In December 2026, Elstree Studios will mark the centenary of its official opening. As that milestone approaches, a new campaign has now begun to ask BAFTA to formally recognise the contribution of Elstree and Borehamwood to British cinema and television with a Special BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the 2027 ceremony.
The proposal, submitted to BAFTA earlier this year, calls for recognition not of a single studio, but of Elstree and Borehamwood as the UK’s unique studio town — a place where multiple film and television studios have operated continuously across more than a century, forming a long-running, interconnected production ecosystem unlike anywhere else in Britain.
A unique studio town
Film-making in Borehamwood and Elstree began in 1914, and over time the town has been home to eight major film and television studio sites, operating under different owners and across different eras, but collectively sustaining one of the most concentrated centres of screen production in the world. Together, these studios have produced thousands of films and television programmes, many of which have reached the top of the global box office and helped define British screen culture internationally.
Rather than a single studio site, Elstree and Borehamwood represents a multi-site studio ecosystem, embedded within a town whose identity, workforce and global reputation have been shaped by screen production for generations.
Elstree “firsts”
The significance of Elstree and Borehamwood lies not only in the scale of production, but in the number of industry firsts that took place here.
These include:
- the first purpose-built dark stage in Europe
- the first film studio in the world to install Dolby sound, with Ray Dolby himself coming to Elstree to oversee the installation
- the first British feature-length sound film, Blackmail (1929)
- the first British musical feature, Elstree Calling (1930)
- the first Oscar win for a film made outside the United States, The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
- the first British “zombie” film, The Ghoul (19330
- The Dark Crystal (1982), the first live-action feature to feature no human or animal characters, marking the birth of modern cinema animatronics
- the promotional film for Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, widely regarded as the first modern music video
- the development of Add-a-Vision, an early form of video assist that changed how directors, performers and camera departments work together
Taken together, these moments demonstrate how Elstree and Borehamwood repeatedly shaped film and television practice — technically, creatively and culturally.
A place of work, training and skills
Just as importantly, Elstree and Borehamwood has been a world-class centre for training, skills development and production. For generations of British craftspeople — editors, camera crews, set builders, sound engineers, production designers, art directors, costume designers, model makers, puppeteers, animatronic designers, performers, directors and producers — the studios have been a place where skills are learned, refined and passed on over long careers.
This living workforce heritage is central to why Elstree and Borehamwood matters: not simply as a historical site, but as an ongoing contributor to the British screen industries.
Why a BAFTA Special Award — and why now?
In 2009, BAFTA awarded Pinewood and Shepperton Studios the Special Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, recognising their long-standing role in the UK film industry. That recognition was well deserved. But in 2026 Borehamwood is still waiting for equal recognition.
As Elstree Studios enters its centenary year, the case for equivalent recognition of Elstree and Borehamwood — as a studio town rather than a single site — has never been stronger.
The proposal submitted to BAFTA has already received a positive response, and this post marks the beginning of a wider public campaign to demonstrate the breadth of support for recognising Elstree and Borehamwood’s contribution to British cinema and television.
How to support the campaign
Supporters are encouraged to:
- share the campaign across social media
- add their voices in support of a Special BAFTA Award
- highlight personal, professional or community connections to Elstree and Borehamwood
Further updates will be published on The Elstree Project website as the campaign develops.