FOUNTAIN

FOUNTAIN STUDIOS (1993 - 2017)

Fountain Studios first opened its doors in 1985 after acquiring a local youth centre in New Malden, Surrey, and converting it for use as a television studio and post production facility. Fountain, named after the local pub ‘The Fountain’, became well known for programmes including Ready Steady Cook! and Wizadora.

By the early 1990s Fountain were eager to grow and set about planning the expansion of New Malden. At the same time Wembley Studios became vacant once more so the company’s management decided to purchase Wembley and operate the two studio sites simultaneously.

When Fountain took over the Wembley site, the studios were again in need of gutting and re-equipping before they could be used to produce programming.

The early days of Fountain Studios at New Malden, and the refurbishment work at Wembley in 1993.

Chris Cooper talks about his time at Limehouse, and explains how Fountain came to purchase Wembley

Jasper Carrott OBE recounts his memories of recording at Fountain Wembley in the mid 1990s.

Under the leadership of managing director Julian Kossick, Fountain’s first years at Wembley saw the company developing its expertise to use Wembley's vast size for large scale programmes. Early shows included The Day Today, Esther Rantzen’s Hearts of Gold and Celador’s Talking Telephone Numbers. Over the coming years Fountain would begin to see this hard work paying off with bigger and more complex shows starting to come through its doors.

Richard Murray is Executive Chairman of the Avesco Group (now part of NEP UK), he assisted in forming Fountain back in 1985.

Mariana Spater has held a senior role at Fountain Studios since 1993.

Photographs of shows and the studios themselves from the 1990s.

In 1998 the studios played host to hit American comedy series Friends for the recording of their 'London Wedding' storylines. Audiences queued around the clock to get into the studios to see stars including Jennifer Saunders, Hugh Laurie, Helen Baxendale, Sarah, Duchess of York as well as the programme's regular cast perform.

Also in 1998 Fountain welcomed a brand new game show called Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? to the studios. The first 2 series of the worldwide hit show were recorded at Wembley before a standing set was built at Elstree Studios enabling ITV to record at any time throughout the year at short notice.

Sadly in 1999 the studios in New Malden were closed due to redevelopment work nearby that disrupted business. This meant that Fountain's entire operation moved to Wembley, and its success continued to grow.

Chris Tarrant recorded many shows at Fountain throughout the 1990s, including the first 2 series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Marc Baker worked at Fountain as a runner, and has since come back as the floor manager of The X Factor.

Tony Edwards joined Fountain on a temporary contract back in 1993, he then worked his way up to become Studio Manager.

From the turn of the millennium Fountain saw the demand for larger light entertainment shows grow, starting off with Pop Idol and Winning Lines and continuing right through to more recent years with Test The Nation, The Cube, The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent to name but a few. It’s worth remembering that it took Fountain a long time to prove itself from its humble beginnings in New Malden to allow it to go on and facilitate some of the most well known television in the world.

Photographs of shows and the studios themselves throughout the 2000s.

Dermot O'Leary's first hosting job was at Fountain, and he has since come back to present The X Factor.

Lisa Aziz remembers her time on The Kumars at No. 42.

Richard Holloway now oversees some of Fountain's biggest productions.

Ben Shephard relives the shows he's been involved with at Fountain.

Simon Cowell remembers his thoughts of this first time he walked into the studios.

Mike Edwards has worked at Wembley as a studio manager for over 15 years.

On 12th January 2016 news broke that the Avesco Group PLC, owners of Fountain, had agreed a deal with property developer Quintain to sell the freehold of the land and buildings for £16 million. Avesco signed a deal that allowed them to rent the buildings back from Quintain for a number of years, but Quintain added, and actioned, a break clause meaning that notice was served in mid-2016 and the site vacated in early 2017. The studio's last year of operation turned out to be one of its busiest.

2016 was a busy year for shows at Fountain.

On the Wednesday 14th December 2016 the studio’s staff were joined by colleagues from every aspect of television production as well as many loyal suppliers, contractors, family and friends to celebrate the life of Wembley Park Studios.

Wednesday 14th December 2016, the Fountain tribute event

In 2017 the mammoth task of gutting the studios began. All of the specialist television production equipment was sold off at auction and much of the building's core infrastructure was removed. Fountain Studios the company is slowly being wound down.

Photographs from the last few weeks at Wembley.

A wonderful story emerged in early 2024, which was covered by the BBC about a former member of Fountain Studios staff auctioning off 2 scripts from the US sitcom Friends which they had found in a bin at the studios in the late 90s. The clip below from BBC News picks up the story...

And, the final price? Well, you may be surprised...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-67959578