Shepperton Film Studios (Littleton)

 film/video production studio/facility, television studio

Shepperton Studios continues to produce outstanding screenplay for a growing audience, and had enormous success in the period from 1920s-1960s.

However, in 1964, the Government sold the company back into private enterprise to a group headed by Michael Balcon. Profits dropped in the first year and in 1965 Lord Goodman succeeded Balcon as chairman. Nevertheless, a number of notable films were produced at the studio during that decade including two Pink Panther films and The Day of the Jackal (1973) directed by Fred Zinnemann. In 1974, footage was filmed of Led Zeppelin on a mock-up stage identical to the one they had performed on live the year earlier at Madison Square Garden for their film The Song Remains the Same. Similarly, in 1978 The Who shot mock concert sequences, live and in front of an audience, for their documentary The Kids Are Alright. This would turn out to be The Who's last live appearance with drummer Keith Moon, who died later that year. In 1978-9 there was tight security on the stages at Shepperton for Alien (1979), a science fiction film with a difference directed by Ridley Scott. From 1970, Richard Attenborough made some of his finest films at Shepperton; these included Young Winston (1972), Gandhi (1982) and Cry Freedom (1987). In 1984, the manor of Littleton acquired a new owner when Lee International paid £3.6 m for the studios. The Lee Group invested a considerable sum of money in refurbishing the facilities, and plans were drawn up for new workshops that were built in 1987.

Excellent films continued to be made at Shepperton during the 1980s such as The Elephant Man (1980), The Missionary (1982), The Company of Wolves (1984), A Passage to India (1984) and Kenneth Branagh's first film production, Henry V (1989). Also among the 1980s productions at the studios were Privates On Parade (1982) and Michael Radford's film of the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (filmed in its title year). The 1990s saw Neil Jordan's Oscar winner, The Crying Game (1992); Louis Matte's Damage (1992); Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) and Nicholas Hytner's award winning The Madness of King George (1994) , Lord Attenborough's Chaplin (1992) and Shadowlands (1993).

Currently a part of Pinewood Studios' holdings.