Unitbase.co.uk exclusive agents for the former Merton Studios

A newly formed studio management company led by Piers Read and backed by investor Panther Securities PLC, the listed company on London’s Stock Exchange has purchased Merton Studios from FremantleMedia with the intention of reinventing it into the UK’s elite studio. The deal was concluded earlier this week following months of negotiations between the consortium and Fremantle Media, with a £5m deal rumoured to have secured the freehold & all of its contents. Panther Securities PLC is owned by majority shareholder and Chairman Andrew Perloff, who is well known in the financial sector.

The studio has been the home of ‘The Bill’, produced by Talkback Thames, since 1983. Since ITV decommissioned the production in May this year, operations at the 220,000 square foot studio have gradually been closed down. This is the first time the studio complex can be commercially exploited – until now The Bill being shot onsite has drastically restricted availability to independent Producers to utilise the outstanding facilities on site. This is no longer the case, with the studio now immediately available for hire. This includes two sound stages, that can be utilised as either set build or television entertainment shows. The studio is currently installing state of the art, 3D galleries to provide the industry with a cutting edge facility that can also broadcast live content. The studio gallery will also cater to HD & SD productions.

In addition it has over 50 purpose built sets including some of the hardest to find locations. These include a Prison Police Station, Court Room, Pub, Hospital and exterior street sets, which makes the studio totally unique compared to any other in the UK. There is also an industrial kitchen on site and over 100 production offices available for hire that the studio also plans to undertake leases at with media orientated companies. Also included within the purchase price is HD shooting kit & HD post production facilities as well as over 45,000 costume pieces. It is expected that the studio will attract both the event and photographic industries too.

The new studio management company not yet named and currently in the process of being branded, will be run by Managing Director Piers Read & fellow Director John Brennan. Both men bring highly relevant experience to benefit the studios operation. Piers Read is a former location manager who owns Unitbase.co.uk, one of the industry’s leading location agencies, that since 2003 has successfully ran several production bases in London as alternatives to conventional studio based productions. Unitbase’s clients include Hackney Empire, Westfield London, British Waterways, National Car Parks and Land Securities PLC for the purposes of commercial filming.

Piers has also enjoyed a successful freelance career working as a Line Producer at some of the leading independent production companies, whose credits include Peep Show and The Inbetweeners, working most recently with So Television.

John has been Managing Director of leading hire company Procam Television since 1998 and is a major shareholder. Since its formation in 1991, Procam Television has become one of the leading film & television hire facilities in the UK, working with most major broadcasters, production companies and corporate blue-chip clients both in this country and worldwide. The company moved to a new purpose-built 12,000 sq. ft. facility in London’s Battersea in April 2009 and also has a UK associate company in Manchester. John was instrumental in opening further associated companies in Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. John will drive the technical expertise behind the permanent High Definition 3D TV studio gallery set ups in Stages 1 & 2.

In a statement today Piers Read said “Our mission is to unlock the outstanding commercial potential of the studio, and deliver a world class service to the independent production sector and in doing so create a genuine media hub for industry people to enjoy working within a friendly, professional environment with an array of superb facilities on tap."


“We are thrilled we can offer the industry this truly unique facility. Everyone is welcome to come to the studio and tell us how we can make it work best for them. We can cater to all aspects of production from pre production, to the shoot and through to post production – everything is here and ready to be used. We are excited about to announce certain things over the coming weeks that we know will make the studio even better”

The studio is already undertaking bookings, being handled by Unitbase.co.uk on 020 7239 8906 or info@unitbase.co.uk

Our (Indian) Summer Locations

2010 has been a great year for Summer Blockbusters such as Inception, from British born Director Christopher Nolan. So, to celebrate this years summer blockbusters we thought it would be quite cool to show you some of the locations that have been sourced from the Unitbase.co.uk database and then used in some great Summer Blockbusters (well almost summer)!

RocknRolla - South Dock
Want a gangster film set in London? Queue Guy Richie and RocknRolla! He wanted his bad guy to be holed up on a huge lavish yacht but with an urban backdrop. Where better then than South Dock, providing simply some of the best views of Londons financial district, Canary Wharf.

In The Loop - Swakeleys Park (Vyners House)
Swakeleys Park is a huge estate, within which is a stunning Jacobean manor house. The main house was used for some interior Downing Street locations, however it was the modern office building on site - Vyners House, that proved to be a great success for the production, becoming a perfect location for the MPs offices. Click here to see the location as it is right now...

4321 - Westfield London
Noel Clarke, loved this location and loved that he was able to use such a high profile property in such fantastic ways. Not only did the production get some great action scenes along the Southern Terrace, but they were also able to put together some of the title sequence by using the Atrium as well as the North West entrance. All in all a good three days spent...Click here to see more images of the centre.

Harry Brown - Regents Canal
The Micheal Caine movie Harry Brown, needed that sinister and slightly edgy location to go with this raw UK film all about revenge. UK born, Caine, takes it on himself to go after the gangs that have taken up residence in his neighbourhood. The production used a stretch of the Regents Canal to provide the location with the atmosphere that they needed. It was a great success!

LOG ON TO THE NEWS PAGES AT WWW.UNITBASE.CO.UK TO SEE THESE GREAT LOCATIONS AND LOADS MORE!

Bring Unitbase.co.uk some more Blockbusters!
We really do have some of the best locations in the industry, so if you are working on the next Blockbuster, (or feature film, TV Drama or commercial) we will have something for you! Our range of locations never stops growing so log on to unitbase.co.uk and have a look through the huge list of properties, OR if you are in a rush and need something new then click on our NEWS PAGES button to see what is hot off the press!