Sawt Falasteen - BBC sells historic Maida Vale Studios

The site in northwest London, which was bought by the broadcaster in 1933, is a complex of seven studios housed in a former Edwardian-era roller-skating rink.

Over the years it has hosted major musicians from The Beatles to Beyonce as well as symphony orchestras and thousands of sessions by unsigned bands championed by the legendary DJ John Peel.

It was also home to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a pioneering electronic sound laboratory where the theme to the long-running television sci-fi drama "Doctor Who" was created.

But its future had been under threat since the corporation announced in 2018 that it was moving its BBC Music Studios operation to a new purpose-built base in east London.

Zimmer and his business partner Steve Kofsky have teamed up with film producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner to buy the venue, the BBC said.

No cost was given but the broadcaster said the group had pledged to keep the building as a studio space and undertake a multi-million-pound (dollar) refurbishment plan.

The original facade of the venue, which has protected heritage status, would be kept, it added.

Zimmer said he first worked for the BBC at Maida Vale Studios 45 years ago as a session musician and had been "in awe" at its place in musical history.

He said he wanted to make Maida Vale "a place that inspires, teaches, technologically serves the arts and humanity, and gives the next generation the same opportunities I was given: to create and to never give up".

I.Matar--SF-PST