History

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Over 100 years in Ealing

Static HTML image The infamous Ealing Studios, which is renowned for some of the best loved British comedies, celebrated its 100th birthday in 2002.

Will Barker, who was one of the earliest proponents of the moving picture camera, founded the Studio in 1902. One of the great names in British entertainment, Ealing Studios is famous around the world as the home to the great Ealing comedies of the 1940's and 1950's, and is the oldest film studio in the world still in production.

Static HTML image Ealing Studios put Ealing on the map culturally. The studio boasts some great comedy classics the British Film industry has ever seen such as Kind Hearts And Coronets - where Alec Guinness, left, played eight different characters - The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers and Whiskey Galore.

The studios were taken over by the BBC in 1955, and bits of Ealing started appearing in television programmes ranging from Doctor Who to Monty Pyhton's Flying Circus.

One of Ealing Studio's latest productions was an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest which boasts a cast such as Dame Judi Dench, pictured below, Colin Firth and Rupert Everett.

Static HTML image The Importance of Being Earnest was the first film to be produced at the studios for 43 years and is just the first of many major releases to be made there in recent times.

As the art of film-making moves into the 21st century so do the plans for the great Ealing Studios. The studios are being rebuilt and redeveloped to house Europe's leading next generation studio.

Ealing Studios is redeveloping the 3.8 acre site in West London to the cost of £50 million and work is already on the way to complete the new state of the art film and television studios.

Sean Hinton, managing director at Ealing Studios said: "What we always said we would do is two things when we bought Ealing Studios. Firstly to rebuild and redevelop the studios so that it is a facility that would serve film and television production for another 100 years and secondly to re-launch Ealing Studios as a production company as it was in the 1940s and 50s in the Hollywood sense. "