The Rank Organisation Davis cut staff, reduced budgets and concentrated film production at Pinewood. Other studio facilities (in Islington) were closed, sold (Lime Grove Studios) or leased (Denham). The Rank Organisation closed Independent Producers Ltd. The policies of Davis alienated many in the industry, in particular they led film director David Lean, responsible for some of Rank's most critically and financially successful films, to look elsewhere for backing. In 1949, the company bought the Bush Radio manufacturing facility and began to diversify its interests. In the early 1960s Rank took over Murphy Radio to form the Rank Bush Murphy Group (which was eventually
Elstree Studios Production during the redevelopment of Television Centre. Shows such as "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Pointless" are recorded there. A single large stage was built in Station Road in 1928 by Whitehall Films Ltd, but the company was wound up in 1930. In 1935, Julius Hagen, the owner of Twickenham Studios, bought the site and formed a new company, JH Studios. Financial difficulties forced Hagen to sell the studios to MP Productions in 1937. During World War II, the studio was used by the government for storage. In 1950, the site was bought by J. Arthur Rank, who renamed it Gate