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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

We’re campaigning for Borehamwood and Elstree to be awarded a Special BAFTA award. Read more on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/share/p/18ky...

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Our work to preserve, document and share these histories is ongoing. If you value this research and archive, please consider supporting The Elstree Project — every contribution helps keep this history alive.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Nominated for two Academy Awards, the film moves effortlessly between locations and scales, from ancient ruins to purpose-built studio sets, and is a reminder of just how internationally connected Borehamwood and Elstree’s studios really were and continue to be.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

The sets were designed by Ken Adam, whose work helped define the scale and visual look of the film. We were privileged to record an oral history interview with Sir Ken which focused on his invaluable insight into both his design process and his working relationship with Stanley Kubrick.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

In Borehamwood, three sets were constructed at MGM British Studios: • The ballroom of the Savoy Hotel as it appeared in 1924 • The vast Norman-style Assembly Hall of Brookfield School • And the London music hall for the film’s biggest production number, where Petula Clark performs “London Is London”

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

The film was shot across a wide range of locations: Sherborne School in Dorset, several locations in London, and extensive filming in Italy — including Pompeii, Paestum and Positano. Remarkably, it was the first film ever permitted to shoot inside Pompeii.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

In our collection we have a beautiful original press book for the film, illustrated with colour production photographs and biographies of the cast and key creative crew.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

One of the real pleasures of researching the films made in Borehamwood and Elstree is rediscovering just how ambitious some of these productions were, and Goodbye, Mr Chips (1969) is a perfect example.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The Elstree Project is an unfunded initiative. Acquiring and preserving historic material like this involves costs, but ensures these objects are not lost. If you’d like to support this work and help safeguard Elstree’s film and television history, donations and support are gratefully received.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Objects like this matter because they show how Elstree presented itself to the world — its stars, its films, and its confidence as a major production centre in British cinema. We’re thrilled to preserve it as part of the Elstree Project archive. (And yes… every photo and poster is still intact.)

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The films represented are: Tommy the Toreador, Bottoms Up!, School for Scoundrels, Follow That Horse, and Sands of the Desert.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The featured stars include: Richard Todd, Sylvia Syms, Charlie Drake, Tony Hancock, Millicent Martin, Carole Lesley, Paul Massie, George Baker, Peter Arne, Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Alan White, Sarah Branch, John Lee, Kim Tracy and John Turner.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The album is unusual: it contains 16 removable publicity stills of British film stars, along with 5 removable film posters, each mounted on card pages with pockets and printed descriptions. It includes a fold-out studio plan, offering a rare glimpse of how the site was presented at the time.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

We’re delighted to have just acquired a very rare and beautiful early-1960s publicity brochure produced by Associated British Studios — a wonderful piece of studio-era marketing design and a real time-capsule of Elstree in its ABPC heyday.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Not a video today, for the last day of #InternationalArchivesWeek - but instead, a photo from the end credits of @stanleykubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey being projected in 70mm at the @britishfilminstitute IMAX! Proudly made in Borehamwood!

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

In the penultimate day of #InternationalArchivesWeek we share the insight of Paul Welsh MBE, who chaired the campaign to save Elstree Studios for eight years. Paul discusses how the studios outpaced Hollywood in the 1980s. #FilmHistory #ElstreeStudios #IndianaJones #StarWars #GeorgeLucas #Spielberg

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Sir Roger Moore reflects on the production of The Saint at ABPC Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, in this short clip from our archive for #InternationalArchivesWeek

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Today in #InternationalArchivesWeek we have a clip from our interview with Muppet performer Dave Goelz. Dave recalls the time the Muppet Show crew snuck into the ATV Elstree canteen and replaced the mural with Muppet characters. The mural has become the stuff of legend!

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

We continue to celebrate our archive this #InternationalArchivesWeek, with a lovely interview with scenic artist Ron Punter. Ron talks about how he demonstrated the secret passage in Temple of Doom to Steven Spielberg, at Borehamwood’s Elstree Studios. #MadeAtElstree #IndianaJones #TempleOfDoom

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

It’s #InternationalArchivesWeek, so here’s a clip from our oral history archive of Dame Barbara Windsor talking about the glamour of ATV Elstree in Borehamwood. #MadeAtElstree #TelevisionHistory #ATV #Borehamwood

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Clint Eastwood is 95 today. Seen here with Ingrid Pitt, Mary Ure, and Richard Burton on the set of "Where Eagles Dare", 1968, which was filmed at MGM British Studios in Borehamwood. #MadeAtElstree #ClintEastwood #MGM #WhereEaglesDare #BritishFilm

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

🎬 Yesterday we filmed Elstree Project interview #78 with Academy Award-winner John Stephenson. He reflected on The Dark Crystal, Greystoke, and Return to Oz — and how Elstree Studios became the birthplace of modern British VFX and animatronics. #ElstreeStudios #Elstree100 #VFX

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

We film our 78th interview tomorrow, with a big star of Elstree television!

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

We’re very pleased to have our second interview of 2025 lined up, and it’s with an Academy Award winning crew member from several Elstree Studios films from the 1980s, including the one pictured here! More to be revealed soon…

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

🚨 NEW INTERVIEW! 🚨 On Friday, we filmed our first oral history interview since 2018 - with Muppetteering legend DAVE GOELZ! Dave is the performer of Gonzo, Dr Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot; as well as on THE DARK CRYSTAL and LABYRINTH. Our thanks go to Dave, and to our wonderful hosts @elstreestudios.

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The Elstree Project @elstreeproject.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

The Elstree Project is on Bluesky! We are the historians of Elstree and Borehamwood’s film and television studios - running since 2009, with over 70 interviews, exhibits, short films and screenings!

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