The Leeds Studios

The Leeds Studios (also known as the ITV Television Centre, Yorkshire Television Studios or YTV Studios) is a television production complex on Kirkstall Road in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. ITV plc had proposed to close the studios in 2009, however later in the year had a change of mind and instead decided to refit them as high-definition studios.

The Leeds Studios have been the home of Yorkshire Television, and its successor, ITV Yorkshire, since 1968 and are owned by ITV Yorkshire's parent company ITV plc. The complex houses the main studios and administrative headquarters of ITV Yorkshire, which also has smaller offices in Sheffield and Kingston upon Hull.

ITV programmes which have been produced there include: 3-2-1, My Parents Are Aliens, Where the Heart Is, The Royal, Heartbeat, Wire in the Blood, Bruce's Price is Right, Bad Influence! and A Touch of Frost. Countdown was regularly made for Channel 4 here until April 2009 (when it moved to The Manchester Studios and then to MediaCityUK in Salford) as was Win My Wage, a new gameshow for Channel 4 made by independent company Hotbed Media in 2007. The studios were also home to Through the Keyhole, (which began as a YTV production on ITV, but was later made by David Frost's company Paradine Productions for Sky1 and the BBC) and were used for the interior shots on hit comedy The League of Gentlemen and medical drama Bodies (both for the BBC). The revived Bullseye on Challenge was also recorded at the Leeds Studios as was the 2006 series of Mastermind, due to the closure of Granada Studios for the removal of asbestos at the time.

The front of the main studio buildings have, in the past, acted as the main entrance to Hotten General in the serial drama, Emmerdale.

The studios were built on slum clearance land on Kirkstall Road, purchased from the former Leeds Corporation.

Construction commenced in early 1967: A mild winter aided building work and by mid-1968 studios one and two were equipped for transmission (studios three and four being completed by early 1969). The studio was officially opened by the Duchess of Kent on 29 July 1968. It was the first purpose-built colour television production centre in Europe and cost over £4 million to build and equip (at 1968 prices). Colour cameras were initially Marconi Mk7s and EMI 2001s. Both of these cameras were in use until the mid-1980s. Some studios in The Leeds Studios used Marconi cameras, the others used EMI cameras. In 1976 the cameras in Studio 3 were replaced with the Philips LDK 25 models.

The regional news show Calendar was produced at the centre for many years but in 1989 was moved to a dedicated newsroom and broadcast facility based in a converted roller rink next to the main studios. The programme moved back to the main studio building in October 2012.

In March 2009, ITV plc announced that the Leeds Studios were to be downsized to try and save costs following a reported loss of £2.7 billion for 2008. When interviewed on BBC Radio 4 over the proposed closure of much of the studios, the then ITV plc chairman Michael Grade said simply 'We move on'. Screen Yorkshire stated an interest in taking over any parts of the complex that were to be mothballed. Yorkshire Forward looked at the possibility of funding a takeover of the studios but subsequently withdrew their plans.