page_title: Mancunian Films
section_title: Dickenson Road Studios
hierarchical_section_title: Mancunian Films / History / Dickenson Road Studios
caption_attribution_description: Yep its the site of that converted church for BBC's now defunct Top Of The Pops
context_page_description: Mancunian Films was a British film production company first organised in 1934. From 1947 it was based in Rusholme, a suburb of Manchester, and produced a number of comedy films, mostly aimed at audiences in the North of England.
context_section_description: Escalating costs and a desire to cater for the robust tastes of northern industrial audiences led to the establishment of the two-stage facility in a former Methodist Chapel on Dickenson Road, Rusholme, the only film studio outside the South East. The buildings were converted at a cost of £70,000 in 1947. Starting with Cup-tie Honeymoon (1948) starring Sandy Powell, over the next six years the films went on to feature northern favourites Frank Randle, Josef Locke, Diana Dors, and Jimmy Clitheroe. The studio, though it often worked on a shoestring, was successful and profitable but Blakely decided to retire when he reached 65.
  Mancunian Films continued under Blakeley's son Tom for many years, providing facilities for Hammer Horror and making a number of B-movies. The cinematographic expertise developed in Manchester formed the foundations of Granada Television.
  In the 1950s, the growing popularity of television represented competition with cinema, and as the mass media market evolved, numerous film studios were taken over by emerging television broadcasters. In London, the BBC acquired Lime Grove Studios from Gainsborough Pictures in 1949, and Ealing Studios in 1955. Dickenson Road Studios was bought from Mancunian by the BBC in 1954, and it became the first regional BBC Television studio outside London. Programmes made by the BBC at the studios included series starring comedian Harry Worth  and variety programmes. Notably, the first episode of the pop music television show Top of the Pops was broadcast from Dickenson Road Studio on 1 January 1964, presented by Jimmy Savile and opening with The Rolling Stones performing "I Wanna Be Your Man". The studios remained the home of Top of the Pops until 1967, when the show moved to a larger facility at Lime Grove Studios in London. The Dickenson Road building was demolished in 1975 when operations were transferred to the BBC's new building at New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road.
caption: A plaque on a house wall marks the former site of Dickenson Road Studios
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