Dickenson Road Wesleyan Methodist Church was built in 1862 at a cost of £4,000, designed in a Geometric Decorated Gothic Revival style by the Manchester architects William Haley & Son.

[7] Dickenson Road Studios were officially opened in 1947 at a ceremony attended by "John E." and Mancunian screen stars George Formby, Frank Randle, Norman Evans, Dan Young and Sandy Powell.

[4] The new production operation earned the nickname "the Hollywood of the North",[4] or alternatively "Jollywood", on account of its output of comedy films.

[9] Over the next six years, the films featured northern favourites Frank Randle, Josef Locke, Diana Dors and Jimmy Clitheroe.

Mancunian Films continued under Blakeley's son Tom for many years, providing facilities for Hammer Horror productions (Hell Is a City, 1960) and making a number of B-movies.

[4][12] Programmes made by the BBC at the studios included series starring comedian Harry Worth and variety programmes, and the studio became the production headquarters for BBC television drama in the North, being used for the production of early plays by television writers such as Alan Plater.

[15][16][17][18][19] The programme was broadcast from Studio A at Dickenson Road for three years, hosted by presenters such as Savile, Freeman, Pete Murray and David Jacobs.

[21][notes 1][22] During the time the programme was broadcast from Dickenson Road Studios, many popular acts performed there; The Kinks made their Top of the Pops debut at Dickenson Road on 19 August 1964 with "You Really Got Me";[23] The Who debuted on 11 March 1965 with "I Can't Explain"; the Merseybeats, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Peter and Gordon, the Fourmost, the Small Faces, Ken Dodd, Val Doonican, Them, Cliff Richard and the Animals were also among the early acts to appear there.

[31] Performers and production staff have remarked on the experience of hosting the leading pop celebrities of the day at such an unglamorous location as a former church in the North.

The then production secretary of Top of the Pops, Frances Line, recalled the unusual sight of television cameras moving up and down the interior of an old church.

Performers on the show often had to make a long journey from London by British Rail, but as the programme gained viewers, BBC budgets extended to flying the stars from Heathrow Airport.

After a dinner lady asked for autographs from members of the Swinging Blue Jeans, the band became embroiled in a fist-fight over a biro with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.