Today marks the 99th anniversary of John Maxwell joining Wardour Films and becoming chairman of the board — a move that effectively handed him control of British National Pictures and its principal asset: Elstree Studios.

Maxwell was originally brought in as an intermediary between the company’s founders, J. D. Williams and Isidore Schlesinger, at a moment when internal tensions needed steadying. In practice, however, he didn’t just broker peace — he ultimately replaced them both, and led the studio for the next thirteen years.

A hard-headed businessman from Glasgow, Maxwell introduced a famously frugal approach to studio management. Under his leadership, Elstree acquired the affectionate (and slightly barbed) nickname “The Porridge Factory” — a nod both to his Scottish roots and to the tightly controlled budgets that became the studio’s hallmark.

That discipline helped stabilise the operation,...

On this day, 24 January, in 1979, as The Shining moved into its later months at EMI Elstree Studios, a fire broke out in Stage 3 — home to the vast Colorado Lounge set. Cast and crew were working nearby on Stage 4 when word came through, and within minutes thick black smoke was filling the service corridors between the stages.

We interviewed Ray Merrin, Doug Milsome and Steven Spielberg who all had memories of the fire.

Sound re-recording mixer Ray Merrin remembered how quickly the rumour of “a little fire” turned into something else entirely — punctuated by one of the most surreal details of the night. The dubbing studio door opened and in walked Norman Gay, an actor still in costume: “all dressed up with a bow tie, blood pouring down his face… ‘Please, can I stay in here?… The paramedics are trying to take me away.’” The...

On 22 January 1999, the George Lucas Stages at Elstree Studios were formally opened by Prince Charles, marking one of the most significant moments in the studio’s modern revival.

The two sound stages — jointly named in honour of George Lucas — formed part of a £10 million investment to rejuvenate the studios, following their rescue by Hertsmere Borough Council in 1996. Around £5 million of that funding went directly into the construction of the stages themselves, helping to secure Elstree’s future as a working film studio at the end of the 20th century.

When they were built, the George Lucas Stages were the highest sound stages in Europe. To control noise breakthrough, the structure was designed with an exceptionally heavy roof loading, made up of multiple layers of acoustic materials. The roof was also engineered to carry very high...

On 31 January, the British Film Institute will screen Elstree Calling — a film that sits right at the beginning of British sound cinema, and one that tells us a great deal about Elstree’s ambitions at the dawn of the talkies.

Made in 1930 at Elstree Studios, when the site operated as British International Pictures under managing director John Maxwell, Elstree Calling is often described as the first British musical film. Rather than telling a single story, it takes the form of a music-hall style revue, framed as a live broadcast to the nation — strikingly imagined as a television transmission years before television would become a reality in British homes.

Read more