The BBC has announced that public tours of its London-based headquarters, the BBC Broadcasting House, will no longer take place following a review of security.
The particular use and design of the Broadcasting House means that radical changes to the building would be needed to sustain tours in the long term and the BBC doesn’t believe these are viable.
The security challenges presented at Broadcasting House are said to be unique to that building, in particular its role as the hub of a 24 hour news output.
Incidents such as the Paris attacks, and the targeting of the magazine publisher Charlie Hebdo offices have prompted a tightening of security measures at a number of media organisations.
The BBC has been headquartered at Broadcasting House since 1932. It is where the first radio broadcast was made, and was extended and modernised to become New Broadcasting House in 2011.
Public tours have been run since 2012.
Other BBC tours
GTOs are still able to book tours at the other BBC buildings.
These include BBC MediaCityUK in Salford, BBC Birmingham, BBC Bristol, BBC Newcastle, BBC Norwich, BBC Broadcasting House Cardiff, BBC Scotland and BBC Northern Ireland.
Groups can opt for a guided tour at BBC MediaCityUK, which is home to a host of BBC channels and programmes including favourites such as Match of the Day, Blue Peter, A Question Of Sport, and Mastermind.
BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 Live, CBBC, BBC Sport and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra are also broadcast here. Guided tours last an hour and a half, and include visitors having a go at a news and weather bulletin in the studio.
Alternatively, at BBC Birmingham, groups can peek behind the scenes of Midlands Today, BBC WM, the Asian Network, and the famous Archers studio (if production schedules permit).
Tour guides will explain how the BBC gets ideas from script to screen, and how production teams work right up to the wire to deliver what’s seen or heard on TV and radio.
Tours run at BBC Birmingham on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and group bookings are available.
For further information about the full range of BBC tours visit www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours.
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