Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. It is best known for a series of classic films produced in the post-WWII years, including “Kind Hearts and Coronets” (1949), “Passport to Pimlico” (1949), “The Lavender Hill Mob” (1951), and “The Ladykillers” (1955).
William Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film-making, and films have been made on the site ever since. It is the oldest continuously working studio facility for film production in the world, and the current stages were opened for the use of sound in 1931.
The BBC owned and filmed at the Studios for forty years from 1955 until 1995. Since 2000, Ealing Studios has resumed releasing films under its own name. In the past decade, films shot here include “The Importance of Being Earnest” (2002), “Shaun Of The Dead” (2004) and the highly rated 2005 horror film “The Descent.” In 2007, Ealing revived the St Trinian’s franchise and the first film took over £12 million at the UK Box Office, making it the 4th most successful British independent film of all time.
Ealing Studios is also home to the Metropolitan Film School of London, which has a purposely built school on the lot and uses the studios.