Although the report acknowledged that the rate of increase in film and HETV spending was not as high as it had been, it did predict that total production spend would reach £8.7 billion by 2028.  The additional £2.4 billion in spending between 2023 and then would need around 2.6 million sq ft of additional studio space.  This is what they describe as a ‘centrist’ view, so the actual figure could be somewhat higher or lower.  In other words, those film studios currently proposed and being constructed are still needed.

 

According to the 2023 Knight Frank report:

 

‘Our analysis of the current development pipeline indicates that there is 3.8 million sq ft of planned stages across the top 11 developments, though just 852,000 sq ft of this space is currently under construction.  In addition to these top 11 developments, other, smaller schemes are either planned or underway, which will bolster these numbers.  However, based on demand projections, the amount of space currently under construction is likely to be insufficient to support the anticipated growth in the coming years.’

 

Despite the evidence above, some people suggest that we are planning to build too many new sound stages and some will be forced to close.  While the long-term demand remains from US feature film companies and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and the rest of the streamers – as well as the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4 etc – then the industry will continue to look extremely healthy.  Of course, this partly depends on whether the government continues to offer attractive tax breaks to production companies.  Other countries are expanding their facilities too so it is vital that the UK does not slip behind.  Some years ago many films were made in Eastern Europe because it became financially attractive to do so and this could easily happen again if the UK government takes its eye off the ball. 

Fortunately, the current government does seem to be aware of the importance of supporting the industry.  However, pressure must be maintained on them in future years to ensure that the UK remains competitive in a world market.

 

 

Of course, the biggest challenge facing the industry is supplying sufficient well-trained, talented crew in all departments.  In June 2022 a Screenskills report predicted that the High-End TV industry would be worth £7.7bn by 2025, requiring between 15,130 and 20,770 extra crew to meet demand.  With Brexit preventing the easy movement of experienced people from mainland Europe, really good quality training of local people is absolutely essential to maintaining the high reputation of the UK film and TV industry. 

2023, 2024 and 2025 have, however, been a disastrous period for thousands of freelancers.  The amount of work available was a fraction of what had become normal.  This surfeit of available talent will hopefully be short-lived so maintaining an effectively supply of well-trained people will once again become an issue.

Definitions:

 

There is understandable confusion about the difference between a studio and a stage.  In the movie world a ‘studio’ can mean a company that makes feature films (Universal, Disney etc) or it can mean a site with a number of large rooms in which films are made.  The site is usually referred to in the plural – thus ‘Pinewood Studios.’  However, each large room is not commonly referred to as a studio but is called a ‘stage’ and if it is soundproofed it is more accurately called a ‘sound stage’.  Confusingly, in the television world a studio is what the large room itself is called. 

A site containing several television studios is, I suppose, referred to as a ‘studio centre’.  Thus, Television Centre now has three ‘studios’ but Shepperton Studios has thirty-one ‘sound stages’.

To be really picky, one should refer to a show being made IN a television studio and ON a sound stage.

 

Even more bafflingly, ITV Productions changed its name to ‘ITV Studios’ several years ago, followed in 2016 by the BBC’s in-house programme-making department, which is now called ‘BBC Studios’.  ‘BBC Studios’ do not own any actual studios.  (I know – that’s completely bonkers but true.)   They are free to make their shows wherever they wish – which for a number of years used to include ITV’s own TV studios, which were called The London Studios.  Sadly, these no longer exist so ITV now make many of their programmes in the BBC studios at Television Centre.  I do hope you are keeping up with all this. 

The BBC’s TV studios in London are run by a company called BBC Studioworks – and they often hire their studios out to programmes that are being made not only for ITV but also for Channel 4 or Sky.  Confused?  I’ve hardly started.

 

I have defined a television studio as one with a flat lino or resin floor upon which camera dollies can move freely without using tracks.  It will also have a control gallery suite with all the necessary electronics and communications but not necessarily its own cameras.  One or two studios prefer to hire these in on a day to day basis. 

The studio will in most cases have a lighting grid with monopoles (sometimes called telescopes) or motorised bars (sometimes called hoists or ‘boats’) enabling fast pre-rigging and easy changes to the rig on the day.

 

A great deal of television drama is shot using a single digital camera and interiors are frequently shot on sound stages.  Within the remit of this website, this does not make such stages ‘television studios’ – they still remain sound stages.  I hope this makes some sort of sense as a sound stage is a far more basic and simple space than a television studio.  A sound stage is in essence a soundproofed large room with a power supply available for lighting, and a simple but very strong overhead grid – usually steel ‘runway’ beams several feet apart – although many stages converted from industrial premises don’t even have this.  The floor may be wooden or concrete but certainly not smooth enough to run a camera dolly along without tracks.

Having said the above, I have included film studios as television drama is so important to our economy as well as our culture – especially with the rise of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+ and other streamers in recent years.

 

Incidentally – I do on occasions refer to an OB ‘scanner’.  This is industry jargon for an outside broadcast control vehicle, which contains production control, sound control and vision control for several cameras.  However, it is a term that is hardly used any more – most people now refer to these vehicles as OB ‘trucks’.

 

 

Measuring studios:

 

Film stages are usually measured in feet and square feet, possibly due to the historic influence of the US film industry.  A film stage is basically an empty box, in which sets are built and  then lit.  The position of the set within the space is not absolutely critical – unless it will only just fit or has to line up with things like a tank in the floor or variations in the grid height.

TV studios work differently.  The lighting rig is put in before the set is built.  The lighting director will have designed the rig, working from scale drawings given to him or her by the set designer.  It is therefore essential that the set is built in the studio exactly where the LD expects it to be. 

To assist the scene crew, most TV studios have footage markings along each wall.  In some newer studios these are in metres or half metres but most older studios have markings in ‘metric feet.’  This curious measurement was invented by the BBC in the 1960s and is an ingenious way of enabling scenery to be built using metric measurements whilst retaining the concept of ‘feet.’  Each metric foot is 30cm long.   You may recall your old school ruler having 12 inches on one side and 30cm on the other.

An old BBC ruler indicating 300mm metric feet.

 

TV studio sizes are still almost always measured in feet and square feet.  Confusingly, the gross size of a studio is usually stated in actual square feet but length and width are usually measured in ‘metric feet.’  This is because most TV studios have a clearly marked fire lane running around the outside of the working area.  This is normally about 4 feet (1.2m) wide.  The working area is measured in metric feet – so might be 90 x 70 (a very useful size.)  In fact, a studio marked as being 90 metric feet long is actually only about 88ft 6 inches. But let’s not worry ourselves over that.