Granada Studios Tour

Location	Castlefield, Manchester
Owner	Granada Television
Opened	1988
Closed	1999
Rides	tbc total

Granada Studios Tour was an entertainment complex in Castlefield, Manchester operating from 1988 to 1999. It was situated on Water Street, adjacent to Granada Television's Quay Street complex. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1600 × 1200 pixel, file size: 928 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Castlefield Castlefield in Manchester, UK was a site where the Roman Empire established a fort. ... Manchester shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state United Kingdom Constituent country England Region North West England Ceremonial county Greater Manchester Admin HQ Manchester City Centre Founded 13th Century City Status 1853 Government  - Type Metropolitan borough, City  - Governing body Manchester City Council Area  - Borough & City 115. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Castlefield Castlefield in Manchester, UK was a site where the Roman Empire established a fort. ... Manchester shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state United Kingdom Constituent country England Region North West England Ceremonial county Greater Manchester Admin HQ Manchester City Centre Founded 13th Century City Status 1853 Government  - Type Metropolitan borough, City  - Governing body Manchester City Council Area  - Borough & City 115. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The exterior of the complex was a New York street setting replicating Times Square, complete with yellow cabs, large neon advertisements and entertainers role-playing Police Officers. This area was the site of the first exterior set of Coronation Street, used from 1968 until 1982 (chosen for the Victorian viaduct which lay behind the New York facade). NY redirects here. ... Times Square Broadway at 42nd St. ... Taxicab, short forms taxi or cab, is a type of public transport for a single passenger, or small group of passengers, typically for a non-shared ride. ... Coronation Street is an award winning British soap opera. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1968 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...

The guided tour itself, which lasted around an hour, comprised various mock sets from Granada productions, including a recreation of Downing Street, the Sherlock Holmes-era Baker Street backlot set from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, and the giant room from Return of the Antelope, where furniture was designed on a much larger scale to create the illusion of small humans. Downing Street Downing Street gates Downing Street is the street in London which contains the buildings that have been, for over two hundred years, the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers, the First Lord of the Treasury, an office held by the Prime Minister of... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... 94 Baker Street, formerly the Apple Boutique. ... The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. ...

In the early days of the Tours, a bus would take you through a mockup of Checkpoint Charlie, and then down Baker Street towards Coronation Street, where you would disembark. This feature was later discarded, and the Baker Street set had a warehouse-style building erected around the outdoor set, creating an indoor street. Allied Checkpoint Charlie. ...

The focal point of the tour was the opportunity to walk down the actual cobbled street used in Coronation Street since 1982. The tour was closed on Mondays, as this was the day that the set was used for filming.

Live action shows were performed at intervals throughout each day, including a parody of a political debate in the House of Commons chamber set used for First Among Equals. This set was often used by other television productions wanting to set scenes in the Commons chamber, such as The New Statesman, and in 2002 was purchased by the scriptwriter Paul Abbott so that it could be used in his BBC drama serial State of Play. Abbott, himself a former Granada Television staff writer, bought it personally as the set would otherwise have been destroyed and he feared it would take too long to get the necessary money from the BBC. He currently keeps it in storage in Oxford.^[1] In film and video, live action refers to works that are acted out by flesh-and-blood actors, as opposed to animation. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... First among Equals could refer to Primus inter pares, a political concept or First Among Equals, a novel by Jeffrey Archer ... Rik Mayall as Alan Bstard in The New Statesman The New Statesman was an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... now. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... State of Play is a British television miniseries first broadcast in 2003. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Visitors could also enjoy a drink in a replica of the Rovers Return, the pub in Coronation Street. In the adjacent cafeteria, a mockup of the bar from Emmerdale's Woolpack was also included. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For the 1994 debut album by The Cardigans, see Emmerdale (album). ... The Woolpack The Woolpack is a fictional public house on the popular ITV soap opera Emmerdale. ...

Other attractions included the opportunity to appear in a special Coronation Street scene in the Rovers Return with the main characters, using the chroma key process. Also, a ride named MotionMaster was developed whereby people could watch a short adventure film while being strapped into chairs which moved in synchronisation with the action on the large screen. One such film was based upon the film "Aliens", when the squad entered the base in a transporter. Latterly, other rides such as a single-person monorail called a "Solocoaster", and other fairground-style rides were installed, including a 3-D film show. Granada Studios Tour had also featured the shop featured in Sooty & Co.. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: it is patent nonsense. ... In film, the term 3-D (or 3D) is used to describe any visual presentation system that attempts to maintain or recreate moving images of the third dimension, the illusion of depth as seen by the viewer. ... Sooty & Co. ...

Closure

As the 1990s drew to a close, the theme park gradually fell into neglect and disrepair, and visitor numbers fell. Granada was going through a period of unprecedented change, and many of the company's divisions were sold off in the wake of the OnDigital fiasco. The tour complex was seen as a loss-making enterprise and plans were made to close it, unbeknownst to the public at large, who always saw the Coronation Street visit as the most important part of the whole complex. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The formation of 3sixtymedia, a joint venture facilities company based primarily at Granada's Quay Street studios and co-owned by BBC Resources and Granada, spelled the final end for the Tours, as the company moved into the Bonded Warehouse on the site, and started using some of the the other buildings (such as the Starlight Theatre) for additional studio and warehousing space.

For a short while before its final closure, the complex was open only to pre-booked parties, such as corporate events, fan club visits, and Manchester Mardi Gras' "Treat on the Street", a themed night time event during the August Bank Holiday weekend. A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well known person, group, idea (such as history) or sometimes even an inanimate object (such as a famous building). ...

In 2000, one year following its closure, parts of the tour were demolished allowing Granada the opportunity to expand the set of Coronation Street, to include a new viaduct (to allow filming on Rosamund Street without exposing the Quay Street Studios which run adjacent to the rear of the set), Roy's Rolls café, the renovation of the derelict Graffiti Club into a new medical centre, a new building yard, two shops joining the cafe (Diggory Compton's bakery -originally Sally Webster's hardware store- and Elliott and Son's Master Butchers) and a few new houses. Since the closure of the tour, the exterior set has been seen more often in the soap. 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The former Baker Street building was turned into a new studio for Coronation Street, named Stage Two, containing more studio sets. The Bonded Warehouse, which sits at the end of Coronation Street, and formerly housed most of the tour, now contains new offices, the Granada Reports studio and a state-of-the-art newsroom. It could eventually become Granada's only Manchester home, after they move out of the Quay Street building. Granada Reports is the flagship news programme of ITV franchisee Granada, presented by Tony Morris (formerly of BBC North West) and Lucy Meacock, and transmitting to the North West of England. ...

References

1. ^  Abbott, Paul. Audio commentary on the DVD release of State of Play. BBC Worldwide. BBCDVD 1493.

A major selling point of DVD video is that its storage capacity allows for a wide variety of extra features in addition to the feature film itself. ... DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... State of Play is a British television miniseries first broadcast in 2003. ... BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. ...

External links

• Manchester Online - New York set
• Manchester Online - Entrance

Coordinates: 53°28′42″N, 2°15′27″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...