A FORMER performing arts, creative media and broadcast training centre near Selby has gone on the market for £1 million.

The ARTTS International training centre at Bubwith, East Yorkshire, was opened in 1990 by ex-BBC film producer John Sichel.

It ran for 15 years until his death in 2005, during which time more than 500 students trained there, most of whom have since found work in the entertainment industry.

They included Bruce Byron, who played Terry Perkins in TV’s The Bill, Jon Sen, the acclaimed British television and film director, and Adrian Pang, the leading Asian actor and television presenter. Mr Sichel, along with co-founder and wife Elfie Sichel, converted a complex of Victorian brick farm buildings into a professional television, film, theatre and radio teaching facility, with the idea that learning should be by doing, rather than reading.

The ARTTS (Advanced Residential Theatre & Television Skillcentre) centre included a 200-seat theatre, three television studios, a radio studio and full location equipment for television and 16mm and 35mm film.

When Mr Sichel died, there were attempts to continue the legacy, spearheaded by his widow, their daughters Katrina Sichel and writer and media personality Dr Tanya Byron and former graduates Derek Donohue and Geoffrey Bicker. However, ARTTS closed down at the end of 2005.

The current owners, John Quinlan and Steve Hazell, said: “We would dearly like the legacy of John Sichel to be maintained.”

The unique complex is said to suit a variety of educational, artistic or institutional uses, although planning permission has been granted to convert the buildings into 14 houses and two offices, and transform the original theatre into a rural enterprise centre.

Miles Lawrence, of leading York property consultancy Lawrence Hannah, said: “This is the most amazing opportunity, which only occurs once or twice in a lifetime.

“It is a unique facility, in a wonderful picturesque setting, which deserves to be revitalised for continued use as a commercial or residential complex.”