TV and movie filming stage the Underwater Studio in Essex has ceased trading after the company, registered as SWS Marine Services, said that “factors beyond our control” had rendered it no longer viable.
“The Underwater Studio never really recovered from the loss of business during Covid-19, coupled with the massive increase in energy costs together [with] the writers’ and the actors’ strike in America, resulting in insufficient bookings,” it has explained in a statement that has replaced its website. “The outgoing costs now far exceed the studio’s income.
“No further bookings will be taken and those already booked are now cancelled with immediate effect.” No contact details are given.
The Underwater Studio was established in the Burnt Mills industrial estate in Basildon in the late 1990s by diver Fred Woodcock and the late Geoff Smith, both of whom had worked extensively in the British movie and TV industry, including on the James Bond and Jason Bourne franchises. Woodcock had continued working at the site as diving supervisor, alongside studio administrator Glenn Whatley.
The facility had been purpose-built around a 6m-deep tank measuring 12 x 10m, and featured a unique lift-off roof to allow daylight filming and permit large props such as boats or helicopters to be craned in. The tank was permanently filled with 570,000 litres of filtered water heated to 32°C.
Spooks and EastEnders
Major TV series such as Spooks and EastEnders used the studio for filming underwater scenes – the BBC soap for a 35th-anniversary episode that depicted a boat-party sinking in the Thames.
Movies that made use of the Underwater Studio included 47 Metres Down: Uncaged; a 1997 version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea starring Michael Caine; 2013 horror film Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson; and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. The Pacific plane-crash film No Way Up with Colm Meaney, due for release in 2024, had been shooting there earlier this year.
Pop acts that used the Underwater Studio to produce videos and cover shots included Ed Sheeran (Eyes Closed), George Ezra (Hold My Girl), Kylie Minogue, the Stereophonics and Fishermen’s Friends.
Many commercials with underwater settings were also produced in the tank, and in 2007 Essex FM presenter Martin Day used it to set a then-world record for longest live underwater radio broadcast.
Many British scuba divers will have visited the facility, where training courses were regularly held. More than 60 divers competed in the Diver Magazine Buoyancy Challenge there in 2009, and in 2011 local divers paid to participate in an underwater “gun run”, modelled on the Royal Navy Field Gun Race, to raise money for the charity Help the Heroes.
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