Twickenham film studios set to close...

Twickenham Film Studios, recently used for The Iron Lady and My Week with Marilyn, has gone into administration.

The renowned studio, which was due to celebrate its centenary next year, will be wound down between now and June.

Gerald Krasner, who is handling the administration, said the the business had lost money over the past three years.

"I doubt it will be retained as a film studio," he said. Half of the 17 employees have already left.

The remainder are working their notice, Mr Krasner added.

"We are selling it on," he told the BBC News website. "Everyone will then be paid in full."

Classic movies shot at Twickenham, which opened in 1913, include include Sherlock Holmes film The Missing Rembrandt, made in the 1930s, and the Beatles films Help and A Hard Day's Night.

Roman Polanski's Repulsion, Alfie starring Michael Caine and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning also made use of its facilities.

More recently War Horse and Horrid Henry: The Movie were made there, while director Phyllida Lloyd completed post-production on The Iron Lady at the historic studios.

Its old viewing theatre and wardrobe department was also seen in My Week with Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh.

"I think it is a real shame that Twickenham's closing," said key grip Rupert Lloyd Parry, who worked on both The Iron Lady and My Week with Marilyn. "It's one of our older studios.

"It's nice when you work where you feel like there's a real sort of tradition of the British film industry. It's like working at Ealing, places like that.

"The film industry is buoyant at the moment, there is work coming in. There doesn't seem like there is any reason for it to shut."

Built on the site of a former ice rink, St Margaret's Studios was set up in 1913 by Dr Ralph Jupp and was the largest studio in the UK at the time.

It was re-named Twickenham Film Studios in 1929 by its then-owners Julius Hagen and Leslie Hiscott.

Source: BBC

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