BBC Birmingham

At some point after the Second World War the BBC took over the headquarters of the Birmingham Royal Institution for the Blind, a very large collection of buildings in Carpenter Road, Edgbaston.

In 1957 BBC TV was established in Birmingham for the first time taking over the MLO's studio and installing the necessary lighting on builders' scaffolding.

By gutting an ex-London redundant BBC TV outside broadcast unit ("Scanner") the necessary three cameras (RCA 3 inch image orthicons) were salvaged.

The associated camera control units, sound and vision production/mixer desk and seating were all very precariously held together with Dexion angle and old packing cases.

A smaller room alongside was used for early evening local news broadcasts by dragging a camera in from the main studio.

Carpenter Road was also the base for BBC Midlands TV outside broadcasts with MCR10 – a articulated mobile control unit – equipped with Marconi Mk1 3 inch image orthicon cameras.

It was also the base for the necessary VHF/UHF "Links Unit" to get the outside broadcast pictures and sound back into the national network – in the Midlands area usually via the main TV transmitter mast at Sutton Coldfield.

The unit also produced the first BBC Television drama with a predominantly black and Asian cast, Empire Road (1978–79) also on BBC2.

The result was Saturday Night at the Mill with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen as the regular house band, who also performed the show's signature tune.

In 1981, an early evening version of a 1960s hit show on BBC1 called Six Five Special re-surfaced during the Mill's summer break, presented by Donny MacLeod and Marian Foster, and occupying the slot vacated by Nationwide.

These were presented and produced by Mahendra Kaul and directed by Ashok Rampal, and broadcast on Sunday mornings on the sole BBC Television channel at the time.

Well-known BBC programmes based in Birmingham included the drama series Dalziel and Pascoe, Dangerfield, All Creatures Great and Small, Howards' Way, This Life, daytime soap opera Doctors, anthology series The Afternoon Play and daytime property show To Buy or Not to Buy.