THE BROADWAY
A Small Screen Appearance for Prestwick’s Big Screen
Alex Wilson
The Broadway has made a star appearance on the BBC TV series, The Repair Shop on the Road! Prestwick’s cinema enjoyed a visit from the programme’s restoration expert Mark Stuckey and analogue projection expert Steve Rowley. With the support of the Broadway’s own volunteers, the team brought the Broadway’s surviving 35mm carbon arc projectors back to life for the first time in 50 years.
The episode premiered on Monday 16th February on BBC Scotland and is now available on BBC iPlayer, with appearances scheduled for BBC One and BritBox internationally later in the year. A full week of filming took place in May 2025, creating the worst kept secret in Prestwick as The Repair Shop Land Rover was spotted along Main Street and in the Broadway car park. The end result (spoiler alert!) is the Broadway now featuring the only operational carbon arc projectors of any cinema in Europe.
But what is the significance of carbon arcs? Carbon arcs were the light source generated in film projectors from the early days of magic lanterns all the way through to the 1960s with the introduction of xenon bulbs. The carbons burn, creating an arc light that shines off a mirror and through the film travelling through the projector and onto the screen. By the time the Broadway showed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for one final film in 1976, carbon arcs were already incredibly old-fashioned. The output isn’t just inferior nostalgia either. The natural tones the light from the burning carbons emits are much closer to natural sunlight than modern xenon. There’s a reason iconic Technicolor epics like Lawrence of Arabia looked so good!
The experience of The Repair Shop’s visit will be one to remember forever for the Broadway. Experts Mark and Steve had an incredible week with the team. The Broadway’s own electrical expert and Director of Maintenance, Keith Gerard, joined Mark and Steve in the projection room as an integral part of the restoration squad. It just so happens too that all three were born in 1956, the same year the Broadway’s projectors got installed, hence the 56 Club was born!
One of the greatest stories from the week wasn’t from the projectors, but the sound system. The surviving Western Electric valve amplifier that still remained on the projection room’s back wall, was believed to be long disconnected and decommissioned. However, the original wiring was discovered on day three at the other end of the auditorium on the back wall of the stage. A period Altec speaker was henceforth connected, turned on, and lo and behold, it worked instantly! Half a century on and the next generation of projectionists have picked up the torch left behind in ’76.
The Broadway has been on a remarkable journey of its own since The Repair Shop’s visit. The iconic front doors have re-opened to a wonderfully immersive and unique indoor visitor attraction, the Broadway Cinema Experience. The original 1,000 capacity auditorium has been revealed once more, with the highlight of the experience being the all-new Broadway Pop-up Museum, curated by heritage experts and volunteers to transport visitors back to the golden age of cinema and the Broadway’s place within it. The foyer now serves as a welcoming information hub and gift shop. The newly constructed ‘projection island’ in the auditorium provides opportunities for workshops, passing the lost art of projecting analogue film on to future generations. And the potential for special events including the return of film has now been unlocked. Volunteer of the project and local musician, Debbie Campbell, has even released a single about the Broadway titled ‘The Broadway Shines Brighter Than Before’, now available on Bandcamp.
You can book tickets for the Broadway Cinema Experience, become a member of the Broadway, listen to the official podcast How to Re-open a Cinema and more on the Broadway’s official website, www.broadway.scot.
