The Fountain Studios is an independently owned television studio located in Wembley, north-west London, close to Wembley Park underground station. ITV shows The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and The Cube currently take place here. Other shows which the Fountain Studios has hosted include Pop Idol, Test the Nation and The Kumars at No. 42.
A number of independent companies owned the site before it was finally purchased by Fountain in the early 1990s. Studio 5 (now known as Studio A & Studio B), is 13,000 sq ft. The studio is the largest single fully equipped television studio in Britain, 500 sq ft larger than the main studio at MediaCityUK and 2000 sq ft larger than Studio 1 at BBC Television Centre. Nevertheless, this is rather small in international comparison. In Germany alone, there are 11 tv studios that are larger than the UK's largest tv studio, with up to 28,000 sq ft.
This is where Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor are filmed. An unusual feature of the facility is a soundproof double door which can be lowered in 30 minutes to reconfigure the space into two separate studios, each with their own independent control facilities.
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Once the main production centre for the London weekday ITV contractor Rediffusion, the studios were home to some of the most popular programmes on the ITV network during the 1960s. These included No Hiding Place, The Rat Catchers, Blackmail, At Last, The 1948 Show and The Frost Report.
Whilst under the ownership of London Weekend they used to record shows such as On the Buses, Please Sir and Upstairs Downstairs. The studios fell into disrepair when the latter vacated to new facilities in central London in the early 1970s. Studios 1 to 4 from the original complex were demolished to make way for a retail park and all that remained was Studio 5.
The Fountain Studios is home to many popular entertainment programmes. List of shows, studio used and network broadcast on below:
| Programme | Channel | Studio Used | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Comedy Awards 2011 | Channel 4 | A & B | 2011 |
| A Night with Beyonce | ITV1 | A & B | 2011 |
| Red or Black? | ITV Studios/Syco for ITV1 | A & B | 2011 |
| The Cube (Italy) | Objective Productions | A & B | 2011 |
| Penn & Teller: Fool Us | September Films for ITV1 | A & B | 2011 |
| The Cube (Germany) | Objective Productions for RTL | A & B | 2011 |
| Ant & Dec's Push the Button | Gallowgate for ITV1 | A & B | 2011 |
| Must Be The Music | Princess Productions for Sky1 | A & B | 2010 |
| Over the Rainbow | Talkback Thames for BBC One | A & B | 2010 |
| The Cube (Saudi Arabia) | Objective Productions for Saudi TV | A & B | 2010–Present |
| The Cube (USA pilot) | Objective Productions for NBC | A & B | 2010 |
| The X Factor | Talkback Thames/Syco for ITV | A & B | 2004–Present |
| Britain's Got Talent | Talkback Thames/Syco for ITV | A & B | 2007–Present |
| Britain's Best Brain | Group M Entertainment/Tiger Aspect Productions for Five | A | 2009 |
| Sell Me the Answer | Thumbs Up Productions for Sky1 | A | 2009 |
| The Cube (UK) | Objective Productions for ITV | A & B | 2009–Present |
| The Susan Boyle Story | Talkback Thames/Syco for ITV | A & B | 2009 |
| Bremner, Bird and Fortune | Vera for Channel 4 | A & B | 2007 |
| Duel | Gallowgate TV for ITV | A & B | 2008 |
| Test the Nation | Talent TV for BBC One | A & B | 2002–2007 |
| Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder | Avalon TV for ITV | A & B | 2009 |
| Clone | Roughcut TV for BBC Three | A & B | 2008 |
| Lenny Henry in Pieces | Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC One | A & B | 2003 |
| 19 Keys | Objective Productions for Five | A & B | 2003 |
| World Idol | 19 Entertainment/Talkback Thames for ITV | A & B | 2003–2004 |
| Pop Idol | 19 Entertainment/Talkback Thames for ITV | A & B | 2001–2002 |
| 1 vs. 100 | Initial for BBC One | A & B | 2006 |
| PokerFace | Gallowgate TV for ITV | A & B | 2006–2007 |
| School's Out | SOTV for BBC One | A & B | 2006–2007 |
| Petrolheads | MEMTV for BBC Two | A & B | 2006 |
| Friends ("The One with Ross's Wedding") | Warner Bros. Television for NBC | A & B | 1997 |
| Winning Lines | Celador for BBC One | A & B | 1999–2004 |
| Talking Telephone Numbers | Celador for ITV | A & B | 1994–1997 |