Didsbury, Manchester

The Capitol Cinema was situated on the corner of Parrs Wood Road and School Lane in Didsbury (a suburb of Manchester). A 'super cinema' designed by Peter Cummings, it opened on 21 May 1931. However just eleven months later (on 25 April 1932) it was gutted by fire, leaving only the walls and entrance standing. Cummings rebuilt the cinema in a more ornate style and it re-opened on 16 August 1933.

ABC took control of the cinema in 1937 and the final film show was on 14 January 1956. In May of that year the building reopened as ABC's television studios for the Northern region (they broadcast during the weekend only). There were three studios: the largest in the stalls, a news studio in the former restaurant on the first floor and a small continuity area. Film editing and telecine was done in the roof-top former projection area.

Film of the opening night of the TV studios can be found on the British Pathe website (search for 'ABC tv'). Look out for Betty Driver (later to become Betty Turpin in Coronation Street) with her poodle!

The building was supposedly haunted by the ghost of an actor who had passed away during a live broadcast of a play called 'Underground'. This was transmitted on November 28, 1958, part of ABC's 'Armchair Theatre' series.

Early episodes of The Avengers were recorded at the studios and the Beatles performed there.

When ABC lost the TV contract for the region, the Capitol building passed to Manchester Polytechnic (now the Metropolitan University), which used it as the base for its theatre studies and BA (hons) Design For Communications Media production course. Julie Walters was one of the drama students. During this time the stalls area was used as a theatre, the first floor studio for TV production and the circle was boxed in as a separate cinema (this may have dated from the ABC days).

It seemed that the building was in a safe pair hands. But it wasn't so… The Polytechnic moved away in 1998 and the following year the building was demolished to make way for a characterless apartment block.

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