The Adventures of Harry Lime cut off by an echoing gunshot. Then Welles would speak: "That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie "The Third Man". Yes, that was the end of Harry Lime ... but it was not the beginning. Harry Lime had many lives ... and I can recount all of them. How do I know? Very simple. Because my name is Harry Lime." Although often cited as a BBC production, the series was one of a number produced and distributed independently by Towers of London and
Lime Grove Studios success in the United States (where it was distributed by Universal Pictures). The studios prospered under Gaumont-British, and in 1941 were bought by the Rank Organisation. By then Rank had a substantial interest in Gainsborough Pictures, and "The Wicked Lady" (1945), among other Gainsborough melodramas, was shot at Lime Grove. In 1949 the BBC bought Lime Grove Studios as a "temporary measure"—because they were to build Television Centre at nearby White City—and began converting them from film to television use, reopening them on 21 May 1950. Lime Grove would be used for many BBC Television programmes over the next forty-two