The Studio @ Media City is basically where many of the shows watched across the UK are filmed,…read moreincluding the Jeremy Kyle show, from Ryan C's review as well as Countdown and more recently Judge Rinder sharing that studio, I decided to come here and watch Countdown, in an episode where Jamie Washington wowed all, with some amazing answers where we also saw Michael Whitehall in Dictionary Corner.
The whole viewing experience was very pleasant, however it was quite hard to originally find "The Studio" due to a lack of signposting, around Media City but I did find it eventually, quite close to a branch of Costa Coffee, also nearby is a nice new row of restaurants and coffee shops including a Prezzo, where I ate, which had done enough to earn a 4 star review from myself, and PRET A Manger, which I sadly have not visited yet.
The studio did look quite nice, but seeing it for the first time compared to what it was like on TV was very weird, with all the cameras and watching the bloopers in action, including Rachel Riley being stumped by a Maths problem, and someone else having to give her the answer!
As it was the Afternoon Session, they shown 3 shows for me, with a 1/2 an hour break between Shows 2 and 3, where water and Kit Kat's were served, however there were some breaks in between episodes too, where the whole cast basically got changed for the next day's filming, which was quite frustrating as it just felt like hanging around.
There was also a nice man trying to keep the crowd entertained, chatting with them all and he did seem really nice, they even were giving out free Countdown Mugs if the contestants didn't get the conundrum and someone else in the audience did, which I sadly was unable to solve, being a word I had previously never heard before but now can't get out of my head - Hyperbolic which is an adjective and means
1.
relating to a hyperbola.
2.
(of language) deliberately exaggerated.
I also liked the cool feature where you were given a pad, and a very nice Oxford Dictonary Pen to play along.
Most tickets as well, especially for Countdown are free so it is a great day out, if you book in advance while considering if you are there for a while, car parking across the way at The Lowry will be sky high, with Media City not having there own parking.
Overall, this is a really nice day out to watch a programme here, Countdown is a British show, being famous here since the 1980's, even being watched by the Queen, so if you're in Manchester hoping for a cheap day out, you have one here, and this deserves a solid 4 stars, better handling between the shows and more drinks would have been nice, I was told due to budget cuts and health and safety they had to decrease from a 4 to a 2 finger Kit Kat, and were banned from handing out hot drinks, and had to give bottled water instead.
UPDATE: After some consideration I can't help but feel most of the aspects of my review was for the show I watched here and not the studio its-self, which is why I feel the need to downgrade to a two, the main issues causing this downgrade is a lack of facilities once entering through giving your name in etc, with barely any drinks or water machines, there was water handed out in the show but this wasn't open access, and you did have to get a member of staff to get it for you, and they only seemed to like doing it during the break in-between the shows, it was also frustrating how they handled events in-between shows and simply how hard it was to find it, with a lack of labeling and signage in the very big, complicated Media City complex which sadly makes me feel the Studios at Media City deserve just two stars, and not the four I originally awarded.
