A new studio has opened in Manchester and will host BBC One’s Morning Live, with Versa Studios opening its second site in the UK in the space of two months.
The 55,000 sq ft space will be up and running fully by summer 2023, taking over the Manchester Studios complex with five studios offering facilities to produce in the scripted, commercials and gaming space.
Versa ABC, part of the space, will host Morning Live, BBC One’s daily daytime magazine format that was formed during the pandemic in which guests take part in daily topical conversation and provide expert advice.
The show is moving from London, as the BBC aims to relocate more of its programs away from the capital in a push to better represent the UK in its entirety.
Versa’s expansion is demonstrative of wider activity in the UK studio space.
It launched in London late last year, hosting ITV format Walk the Line, and also plans to open in Leeds, with an expected 330,000 sq ft once all sites are taken. Two other sites opened the week it launched in London, RD Studios and Troubadour Brent Cross Studios, and just last week Amazon Prime Video took up a lease at Pinewood’s Shepperton Studios.
“We fully intend to create a creative media cluster in Manchester rather than simply a set of TV studios,” said Executive Director of Versa Charlie Ingall. “We want to bring back content creation production and performance to Manchester.”
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